[PLUG-TALK] Vegetarianism

Michael Robinson plug_1 at robinson-west.com
Mon Jan 5 22:30:09 UTC 2009


The assumption that vegetarianism is better than any other diet is
being defended quite aggressively on here, but there is a problem
with vegetarianism.

The human body is not designed for it long term.

The theory is that going lower on the food chain will increase
the amount of food available for people to eat.  This is assuming
that people can get everything they need from plant sources alone.
Plant sources are not a good source of vitamin B12.  Not eating
fish ignores that most of the earth is covered by Ocean where
fish are a good source of iodine among other things.  

If ancient man did indeed develop on the Savannahs of Africa, he
did not survive on plant material.  Grass is not something that
the human body can digest.

There are places in eastern Oregon that you can only set up grazing
animals on and no these aren't corn fed animals.

Let's assume that noone eats food from the rivers and the oceans
anymore, how much more food has to be grown on the land?  Like I said
before, growing grain in the Andes anyone?  How about legumes and soy
beans, do they grow everywhere?  What do you replace soy with if it
isn't healthy to consume soy for extended periods of time?

I'm not saying that the human body doesn't need plant based nutrients.
I am just saying that there are things which come from meat that are
needed as well.

How many healthy Seventh Day Adventists are there?  Do they supplement
their diet with vitamins that come from meat based sources?  I think
you'll find that they do.

Manure is a natural fertilizer and a source of hydrogen.  Feed lots can
be equipped with factories that process the manure to produce chemical
slurry that will flow nicely through pipelines or transport on trucks.

Eggs are high in protein, they are a good substitute for soy even on
a short term basis.  There is also genetically modified corn which is
a complete source of protein.

If corn is grown with dead fish and legumes, fertilizer isn't needed.
This is the way that Native Americans grew corn and the way American
farmers should do it, but it isn't catching on.  Of course, grass is
something that cows can eat that humans can't making hay a choice for
cows.

If you eliminate a source of nutrition, you take the risk that there
is an essential nutrient that we don't know about which only comes
from that source of food.  There is the risk, even though the
nutrients that source of food provides can be found in other sources
of food, that it can not be absorbed by the human body.  There are 
water and fat soluble vitamins and minerals, there is some evidence 
that non fat milk is unhealthy because you can't absorb the calcium.
A vegan won't consume any dairy or meat products, will he/she
find the same fats and possibly other chemicals that are necessary
to get what dairy/meat products provide from other sources of food?

I question the value of vegetarianism on four grounds:

1)  Only grazing animals can utilize a significant portion of the 
    earth's land.

2)  The Ocean covers much of the earth with it's bounty of fish.

3)  There is the risk that meat, dairy, and fish products 
    contain essential nutrients and chemicals that allow us 
    to absorb those nutrients which aren't found in plant 
    sources of food.

4)  Soy and other vegetarian sources of plant based protein 
    may be detrimental to human health over the long term.

I think more research is needed to determine the full effects
of various vegetarian regimes.  Over the short term, a veg
diet may indeed have health benefits for some people.  People
are different, one diet does not fit all.




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