You may feel better for awhile, but it won’t last and if you continue for many years on a vegan diet, you will endanger your health. I know this because of books but also because of personal experience.
I’ve never known or heard of a vegan who lived beyond the age of 70. All centenarians and super-centenarians ate meat…
There are at least an equal # of studies showing that eating meat is healthy… The above info about centenarians proves this… Also interesting to note is the new study that found that of nursing home residents, the ones w/ the higher cholesterol levels lived longest… (cholesterol levels rise when animal fat is consumed… although other things raise chol levels also).
I know a 96 yr old woman whose favorite meat is pork (ham). She just doesn’t eat a lot… and THAT is what is most important in longevity - not eating too much. I also know a man who is 99 - he eats meat all the time. All the super-centenarians I’ve studied ate meat.
Well, (from Hindu Business online) there’s this:
We were headed to the villages of Dah and Beema (pronounced Beama) in Leh district and Garkun and Darchik in Kargil district, and the intention was to spend a week studying the secret lives of a tribe of pure Aryans.
…]
There are about 1,000 descendants of the Aryan tribes and they live scattered around Gilgit, Hunza, Kargil and Leh. Being nature worshippers, they celebrate the Bononah (nature) festival and are strict vegans, which means they are not only strictly vegetarian but also don’t consume milk or milk products
…]
The few thousand Brok-pa Aryans have over 5,000 years lived in these hostile terrain at 15,000 ft altitude, subsisting on a vegan diet. Music and dance are a way of life for them. Both men and women wear colourful costume, decorating their hair with flowers, and are full of joi de vivre. They live in harmony with nature, and are cheerful and stress-free despite living in small rock shelters. They trek long distances.
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The weather in September is pleasantly cold, though temperatures in January can plummet to -20 degrees Celsius. There are an unusually large number of Aryans above 70 years. Many are active even at 90.
…]
Not knowing anyone who is a vegan who has lived past a certain age certainly doesn’t prove that a vegan diet is bad for you. Also, all research is not equal. While authors may cite a lot of research articles, it is worth looking at how many are peer reviewed. There is a a good article that just does the bean counting on the reserach for each side, and the articles promoting a vegetarian or vegan diet do better as far as quality of journals and peer review go.
But, even if you are convinced that eating meat is the healthier option, does that really make it acceptable to ridicule vegetarians, or make them feel unwelcome? Is it OK to keep throwing out the same tired vegetarian jokes? (God made animals out of meat…hahaha…vegetarian means poor hunter…etc.)
When a new person comes to a Church function, who is considering RCIA, getting involved with the parish, or just wants to learn more about the Catholic faith, and they mention that they are a veg*n, would you welcome them and be accomidating to their dietary needs? Or, would you tell them that they are wrong, ridicule them, and suggest that they don’t belong?
There are a lot of people who visit these forums to learn more about the Catholic faith. Is this the impression that you want them to take away?