save the cows V eat the cows (Health Issues for Vegetarian)

Name: wicked_witch

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Product:	Health Issues for Vegetarian
Date:	02/07/02 (174 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: guilt-free, healthy if approached right

Disadvantages: needs careful planning, like any healthy diet, constant label reading (esp if vegan), constant jibes and lectures

Instead of arguing why meat is bad for you, I’m going to argue why a plant-based diet is GOOD for you. I’m not belittling a healthy, balanced diet, including meat, I’m just stating that in my opinion, a wholly plant based one can be an equally healthy way to live.

A bit about hypocrites-
First of all, I recently had to deal with a situation I found rather amusing. I was at work (I work in a small general store which has an emphasis on deli foods, plus has a good range of organic and veggie stuff) and I was chatting to a veggie woman I know rather well, and she was recommending we bring in a range of rice milks as they taste better than Soya milk (which I agree with). Then a fat, bald middle-aged bloke with a huge belly arrived at the counter with a basket of goods and began to lecture me about a healthy diet, and how it included meat. My reply was to stare disdainfully into his basket and say “is THAT what you call a healthy diet?” (The boss was out of town that week). His basket was full of the biggest load of sh*t food I have ever seen. Cans of lager and Guinness, bacon, sausage rolls, chocolate, crisps, and assorted other rubbish. I hate it when people get like this. Fair enough, if a person follows a healthy balanced diet, they might have an excuse (although its still no reason to impose your views on another) to lecture, but if you live on a diet of fish suppers and beer, do NOT start to lecture me about my predominantly vegetable and cereal based diet. So there! Scientifically, there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that vegetarians are more susceptible to any diseases than meat eaters, and a healthy veggie diet, like, I suspect, a healthy omnivorous diet, will make the person LESS susceptible to many kinds of cancer and heart disease.

An unhealthy vegetarian diet-
Is, like any other kind of unhealthy diet (that includes the Dr Atkins and all those other stupid faddy diets), going to cause you massive
harm and maybe even kill you. I know many veggies that live off chips and ready-made veggie meals. The problem with veggie diets is amino acids. There are several different kinds of these and a piece of meat will contain all of them. These amino acids are all available in plants, however a plant typically only contains one or two, therefore you need to mix your plants in order to get them all, or your going to have problems. However, with a little research and planning, it’s not very difficult to do.

The protein question-
According to the media, nutritionists appear to change their minds every week or so. This isn’t the case. For example, butter is higher in saturated fat therefore worse for your heart, but margarine contains more chemicals and is damaging in other ways. The media will manipulate this to make is appear as if nutritionists can’t make up their minds, when in truth it’s a question of weighing up the pros and cons. It was common ‘knowledge’ in times past that the more protein you got, the healthier you were. Nutritionists have since discovered that you need less protein than was thought. Additionally, almost everything contains protein, including potatoes, beans, bread and pasta, its not just meat. And plant protein is just as effective as animal protein, only without the side effects of saturated fats.

But we’re meant to eat meat-
Humans are funny creatures. A true carnivore, or even omnivore like a bear, can eat meat from now until the day it dies and not get clogged arteries from the fat in the meat, however humans can. And the vast majority of this saturated fat does come from animal produce. I’m not going to argue the fact that we’re meant NOT to eat meat, although it is what I believe, considering that we possess an appendix (which grazing animals like rabbits have-meant for grass-like plants so now useless) our closest primate relatives are completely vegetarians. Ve
gan in fact. But there is no arguing that too much meat is bad for you, and meat will clog up your arteries. If a human lived of a diet made entirely of meat they would die in around a year. In contrast you really can’t eat too many fruit, veg and cereal foods.

Discounting protein, which is extremely easy to get enough of as long as you eat plenty fruit, veg and cereals, here are some of the main vits and mins and how veggies can obtain them.

Vitamins- certain vitamins found in fresh fruit and veg actually protect us from diseases, including the biggies cancer and heart disease. Fresh fruit and veg are rich in antioxidants and vitamins, which keep everything healthy, from your eyes to your teeth to your heart to your circulatory system. Vitamins A, C and E or the ACE vitamins are only found in vegetable food, and the reasons vitamins and antioxidants are so important is that they are the only defence we have against free radicals, damaging molecules present in the body, which can cause of 60 different diseases. Free radicals are molecules that become unbalanced by losing an electron, they then travel around the body and try to nick electrons from other molecules, which can start a chain-reaction in the bodies DNA and result in a disease. Free radicals are a part of life but are increased by smoking, stress and too much UV light among other factors. Meat can actually produce free radicals, whereas vegetable food doesn’t. Meat carries little or no vitamin C, D, E or K, although meat does contain vitamin A which vegetable food doesn’t. Here’s how veggies get their vitamins…

Vitamin A- The lack of vitamin A in its exact form in plant food is no problem for veggies. Beta-carotene is a nutrient, which the body converts to vitamin A, as it is needed. Beta-carotene is found in red, green and orange fruit (apples, peppers, citrus fruits, etc).

Vitamin B12- you only need one millionth of a gram of B12 a day, b
ecause the liver stores it for years. Vegetarians can get this from dairy produce, while vegans need to eat fortified foods like Soya milk, yeast extract or brekkie cereals.

Vitamin C- found in most fruit and veg, particularly citrus fruits, strawberries, cabbage and green pepper.

Vitamin D- Your skin absorbs this from sunshine, however vegans usually get extra from fortified stuff like soya milk, breakfast cereal and margarine. It is probably wise for a vegetarian to take supplements (specifically formulated for their dietary needs of course) if they don’t eat a lot of the above.

Minerals-

Calcium- meat contains almost no calcium, although, of course milk does, although there is evidence to suggest that in conjunction with the animal form of vitamin A (retinol) found in milk, it forms a ‘leaching’ effect in the bones making it useless. Veggies can get their calcium from dark green leafy veg, pulses, dried fruit, nuts, seeds and fortified Soya milk.

Iron- Iron deficiency is one of the more common nutritional problems, and is more common in women due to loss through menstruation. Good iron sources are baked beans, wholemeal bread, molasses, leafy green veg, dried fruit (especially apricots and figs), cocoa, lentils, pulses, and seeds.

Iodine- a problem with UK Vegan diets, unless seaweed foods are consumed. It is also available from brassicas (leafy stuff like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage), Soya beans, flaxseed, sweet potatoes, maize and millet.

Other stuff-
Alcohol- In general, keg, canned and some bottled beers are usually free of animal products, as are lagers (some beers, including ‘real’ ales, use isinglass, a form of concentrated gelatine which comes from fishes). Spirit production doesn’t appear to involve animal products at all; wine is more of a problem. It tends to be fined using one of the following- blood, bone marrow, chitin (which comes from th
e hard parts of insects and crustaceans), albumen (from eggs), fish oil, gelatine, isinglass or casein (from milk). There are plenty of non-animal alternatives, but you have to look harder for these wines.

Pregnancy/children- As long as it is exceptionally well planned, it is possible to raise a healthy child without using animal products. Every known nutrient can be found in some form of plant food. It’s a very complex subject, but planning a child’s diet to the last detail is better than it growing up on crap food anyway. There are many books on the subject and I won’t go into detail here. The ethics lie in whether it is right to raise another to follow your beliefs.

Vegetarian pets-This is about human nutrition, but I’d like to get my say in this. To keep a dog, or worse still, a cat, on a vegan diet, is, I feel, incredibly cruel. Dogs and cats have very different nutritional needs than humans. Dogs are more omnivorous than cats, and it is possible to plan their diets using vegetables and rice (but still not fair to deny it of a basic nutritional need for meat), but cats are complete carnivores and to feed them plant foods must play havoc with them. I’m not too up on how vegan animals are raised, but that’s because the subject upsets me. If you want to have a more ‘ethical’ pet then the only way to do it is to feed it on ‘real’ meat, from companies like the real meat company, which is organic, free range, and less cruel. But this is very expensive to do, buying a lump of meat from one of these places can reach double figures quite easily.
Steering clear of that canned crap which is full of additives and planning a varied diet around 'real' food is a good way to raise a dog, I'm not sure what a cats vegetable intake should be.

Chocolate- How could I forget? There’s loads of vegan dark and plain chocolate available. My fave is Fry’s Peppermint creams.
You can buy it from mail order, wholefood and veggie shops and charity shops, and there are a few 'regular' chocolate bars which are vegan. Someone has yet to invent Soya milk chocolate, I think it’s a damn good idea.

So there you have it. There is no reason why a well-planned diet can’t be completely devoid of animal produce. I’m not looking to convert anyone, just trying to justify and clear up some common arguments and mistakes. I’m a firm believer in gathering facts before you make a conclusion and I’m a bit tired of people who say veggies are unhealthy without having researched the subject at all. If someone wants to live their life without causing harm to weaker beings, that is there right and not for others to criticise. Equally, I feel that vegetarians shouldn’t try and convert other people to their way of life. Each to their own and all that.

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