How did VEGETARIANISM go from a way of life to a zealot religious origination?

To show how true your statement is you might want to visit:

http://www.beyondveg.com

As a side point, the vegetarian diet puts people at greater risk of heart disease by elevating homocysteine levels.



Ann Nutr Metab 2002;46(2):73-9


Effect of vegetarian diet on homocysteine levels.

Bissoli L, Di Francesco V, Ballarin A, Mandragona R, Trespidi R, Brocco G, Caruso B, Bosello O, Zamboni M.

Cattedra di Geriatria, Universita di Verona, Italy. luisa.bissoli~mail.azosp.vr.it

OBJECTIVE: To compare fasting total plasma homocysteine (tHcy) levels in vegans, lacto-ovovegetarians and control subjects, and to evaluate the relationships between tHcy levels and nutritional variables in vegetarians. METHODS: The study was conducted on 45 vegetarian subjects: 31 vegans (19 males, 12 females, mean age 45.8 +/- 15.8 years); 14 lacto-ovovegetarians (6 males, 8 females, mean age 48.5 +/- 14.5 years), and 29 control subjects (19 males, 10 females, mean age 43.4 +/- 16.7 years). tHcy was evaluated by high-performance liquid chromatography. Serum vitamin B(12) and folate were analyzed by automated chemiluminescence systems. Clinical records, nutritional and anthropometric variables were collected for all vegetarian subjects. RESULTS: tHcy was significantly higher in vegetarian subjects than in controls (23.9 +/- 21.3 vs. 11.6 +/- 4.9 micromol/l, p < 0.001). The prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia was higher in vegetarians than in controls (53.3 vs. 10.3%, p < 0.001). Serum vitamin B(12) levels were lower in vegetarians than in control subjects (171.2 +/- 73.6 vs. 265.0 +/- 52.2 pmol/l, p < 0.01; normal range 220-740 pmol/l). In vegetarian subjects, significant inverse correlations were found between tHcy and serum vitamin B(12) levels (r = -0.776, p < 0.001) and between tHcy and serum folate levels (r = -0.340, p < 0.05). Positive correlations were found between tHcy and mean red cell volume (r = 0.44, p < 0.01) and between tHcy and fat-free mass (r = 0.36, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Vegetarian subjects presented significantly higher tHcy levels, higher prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia, and lower serum vitamin B(12) levels than controls. Copyright 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel

I have come to realize that there are two types of vegetarians. The first type is the American zealots vegetarian. The American zealot vegetarian is bent on turning everybody into vegetarians by mostly spreading as much propaganda as possible. They even go as far as going to elementary schools knowing they can frighten children into vegetarian diets. Then there’s the other type of vegetarians are the true vegetarians this includes Buddhists. People assume the zealots are the same as their vegetarian counterparts throughout history but that is not the case. If you read the Dalai Lama’s writing on vegetarians you soon realize that vegetarians traditionally don’t see themselves as superior ethically all morally to people who eat meat as a matter of fact Buddhism allows the consumption of meat with the knowledge of compassion for the animals that they consume. Dalai Lama stated even vegetarians cause suffering among the animals therefore nobody who lives on these earth is completely ethnically clean from the suffering of animals. The reason why vegetarians contribute to the suffering of animals is because traditionally animals were used to harvest vegetables from the ground therefore are in some ways responsible for the suffering of the animal. Vegetarian is traditionally sought this as a type of a lifestyle to lessen the suffering of animals it was not to as American zealots vegetarians would like to believe superior to eating meat.

I think for many people, it becomes like the abortion debate or death penalty debate: if you don't care, you don't care. But if you DO care, then dammit, you *have* to raise awareness about this horrible thing that's going on; help, we have to put a stop to this, yadda yadda yadda. It really hits people's emotions.

But what irks me is that the zealots aren't content with telling people that meat-eating is unethical (I disagree, but I can accept that they might make that decision). Instead, they just...make up stuff about how the human body handles meat and why we're *obviously* evolutionary descendents of fruit-bats or somesuch. Despite the fact that everything in our physiology and anatomy suggests we're meant to be omnivores, they insist on creating fantasy science in which we're all vegans who somehow got led astray.

I'm fine with their ethical stance, even if they do try to push it on me; I don't have to listen, after all. I do get very annoyed at the junk science that some of these people stuff their minds with, though. The simple fact that we *can* digest meat more or less implies that we're *meant* to. No matter how much steak you feed a rabbit or how much lettuce you feed a cat, they won't develop a taste for it, nor will they be able to digest it.

I wish they'd take a few anatomy and physiology classes.