Quote from macho grande:
Certainly eating a diet rich in vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds is healthy way to eat. But no one here has provided a single piece of evidence that meat and other animal foods eaten in moderation is harmful. Not you, not Nodoji, certainly not the CS. A "vegan" diet is not plant "based" it is plant only diet. Vegans often must supplement with zinc, VitD, B12, essential amino acids to make up for the lack of these in plants. (How can anyone suggest such a way of eating is optimum where supplementation with pills or artificially fortified food products is necessary?)
I'm still waiting for a study from any of you vegans (you know who you are) demonstrating that when calories are controlled meat, fish, eggs, dairy added to a plant based diet is deficient in nutrients, harmful to health or results in greater mortality.
You won't get such a study, because a whole foods diet including meats eaten in moderation is not harmful in and of itself.
Sadly, hardly anyone eats that way throughout their life. We grow up with a high risk of becoming addicted to refined foods and dairy products (especially cakes, cookies, candy, soft drinks, cheese, butter and ice cream). The average American doesn't eat even a fraction of the healthy whole foods required for good health. The end result is a high incidence of illness, much of which is life-threatening, and these illnesses are starting earlier and earlier.
Arterial plaques start in childhood, as early as 2 years of age in some children whose diets are especially dismal. Type II diabetes is occurring in children now, and obesity is nearly the norm.
The low fat whole foods vegan diet is proven to arrest and even reverse serious illness. It very likely prevents these illnesses as well, since cultures that eat whole foods, mainly plants, have extremely low rates of the chronic illnesses we consider a normal part of aging.
I turned to this diet following a cancer diagnosis because of the extensive research backing it as the optimal diet for disease prevention. Many additional health problems were cured and so I've been eating this way ever since. I have no desire to be in constant pain or to feel tired and sick again.
My addiction to the salt/fat/sugar combo is long gone, and I crave whole foods and have no desire for junk food anymore.
The ONLY supplement vegans may require is B12 after 3 years on a diet with no supplementation.
Plant protein is ample, pure, and complete (you don't have to combine foods either).
http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/protein.html
All other nutrients are fully supplied as long as you're eating a variety of whole foods.
Vitamin D isn't a vitamin, it's a hormone and the highest quality source of it is sunshine. Dairy products and vegan milk products are often fortified with D.
