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Thread: "We think we are one, we act as if we are one, but we are not one"

  1. #1
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default "We think we are one, we act as if we are one, but we are not one"

    I just came across a well known comment from William C. Roberts, MD (editor in chief of The American Journal of Cardiology since June 1982). I thought I should post a link to the source of this frequently quoted comment, so people can see who/where it comes from.



    I'm not thinking about the thread title, but about "When we kill animals to eat them, they end up killing us because their flesh, which contains cholesterol and saturated fat, was never intended for human beings, who are natural herbivores."

    We have loads of discussions about this already, and William C. Roberts is only scratchin the surface with his little statement - and he doesn't even mention omnivores. Anyway, here's the link:
    http://www.baylorhealth.edu/proceedi...erts.html#ref4


    WE THINK WE ARE ONE, WE ACT AS IF WE ARE ONE, BUT WE ARE NOT ONE (4)

    Natural carnivores live on meat. Natural herbivores live on vegetables, fruits, and starches (rice, corn, potatoes, beans, pasta). Carnivores and herbivores are made differently (Table 1). Carnivores have claws and sharp teeth for ripping meat apart; herbivores have hands (unless they have hooves) for gathering food and flat teeth for grinding the vegetables, fruits, and grains. Carnivores have short bowels, rapidly digest flesh, and rapidly excrete the putrefying animal products. The time required for food to travel through their intestinal tract is short. Herbivores have long intestines so that there is plenty of time to digest the nutrients in the plants, fruits, and starches, and when these animals eat these foods, their transient times also are relatively short, despite their long intestinal tracts. Meat eaters pant to cool themselves and lap water; plant eaters, in contrast, sweat to cool and sip water. Carnivores synthesize their own vitamin C, which is virtually absent in meat and dairy products; herbivores obtain their vitamin C from plant foods in which it is abundant.



    Although human beings eat meat, we are not natural carnivores. We were intended to eat plants, fruits, and starches! No matter how much fat carnivores eat, they do not develop atherosclerosis. It is virtually impossible, for example, to produce atherosclerosis in a dog, even when 100 grams of cholesterol and 120 grams of butter fat are added to its meat ration (5). (This amount of cholesterol is approximately 200 times the average amount that human beings in the USA eat each day!) In contrast, herbivores rapidly develop atherosclerosis if they are fed foods, namely fat and cholesterol, intended for natural carnivores. Adding only 2 grams of cholesterol daily for 2 months to a rabbit’s chow, for example, produces striking fatty changes in its arteries. And humans are like rabbits, natural herbivores, not like dogs or cats, natural carnivores.

    Thus, although we think we are one and we act as if we are one, human beings are not natural carnivores. When we kill animals to eat them, they end up killing us because their flesh, which contains cholesterol and saturated fat, was never intended for human beings, who are natural herbivores.
    I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.

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    Knolishing Pob's Avatar
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    Default Re: "We think we are one, we act as if we are one, but we are not one"

    Most herbivores make their own vitamin C.

    I'm not convinced that this sort of argument is useful in promoting veganism, especially if it is possible for opponents to pick apart some of the statements. Once any part of his argument is shown to be flawed or untrue, then the rest will be ignored.

    Far better to promote veganism as for compassionate reasons, rather than evolutionary ones. Even a vegan diet is far removed from a "natural" herbivorous diet.
    "Danger" could be my middle name … but it's "John"

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    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default Re: "We think we are one, we act as if we are one, but we are not one"

    I'm not even sure if it's meant as an argument, and since veganism isn't mainly about diet, nobody goes vegan for health reasons anyway. If someone sees an argument they don't agree in and refuse to look at the others, they're definitely 'in denial'... but since we've had quite some requests from people asking about doctors/experts/dieticians etc recommending a vegan diet/warning against use of animal products, I'll keep posting material from such people.

    IMO Dr. Roberts is pointing at several interesting points in this little text - which is why I posted it - but what he writes won't convince anyone to go vegan. He pretty much says the same thing as Donald Watson said (see my signature). Dfter someone not long ago (about Watson) wrote that he doesn't "look to woodwork teachers to be the authoritative source as to what are humans genetically designed to eat", why not quote the many health professionals out there who supports living on a vegan diet?

    There are loads of them, and as you may know, I don't necessarily agree in everything written in articles I link to. But Dr. William C. Roberts has "with his colleagues published more than 1,150 articles on cardiovascular disease in medical journals" and "authored several books on cardiovascular disease, has spoken at more than 1,300 medical meetings and serves as editor-in-chief of The American Journal of Cardiology" so at least we won't risk that he will be defined as someone who "dropped out of school at age 14".
    I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.

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