Vegetarians

[dino24]

I eat meat and enjoy it I also enjoy it when we are given deer meat. We don't hunt cause I just can't stand the thought of shooting Bambi but I do love to eat deer so we have friends who hunt and we get meat from them. To each their own. If you choose to not eat meat that is fine also.

[Stacey32]

i'm vegetarian...almost vegan. I can't even imagine having to eat meat. I'd literally have to be starving. Even then I wouldn't feel good about it.

[MaryG1959]

I like the taste of meat, however, I feel awful about animals dying for my food. I feel bad about the meat trade....the torture --

I've wanted to become a vegetarian and have come up with a whopping two recipes.

I will no doubt do it one of these days---as when I pass a truck full of pigs or cows I want to "set them free"

To each his own.......I could never harm an animal--but if my grandson was starving I guess I'd change my views.

To each his own.

[Stacey32]

Ooh, this is a fun discussion! I love it because I'm vegetarian. First and foremost, I think we need to remember that we are all here to educate each other on the welfare of our birds. However, I recently read through this post and someone asked for a few research articles on vegetarianism. There are so many articles that I've read that support the way that I live. I go by how I feel. I've been a vegetarian (nearly vegan as I have no milk and only occasional dairy of any sort) for almost half of my life and I have never been anemic, low on any B vitamins, or had any health scare/concern as a result of my vegetarianism. And, I don't take vitamins or supplements. I eat a great varieties of vegetables and fruits. I don't struggle with my weight, I have an abundance of energy and I attribute much of that to my diet. That's how I know that vegetarianism is right for me! I do research things thoroughly, I know how statistics are twisted and how research can be flawed. I believe the beef and dairy industry twist many things as well. Anything to sell a one-sided view. For example, the “dairy helps you lose weight” campaign is very misleading. The dairy industry has 8 pages backing up their claims. These 8 pages of references/research articles consist of observational studies and flawed research designs due to small sample sizes and funding coming from Yoplait (General Mills) and the dairy council. The MD who led the studies took out a patent and requires dairy companies to pay him to cite his claim.
Looking into both sides, I choose to become a vegetarian. Here are a few articles to start with that support the health benefits of a vegetarian diet:

J. Chang-Claude et al., “Mortality Pattern of German Vegetarians After 11 Years of Follow-Up,” Epidemiology 3 (1992): 389-91.
The American Dietetic Association, “Position of the American Dietetic Association and Dieticians of Canada: Vegetarian Diets,” Journal of the American Dietetic Association 103 (2003): 748-65.
American Cancer Society, “Cancer Prevention and Early Detection: Facts and Figures, 2004,” 2004.
R.L. Phillips et al., “Coronary Heart Disease Mortality Among Seventh-Day Adventists With Differing Dietary Habits: A Preliminary Report,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 31 (1978): S191-8.
M. Thorogood et al., “Plasma Lipids and Lipoproteins in Groups With Different Dietary Practices Within Britain,” British Medical Journal 295 (1987): 351-3.
Dean Ornish et al., “Can Lifestyle Changes Reverse Coronary Heart Disease?” The Lancet 336 (1990): 624-6.
Yale University, “Animal-Based Nutrients Linked With Higher Risk of Stomach and Esophageal Cancers,” news release, 15 Oct. 2001.
Daniel DeNoon, “Diet Linked to Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma: Lots of Meat, Saturated Fat, Dairy May Raise Risk,” WebMD Medical News 9 Mar. 2004.
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, “Drug-Resistant Bacteria on Poultry Products Differ by Brand,” Johns Hopkins Public Health News Center 16 Mar. 2005.
“Drug-Resistant Bacteria Found in U.S. Meat,” Reuters Medical News, 24 May 2001.
With regards to the article listed earlier in this thread in “the scotsman”. If you read to the end it states:
"Professor Allen’s findings were taken from a group of Kenyan children who were probably not eating a balanced diet in the first place.
"I believe it would be wrong to conclude from her study that all vegan children in the world are undernourished."

My husband is not vegetarian. I think he is a good person and I love him dearly. I certainly don’t judge him. Most people believe that I would be anti-hunting. In actuality I respect hunters who eat the meat they kill and know where it comes from much more than the person who likes to remain ignorant to how the meat arrived on their plate. Only a very small part of me is vegetarian for health reasons. After looking into factory farming practices and the state and treatment of animals I cannot bear to think of eating animals.

I have not yet read the link that Graeh sent. However, I found another link myself. The following link has research studies promoting vegetarianism and many are from very reputable sources including American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, American Dietetics Association, amongst others.
http://www.internethealthlibrary.com...m-research.htm

• Abelow, B J et al. (1992) Cross-cultural association between dietary animal protein and hip-fracture. Calcified Tissue International v.50 p.14-18.
• Appleby, P et al. (1995). Emercy appendicectomy and meat consumption in the UK. BMJ v.49 p.594-596.
• Armstrong, B. (1977) Blood pressure in Seventh Day Adventist vegetarians. Am Jnl Epidemiology v.105 p.444-9
• British Medical Association (1986). Diet, nutrition and health. BMA, London.
• Burr, M & Butland, B. (1988) Heart disease in British vegetarians. Am Jnl Clinical Nutrition v.48 p.830-2.
• Claude-Chang, J et al. (1992) Mortality pattern of German vegetarians after 11 years of follow-up. Epidemiology v.3 (5) p.395-401.
• D’Amico, Get al. (1992) Effect of vegetarian soy diet on hyperlipidaemia in nephrotic syndrome. The Lancet v.339 p.1131-34.
• Dickerson, J & Davies, J. (1986) Consequences for health of a vegetarian diet, Postdoctoral thesis, University of Surrey.
• Doll, R. (1990) Symposium on diet and cancer. Proc of the Nutrition Society v.49 p.119-31.
• Dwyer, J T. (1988) Health aspects of vegetarian diets. Am .inI Clinical Nutrition v.48 p.712-38.
• Fraser, G et aI (1991) Diet and lung cancer in Seventh Day Adventists. Am Jnl Epidemiology v.133 p.683-93.
• Gear, J Set al. (1979) Symptomless diverticular disease and intake of dietary fibre. The Lancetv.1 p.511-14.
• Hall, R H. (1992) A new threat to public health: organochlorines and food. Nutrition & Health v.8 p.33-43.
• Johansson, Get aI. (1990) Shift from a mixed diet to a lactovegetarian diet: influence on some cancer-associated intestinal bacterial enzyme activities. Nutrition & Cancer v.14 p.239-46.
• Key, T J et al. (1998) Mortality in vegetarians and non-vegetarians: a collaborative analysis of 8,300 deaths among 76,000 men and women in five prospective studies. Public Health Nutrition
• Kjeldsen-Kragh, Jet aI. (1991) Controlled trial of fasting and one-year vegetarian diet in rheumatoid arthritis. The Lancet v.338 p.899-902.
• Margetts, B M et al. (1986) Vegetarian diet in mild hypertension: a randomised controlled trial. BMJ v.293 p.1468-71.
• Marsh, A Get al. (1988) Vegetarian lifestyle and bone mineral density. Am Jnl Clinical Nutrition v.48 (3) p.837- 41.
• Martin, M J et al. (1986) Serum cholesterol, blood pressure and mortality: implications from a cohort study of 361 662 men. The Lancet p.933-6.
• Millet, Petal. (1989) Nutrient intake and vitamin status of healthy French vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Am .inI Clinical Nutrition v.50 p.718-27.
• Mills P K et al. (1988) Dietary habits and past medical history as related to fatal pancreas cancer risk among Adventist men. Cancer v.61 (12). p.2578-85.
• Mills, P K et al. (1989) Cohort study of diet, lifestyle and prostate cancer in Adventist men. Cancer v.64 (3) p.598-604.
• Ornish, D et al. (1990) Can lifestyle changes reverse coronary heart disease ? The Lancet v.336 p.129-33.

And the thought that vegetarians aren’t getting a “complete protein” is also a farce. Here is a very non scientific article by an MD arguing the basic point, http://www.vegsource.com/attwood/complete_protein.htm
Sprouting also leads to an increase in protein. I never worry about protein, count protein grams or spend any time worrying about it. There is plenty of protein to be had in a veg diet. Someone also questioned/stated that they thought a gallbladder was to digest meat. The gallbladder stores bile which is responsible for fat digestion and enables the assimilation of fat soluble vitamins (D,A,K, and E). This is not primarily for meat digestion.

Anyway, now I've really lost it! I better go learn about birds :)
Stacey