Vegetarian diet poses challenges, yields benefits
August 21, 2012 at 1:00 am in Grand Forks Herald
For a recent reunion of her husband’s family, Chantal Kerr brought sloppy joes made without an ounce of ground beef to the potluck dinner. She’s a devout vegetarian. Her in-laws are not. Continue Reading
Great article! My family and I have been plant-based (no meat/dairy/eggs) in Grand Forks for almost 5 years now. Our 4 year old has been veg since birth, also. There’s a vegetarian group in town – Grand Cities Veg – check it out on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/372788605911/ We’re having a gathering this Thursday!
Hot debate. What do you think?
18 
20
Thanks for the link.
Like or Dislike:
8 
15
Nice story, my daughter announced she was going to become a vegetarian at the age of 13, two years later the only issue is when we want to go out to eat and there are few options on the menu other than cheese sticks, french fries. Not that easy in Midwestern small towns to pick and choose your restaurants based on their vegetarian options. You can force a child to be a vegetarian when they are young, but what will you do when they decide to eat a cheeseburger with their friends someday ?
Like or Dislike:
16 
13
Feeding your child meat and dairy is also a choice that you “force” on your child. It just happens to be more of the norm in society.
Hot debate. What do you think?
26 
24
Great article! It’s nice to see that there are families in a small midwest town that can and do find alternatives to meat.
Hot debate. What do you think?
17 
19
The biggest problem with a vegetarian diet is that the Human species is not vegetarian. We are omnivorous. That means our bodies evolved to need some animal products, be it meat, dairy products or eggs. There are no native human groups, anywhere that are 100% vegetarian. None. One otherwise vegetarian group even drinks the blood of their cattle to get the needed nutrients missing from their vegetarian diet. Vegetarians need to both pay attention to what they eat AND take supplements to remain healthy.
Before we figured out what the problem was, vegetarian used to die in their 50′s.
Our teeth should be another clue.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
39 
13
I wanted to become a vegetarian when I was young. Got no support; in fact they told me I’d get sick.
Learned later from Seventh-Day Adventists that humans have an intestinal tract more like herbivores (long) rather than like carnivores (short) so meat rots in your guts before getting shoved out the end. The SDAs forgot to mention that our teeth are more like carnivores than herbivores–not well-suited to grinding, and they don’t keep growing as they wear down.
Yep…omnivores with characteristics of both carnivore and herbivore.
Hot debate. What do you think?
13 
20
Meat does not “rot” in the intestines. This is a total myth, and an incredibly stupid one, at that. If people (the majority of whom eat meat) had all of this rotted meat piling up in their intestines, don’t you think it would show up on a colonoscopy or an endoscopy, somewhere? Your intestinal tract has no mechanism for sorting meat from vegetable matter. It doesn’t send veggies on their way while holding onto “rotting meat.”
Humans do not have the intestinal length of herbivores. Rather, we have a mid-length intestine, neither herbivore or carnivore. We, unlike herbivores, cannot digest cellulose. We also cannot get certain nutrients exclusively from plant products. Vegetarians get these nutrients from animal products like eggs and milk. Vegans take supplements or have these nutrients added to vegan meals.
While lifelong veganism is possible and absolutely an individual’s choice and right, humans are omnivores, period.
That’s not to say I support factory farming. I absolutely despise it. Holistic, small-scale, integrated farming systems that include omnivores and grazing animals (as sources of nutrients, fertilizer, meat, and animal products) are the most efficient, natural, environmentally friendly way to go. That’s because grazing animals are an integral part of natural systems and it is not sustainable to eliminate them from the landscape in favor of vegetation-only farming. I would highly recommend reading “Meat: A Benign Extravagance” by Simon Fairlie for just about the most legitimate, unbiased thought and research that anyone has ever put into this issue. This is the book that caused Monbiot to retract his support for veganism.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
47 
7
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
13 
46
Kathleen, that’s completely false and you need to do some research before you make another hamfisted attempt to educate anyone else about this issue. Frankly, your level of ignorance is astonishing.
Everything we eat “rots” (is consumed by bacteria) to some degree in our intestines. This is natural, normal, and beneficial. If these benign bacteria didn’t live and operate in our intestines, and help break down (or “rot”) food, that would be bad, because we wouldn’t digest very well, and “bad” bacteria would have a nice vacant place to live and breed. These benign bacteria get their energy and nutrients from our food and our waste products. You can call that “rotting” if you want, but you need to realize that the exact same process happens to everything we eat, whether that’s a steak or quinoa.
You claim that the intestines cannot process meat when meat is consumed by itself. Do you really meant to tell me that Inuit people — whose diet historically consists almost exclusively of meat and animal products, and may go days without eating plant matter — don’t poop?
Once again, your intestines have NO MECHANISM for sorting out plant from animal matter. If you eat meals with meat, you do not have undigested, rotting meat sitting around inside you for days.
This “rotting meat” claim is not only foolish and easily debunked, it’s completely transparent in intent. I get what you’re trying to do with it; you want people to be scared of meat by picturing rank, rotting roadkill in their gut, but that just isn’t true at all.
A link claiming that humans are really vegetarians…from a vegetarian website? How convenient.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
44 
6
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
7 
39
I have a question regarding so much soy included in a vegan diet. Isn’t soy considered a natural plant steroid? Many things I’ve researched regarding natural health…has referred to plant steroids, esp. soy, also used as fillers in many processed foods and non-vegan diets, possibly contributing to the premature maturing of children? Many women going through menopause and young children, are often advised to avoid products with plant based steroids by Drs. of Med. and OD?
This issue can be very confusing because so much of the world population eats soy based foods.
I have Celiac Disease and have lived gluten free and mostly soy free for 30 years…as well as limiting wheat and soy products for our children as they grew up, also strong and healthy, as the child is in this article.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
19 
4
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
9 
28
Right about non – organics and GMOs! When will our community get a Whole Foods Market or Trader Joe’s? It would be much easier to food shop.
Like or Dislike:
13 
15
Soy isn’t good for women or children it causes havic with their hormones because it acts like a hormone in the human body and since most soy in the US is GMO it’s worse. Men in Asian contries have low male hormone levels because they eat so much soy and many are dealing wwith infertility becuase of eat. Once they lower their soy intake many have their hormones go up and can concieve without help but still some are premanently sterile.
Also many Celiacs have problems with soy as well as other foods.
Yes I am Celiac and yes I know what I have stated is if fact true
Like or Dislike:
9 
12
This is a great article about soy by Dr. Neal Barnard (who happens to have grown up in Fargo, ND). It’s interesting to note that cattle and other livestock are being fed GMO soy.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/neal-barnard-md/soy-health_b_1822291.html
Like or Dislike:
3 
3
Woo woo check — pretty much every plant grown for food these days has been genetically modified somehow. The recent lab-based techniques are just another way of producing changes. Of course, it’s possible that any genetically changed food could be problematic, and good oversight is needed. However, irrational fear of new crops is just that — irrational.
Like or Dislike:
6 
2
Right – I was referring to GMO soy, which is believed to be linked to many health problems.
Like or Dislike:
3 
8
Beliefs don’t impress those who understand the science behind public health. The question should be is there any evidence?
Like or Dislike:
6 
3
I am 100% for vegetarian or vegan diets… However I completely avoid soy products now. Do your research before thinking its all that healthy. My youngest drank Soy formula, which later on I found out when a baby drinks the recommended amount formula, it is equiv. to giving them 4 birth control pills! Soy needs to be fermented to be properly digested. It causes a whole host of hormone issues, which in turn can cause cancers.
Like or Dislike:
12 
15
Kathleen, hyperdontia wrote an excellent response (above) and I’m sorry to tell you that your link is full of misinformation.
While I agree that there are many good (health, environmental and philosophical) reasons for vegetarianism in this modern era (with reservations about vegans), I also have to point out the anthropologists’ and evolutionary biologists’ angle — that modern humans likely would not have evolved without eating meat. That’s not an opinion, or value statement — it’s pretty close to a biological certainty.
Your enthusiasm is laudable, but be careful not to extend it to the promotion of propaganda.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
26 
9
I would love to be a vegetarian – ovo lacto. I cannot think of a better way to lose weight, reduce insulin resistance, get your cholesterol under control, & improve your digestive health; not to mention reduce your risk of colon cancer.
The trouble is I like dead animal, preferably medium rare with a potato & something green on the side to reduce guilt.
While there is very little SCIENTIFIC (meaning a real study conducted according to accepted standards & published in a peer reviewed journal) evidence of the harmful affects of vegetarian or vegan diets, there are mountains of excellent studies showing that our present diets are killing us.
In other words: use common sense. A 90% ovo lacto vegetarian diet (ovo lacto = eats eggs & dairy) with the occasional helping of dead animal is probably the healthiest diet there is.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
25 
3
Rereading the arguments regarding soy above: be very careful with broad pronouncements. The jury is definitely still out.
I have been reading a lot about this subject preparing for a class I will be teaching in the Spring. There is a mountain of opinion out there, but very little hard data.
The problem with most of the so called studies you read in the popular press is they are so flawed they cannot be published or cited in an academic journal. This means you have to be very careful drawing conclusions from them.
A prime example of this is how much estrogen soy contains or causes the body to produce. The issue of soy & estrogen started in the weightlifting community (if you are trying to increase testosterone you develop a estrogen phobia – a ridiculously misinformed attitude) & snowballed from there.
Again, there are 100 of websites that report an equal number of studies, but how reliable are their conclusions?
Like or Dislike:
13 
3
Just for fun if anyone is interested, I have a rather extensive bibliography on the negative effects of soy on estrogen dependent breast cancers & conversely it’s positive effects on BP & cholesterol. Like I said, beware of broad pronouncements. The matter is far from settled.
Like or Dislike:
10 
3
Why is it vegans and PETA members carry almost a religious zeal to their cause?
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
19 
3
My goodness Gene — are you implying that “religious zeal” is a bad thing?
Like or Dislike:
6 
12
Well, it has a long historical record of being so. Can you say “Crusades,” “Inquisition,” “Mountain Meadows Massacre?”
Like or Dislike:
8 
5
….yes — but don’t you know that dog voles you?
(Sorry bout my dyslexia)
Like or Dislike:
3 
10
I do lie awake at night and wonder about the existence of dog.
Like or Dislike:
5 
5
Yes it is.
Like or Dislike:
2 
2
Could be that synapses are misfiring
That is purely speculative though.
(How did you like my impersonation of a politician?)
Like or Dislike:
6 
3
Don’t confuse lack of moral fiber with lack of dietary fiber!
Like or Dislike:
5 
7
N-A-T-U-R-E-S
Like or Dislike:
1 
3
I don’t get it. I truly don’t. Were omnivores, that means we are built to eat both vegetables and meat! Plus vegetarian food lacks nutrients that your body needs. It is unnatural and every vegetarian I have met in my life has based their choice on propeganda pushed by peta and organic groups. Little fact is given to them and they make a poor decision.
Like or Dislike:
8 
5
Who knows? My daughter went throuh a brief Vegan period as a teenager. Tried to make brownies using Vegan-approved ingredients. They came out looking like rye krisp.
Like or Dislike:
7 
1
I have worked with vegetarians, when we worked long hours in the hot weather they ate meat to keep their strength up. Trere is nothing better then a nice steak followed by another one. Vegetarians are what people eat. Vegetarian- A poor hunter.
Like or Dislike:
9 
4
Meat is murder! I eat nothing but acorns and pine cones but only after they have died and fallen from the trees. I don’t need to have killing innocent plants on my conscience.
Like or Dislike:
5 
3
Excellent. Do you forgo paper products as well?
Like or Dislike:
4 
0
Not only are acorns alive when they fall from the tree, but they also contain a perfectly formed miniature oak tree. Thus, to use the pro-lifer’s logic, dead inside has committed mass murder in the oak forests. Personally, I’ll forgive him since his knowledge of botany is demonstrably on a par with his knowledge of most other topics he comments on.
Like or Dislike:
3 
3
I’m not sure what is more sad. Someone who has to defend the mighty oak trees or someone who makes personal attacks over plants, lol. You remind of the lorax. Do you speak for trees, for the trees have no tongues?
At the far end of town, where the Grickle-grass grows
and the wind smells, slow-and-sour when it blows
and no birds ever sing, excepting old crows…
is the Street that a creature named the Lorax knows
It is here, deep in the Grickle-grass, some people say,
Where you’ll discover you can still see, today,
where the Lorax once stood
just as long as it could
before somebody lifted the Lorax away.
Like or Dislike:
2 
5
The only kind of meat that dies a natural death is a placenta. I knew some people who didn’t eat meat, but ate a placenta saying it died a natural death. I asked her why it wasn’t ok to eat a cow who died of old age. Got no answer.
Like or Dislike:
1 
3