"Should I Eat Meat"

[peachila]

Hello!

I was looking at a couple of posts on this website (link below). I mostly liked them because the writer was conveying skepticism aimed at drug companies (which I agree with). But then I stumbled upon this post:
http://thepeopleschemist.com/should-i-eat-meat/


It made me really mad... The writer seems to just throw these stupid arguments at you... and because most people don't know much about this topic, I'm pretty sure they took one look at their hamburger and were proud of themselves.
Not to mention the comments at the bottom.

"Almost every person I know who is “raw” or “vegan” looks terrible. On the women, their hair is thinning. They have red bloody gums. They can’t think straight. Their babies die. It’s really sad..."

What do you think?

[sandra]

I can't seem to get onto that article via your link but I did spot Gillian McKeith. I've seen that photo before, comparing her to Nigella Lawson. I would just like to say, (a) Gillian Mckeith isn't even vegetarian and (b) it is an unfair comparison as her photo is taken with her wearing no makeup and looking dishevelled whereas Nigella Lawson has a face full of makeup and ready to be photographed.

I have been vegetarian most of my life and vegan for around 7 years and I feel and look ok I think.

[harpy]

Statements beginning "Almost every person I know..." are pretty much worthless don't you think? Equally unscientifically you will get plenty of us hairy, brainy, pink-gummed vegans putting ourselves forward as counterexamples, but nobody is going to change their opinion on that basis.

It's probably more productive to discuss it on the basis of peer-reviewed studies. There are some listed here http://www.vegsoc.org/page.aspx?pid=784 for example.

[Blueberries]

hair is thinning

Haha, if they saw my hair! Its so thick that hairdressers get pretty exasperated with trying to thin it out!

[Robinwomb]

Haha, if they saw my hair! Its so thick that hairdressers get pretty exasperated with trying to thin it out!

Blueberries I have the same "problem"! My hair is VERY thick.

Personally I find that whole website on par with junk science. Not all "natural medicine" gurus are legitimate or sincere and a good many of them are in it to sell you something. I have been to a few quacks myself over the years hiding behind the "natural medicine" hype. Also, natural can mean just about anything. It isn't necessarily always the healthiest or best choice.

[Andy_T]

I have always found that to be very unfair - in the 20 years I was a vegetarian before turning vegan, I almost never met another vegetarian (let alone vegan).

But whenever I read a comment on a newsboard like that, it is obvious that every omni out there has known several malnourished, sickly-looking vegans and vegetarians, when I had never even met even a single one ;-)

Best regards,
Andy

[Mymblesdaughter]

I'm the same Andy, myself and my partner went vegan together but I didn't meet another Vegan for probably ten years until I worked at an animal charity. People were always saying how healthy we look in comparison to the vegans they knew. I don't think they knew any vegans. They just expect vegans to look unhealthy. Next time someone says this I'm going to quiz them about how many vegans they actually know.

I know this doesn't prove anything but all the vegans I've known have looked amazingly healthy.

[Barry]

My experience is pretty much the same as Andy and Mymblesdaughter. Over the past nine or so years, I've only known two people that were vegan (both pretty healthy for what it's worth), and even then, both of those people were vegan only briefly. Depending on who you believe, vegans make up between 0.5 to 1 per cent of the world's population. The probability of a non-vegan knowing enough vegans to make this kind of assessment is highly unlikely. Either way, the description in the OP - "their hair is thinning. They have red bloody gums. They can’t think straight", is reminiscent of many non-vegans I can think of.

[LouiseAbel]

I'm the same Andy, myself and my partner went vegan together but I didn't meet another Vegan for probably ten years until I worked at an animal charity. People were always saying how healthy we look in comparison to the vegans they knew. I don't think they knew any vegans. They just expect vegans to look unhealthy. Next time someone says this I'm going to quiz them about how many vegans they actually know.

I know this doesn't prove anything but all the vegans I've known have looked amazingly healthy.

I get that all the time, too. "You look really healthy for a vegan". I'm assuming it's because I wear make up/tan and am not skinny, not because I actually look healthy, but whatever. I don't know many vegans but I can't think of any who look pale and skinny, if that's what this "unhealthy look" is based on. I haven't checked their gums close up for a while, though.

[peachila]

When I became vegan, I was working somewhere with mainly women. We frequently talked about low hemoglobin levels and Ferrum/Iron levels. Many of them were anemic, including myself (before I became vegan).
A few weeks after turning vegan, my Ferritin and Ferrum levels skyrocketed. I was really impressed. The women around me all ate meat, and also went on monthly liver dinners for that extra iron. Apparently that didn't work too well. I was the only one there eating my regular vegan diet (without any supplements) and not anemic.

It surprises me how people can really just believe that what they think about vegans is the truth, without ever bothering to check...

[LouiseAbel]

monthly liver dinners

Lol! That made me laugh for some reason.