For those of you who don’t know, I wrote an article on FA discussing Vegan and Vegetarianism. It was meant to be a tongue in cheek article about the claims that people make that being vegetarian or vegan is superior in health. The take home point of the whole article was that no studies show this. The only studies that make a clear declaration are ones pitted against the “average American diet.”
If you want to be vegan or vegetarian for moral or political issues, that is fine. If you are trying to make a health stance as being superior, this is where I have an issue. It was also supposed to highlight what to do if you are going to be vegan and vegetarian to make sure your supplemental bases were covered.
The amount of anger and mail I received on this is a bit shocking to be honest. Some were praising me for shooting Bambi (which I don’t do), and others were stating that I have hate for vegans and vegetarians. This is funny because not only do I not hate, I was vegetarian for a period of time. Most people had a problem with the “tone” of the article. I will say that it came out wrong and not really how I intended it, but I will leave it at that. In short, it was not meant as an attack. Some of you were aggressive, yes you “Cindy Lou” and some were more polite and provided valid arguments. I particularly enjoyed Ryan’s over at the PN board. If you are going to argue, even if I don’t agree, I respect valid point being made.
Now that this is settled, let me answer the top questions and picks that people had at me about that article.
#1-Defining Veganism and Vegetarians on an extreme marker.
From my references and research, I stand by that vegetarians means no eating of meat, and vegan stands for not eating of any animal product or supporting industries that test, use, or abuse animals. That doesn’t mean that their can’t be dietary “vegans” but, for me, it is hard to separate the two. I will note that people can just not like eating meat or any animal by products and wear fur. I don’t get it, but to each their own. That is a complete personal bias/opinion and should note denote definition. Hope that is clear. If I could amend something to the article, I would amend that and state that I do feel that it is more of a fluid definition.
Vegan and Vegetarian are “club” terms. Different chapters have different meanings to some degree. I am willing to point to the fact that to some people my statement is truly wrong, and to others, it is 100% right. I will also note that a lot of people differ on who coined the terms vs who coined the lifestyle. Some say it started in the 40’s, but I note text that leads to century’s ago. Still, this is not my area of expertise. It is hard for me from my personal history to separate the political. What I care about most is the nutrition, and I will stick to that. I do apologize though for letting a personal lifestyle experience come across (wasn’t the intent) as a “standard definition.”
#2- Eggs and Milk are horrible protein suggestions
I am getting to the point to where I am wondering what is actually okay to eat in this day and age. Funny that the same people who have been denouncing carbohydrates and shoving egg whites and cottage cheese for years are now saying “OMG NO! Not MILK! Not Eggs!”
Reason #1-Lactose Intolerance.
While this is an issue it is not as high of one as they think it is. Also, numerous studies have shown that the dairy can aid in helping reverse the issue and increase good bacteria. See:Yogurt
Reason #2-Eggs are a high allergy food
While it is a popular allergy, the majority of the time it affects children. Meaning if you ate eggs as a kid and were fine, then chances are you are going to be alright. Egg allergies have shown low instance in building through the years, versus something like Gluten. Also, you need to understand what an allergy really is and does. It is highly aggressive and makes you very sick or is lethal. Intolerance is possible for some adults, even then it is rare, and also easy to test if that is a concern.
Reason #3-Dairy gives you cancer
This is the result of mis-reading data or being tunneled in your data. Here are some great studies that show a lot of research to find a connect between dairy and cancer. To add to that, there is a huge difference, again as we talk about, a “trend,” “link,” and “cause/effect.”
Milk/dairy products consumption, galactose metabolism and ovarian cancer: meta-analysis of epidemiological studies.
No association of consumption of animal foods with risk of ovarian cancer.
There are loads more. Some better than others, some just as bad as the survey studies they try and use to make their case. There are also tons of studies that intake a dairy not only helps, but can prevent other kinds of cancers. The truth is we can’t be 100% sure on either side yet, but I lean more towards milk being better for you and so does the research. What kind of milk is what we are still looking at, the kind of dairy. That is were, personally, I think is going to be the shinny light in the future.
#3-Studies show veg heads win!
I great study to pull out would be this…
Vegetarian diets, chronic diseases and longevity.
http://www.bmj.sk/2008/10910-10.pdf
In this study it discusses the health and longevity of people in some of the healthiest populated areas of Europe. The data shows that those who they deem as “semivegetarian” (which to me mean not at all) have the longest life expectancy.
It is a great study and raises a lot of my very points which are…
- Can you ever control the variables of this to test it in the first place?
- How many of these studies can be taken as gospel on either side when there are always going to be outliers.
- It appears that “movement” is just as much of a factor as diet.
- There are downfalls to an all vegan diet without supplementation.
- Obviously those who are vegetarian are more likely to have a healthier overall lifestyle, be less likely to smoke, have lower stress, etc. However, is that diet? Can not eating meat influence healthy activities and being social life? Now THAT would be an interesting study.
“It is the abundant consumption of fruits and vegetables, not the exclusion of meat, that makes vegetarians healthy.”
I don’t think many statements have been made better than this on the topic.
To add some more…
Vegetarian diets are inferior in this regards
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Table 1: Digestibility of common protein foodsFood source Protein digestibility (%)
Egg 97
Milk and cheese 97
Mixed US diet 96
Peanut butter 95
Meat and fish 94
Whole wheat 86
Oatmeal 86
Soybeans 78
Rice 76Source: National Research Council. Recommended Dietary Allowances, 10th ed. National Academy Press, 1989.
and this…
Soy protein inferior to milk post-workout in terms of stimulating acute protein synthesis
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Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Apr;85(4):1031-40. Links
Consumption of fluid skim milk promotes greater muscle protein accretion after resistance exercise than does consumption of an isonitrogenous and isoenergetic soy-protein beverage.
Wilkinson SB, Tarnopolsky MA, Macdonald MJ, Macdonald JR, Armstrong D, Phillips SM.Exercise Metabolism Research Group, Department of Kinesiology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
BACKGROUND: Resistance exercise leads to net muscle protein accretion through a synergistic interaction of exercise and feeding. Proteins from different sources may differ in their ability to support muscle protein accretion because of different patterns of postprandial hyperaminoacidemia. OBJECTIVE: We examined the effect of consuming isonitrogenous, isoenergetic, and macronutrient-matched soy or milk beverages (18 g protein, 750 kJ) on protein kinetics and net muscle protein balance after resistance exercise in healthy young men. Our hypothesis was that soy ingestion would result in larger but transient hyperaminoacidemia compared with milk and that milk would promote a greater net balance because of lower but prolonged hyperaminoacidemia. DESIGN: Arterial-venous amino acid balance and muscle fractional synthesis rates were measured in young men who consumed fluid milk or a soy-protein beverage in a crossover design after a bout of resistance exercise. RESULTS: Ingestion of both soy and milk resulted in a positive net protein balance. Analysis of area under the net balance curves indicated an overall greater net balance after milk ingestion (P < 0.05). The fractional synthesis rate in muscle was also greater after milk consumption (0.10 +/- 0.01%/h) than after soy consumption (0.07 +/- 0.01%/h; P = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Milk-based proteins promote muscle protein accretion to a greater extent than do soy-based proteins when consumed after resistance exercise. The consumption of either milk or soy protein with resistance training promotes muscle mass maintenance and gains, but chronic consumption of milk proteins after resistance exercise likely supports a more rapid lean mass accrual.
That is a small, small amount of data.
#4 – Everyone has to take the same supplements, veg or not.
I will give you that. I would absolutely recommend roughly the same amount of supplementation for both vegans and meat eaters. However, who is going to suffer worse from missing their pills? Some studies also show that uptake can be an issue regardless of supplementation.
There is also research to show that even low levels of meat eating can still cause problems.
Causes of vitamin B12 and folate deficiency.
USDA, ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA. lindsay.allen@ars.usda.gov
This review describes current knowledge of the main causes of vitamin B12 and folate deficiency. The most common explanations for poor vitamin B12 status are a low dietary intake of the vitamin (i.e., a low intake of animal-source foods) and malabsorption. Although it has long been known that strict vegetarians (vegans) are at risk for vitamin B12 deficiency, evidence now indicates that low intakes of animal-source foods, such as occur in some lacto-ovo vegetarians and many less-industrialized countries, cause vitamin B12 depletion. Malabsorption of the vitamin is most commonly observed as food-bound cobalamin malabsorption due to gastric atrophy in the elderly, and probably as a result of Helicobacter pylori infection. There is growing evidence that gene polymorphisms in transcobalamins affect plasma vitamin B12 concentrations. The primary cause of folate deficiency is low intake of sources rich in the vitamin, such as legumes and green leafy vegetables, and the consumption of these foods may explain why folate status can be adequate in relatively poor populations. Other situations in which the risk of folate deficiency increases include lactation and alcoholism.
As a final note on supplementation and its importance in a vegan diet, from someone I actually don’t agree with on a lot of things, but he himself states the problem…
Dr. Joel Fuhrman: Most vegans fall short in that they follow the same suboptimal and outmoded nutritional recommendations as omnivores, utilizing grains or white potatoes as the major source of calories in the diet and wind up eating a diet low in high phytochemical foods such as green vegetables and raw nuts and seeds. They do not understand that 90 calories from a pretzel or white potato does not have the nutrient richness of 90 calories from a kiwi or red kidney beans. Without the knowledge of nutrient density they are eating in the dark and not optimizing their longevity.
The second serious error of the vegan community is the heavy use of fake meat and cheese analogues usually made from soy and almost always high in salt. Besides the lack of nutrients and high levels of acrylamides in these highly processed foods, with continuation of the high salt diet hemorrhagic strokes are even more likely in a vegan than in a person on a heart-disease promoting diet rich in animal products. Consuming salted foods should not be taken lightly; it is a killer.
The third error common in the vegan community is the lack of concern for individual differences which may heighten nutritional requirements in some individuals, especially the elderly, which make it advisable to supplement when appropriate with Vitamin D, B12, Taurine, DHA, or iodine, for example, to assure that no one develops a medical condition as a result of sub-optimal nutritional intake. To better assure nutritional completeness I recommend to my patients my vegan multi Gentle Care Formula and my vegan DHA Purity, and then if not getting regular sunshine to also add a Vitamin D supplement. Many vegans think supplementing with B12 is enough to guarantee nutritional excellence for most people. Long-term nutritional deficiencies are not harmless.
Again, I list this because his stances have been used twice in discussion in opposition towards me on this subject. If this is his stance, then why so against me saying it is important too?
At the end of the day I do not have a hate or problem with vegans or vegetarians. I do have a problem with superstitions, cherry picking, and superiority. Notice, I am not claiming meat eating is superior, because technically I can’t yet from research. I can say that I lean towards it being better, and that there are more flaws then veggies are seeing. I personally think overall balance diet and movement are the keys to overall health and performance. This balance includes animal based protein sources. Because of all of this I am going to dive even deeper into the research, for now as it stands, I stand by my stance.
Leigh
I read that article and was quite frankly, shocked, at the mis-interpretation that so many had. I could not believe that type of rhetoric, even from the ones who “regularly read your blog” – obviously not enough or they would not have gone so far overboard from your intention. I personally thought it was a great read and particularly agreed with the whole having to turn the channel when that ASPCA commercial comes on. That one KILLS me and I must turn it off.
But anyhow, it is SO like you to come back and explain and try to clear it up. You are TOO AWESOME!
Admit it. You’re just a hater, living in haterville, drinking a hateraide.
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Thanks for tackling what is obviously a sensitive issue.
Nice response. I think some people are just overly sensitive about certain things and take anything that could even hint at criticism personally. oh well…
Enjoyed the original article and this response as well.
There are some vegetarians and vegans who are self righteous and a pain in the ass.
The same is true of some non-vegetarians.
As a vegetarian, I have been 1) equated with Nazis 2) accused of child abuse 3)told I’m unchristian 4)told I’m mentally handicapped… the list goes on. The level of vitriol is such that I now assume that there’s a gang of vegetarians running around and kicking everyone in the shins.
This might explain some of the defensiveness. I was a little hurt when I read your article–I generally trust your advice and enjoy reading your blog. I’m not even sure why I *was* hurt, maybe because the anti-veg crowd doesn’t need their ego stroked any more than the pro-veg crowd does. (There are some extremely anti-vegetarian people in the world.)
These are my only quibbles with the article:
The e. Coli spinach debacle was caused by manure runoff from a neighboring cattle farm.
Most of the corn and soy grown in this country go to feed to livestock.
The negative environmental impact of *industrial* meat production is very real.
Anyway. I hope the veg wingnuts didn’t convince you that we’re all psychotic. Most of us are normal folk who’d just rather eat lentils then lamb.
I have been a vegetarian for over 10 years and was vegan for 3 — for ethical reasons. Personally, I can’t separate animals into categories that are acceptable to kill and eat — I was upset at the idea of killing a creature that, to me, was not that different from my beloved dogs. I think animals are smarter than we give them credit for.
So after being vegan for 3 years, I was feeling exhausted, not seeing results other than newbie fat loss, and was having such bad cravings that I could eat 4 chocolate bars in a sitting. Basically, I thought, if there’s no animal products, it’s ok, and I ate quite a bit of “healthy” junk food. I added free range eggs and organic cottage cheese back into my diet because of the amount of weight training I was doing. I struggled with this for a while, but I figured, someone should support the farmers who treat their animals well and let their chickens run around outside, etc. It’s really factory farming that I am against. I still can’t bear the thought of eating meat, but I am able to enjoy certain animal products and feel good about it.
I would like to say thank you for posting this follow-up. I didn’t feel offended by the original article, but I did sense a slight bit of irritation, maybe? towards the more in-your-face vegetarians. Anyway, I do appreciate reading all of the studies and information that you posted and will continue to read your blog obsessively.
Dying for more podcasts, by the way!
Just to comment briefly on the milk issues. I feel that it’s grossly overstated just how many people are allergic/lactose intolerant. I just do not buy it. I have consumed dairy my entire life. All of my friends in school growing up did the same. Everyone I know right now consumes dairy products. If milk were that bad and everyone was lactose intolerant, then they would have to stop selling it because there would be no market for it!
end of rant
JC-
While this has nothing to do with vegetarianism (or at least not much), lactose intolerance is extremely commonplace. I’m going to go out there and guess that most of your friends have European ancestry and that you live in the US or western Europe? This isn’t a dig; this scenario would explain why your anecdotal evidence does not reflect statistical fact.
Lactose *tolerance* is a beneficial mutation that is very recent in human history. For more information, see this rather concise explanation of the evolution of lactose tolerance and its distribution over global population:
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/news/070401_lactose
I’ve been a vegan for a couple years. I’m not offended. We are all allowed to express our opinion as long as we do so respectfully.
No stress about your article. It’s good to debate topics like this as most of us like sitting the fence. I have been vegan for the last 2 years and vegetarian for 10, my reasons being for both health and animal cruelty – factory farming aghhh! Strength levels are good, two wins in taekwondo tournaments.
A vegan diet needs to be done properly. Salad and potatoes doesn’t cut it. It takes more time to prepare properly but that’s what I do. Meat turns me off, lentils on the other hand…
Each for their own and live and let live.
[...] organic is not always better (hint: try local first), for the love of kale, the vegetarian wars (here and here), low-carbing in Mexico, scientific Super Bowl [...]
“I personally think overall balance diet and movement are the keys to overall health and performance. This balance includes animal based protein sources” I would agree that a balanced diet(mixed diet)and movement contribute to overall health and performance. Yes this should include animal based protein sources. Freedman et. al. (2001) found “When individuals consume foods from all food groups, it is more likely that their diet will be nutritionally adequate”
“Consuming salted foods should not be taken lightly; it is a killer.” This is a common logical fallacy often referred to as Hasty Generalization. Where is the evidence for this statement. At the very least it should have read excessive intake of salted foods. Luft and Weinberger (1997)”In some hypertensive individuals, decrease in blood pressure with salt restriction are clinically significant and approach that achieved with medication. In others, little or no change in blood pressure occurs, whereas in still others, blood pressure may actually increase with salt restriction”. Franco and Oparil (2006)”High dietary sodium has been adduced as a cause of hypertension and its target organ damage for millennia; yet careful observations using sophisticated techniques have revealed only a weak relationship between sodium intake/excretion and blood pressure in the general population. Further, studies of the effects of dietary sodium reduction on blood pressure have revealed minimal achieved reductions in blood pressure, no relationship between the magnitude of reduction in sodium intake/excretion and blood pressure effect, and no evidence of an effect of sodium reduction on death or cardiovasuclar events”. The evidence does not support the proclaimation that sodium wrecks health. Various factors (insulin resistance,abnormalties in SNS,endothelial dysfunction, etc.) contribute to the bodies overall response to sodium. Sounds like a good subject for an article. Ok the sodium rant is over.
The majority of evidence does not support the contention that vegan or vegetarian diets are superior vs some other diets in regards to health. I think it is very hard to convince some vegetarians of this just as it is hard to convince low carb enthusiasts their way is not the only way or the most nutritionally sound way. Evidence does not seem to matter as they have developed a heightened ideological immune system (as referred to by Social scientist Jay Snelson).Excerpt From Borderlands of Science (Shermer 2001)regarding ideological immune system: “The consequence of this,however, is that he builds up an immunity against new ideas that do not corroborate previous ones. Like a biological immune system that protects the body by warding off foreign bacteria and viruses, this system works against the acceptance of revolutionary ideas into the body of accepted knowledge”.
As long as intent is positive, an effort towards accuracy is being made. I appreciate the effort to reach out to vegans/vegetarians here, find some common ground. As an ethical vegan for 6 years (ovo-lacto for much longer), I can say that there are as many different ways to do the diet as there are vegans–vegan seems fringe, but there is huge, huge variety possible. And that’s why you won’t find any clear data on if vegans live longer. You can do it well or poorly, and that’s not even including individual differences.
But one thing is clear–you can be far and vegan. You can be thin and vegan. And you can accomplish just as much athletically on a vegan diet. I have observed it it all.
http://www.veganhealth.org/ is another resource you can direct people to–it’s written by an ethical vegan dietician. He promotes a vegan diet solely for ethical purposes and is only looking to improve people’s success with the diet. He makes no claims about health benefits beyond what you would and talks frankly about possible downsides.
Missy-Yeah, to be honest I was a little surprised at the reactions. I have learned recently though, if you are misunderstood, the fault usually lies in your hands. I am going to try to put a better focus on how I put my information out there in the future.
Tonya-Ha damn right, you caught me.
Sinead-Thank you gorgeous.
Shan-”These are my only quibbles with the article:
The e. Coli spinach debacle was caused by manure runoff from a neighboring cattle farm.
Most of the corn and soy grown in this country go to feed to livestock.
The negative environmental impact of *industrial* meat production is very real.”
I agree with this point, there has also been issues with just veggie alone as well though. The overall point is that you can’t be sure what is safe in either direction.
I also would never think it was a crazy thing to love animals.
Anna-”I didn’t feel offended by the original article, but I did sense a slight bit of irritation, maybe?”
My only irritation about any of this, is the “eating meat is going to kill you” attitude that some can have. The idea that eating a vegetarian diet being leagues healthier, without evidence to support, is what bothers me.
The act of protecting animals, or having a kind heart, that shouldn’t bother anyone. That is just a difference of opinion and world view.
Jamie-I agree the salt issue is blown out of the water. People have an ongoing misunderstanding about the subject. There is so much positive research about the benefits of salts and I am actually releasing an article on this soon.
For the record I only quoted the one section (and put so in the post) to show that the people the opposition was trying to use against me on supplementation, were saying the same things in that area, and that area only.
Ethel-Thanks for sharing the site, I am going to look into that.
The truth is that the more clear cut the information is out there, the healthier people who do make the decision based on ethics will be.
I do think eating meat is healthier (in the optimal shooting for excellent health kind of way). If I were to become a vegetarian then it would be for ethical reasons, not health related ones.
Hi! I’m obviously behind on my reading – just came across this post today! How well-timed: this week I decided to eat vegan! I’m an omnivore and love meat but because I’m curious and my health hasn’t been as good as it could be lately the timing seemed right. I especially wanted to see how I might feel without cottage cheese and yogurt – I love them, they’re my healthy comfort food, but they often leave me feeling bloated. Um, don’t they??
I’m a great fan of Precision Nutrition and their director of eduction, Ryan Andrews, is dietician, trainer, and vegan. What’s fascinating is that by his own admission his choice is an ethical one and that from a purely nutritional perspective he’d be better served as an omnivore.
The fact is that you can be an omnivore and eat crap or eat incredibly well. Likewise, when you consider how many unhealthy foods contain neither meat, dairy, or eggs, you can see how it’s possible to be an ethical but unhealthy-eating vegan or vegetarian.
One thing that my vegan experiment is doing for me is opening up my world of protein choices. In doing so I’m taking in more fiber than ever before (mainly through legumes and vegetables but also via amaranth and quinoa) and so I am eating more high yield foods than ever before. It’s a bit more “work” than throwing some meat on the grill but for the first time in a long time my conscience feels good. And I’m definitely full!
When I get back on meat again the lesson I will take with me is that rather than relying on factory-raised meat and cottage cheese for the protein in almost all of my meals, I will be much better off choosing whole, plant-based foods and supplementing with less, better quality meat such as local game (available at my supermarket). Instead of buying several pounds of meat every week I will buy less and put more thought into the quality and variety of all my choices.
I also think nut milks are COOL!!!!!
Thanks, Leigh, for doing good!
It is surprising how nasty vegans can be, but not when you consider many of them are vegan for ethical reasons. Ethical gets translated into moral, and morality falls under the purview of religion. Religion is characterized by dogmatism: “There’s only one truth.” I considered being a vegan but decided against it after observing their behavior and attitudes.
And there are so many vegan/vegetarian diets. You can be vegetarian and still be a junk food junky. Some still base their meals on meat as a main dish, so they substitute with soy or some other highly processed food for the meat and eat plants as a side dish. Then you’ve got the raw food gourmets who are consuming massive amounts of fats. Then there’s the 811s who are eating mostly fruit or the natural hygienists who are downing blended salads. What a quagmire!
While I eat very little meat, I live with carnivores (cats), and they go through about 2 to 3 pounds of meat a day.
I’m happy to have found your blog (through Yaro). Keep calling ‘em as you see ‘em!
Hi, Leigh!
and tell you that all his strength his taking from green plants and occasionally ants or other insects;-)
First of all – I like your blog and am happy that it has an influence on so many people.
I am vegetarian for most of my life and vegan from few and mostly raw foodist ( which isn’t the term I like ) since few years.
Recently I started study under Dr. Tel-Oren, M.D. C.D. and many many more. Amazing guy if you want to REALLY dive into INDEPENDENT (!!!) study of nutrition.
Sorry , but I don’t look for information like most do.
I did, before I’ve change my lifestyle, but now it is almost exclusively THE DISCUSSION WITH MY OWN BODY.
I see how people are disconnected with their bodies. They will believe all the major companies that support $$$ not health and peak performance nutrition.
Of course I am talking about MEAT/DAIRY/SOY industries.
That is what you see all these ads in TV, hear them on radio non-stop-color. The $$$ is huge, and LEIGH, they will do almost ANYTHING SO YOU WILL NOT FIND OUT WHAT THE TRUTH REALLY IS.
First : read : FOOD REVOLUTION OR CHINA STUDY. These guys did not get rich through whatever they sell or teach.
I tried some meat after I went vegetarian and sorry-once the body knows how to work and what it needs, it can not handle the toxic load.
No one knows what we have been eating at the BEGINNING, but most probably it was whatever grew in the tropics.
I want even mention how many genes we share with gorilla
Most vegetarians live of pastas, that has nothing to do with nutrition. Vegans don’t supplement B12, no one supplements vit.D.
, but what it tells us is that the body will SUPPORT you and help you whatever long it takes to make you ..ok.
Meat eaters have B12 deficiency , because once the meat is cooked B12 is not active or whatever left is not absorbable.
Yes, nutrition is BIG, at some point it does not matter if one is vegan or not.
It is always a choice of being ok, good or the best ever.
Allergies don’t show up right after consumption usually. The body is so smart that will store the toxic load for some time but will ask for help later. Hopefully it won’t be too late;-)
I’ve heard about the guy who ate the plane!! parts of glass or metal!
It does not tell us that WE WERE MENT TO BE METAL-EATERS
And nobody knows what we’ve been eating at the BEGINNING. Most probably it was anything that grew in the tropics.
Ok, that’s it for now
I will read you, Leigh and maybe you can stop by at my blog one time!
All the best!
Marta
- sorry for all the misspelling but I was rushing and under very weird circumstances
Hi again Leigh,
I’ve responded to your article already on FA. I fully understand that superiority ‘thing’. I get it from both sides as I am a pescetarian. Not to mention its when I am eating that people seem to want to discuss my diet choice. I just want to eat my food in peace!!!
I just want to add one little tidbit I’ve learned over the years. The bacteria in fermented foods produce b12. Unfortunately the processing, packaging and heat kills it off. I don’t worry about b12 since I am a pescetarian, but I do make this homemade fermented grain drink. If done right the smell is a bit disgusting, but at least the b12 isn’t killed off. Now, I don’t know the exact levels of b12 it contains, altho sometimes I wish I had a lab of my own to test things. However, I do know it puts good bacteria in my body which helps to offset my slight lactose intolerance (don’t know why, but I can consume more dairy???) and its done wonders to clear off my skin.
Anyway, there is always going to be some people out there who have a problem with something you will write, but it was nice of you to write another article explaining your point. Just keep writing & you’ll still have plenty of fans.
just re-read my post. can someone please clean up my grammar, /*cringe!*/
Oh! How nice !
Epona, I wish you would speak Polish like I speak English
Hi Leigh,
Great post. I remember hearing a comment made about religion by John Ortberg (pastor) and the majority of the differences is “what you eat/don’t eat” and “when you practice your Sabbath”. From what I’ve seen, heard and read, many people use the same practices when it comes to their personal diet/nutrition beliefs and have just as much passion when talking about it. I am one who believes fervently in finding out what works for you and leave others to find their own…just like religion.
I agree, Tamikka.
So many people can learn about their religious addictions they have had since ages once they’re trying to stop eating something ( usually not beneficial for them ). And we are not talking about coffee
It could be a challenge to admit that we’re doing ( or eating ) this particular thing because of habits .
Just because that person eats something does not necessary mean that she/he found out what really works for him/her.
This is the tricky part – to figure out if whatever we are putting into the body is what the body really needs or maybe just some cravings and addictions.