permaculture

[Toby Hemenway <hemenway@jeffnet.org>]

Robert Waldrop at rmwj@soonernet.com posted:

> The authors report that the
> animal-based diet that prevails in the industrialized world --- and is
> on the rise in many developing countries --- is linked to chronic
> degenerative conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and
> diabetes. 

If you go to the amazing website, http://www.beyondveg.com/index.shtml and
paw thru the scientific papers there (later I can give a more exact URL for
the reference, if need be) you'll see that there is no link between meat and
chronic disease, since many cultures that eat far more meat than ours have
less of these chronic diseases. The link is probably to our sedentary
lifestyle, processed and poisoned food, and a lot of other factors, all of
which are exacerbated by a high animal-fat diet. The above quote is another
example of coming to a conclusion first and bending the data to support it.

The website is maintained by  a former vegetarian and is full of
research--good, peer reviewed stuff--showing that the health benefits of
veganism and vegetarianism are very difficult to demonstrate and that many
of the claims for them are simply false. It's been useful for me when I run
into people who assume that permies must be vegetarian. But it's a huge site
and can take some time to digest (pun semi-intended). I tried for years to
be vegetarian, mostly out of guilt, and now that I eat meat again, am
healthier and feel more in tune with nature. I'm partial to the
predator-prey relationship; feels like an important one to have.

Toby