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Thread: Benefits of living on a vegan diet?

  1. #1
    gertvegan's Avatar
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    Smile Benefits of living on a vegan diet?

    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.

    Don't get mad, get vegan.

  2. #2
    Kevster
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    Like the 'Don't get mad, get vegan'

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    excellent articule - will print it out when I get home

  4. #4
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default Scientific proof as to the benefits of eating vegan?

    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/q...&dopt=Citation
    I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.

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    I eve's Avatar
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    Default Re: Links for people who question if plant based food is healthy

    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) 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, www.yeastconnection.com, www.brcleanse.com, www.friendsoffreedom.org.

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

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    Default Re: Links for people who question if plant based food is healthy

    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.

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

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    Ratbag Cal's Avatar
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    Default Re: Links for people who question if plant based food is healthy

    Thanks for starting this thread, Korn. I needed something positive after the thread you recently closed!
    A bit rattled

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    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Links for people who question if plant based food is healty

    usatoday.com:

    Vegetarian diet on solid ground, experts say


    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."
    I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.

  10. #10
    FR
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    Default Re: Links for people who question if plant based food is healty

    "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.

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    Default Re: Links for people who question if plant based food is healty

    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!

  12. #12
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Links for people who question if plant based food is healty

    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
    I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.

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    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Links for people who question if plant based food is healty

    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.
    I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.

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    Default Re: The Healthiest Diet of All

    Thanks Gert! I agree, a great article.
    Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein

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    Default Re: The Healthiest Diet of All

    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...
    Peace Love Surf.

  16. #16
    Gliondrach
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    Default Re: The Healthiest Diet of All

    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.

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    Default Re: The Healthiest Diet of All

    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.
    Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein

  18. #18
    Gliondrach
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    Default Re: The Healthiest Diet of All

    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?

  19. #19
    Karma
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    Default Re: The Healthiest Diet of All

    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

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    I eve's Avatar
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    Default Re: Links for people who question if plant based food is healty

    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.
    Eve

  21. #21
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Links for people who question if plant based food is healty

    Quote foxytina_69
    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/q...&dopt=Citation
    I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.

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    Default Re: Links for people who question if a plant based diet can be healty

    From

    American Heart Association - http://www.americanheart.org/present...dentifier=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.

  23. #23
    Pilaf
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    Default Re: Links for people who question if a plant based diet can be healty

    Quote Mystic_Skies
    From

    American Heart Association - http://www.americanheart.org/present...dentifier=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.

    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.

  24. #24
    told me to Mr Flibble's Avatar
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    Default Science Daily: Vegan diets healthier for planet, people than meat diets

    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.
    Last edited by Mr Flibble; Jun 22nd, 2009 at 12:03 PM. Reason: thread had been moved and title unhelpfully changed, so there was no reference to where it was from!
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  25. #25
    frugivorous aubergine's Avatar
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    Default Re: Green your diet before your car - New Scientist 17th December 2005 page 19

    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.

  26. #26
    Geoff
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    Default Re: Green your diet before your car - New Scientist 17th December 2005 page 19

    That article is an excellent resource. Thanks Mr Flibble.

  27. #27
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    Default Re: Green your diet before your car - New Scientist 17th December 2005 page 19

    Do you have a link?
    Peace, love, and happiness.

  28. #28
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    Default Re: Green your diet before your car - New Scientist 17th December 2005 page 19

    The truly scary thing is that even on a vegan diet more energy is being used by the tractors, transportation, etc than what we actually eat. I saw in a documentary that it's 3-10 calories of fossil fuels for every 1 calories of food we consume. So, if vegans are on the lower end at 3:1, that still means we're burning 3 calories to get 1. Better than a 10:1 ratio, but still horrifying that the entire agricultural business hinges on this temporary supply of fossil fuels.

  29. #29
    told me to Mr Flibble's Avatar
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    Default Re: Green your diet before your car - New Scientist 17th December 2005 page 19

    Quote Tigerlily
    Do you have a link?
    Nope, was in the printed magazine published 17th December. Prolly a bit late now as it's weekly, but although an english magazine it's available in most 1st world countries
    "Mr Flibble - forum corruptor of innocents!!" - Hemlock

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


  31. #31
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    Default Re: Green your diet before your car - New Scientist 17th December 2005 page 19

    Ok, I have a problem with this survey. I live in a northern climate, and I lose a lot of points because a lot of my food is shipped to me. I don't eat a lot of locally grown produce simply because our growing season is short (although I do choose locally-grown food in the summer when it's available). So, what am I supposed to live on in the winter? Snowballs and tree bark?

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

    Living in northern climates requires a bit of give and take. But try and experiment with seasonal veggies a bit more? I only even started experimenting with various types of pumpking a year ago. Now I love them. The whole fall season I get pumpkins, apples, pears, red beats, etc. It can be a good thing too, and remind you of fruits or veggies you would otherwise never have included in your diet.

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

    True, but I still can't get those leafy greens that I need.

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

    Quote grail
    True, but I still can't get those leafy greens that I need.
    People in colder climates should be allowed to have a greater ecological footprint for those times when food needs to be shipped in. This could be balanced out by a more minimised eco footprint by people in warmer countries. For example, there is a plentiful supply of food all the year round here in Australia so it is only right that I lessen my footprint to compensate for your increased one. It is however sad to say that Australia has one of the highest ecological footprints per person in the world .
    Don't blame me for avian flu :(

  35. #35
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    Default Is a vegan diet more healthy? Evidence please.

    I have a friend who is thinking of going vegan but he keeps saying a vegan diet is not as healthy as a meat based one. I've argued with him but I'd really like to be able to present him with a concise, well evidenced argument by someone with authority on the subject. (Which I'll probably email him.) If people post info on here, i'll pass it on. I'd really appreciate it.

    Btw, this isnt a lost cause, he's quite committed to the idea. I think he just wants all the information...
    Last edited by Korn; Nov 27th, 2011 at 11:50 PM. Reason: This was the first post in a similar thread
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  36. #36
    Stu
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    Default Re: Is a vegan diet more healthy? Evidence please.

    One word: cholestorol.

    If you're not clogging up your arteries with cholestorol, the chances of heart attacks and other heart complications are massively reduced. If you want some more 'concrete' info and evidence etc on this, let me know, and I'll see if I can point you to some sources.

  37. #37
    Pilaf
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    Default Re: Is a vegan diet more healthy? Evidence please.

    Give him the best gift of his life. Go to Amazon.com and type The China Study in books. Order this for him and tell him to read it.

  38. #38
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    Default Re: Is a vegan diet more healthy? Evidence please.

    I'm sure you'll be able to find some useful info. from www.pcrm.org or anything written by Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. Michael Greger, Dr. Neal Barnard, and Dr. John McDoughall.
    "Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends". ~ George Bernhard Shaw.

  39. #39
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    Talking Re: Is a vegan diet more healthy? Evidence please.

    its the way you eat it.

    there are unhealthy vegans, and unhealthy omnis.

    a proper vegan diet does not lack in anything.

    the needed things for survival are :

    carbs,
    protiens,
    fats,
    vitimins,
    & minerals
    & other trace essential ingredients (such as amino acids ...ect)

    these things can be found in many different (vegan or omni things).

    if hes worried about his health, he should eat better.

    if hes worried about himself, the animals, and the earth, he should eat well and be a vegan.
    the aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, dunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.
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  40. #40
    ph63228
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    Default Re: Is a vegan diet more healthy? Evidence please.

    a well balanced vegan diet contains everything you need, protein, natural fats, you name it if were ment to eat it its in the vegan diet.

  41. #41
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    Default Re: Is a vegan diet more healthy? Evidence please.

    Do you need to persuade him that a vegan diet is healthier, or just that it's as healthy? The latter would probably be easier.

    Stephen Walsh's "Plant-Based Nutrition and Health" is quite a good source of health data (backed up with a bibliography of peer-reviewed studies in mainstream scientific journals) but the epidemiological data it contains suggest, I think, that vegans aren't any healthier than those who eat a small amount of meat. He does argue that they'd be healthier with some adjustments to the "typical" vegan diet IIRC.

  42. #42
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    Default Re: Is a vegan diet more healthy? Evidence please.

    more help, articles needed, please....

    CC????
    My turn of mind is so given to taking things in the absurd point of view that it breaks out in spite of me every now and then.

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  43. #43
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    Default Re: Is a vegan diet more healthy? Evidence please.

    My mom went dietary vegan for a week and she lost 10 pounds and her blood pressure dropped from 170/x to 130/x. I'm so pumped for her - she was on Atkins and although she supported my veg*ism, she felt she couldn't do it because of her blood sugar. I'm so happy that she's seeing that it can be good for her.

    THe key is in selecting whole gains.

  44. #44
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    Default Re: Is a vegan diet more healthy? Evidence please.

    PCRM has good reading on the Vegan diet: http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/v...ian_foods.html

    It describes the positive effect that the vegan diet has on heart disease, diabetes, gall stones, etc.

  45. #45
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    Default Re: The Healthiest Diet of All

    Only just read this, what a brilliant article. I'm going to pass it on to my friend whos worried about going vegan for 'health reasons.'
    My turn of mind is so given to taking things in the absurd point of view that it breaks out in spite of me every now and then.

    - Byron

  46. #46
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    Default Want to help the planet? Eat a salad.

    I searched to see if this has been posted and couldn't find it.

    http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/060511/veggie.shtml
    By Steve Koppes
    News Office


    Gidon Eshel (left) and Pamela Martin, both Assistant Professors in Geophysical Sciences and the College, have studied food production to measure how much food production processes burn fossil fuel that creates greenhouse gas emissions. They looked at production for five different diets, finding that a vegan diet is the healthiest for the planet. Together they prepare a salad for lunch in their lab.


    The food that people eat is just as important as what kind of cars they drive when it comes to creating the greenhouse-gas emissions that many scientists have linked to global warming, according to a report published in the April issue of the journal Earth Interactions.

    Both the burning of fossil fuels during food production and non-carbon dioxide emissions associated with livestock and animal waste contribute to the problem, the University’s Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin wrote in the report.

    The average American diet requires the production of an extra ton and a half of carbon dioxide-equivalent, in the form of actual carbon dioxide as well as methane and other greenhouse gases compared to a strictly vegetarian diet, according to Eshel and Martin. Cutting down on just a few eggs or hamburgers each week is an easy way to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, they said.

    “We neither make a value judgment, nor do we make a categorical statement,” said Eshel, an Assistant Professor in Geophysical Sciences and the College. “We say that however close you can be to a vegan diet and further from the mean American diet, the better you are for the planet. It doesn’t have to be all the way to the extreme end of vegan. If you simply cut down from two burgers a week to one, you’ve already made a substantial difference.”

    The average American drives 8,322 miles by car annually, emitting 1.9 to 4.7 tons of carbon dioxide, depending on the vehicle model and fuel efficiency. Meanwhile, Americans also consume an average of 3,774 calories of food each day.

    In 2002, energy used for food production accounted for 17 percent of all fossil fuel used in the United States. And the burning of these fossil fuels emitted three-quarters of a ton of carbon dioxide per person. That alone amounts to approximately one-third the average greenhouse-gas emissions of personal transportation. But livestock production and associated animal waste also emit greenhouse gases not associated with fossil-fuel combustion, primarily methane and nitrous oxide.

    “An example would be manure lagoons that are associated with large-scale pork production,” Eshel said. “Those emit a lot of nitrous oxide into the atmosphere.”

    While methane and nitrous oxide are relatively rare compared with carbon dioxide, they are—molecule for molecule—far more powerful greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide. A single pound of methane, for example, has the same greenhouse effect as approximately 25 pounds of carbon dioxide.




    In their study, Eshel and Martin compared the energy consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions that underlie five diets: red meat, fish, poultry, vegetarian (including eggs and dairy) and the average American diet, which consists of a little bit of everything, all equaling 3,774 calories per day. Some of the food containing these calories is discarded rather than eaten.

    The strict vegetarian diet turned out to be the most energy-efficient, followed by poultry and the average American diet. Fish and red meat virtually tied as the least efficient.

    The impact of producing fish came as the study’s biggest surprise to Martin, an Assistant Professor in Geophysical Sciences and the College. “Fish can be from one extreme to the other,” Martin said. Sardines and anchovies flourish near coastal areas and can be harvested with minimal energy expenditure. But swordfish and other large predatory species require energy-intensive long-distance voyages.

    Martin and Eshel’s research indicated that plant-based diets are healthier for people as well as for the planet.

    “The adverse effects of dietary animal fat intake on cardiovascular diseases is by now well established. Similar effects are also seen when meat, rather than fat, intake is considered,” Martin and Eshel wrote. “To our knowledge, there is currently no credible evidence that plant-based diets actually undermine health; the balance of available evidence suggests that plant-based diets are at the very least just as safe as mixed ones, and most likely safer.”

    In their next phase of research, Eshel and Martin will examine the energy expenditures associated with small organic farms, to see if they offer a healthier planetary alternative to large agribusiness companies. Such farms typically provide the vegetables sufficient to support 200 to 300 families on plots of five to 10 acres.

    “We’re starting to investigate whether you can downscale food production and be efficient that way,” Martin said.
    Last edited by flutterby; Jun 23rd, 2006 at 09:49 PM. Reason: This was the 1st post in a similar thread.
    ~Mel

    "Sweet songs the youth, the wise, the meaning of all wisdom...to believe in the good in man" - Legend

  47. #47
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default Study: Vegan diets healthier for planet, people than meat diets

    From The University of Chicago:


    The food that people eat is just as important as what kind of cars they drive when it comes to creating the greenhouse-gas emissions that many scientists have linked to global warming, according to a report accepted for publication in the April issue of the journal Earth Interactions.

    Both the burning of fossil fuels during food production and non-carbon dioxide emissions associated with livestock and animal waste contribute to the problem, the University of Chicago’s Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin wrote in the report.

    The average American diet requires the production of an extra ton and a half of carbon dioxide-equivalent, in the form of actual carbon dioxide as well as methane and other greenhouse gases compared to a strictly vegetarian diet, according to Eshel and Martin. And with Earth Day approaching on April 22, cutting down on just a few eggs or hamburgers each week is an easy way to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, they said.

    “We neither make a value judgment nor do we make a categorical statement,” said Eshel, an Assistant Professor in Geophysical Sciences. “We say that however close you can be to a vegan diet and further from the mean American diet, the better you are for the planet. It doesn’t have to be all the way to the extreme end of vegan. If you simply cut down from two burgers a week to one, you’ve already made a substantial difference.”

    The average American drives 8,322 miles by car annually, emitting 1.9 to 4.7 tons of carbon dioxide, depending on the vehicle model and fuel efficiency. Meanwhile, Americans also consume an average of 3,774 calories of food each day.

    In 2002, energy used for food production accounted for 17 percent of all fossil fuel use in the United States. And the burning of these fossil fuels emitted three-quarters of a ton of carbon dioxide per person.

    That alone amounts to approximately one-third the average greenhouse-gas emissions of personal transportation. But livestock production and associated animal waste also emit greenhouse gases not associated with fossil-fuel combustion, primarily methane and nitrous oxide.

    “An example would be manure lagoons that are associated with large-scale pork production,” Eshel said. “Those emit a lot of nitrous oxide into the atmosphere.”

    While methane and nitrous oxide are relatively rare compared with carbon dioxide, they are — molecule for molecule — far more powerful greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide. A single pound of methane, for example, has the same greenhouse effect as approximately 50 pounds of carbon dioxide.

    In their study, Eshel and Martin compared the energy consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions that underlie five diets: average American, red meat, fish, poultry and vegetarian (including eggs and dairy), all equaling 3,774 calories per day.

    The vegetarian diet turned out to be the most energy-efficient, followed by poultry and the average American diet. Fish and red meat virtually tied as the least efficient.

    The impact of producing fish came as the study’s biggest surprise to Martin, an Assistant Professor in Geophysical Sciences. “Fish can be from one extreme to the other,” Martin said. Sardines and anchovies flourish near coastal areas and can be harvested with minimal energy expenditure. But swordfish and other large predatory species required energy-intensive long-distance voyages.

    Martin and Eshel’s research indicated that plant-based diets are healthier for people as well as for the planet.

    “The adverse effects of dietary animal fat intake on cardiovascular diseases is by now well established. Similar effects are also seen when meat, rather than fat, intake is considered,” Martin and Eshel wrote. “To our knowledge, there is currently no credible evidence that plant-based diets actually undermine health; the balance of available evidence suggests that plant-based diets are at the very least just as safe as mixed ones, and most likely safer.”

    In their next phase of research, Eshel and Martin will examine the energy expenditures associated with small organic farms, to see if they offer a healthier planetary alternative to large agribusiness companies. Such farms typically provide the vegetables sufficient to support 200 to 300 families on plots of five to 10 acres.

    “We’re starting to investigate whether you can downscale food production and be efficient that way,” Martin said.

  48. #48
    jonjan
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    Default plant diets - Solid referenced benefits for Health, Envi. and Animals

    hello


    i've been vegan for 10 years (and organic non-gmo vegan for several years). Spreading an understanding of the animals is one of my main purposes in this life.

    I made a page (no ads, no selling) to present some of the solid benefits of moving towards a plant based diet. The benefits for Health, our Environment, and the Animals.

    the page is peaceful and easy to read. all the benefits are referenced to .edu or .gov sources with links. I've received a lot of compliments on the page, so please do see it, and see if it's worth sharing at other sites.. A few people said they are exploring vegetarianism after seeing the site

    http://www.helpusall.com/foodsummary.html

    The site is focused on people who are just learning about plant food diets, but the quality of the information makes the site useful to anyone wanting to know about more solid benefits, and have a site to give others to help enlighten them.

    Jon

  49. #49
    I eve's Avatar
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    Default Re: plant diets - Solid referenced benefits for Health, Envi. and Animals

    I'm also a long-term vegan, and I checked out your website - the only comment I'd make is that eating less meat is not my scene. Why not eat NO meat? To me, one of the best places to send anyone is to

    http://www.thechinastudy.com/about.html

    which is Dr T Colin Campbell's website for his China Study book. It is the very best book available, and was researched for many years. The China Study cuts through the haze of misinformation and delivers an insightful message to everyone, if they follow a plant-based diet.
    Eve

  50. #50
    Yoggy's Avatar
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    Default Study: Vegan diets healthier for planet, people than meat diets

    Not sure if this has been posted yet, but a quick search couldn't find anything.

    I came across this study that shows what we all knew anyway :

    Vegan diets healthier for planet, people

    I can't believe that the average daily calorie intake of Americans is 3774!

    The study compares the energy consumption required to produce 3774 calories of food for various diets, and guess which one came out to be most efficient
    Last edited by flutterby; Dec 7th, 2006 at 11:04 AM. Reason: this was the 1st post in a similar thread
    "Man can do as he wills, but not will as he wills" - Arthur Schopenhauer

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