Ann Vole wrote:
For a promoter of veganism, Jane
Plant has a good name for it! Here is her story:
http://www.cancersupportinternational.com/jane.aspShe definitely has the name for it. Interesting the difference between western rates and Asian (in this case, Chinese) rates of cancer.
"Chinese colleagues showed a background rate of breast cancer of 1 in 100,000 women., compared to a rate of one in ten in much of the West."
"I remembered when we had had Chinese visitors in London and offered them dairy even ice cream their reaction to it was the way I would react if I had been offered a bowl of cockroaches to eat."
"At the same time, as a scientist, I wanted to know why giving up dairy and being on a vegan diet had overcome my cancer, ....."
"The next question that came up more and more was if I give up dairy won't I get osteoporosis and where will I get my calcium from?"
Quote:
I researched the scientific literature on this subject and found that dairy especially cheese actually appeared to be bone damaging, moreover once again women in China had incredibly low rates of this condition compared to western women who had lots of dairy in their diet. In fact, the highest dairy consuming countries also have the highest levels of osteoporosis (see Food Factor 1).
My husband was asked to volunteer for a series of tests which would measure bone density. The preliminary results indicated that he had osteoporosis. (But I later found out that all they did was measure his ankles in proportion to the rest of hs body). I was much more concerned than he seemed to be and I wanted him to incorporate some dairy in his diet .... but he simply refused. He has been vegan for 35 years except for the occassional egg. I was hoping he might eat some ice-cream or cottage cheese, or something! Then he went for the more in-depth bone-scanning imaging and the results showed that he had better bone density than most people 20 years younger!
We eat TONS of kale and swiss chard ..... lots of steamed vegetables as well as adding spirulina and maca, hemp hearts and other proteins to our morning smoothies. While I was doubting the absence of the "meat and dairy board's recommendations", he trusted his intuition and didn't even gain a grey hair. The old boy is 60 this year (looks 10 years younger) and hasn't touched meat or dairy in 35 years and his bones indicate an actual age of 40. Of course almonds hold plenty of calcium ..... as do the greens. Food is medicine and always has been.
The idea of food is also culturally driven. The US consumes a lot of meat ... it is also, of course, economically driven. Hello Texas! Animals are as much as an economic commodity as .... any other commodity in this economic system we have created and evolved. The preciousness of diamonds is also culturally and economically driven ..... But while diamonds are just diamonds, animals are living, breathing entities with central nervous systems. Unfortunately, they have been ascribed to commodity in the same way that any other "thing" has been, including diamonds which are not in the posession of a central nervous system. People want both.
I am not saying that everyone should eat my husband's diet because it would not work for some ..... But the idea that we get our lion's share of protein from meat and dairy is propoganda from a very well oiled machine that needs to make a living somehow .... hence the propoganda. The denial is in the reality of the "yummy'ness" and convenience of meat. The industry relies on it. Simply put, meat tastes good. As a 5th grader put it to me recently, "Who doesn't like bacon?" Could I possibly deny it?
But with the industry treating pigs like diamonds ..... maybe that 5th grader will someday get to know the incredible pain and suffering those diamond-miners went through.