Posted on 01/30/2021 6:01:42 AM PST by karpov
Choosing to avoid meat and eat a plant-based diet has never seemed so virtuous and necessary. Between the intrinsic cruelty of industrial livestock production and livestock’s climate footprint—estimated by the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization to be 14.5% of all greenhouse gases world-wide, significantly greater than that of plant agriculture—it has become increasingly difficult to defend the place of meat and animal-sourced foods in our diets. Jonathan Safran Foer, the novelist turned animal-rights activist, may have best captured this thinking in his 2019 nonfiction book, “We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast.” As he writes, “We cannot keep the kind of meals we have known and also keep the planet we have known. We must either let some eating habits go or let the planet go. It is that straightforward, that fraught.”
An essential part of this argument is the proposition that animal-sourced foods, and particularly red and processed meats, aren’t just bad for the planet but harmful for the people who eat them. As the journalist Michael Pollan famously urged in his 2008 bestseller “In Defense of Food,” that is why we should eat “mostly plants.” This has become the lone piece of dietary counseling on which most nutritional authorities seemingly agree. It creates a win-win proposition: By eating mostly (or even exclusively) fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes, while getting our proteins and fats from plant-based sources, we maximize our likelihood of living a long and healthy life while also doing what’s right for the planet.
But is it that simple? A growing body of evidence suggests it isn’t, at least not for many of us.
The other food movement that has won increased acceptance over the past decade is the low-carbohydrate, high-fat ketogenic diet—keto, for short
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
What do they mean, “what if?” Hard to argue with thousands of years of history.
If you should see a known Democrat eating in a steakhouse, be sure to harass them.
Choosing to listen to anyone talk about diets has never seemed to make sense. Have you ever noticed that a lot of diet advocates are really messed up? Take Oprah for example: fat, ugly, dumb, leftist. Smell a vegan. Now that is messed up. People waste their time and money on diets usually to only temporary success. Repeating stupid and getting the same results over and over again.
The solution to a healthy body is quite simple. Don't listen to the government. Don't listen to the UN. Don't listen anyone pimping a diet. Simply eat what you want, just less of it. Then exercise and remain active.
“If the Good Lord didn’t intend for us to eat animals, then why did he make them out of meat?”
I agree. No IFs about it.
“The solution to a healthy body is quite simple. Simply eat what you want, just less of it. Then exercise and remain active.”
I want to eat refined white flour, sugar, macaroni, and bread. I can eat all that and remain healthy?
I don't want to do any of those things.
In general, when it comes to diets, I’d agree with you, but Keto really does work. The folks I know who have switched to Keto have seen dramatic improvements in their life, including coming off meds they’d been on for years.
In addition to your recommendations (eating less and exercise), I always tell folks if you can’t eat properly, at least watch three things: water, weight and sleep. Keeping your weight down, and getting plenty of water (I drink around a gallon a day) and sleep will do wonders for your health.
People never ate diets with no saturated fats and vegetable oil in everything.
Veganism is also extremely unnatural and is only sustainable with a Post-industrial society that allows people to take massive amounts of supplements to prevent nutrient deficiencies.
I’ve loss 30 pounds in the past five months on a Keto diet. No bread, sugar, pasta, potatoes. lots of red meat, fish, chicken, eggs, green vegetables. I also fast for a day every ten days or so. I feel great.
“Choosing to avoid meat and eat a plant-based diet has never seemed so virtuous and necessary.”
You shouldn’t trust them about diet to any greater degree than on any other subject. The Current Wisdom on diet and exercise is likely to do as much harm as good. Gary Taubes has done a lot to expose the lying that has gone into dietary recommendations.
Dietary fat doesn’t make people fat. That said, the mantra of “fat makes you fat” was a very clever way to trick people into compliance.
What this article omitted is oxalates - a sharp crystalline salt found mainly in plant foods that protect plants from insects and worms - a plant’s own natural pesticide. As we age and eat too much processed food preserved in high amounts of salt (canned food, packaged food) we disable calcium from dairy products and other foods. Thus, calcium does not get into our bones nor does it bind with oxalates we eat to hold the oxalates in check. The ox is sharp and eventually cuts open the gut, leading to leaky gut, digestion problems, brain fog, fatigue, breast cancer, heart attacks, etc. All disease starts in the gut. One of the reasons for excess oxalate in plant foods (spinach, almonds, chocolate, beets, vitamin C) is that food is grown in animal fertilizer which disables the plants enzymes that control oxalates. Then we eat ox with a diet high in salt as a preservative. A high fat diet triggers more oxalosis and disease. A meat diet can help but then this results in too much acidity - plants are alkaline. So low ox plants needed like iceberg lettuce, Romaine lettuce, onions, squash, for PH balance. Also, fungus found on plant foods (like cantalope) and high Vitamin C can produce excess oxalate in our own bodies. Antibiotics also wipe out enzymes and good bacteria that hold oxalate in check. Keto diet? No.
There is plenty of room on this planet for all of Gods creatures, right next to my mashed potatoes and gravy.
It cracks me up how 10-15 years ago people said leaky gut was pseudo-science and even now after all this new research about the importance of gut flora the medical establishment have essentially just stuck their fingers in their ears saying, “LA LA LA DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT!”
I could do all those things and still never loose any weight but then I get 80% of my cals from booze.
Good fats are critical for good health. The antifat hysteria has done tremendous harm. I have no doubt that many of garbage health and diet recommendations are intentionally bad to generate revenues for the BIG INDUSTRIAL MEDICAL complex. Yes boys and girls, there are greedy souless humanists who would do that.
“...diet recommendations are intentionally bad to generate revenues for the BIG INDUSTRIAL MEDICAL complex.”
Been saying that for a long time, especially Big Pharma. They make NO money off of healthy patients, or by curing you. The money comes from treating the symptoms, not curing the problems.
I think those of us who grew up very fat have a different need than those who never gained much weight. Once your hormone system gets way out of normal and you become insulin-resistant, you CAN use diet to regain the proper insulin response - but you will probably need to watch your diet careful for the rest of your life.
If bread starts to creep back into my life, weight starts to appear on my belly. I know a lot of folks who have no issue provided they eat bread in moderation. I’m not one - and that is a pity because I love bread!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.