| | Don't stop eating Teresa. Each starch instead! ;-)
Seriously, with few exceptions, like coconuts, avocados and olives, the amount of fat in vegetables, fruits and grains is miniscule compared to the amount in meat, dairy, nuts and seeds and extracted vegetable oils. A diet of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and a small amount of fish is probably as healthful as you can get. And you can prepare meals using these foods as ingredients that are delicious. The Russian rye bread I sent Teresa fits that diet perfectly. Too bad, you can't get in Pontiac, Michigan, Teresa. Actually, it's inconvenient for me to get it as well, since I no longer live in San Francisco.
Also, the fact that you're not eating animal products doesn't mean that you're eating healthfully. if you go to your local supermarket, you'll see that most of the packaged non-meat products, like prepared cereals, sauces, chips, donuts, cookies and pastries that line the aisles are just as bad for you as the fat laden beef, bacon, ham and pork. Everything has tons of fat and sweeteners in it. No wonder there's such a high incidence of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer in our society. We can't just eat whatever tastes good and is attractively packaged. We need to exercise some discretion in what we select.
As for ethical vegetarianism, there's a good book that refutes most of the claims of the animal rights activities like PeTA. It's called Animal Scam: The Beastly Abuse of Human Rights by Kathleen Marquardt, with Herbert M. Levine and Mark La Rochelle.
I think there are some health benefits to eating animal protein, like fish. The DHA found in fish, and certain amino acids, like carnosine, carnitine and taurine, found only in animal protein have been shown to be important nutritionally. Meat also contains creatine, which is important for muscular strength and for brain function, as well as B12. Vegetarians tend to be deficient in these nutrients, especially B12, which is also vital for brain function.
So, the idea of ethical vegetarianism may not fit with an ethics of egoism, of doing what's nutritionally optimal for one's own health and wellbeing, although vegetarians would dispute this, claiming that you can take these other nutrients as supplements. But the fact that you need them just shows that human beings have evolved on a diet of animal products and have certain nutritional requirements that reflect that.
Animals slaughter other animals for food, because they need to for their own survival. Human beings can survive without eating animal products, but they survive better if they eat some animal protein, unless they're very careful about taking supplements, and who knows if there aren't other important nutrients found only in meat that have yet to be isolated. We become strict vegetarians at our peril. Of course, the problem today is not that we're strict vegetarians; it's that we're eating far too much meat, and it's much fattier meat than our ancestors consumed from hunting in the wild. The human body is adapted for small amounts of lean mean and fish, on which it does very well; it is not adapted for anything close to the standard American diet.
- Bill
(Edited by William Dwyer
on 8/17, 8:22pm)
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