I wish it were Sunday. 'Cause that's my Funday."
You're having a great weekend, tending your vegetable garden, bathing the dogs, spending a bit of time taking up arms against the animal rights extremists. Toss in some family funtime at the beach. And then, just when you take a deep breath after a nice weekend, and head back to work, you are hit with
MEATLESS MONDAY
in the cafeteria
Now I'm not saying I didn't enjoy that spaghetti squash casserole....it was delicious! but Oh Dear LORD! I felt like I really should have had a frontal lobotomy done before eating anything presented under such a theme.
The vegetarian/vegan agenda is relentlessly being pushed under the guise of "good health" and "better for the environment". Now it is even hitting the workplace cafeteria! The concept originated in the GRACE Spira Project at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. No, GRACE is not a lady. GRACE stands for "Global Resource Action Center for the Environment", an anti-agriculture project funded by animal extremists. "Spira" refers to Henry Spira, who is widely regarded as one of the most extreme animal rights fanatics of the 20th century.
Not surprisingly, Meatless Monday is being promoted by the fanatic animal extremist group PETA. I guess they don't actually eat the thousands of animals they kill in their Virginia "shelter" every year. Bully for them!
Meatless Monday aims to reduce meat consumption worldwide by 15 percent. The organization’s Web site claims that going meatless once a week could not only reduce the risk of developing cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity, but would also reduce greenhouse gases and preserve natural resources such as fresh water and fossil fuel.
That seems just a tad far-fatched to me. We found when diabetics went onto the Atkins diet they did much better on meat and veggies instead of carbs. How does meatlessness preserve fresh water? If the animals are not eaten, do they drink less? Less meat eaten means more soybeans grown. Soybean fields need water. Plenty of water. And when did animals learn to use fossil fuels? Who knew! As to cancer, there has been no proven link between meat and cancer. That's just a bunch of tripe. Mmmmm. Menudo sounds pretty good right about now. I must be craving Vitamin B-12 after that vegetarian lunch.
“Meat factories consume enormous amounts of energy, pollute water supplies, generate significant greenhouse gases and require ever-increasing amounts of corn, soy and other grains, a dependency that has led to the destruction of vast swaths of the world’s tropical rain forests,” writes Mark Bittman in a New York Times article from 2008.
Meat factories? Meat can't be manufactured. Well, after all, it's the New York Times. We can't expect objective journalism from them. And, I don't believe for a moment that eating meat is destroying the rainforests. If people eat less meat and more grains and veggies, they'll need to cut down even MORE of the rainforest for crops. Quite a conundrum. A possible solution might be better birth control for humans?
Some vegetarians are not satisfied, however, simply to reject eating meat. They also believe that milk, eggs, leather, fur, and feathers are a product of cruelty to animals. They even oppose eating honey! Those poor oppressed bees, you know. Never mind the fact that bees work just as hard for their queen as they do for us. That doesn't matter at all! These no-animal-products-at-all type of vegetarians are known as "vegans". Vegans are not so much anti-cruelty as they are anti-human.
The reality is that veganism is not simply a choice related to health, fitness or the environment. It's actually a religious belief held dear by fanatic idealogues. The vegan religion proclaims that all animal products should be opposed on moral grounds. These are the same extremists who believe that animals are not ours to use in any way....THAT is the true ulterior motive in the promotion of veganism. Health and the enviroment are not REAL concerns, but manufactured ones intended to send the vegan agenda mainstream.
Even Nathan Winograd, the king of No Kill sheltering, has fallen prey to the mind-numbing mantra of meatlessness and veganism. I LOVE Nathan's No Kill pet sheltering methods, but I'm sorry to see that he has swallowed hook, line and sinker the animal rights nonsense regarding veganism. The guy even has a book out called "All American Vegan" and has blogged that he is an "ethical vegan" who raises his kids and dogs on a vegan diet.
So, if he is an "ethical vegan", wonder what the heck an "unethical vegan" would be? No, I don't think that is the meaning intended behind that phrase. Seems the not-so-subtle implication is that vegans are ethical while the rest of us are sinful, animal-abusing barbarians.
My mother should be so ashamed! Look what a terrible person she raised.
Not content to push the vegan diet on just humans, the HSUS markets a vegan dog food, based on soy. Figures they'd try to make even dogs into vegans. Seriously, feeding dogs or cats (carnivores) a vegan diet is abuse.
Dogs are carnivores and require complete proteins found in meat. Their digestive tract is not set up to extract proteins from vegetation, like herbivores. A vegan dog is a sick dog.
Human children also need animal products in their diet for proper growth and development. Animal products are the only source of vitamin B12 in the diet, a vitamin essential for proper brain and nervous system function. Well, you can try to include blue-green algae for the B12 content, but it is an unreliable source from what I understand. Not to mention, it tastes like shit.
I believe if God intended us to eat algae, we'd have been born with either fins or flippers.
There are more hazards involved with following a vegan diet. The other nutrients at risk for deficiency are riboflavin, calcium, iron, and the essential amino acids lysine and methionine. Vegan children not exposed to sufficient sunlight are at risk for vitamin D deficiency. Zinc deficiency can occur in vegans because the phytic acid in whole grains binds zinc, and there is little zinc in fruits and vegetables. Other risks of veganism are osteoporosis, rickets, iron-deficiency anemia, macrocytic anemia and poor growth in children. There was even a recent study published that shows that vegetarians have smaller brains than those who eat meat.
Winograd recommends a diet based heavily on soy. Without soy, vegetarians are at risk of protein deficiency. However, soy is extremely high in phytoestrogen content. If one chooses to forego animal products and eat a predominantly soy-based diet, then you can expect as a side effect some hormonal imbalances. Phytoestrogens that are so abundant in the popular vegan food soybeans (think tofu, including "tempeh", "tofurky" etc.) also cause thyroid, reproductive and liver problems.
Based on animal studies, soy also causes aggression, high cortisol levels, low tolerance to stress, neurodegenerative brain disease, and there is a strong suspicion that soy also can produce depression.
Most soy is also the genetically modified variety of crop. Let's not even attempt to go over that subject here. I'll let you do your own research on GMO foodstuffs. How many rainforests have been burned to make way for mass-produced, GMO soy? That's actually a big issue in current events. Look it up! Don't foget the pesticides they are sprayed with!
WHOA! I think the evidence is in. Meatlessness is certainly not healthier, nor is it in any way "greener" than a traditional diet. And we can conclude that moderation, variety, and a full spectrum of nutrients provided by foods, including animal products, is necessary for a balanced, healthy diet.
Nature evolved the food chain for a reason. That is the reality of life. Veganism is fantasyland thinking, like the bullshit anthropomorphism you see in the Disney movies.
What's next? Treeless Tuesday? Waterless Wednesday? Fat-Free Friday?
Maybe Disney's next film will feature teens hard at work promoting veganism, starting with Meatless Mondays in the school cafeteria. I'll take that lobotomy now, please. That'll make the whole vegan experience SOOO much easier to swallow.
More info on GRACE detailing the connection to PETA:
http://www.beefusa.org/uDocs/grace.pdf
"Study Finds Vegetarians Have Smaller Brains":
http://thehealthyskeptic.org/study-finds-vegetarians-have-smaller-brains
"Does Meat Make Us Sick?":
http://theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/08/does-meat-make-us-sick-q-a-on-veganism-nuts-and-more/2443343/
Dr. Blaylock on dangers of soy:
http://www.newsmaxhealth.com/dr_blaylock/dangers_of_soy/2011/01/20/372072.html?s=al&promo_code=B858-1#ixzz1Bxcbef5f
Here's the study with the big splashy headlines about "Vegetarians less likely to develop cancer than meat eaters". Then if you read the report, you find that their vegetarians were MORE likely to have cervical and bowel cancer. So the headline was totally false!
Supposedly those who eat LOTS of RED meat are more prone to blood cancers, while fish eaters do better than either vegetarians or meat eaters. All in all, the finding are meaningless. We are not told what proportion of those studied were in the various groups, and what other lifestyle factors were involved. Maybe meat eaters are also more likely to smoke? Maybe they are older? Who knows? No mention of other factors. And the study relied on subjective report of diets which could be faulty.Was the red meat grilled or cooked in high heat? Grilling or frying are known to produce carcinogenic substances. Was the risk lower if the meats were baked, roasted, poached or cooked rare? Was there a large percentage of processed meats or meats with preservatives among the cancer group? Could be that THOSE are the culprits for any presumed cancer risk.
It's a rather worthless study but here is the new article if you care to read it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/jul/01/vegetarians-blood-cancer-diet-risk
Vegans assume that because you eat meat or own a pet you are an abuser. These people want to deny their biology of being an omnivore and care even less about your rights. The lion does not consider anything other than its own needs when killing a gazelle. As human beings we require the nutrients found in meat and others nutrients we don't even know about. We are seeing profound and irreparable damage to the internal organs of long term strict vegan dieters. Pregnant women and children should not eat a strict vegan diet as it will cause brain damage and severe problems later in life. Also 1 out of every five adults cannot get protein from plant material. A vegan diet is not good for most people. Moderation is the key to health, but so are the nutrients found in meat. To garner support for their views on animals vegan and animal rights zealots keep pushing the notion that livestock contribute to global warming. They lie about the EPA studies. Methane gas is only 7.9% of all green house gases. Livestock contribute only 17% of this 7.9% total contribution to green house gases. However, soy bean production, rice paddies, wetlands and tropical rainforests contribute nearly 50% of all methane production. Focusing on methane gas which is only 7.9% of all green house gases takes the focus away from fossel fuels. Soy bean production in Brazil is growing mile after mile with slash and burn farming methods. This bean has to be transported around the world and processed. The carbon footprint of the foreign soybean is far greater than all of the livestock being raised.
ReplyDeleteMisleading the public on health issues is of far more concern and should be considered a terrorist act. HSUS put out that the virus H1N1 came from pork which was a lie completely disputed by CDC. This was done to hurt pork farming and put people off eating meat. These lies are intended to hurt not only farming, but our national food supply. This collaboration between species evolved to ensure the survival of both species. We have spent years and millions of dollars trying to prevent the tiger from becoming extinct, whereas, once we made the buffalo part of our food chain its survival as a species became assured. This concept of sentient beings is not part of the biology of animals. They eat other animals as do we so the argument that as human beings we should not eat meat is anti human. It is also anti animal as those species will die off or starve to death.
(Comments coninued next post)
Veganism represents extreme and faulty thinking similar to those who blindly followed Jim Jones to their deaths. Yes, one can go several years eating vegan before the internal organs begin suffer if one is extremely careful to include the necessary amino acids qand vitamins. This can be done with supplements, but you must realize that you are still ultimately eating meat when you pop those pills.
ReplyDeleteTo condem society for eating meat is to condem all sentient beings on this earth who eat another sentient being. It is the natural way that mother earth has balanced out the species for the survival of all species. Our duty is to keep our food supply safe and to use humane methods in processing our food as much as possible. However, our first duty as a species is to our own survival and we cannot go against our own biological needs and still survive as a species.
We have developed symbiotic relationships with other species for research purposes that benefit us as well as them. To not do such research again would be against our own best interests, as well as, those of other species who benefit from this research.
Vegans use the word "exploit" which actually means turn to practical account; that is what our nation's farmers do when raising the food we eat. We should be thankful that they do as it is not an easy job to keep billions of people fed around the world. But farmers do not exploit their animals, what they do is care for them until they serve the higher purpose of feeding humans as ordained not only by God, but by mother nature herself or just biology if you will. When a human being evolves fully that does not need all the nutrients found in meat only then can we carry out such evolution. However, for as many years as vegan diets have been tauted we still do not see any wide spread change in the developmental needs of the human body. Omnivore means you need some of both not just one or the other.
As cults go this one is sneaky as it plays upon our misplaced human emotions for pets which we have come to look upon as family and not animal. Remember the first thing a cult does is to control what you eat and to limit your food intake and especially your protein as that is what the brains needs to function effectively and sanely.
Curiously enough the most compelling analysis of all this was produced by a
ReplyDeletereligious vegetarian. The growth of the human brain, the "great leap forward"
that produced /Homo sapiens/, after several million years of upright-walking,
chimp-brained hominids, happened when we became full-time hunters. The
energetic analysis is convincing The short version is that before the advent
of intensive grain cultivation about 10,000 years ago, the only way to obtain
sufficient energy density to support the growth of the human brain was to eat
lots of meat. Even then, the meat-eating hunter-gatherers were healthier,
bigger, stronger and longer-lived than the agriculturalists who succeeded them
(and eventually displaced them by the force of demographics). The long, complex
and careful analysis is at
http://www.beyondveg.com/billings-t/comp-anat/comp-anat-appx2.shtml . This
article on fatty acids is also relevant: http://www.economist.com/node/16214142
.
Death by Veganism By NINA PLANCK
ReplyDeleteWHEN Crown Shakur died of starvation, he was 6 weeks old and weighed 3.5 pounds. His vegan parents, who fed him mainly soy milk and apple juice, were convicted in Atlanta recently of murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty.
This particular calamity — at least the third such conviction of vegan parents in four years — may be largely due to ignorance. But it should prompt frank discussion about nutrition.
I was once a vegan. But well before I became pregnant, I concluded that a vegan pregnancy was irresponsible. You cannot create and nourish a robust baby merely on foods from plants.
Indigenous cuisines offer clues about what humans, naturally omnivorous, need to survive, reproduce and grow: traditional vegetarian diets, as in India, invariably include dairy and eggs for complete protein, essential fats and vitamins. There are no vegan societies for a simple reason: a vegan diet is not adequate in the long run.
Protein deficiency is one danger of a vegan diet for babies. Nutritionists used to speak of proteins as “first class” (from meat, fish, eggs and milk) and “second class” (from plants), but today this is considered denigrating to vegetarians.
The fact remains, though, that humans prefer animal proteins and fats to cereals and tubers, because they contain all the essential amino acids needed for life in the right ratio. This is not true of plant proteins, which are inferior in quantity and quality — even soy.
A vegan diet may lack vitamin B12, found only in animal foods; usable vitamins A and D, found in meat, fish, eggs and butter; and necessary minerals like calcium and zinc. When babies are deprived of all these nutrients, they will suffer from retarded growth, rickets and nerve damage.
Responsible vegan parents know that breast milk is ideal. It contains many necessary components, including cholesterol (which babies use to make nerve cells) and countless immune and growth factors. When breastfeeding isn’t possible, soy milk and fruit juice, even in seemingly sufficient quantities, are not safe substitutes for a quality infant formula.
Yet even a breast-fed baby is at risk. Studies show that vegan breast milk lacks enough docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, the omega-3 fat found in fatty fish. It is difficult to overstate the importance of DHA, vital as it is for eye and brain development.
A vegan diet is equally dangerous for weaned babies and toddlers, who need plenty of protein and calcium. Too often, vegans turn to soy, which actually inhibits growth and reduces absorption of protein and minerals. That’s why health officials in Britain, Canada and other countries express caution about soy for babies. (Not here, though — perhaps because our farm policy is so soy-friendly.)
Historically, diet honored tradition: we ate the foods that our mothers, and their mothers, ate. Now, your neighbor or sibling may be a meat-eater or vegetarian, may ferment his foods or eat them raw. This fragmentation of the American menu reflects admirable diversity and tolerance, but food is more important than fashion. Though it’s not politically correct to say so, all diets are not created equal.
An adult who was well-nourished in utero and in infancy may choose to get by on a vegan diet, but babies are built from protein, calcium, cholesterol and fish oil. Children fed only plants will not get the precious things they need to live and grow.
Nina Planck is the author of “Real Food: What to Eat and Why.”
Correction: June 8, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/21/opinion/21planck.html
An Op-Ed article on May 21, about veganism, mischaracterized an aspect of traditional vegetarian Indian diets. Generally, these diets are lacto-vegetarian; they do not include eggs.
The link to "Study...Vegetarians...Smaller Brains" is inactive so here's another, newer one:
ReplyDeletehttp://capitalpress.blogspot.com/2011/04/do-vegetarians-have-smaller-brains.html