Benefits of living on a vegan diet?

[gertvegan]

Make no mistake, you and your diet are being manipulated by the vested interests of a consumer society which has no real interest in health but a preoccupation with profit. You don't have to be part of it and can start right now by taking responsibility for your own health and go veg*n. In the process you will help to bring an end the obscenity of factory farming, help to diminish the onslaught which is killing the world's oceans; you will begin to offer hope to the world's starving and the environment will start to recover. It is one of the most important actions you can take in a world which is in frighteningly rapid decline, much of it caused by livestock production, fishing and fish farming.

This is from the Viva! website, you can read the rest of the article from Viva! HERE. (http://www.viva.org.uk/guides/healthiestdietofall.htm)

Don't get mad, get vegan.

[Kevster]

Like the 'Don't get mad, get vegan' :)

[celtic rose]

excellent articule - will print it out when I get home

[Korn]

The 2003 version of the American Dietetic Association statement about vegetarian and vegan food:

"It is the position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada that appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12826028&dopt=Citation

[Kevster]

Nice looking little site:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/vegetarian_and_vegan/

[eve]

There are two major health topics that Dr Dean speaks, writes, and teaches on the dangers of sugar and pharmaceutical drugs! In the early 1990s Dr Dean came under heavy fire in Canada from both the sugar industry and the medical community for exposing sugar's connection to many health problems. Dr Dean was also recently commissioned to compile a report on the dangers of medicine by the Nutrition Institute of America. The report she put together, Death By Medicine, first published by health guru Gary Null, may quite possibly be one of the harshest condemnations of modern medicine and pharmaceutical science you'll ever come across.

Dr Dean, who resides in New York, has built a tremendous reputation because of her abilities to help many chronically ill patients using natural methods. She is a true pioneer in natural health and we have the utmost respect for her work. Dr Dean sits on the boards of the Children's Movement for Creative Expression and the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine. She is a regular guest on the radio show Hickey Chemists Radio Hour (www.hickeychemists.com (http://www.hickeychemists.com)) and occasionally appears on the popular morning TV show, The View. Dr Dean is also a consultant and writer for Natural Health Magazine. She has published many books including: Natural Prescriptions for Common Ailments, Homeopathic Remedies for Children's Common Ailments, Menopause Naturally, The Miracle of Magnesium, Everything Alzheimer's and is currently working on Hormone Balance, and Mercury Madness. She has just written a chapter in Nancy Appleton's soon-to-be-released book, Inflammation. Dr. Dean also consults for various organizations including: www.curesnaturally.com (http://www.curesnaturally.com), www.yeastconnection.com (http://www.yeastconnection.com), www.brcleanse.com (http://www.brcleanse.com), www.friendsoffreedom.org (http://www.friendsoffreedom.org).

The above is an extract from this week's Crusador Alert.

[eve]

At home I came across a 4-page document by Pamela Teisler entitled "101 Reasons Why I'm a Vegetarian". It was published by the VivaVegie Society, PO Box 294 New York, NY 10012 (25cents and a self-addressed envelope). Although it was published in 1992, and uses the word 'vegetarian' and not 'vegan', those 101 reasons apply, and are simply wonderful. I just wish everyone in the universe could read it!

It has references from John Robbins "Diet for a New America", "Beyond Beef" by Jeremy Rifkin, and others. :D

Just noticed their website http://www.vivavegie.org/

[Cal]

Thanks for starting this thread, Korn. :) I needed something positive after the thread you recently closed! :(

[Korn]

usatoday.com:

Vegetarian diet on solid ground, experts say (http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/diet/2001-12-07-vegetarian.htm)


An excerpt:


Barnard adds that Americans suffer from having too much to eat, not too little. The typical American eats too much fat, cholesterol and animal protein, which contributes to high rates of obesity, heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis and kidney disease.

"Vegetarians have a 40% less risk of cancer and much less risk of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease and other problems that are common among meat eaters," Barnard says. "Vegetarians also live several years longer and enjoy better health."

Meanwhile, Barnard says, "Americans are surprisingly undernourished when it comes to the protective nutrients that are in vegetables, fruits, whole grains and beans."

So swapping meat for vegetables is OK. But what about dairy products and eggs?

"Dairy is 'liquid meat,'" McDougall says. "Compare the macronutrients of cheese and beef — they are the same. Both contain similar amounts of cholesterol, fat and animal protein, and both are deficient in fiber, vitamin C and carbohydrates."

[FR]

"Dairy is 'liquid meat,'" McDougall says. "Compare the macronutrients of cheese and beef — they are the same. Both contain similar amounts of cholesterol, fat and animal protein, and both are deficient in fiber, vitamin C and carbohydrates."

I like that explanation.

[nastypoodle]

Thanks for the links guys. I'll pass these on to my boy - he's currently arming himself with information before coming out as a vegan to his mum. He's anaphylactic (sp?) so she worries about her baby. A lot. Luckily she's on the other side of the world!

[Korn]

From the largest single study of Western vegetarians and vegans to date:

'EPIC-Oxford is the largest single study of Western vegetarians and vegans to date, and presents a unique opportunity to study the long-term health of people who do not eat meat. Results from the study suggest that vegetarians and vegans follow diets that generally correspond well with guidelines for healthy eating and confer some benefits in terms of avoiding overweight/obesity and high blood pressure. Whether these benefits will translate into lower mortality and morbidity compared with the ‘health conscious’ non-vegetarians in the study remains to be seen.'

More here (http://www.choiceusa.net/news_article_EPICstudy.htm)

[Korn]

From http://www.vegetarian.org.uk/vhfk01.html
The most recent research comes from the American Dietetic Association and has the full backing of the American Academy of Paediatrics. It says that well-planned vegan diets can provide all the nutrients infants and children need, produces normal growth and may also reduce the risk of some chronic diseases which show in later life. Their final point - and it’s an important one - was that because vegan children eat a wider variety of whole plant foods, it may help to establish healthy, lifelong eating habits.

[DianeVegan]

Thanks Gert! I agree, a great article.

[moochbabe]

i'm very glad that it mentions that there r things that need to be included and limited for a vegan diet to be truely healthy though, u know it says lay off sugar processed stuff...i was a little worried it was gonna be like a lot of sites that act like if u eat vegan foods, u'll immediately be healthy, even if u eat over-processed, sugar and fat laden foods...

[Gliondrach]

Thanks for that link. It is a great report. I am only one-third of the way through and I need to go out but, I have a couple of niggles to discuss.


I want to play Devil's Advocate. It says that it is common knowledge that the food industry has infiltrated the WHO. Is it common knowledge? Is there documentary proof of this? I would like to see it, because meat eaters would demand proof. Not theory or big-business-hating/anti-capitalist propaganda, but proof. It refers to note 10, but I wonder if the report it refers to gives proof of this?

In the Coronary Heart Disease section, it says that in the 1940s only 2 per cent of people on Mauritius died from heart disease, but that by 1980, it had increased to 45 per cent. The implication is that increasing meat consumption was to blame. Could not it have had something to do with an increase in the length of life? Before, they died young, due to poverty, and didn't have time to develop heart disease?

We need to have bullet-proof evidence if we are to use any of it to argue with meat eaters.

I'll probably have to get in touch with VIVA.

[DianeVegan]

If you go to enough nutrition conferences or read any health journals you get lots of theories about the increase of heart disease. I've heard it's the increase of soy oil in the diet (which has changed the omega 6:3 ratio), the increase of refined flour, the decrease of physical activity, etc.

The problem with all these theories is just that - they are theories. These studies are all retrospective, not done with a control group. I think we may never know the exact cause of many diseases.

It is certainly likely that the WHO gets funding from different food groups. It happens in the U.S. so why not the WHO - many food companies are international. If the board of directors has a member with stock in a particular company - it's hard to deny that perhaps that member won't try to influence the WHO to maintain his/her wealth. There are so many hidden agendas and hidden lobbyists and conflicts of interest in governmental agencies here (the U.S.) that I just assume anymore that no agency is 100% clean.

That aside, some people have really cleared up the blockages in their heart vessels by adopting a vegan diet (Dr. Ornish's program for instance) so it could be argued that eating animal products "cause" heart disease. Finding bullet-proof evidence may prove to be impossible.

I think we should keep in mind that when we talk about the increasing life span of humans we are talking averages. The actual life span of individuals hasn't increased much at all. But when you average in the infants and mothers no longer dying in childbirth and the diseases cured by antibiotics - you see an increased in the population average.

Thanks for playing devil's advocate, Martin. It's always a good idea to question what you read.

[Gliondrach]

Yes, I believe that if the newer WHO report is less critical of meat it is likely that they have been nobbled in some way. Big business has no conscience. Or, at least, less conscience. The bigger the business, the bigger the profit. Aren't tobacco companies selling products in poorer countries that couldn't be sold in the richer countries - due to the products being more dangerous than ordinary cigarettes?

[Karma]

Thanks for the Viva article... lots of food for thought there!

Have been having similar musings Martin on the British Heart Foundation is doing our job for us thread (main forum). Sorry I'm too tired to write it all again and I don't know how to link the threads together (I think you can do that somehow right?).

It's 3 am and next-door are having a very loud party :( ... off to try and get a bit of sleep... Yawn zzz

[eve]

I had an email from Will Tuttle, author of The World Peace Diet - which is a wonderful book for anyone who cares about animals (human and non-human), and about their health and the health of the planet.

He has two Holiday Specials now available now through his website. The specials involve a copy of the book plus some CDs of his original piano music at BIG discount.

Here are the two specials:
With Holiday Special #1, you get The World Peace Diet plus FOUR CDs (The Call, OceanPrayer, SkyHigh, and Living in Harmony With All Life) for only $45, plus $2 shipping/handling. This is a savings of $28.

With Holiday Special #2, you get The World Peace Diet plus SEVEN CDs (The Call, OceanPrayer, SkyHigh, Living in Harmony With All Life, AnimalSongs, the Islands Of Light enhanced CD, and the Four Viharas Meditation on love, compassion, joy, and peace), PLUS a set of Madeleine's eight ArtCards for only $85, plus only $2 shipping/handling. This is a savings of $57. These Specials end December 5, 2005.

I can tell you that the book is great. I bought the 4 Viharas meditation - it's wonderful, as is his Ocean Prayer piano music.

Holiday Specials: http://willtuttle.com/holidayspecial.htm
The World Peace Diet: http://willtuttle.com/WPD.htm
Original piano music CDs: http://willtuttle.com/will.htm

Or call toll free order line, 1.800.697.6614, or by mailing payment before 11/23 to: Karuna Music & Art, 1083 Vine St., #105, Healdsburg, CA 95448.

[Korn]

korn, your first link isnt working.

Oh - they must have moved it. Here's another, working link with the same text:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12826028&dopt=Citation

[Mystic_Skies]

From

American Heart Association - http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4777

"Are vegetarian diets healthful?
Most vegetarian diets are low in animal products. They’re also usually lower than nonvegetarian diets in total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol. Many studies have shown that vegetarians seem to have a lower risk of obesity, coronary heart disease (which causes heart attack), high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus and some forms of cancer. "


They use the word vegetarian but say low in animal products so that can apply to vegan as well.

[Pilaf]

From

American Heart Association - http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4777

"Are vegetarian diets healthful?
Most vegetarian diets are low in animal products. They’re also usually lower than nonvegetarian diets in total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol. Many studies have shown that vegetarians seem to have a lower risk of obesity, coronary heart disease (which causes heart attack), high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus and some forms of cancer. "


They use the word vegetarian but say low in animal products so that can apply to vegan as well.


I'd say there's a strong possibility. :D

Actually..I read in some vegan literature I own somewhere the reason for that..some vegan nutritionists realize that by telling people they need to go vegan, they'd be discouraged so they recomment "Reducing" or "lowering" the intake of animal products, though complete elimination would be best. They're under a lot of pressure not to appear "radical" and all that. I can sorta see where they're coming from. It does seem radical to some people so it's best for them to be careful with their wording I suppose.

[Mr Flibble]

Green your diet before your car - New Scientist 17th December 2005 page 19

Thinking of helping the planet
buy buying an eco-friendly car?
You could do more by going vegan,
say Gidon Eshel and Pamela
Martin of the University of Chicago.
They compared the amount of
fossil fuel needed to cultivate and
process various foods, including
running agricultural machinery,
providing food for livestock and
irrigating crops. They also factored
in emissions of methane and
nitrous oxide produced by cows,
sheep and manure treatment.
The typical US diet, about
28 per cent of which comes from
animal sources, generated the
equivalent of almost 1.5 tonnes
more carbon dioxide per person
per year than a vegan diet with
the same number of calories, say
the researchers, who presented
their results at a meeting of the
American Geophysical Union in
San Francisco last week.
By comparison, the difference
in annual emissions between
driving a typical saloon car and
a hybrid car, which runs off a
rechargeable battery and gasoline,
is just over 1 tonne. If you don't
want to go vegan, choosing less-
processed animal products and
poultry instead of read meat can
help reduce the greenhouse load.

[aubergine]

Excellent. I get comments from meat eaters all the time because I have a car. I prefer to walk or get a train when I can anyway.