Thursday, October 20, 2022

Links - 20th October 2022 (2 - Veganism)

Protesters against Starbucks vegan milk prices shuts down West End - "“Man, this was entertainment,” said Wendell Johnson, who had a front row seat at the protest. “Man, they were fast. Within seconds they stopped the whole Starbucks. They just shut it down. No one could come in, no one could come out.” Over a dozen Metro Police cars shut down the streets as protesters cemented their feet to make their point.  “Starbucks claims they area about sustainability,” Tricia Lebkuecher with PETA said. “Yet, it still charges customers up to 90 cents extra for non-dairy milks.”  She said the coffee empire’s extra charge on vegan milk hurts the planet... As with any protest, there was opposition. That came from across the street where Gavin Paraiso held a sign saying, “soy milk sucks.”"
In leftist economics, things are free after all. You can never pander enough to activists

A Choice With Definite Risks - NYTimes.com - "Soy protein is not good for a baby’s first food for the same reason that soy formula is not good for newborns. It’s a poor source of calcium, iron and zinc — and much too high in estrogen. It also lacks adequate methionine, which babies and children need to grow properly. Lastly, soy damages the thyroid, which compromises immunity and stunts growth.  Vegans may believe it’s possible to get B12 from plant sources like seaweed, fermented soy, spirulina and brewer’s yeast. Alas, these foods contain mostly B12 analogs, which, according to the health writer Chris Kresser, “block intake of and increase the need for true B12,” a vital nutrient for mental health.  Mr. Kresser argues that this is one reason studies consistently show that up to 50 percent of long-term vegetarians and 80 perent of vegans are deficient in B12. “The effects of B12 deficiency on kids are especially alarming,” he writes. “Studies have shown that kids raised until age 6 on a vegan diet are still B12 deficient even years after they start eating at least some animal products.” In one study, the researchers found “a significant association” between low B12 levels and “fluid intelligence, spatial ability and short-term memory.” The formerly vegan kids scored lower than omnivorous kids every time."

The Game Changers (2018) List of athletes failed by veganism - "The Game Changers (2018) is a documentary that promotes veganism as the recipe for advanced athleticism. In this documentary, an array of athletes are showcased as superhuman in ability, all attributing their success to a vegan diet at least in part.  However, that’s not where the story ends. What happened to these vegan athletes? Many of them have abandoned the vegan diet, gotten injured, have left their sport soon after, or were never vegan in the first place."
Since vegans love to gush about vegan athletes.

Vegetarian and Vegan Trends Pushing More People Into Deficiency Risk - "28 per cent of vegans and 13 per cent of vegetarians have been diagnosed with a nutrient deficiency following a blood test... Yet, despite this, more than six in 10 people claimed that their plant-based diet provided all of the nutrients they need."

Why I Am No Longer Vegan - "In the past year and half I have seen more doctors and specialists than I care to count. I’ve seen conventional doctors, naturopathic doctors, homeopaths, chiropractors, acupuncturists, nutritionists, dietitians. You name it, I’ve tried it. I’ve had countless tests done, from hormone panels, to thyroid, iron, vitamin A, D, B12, iodine, and more. I tried DOZENS of supplements (at one point I was taking upwards of 50 supplements a day just to feel normal). A lot of progress was made thanks to certain supplements, but not enough to get my health back to normal. "I always took my important supplements (vitamins D, B12, and even a multivitamin for good measure)...  About a year and a half ago (early 2018) I started to lose extreme amounts of hair in the shower. I’m not talking about a few extra hairs in my brush or on my pillow. I mean huge handfuls that would require me to clean the shower drain at least 3 times over the course of a 5-10 minute shower or else I would end up taking a bath instead...  In addition to the hair loss, I lost my periods, had extreme fatigue yet horrible insomnia, shortness of breath, shin rashes, digestive discomfort and acne so severe I could hardly sleep.  No matter what I ate, right after dinner I was always bloated, gassy, and felt painfully inflamed. Most of the time after I ate I looked pregnant. I was in so much physical and emotional pain that I became a very unpleasant person to be around.  I played around with different foods, macronutrient breakdowns, and a host of other things while still maintaining a vegan diet, but nothing seemed to help.  No matter what food I cut out or added back, it stayed the same. My skin was terrible, my energy was low, and it was really hard finding foods that didn’t irritate my body.  I saw countless doctors and specialists. Eventually, after getting multiple rounds of blood work done, I learned I had severe hormonal imbalances, anemia, leaky gut, celiac disease and several nutrient deficiencies despite my diligent supplementation and varied plant-based diet.  My iron, B12, and vitamin D were extremely low, as well as iodine, selenium, zinc, copper, and a few others.  My body was unable to absorb iron and other nutrients in my food and supplements. In order to absorb nutrients, I needed to heal my gut. There were many foods I had to eliminate to heal my gut such as certain nuts, grains, and legumes. Continuing on a vegan diet without these foods would only lead to further deficiencies...  In the past year and half I have seen more doctors and specialists than I care to count. I’ve seen conventional doctors, naturopathic doctors, homeopaths, chiropractors, acupuncturists, nutritionists, dietitians. You name it, I’ve tried it. I’ve had countless tests done, from hormone panels, to thyroid, iron, vitamin A, D, B12, iodine, and more.  I tried DOZENS of supplements (at one point I was taking upwards of 50 supplements a day just to feel normal). A lot of progress was made thanks to certain supplements, but not enough to get my health back to normal."
I'm sure she was just ignorant and one more supplement would've done the trick

Vegans and vegetarians may have higher stroke risk

How a vegan diet could affect your intelligence - "recent concern about the nutritional gaps in plant-based diets has led to a number of alarming headlines, including a warning that they can stunt brain development and cause irreversible damage to a person’s nervous system. Back in 2016, the German Society for Nutrition went so far as to categorically state that – for children, pregnant or nursing women, and adolescents – vegan diets are not recommended, which has been backed up by a 2018 review of the research. After the Royal Academy of Medicine in Belgium decided a vegan diet was “unsuitable” for children, parents who force a vegan diet on their offspring in Belgium could even one day find themselves in prison... 555 Kenyan schoolchildren, who were fed one of three different types of soup – one with meat, one with milk, and one with oil – or no soup at all, as a snack over seven school terms. They were tested before and after, to see how their intelligence compared. Because of their economic circumstances, the majority of the children were de facto vegetarians at the start of the study.  Surprisingly, the children who were given the soup containing meat each day seemed to have a significant edge. By the end of the study, they outperformed all the other children on a test for non-verbal reasoning. Along with the children who received soup with added oil, they also did the best on a test of arithmetic ability... the holes in our current understanding of what the brain needs to be healthy could potentially be a major problem for vegans, since it’s hard to artificially add a nutrient to your diet, if scientists haven’t discovered its worth yet...   The latest nutrient in question is creatine – a white, powdery substance often found in fitness shakes. Its natural function in the body is to supply our cells with energy, so it’s revered by gym obsessives as a way to improve their endurance.  But it’s also important to the brain – and studies have shown that increasing your intake can provide a range of benefits, such as a better recognition memory and reduced mental fatigue. Recently it’s started to gain traction as a smart drug.  It’s well-established that vegans and vegetarians have significantly lower levels in their bodies, because plants and fungi don’t contain any.  This has led scientists to wonder whether a creatine deficit could be holding some people back. For one study, researchers tested how the intelligence of vegetarians and omnivores changed after five days on supplements. “We found that the vegetarians seemed to benefit particularly,” says David Benton from Swansea University, who led the research.   In contrast, the omnivores were relatively unaffected...   “I tell people all the time, if you're going to be a vegan or vegetarian, that's fine,” says Wallace. “I’m certainly not advocating against it. But there are 40 or something essential nutrients. So, I mean, it really would take a lot of research for vegans to get everything the brain needs,” he says. Some nutrients that a typical vegan diet is low or lacking in, like choline, creatine, carnosine and taurine, are extremely bulky, so just taking a standard vitamin tablet won’t be enough. Instead, they need to be taken individually."
Apparently a diet that is a full time job is a good thing. One vegan claimed that healthy eating was "not hard" and "exactly the same as being omnivorous". Yet the vegan cope when confronted with people with health problems due to veganism is that they didn't eat right and more care in their diet would've solved the problem

Zac Efron reveals why he stopped being vegan: ‘Morally, of course, I still wish I was’ - "“My body wasn’t processing the vegetables in the right way. So, I decided to stop it and try something new”... Efron is not the first celebrity to open up about their decision to stop following a vegan diet, as Miley Cyrus revealed in 2020 that she quit being vegan because her brain “wasn’t functioning properly”.  “I was vegan for a very long time and I’ve had to introduce fish and omegas into my life because my brain wasn’t functioning properly,” the singer told Joe Rogan on his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, adding that there were other health factors that influenced her decision as well, such as intense hip pain and her realisation that she was “pretty malnourished”."
Of course the cope is that he wasn't committed/informed enough (people were also claiming he had a plant-based diet and wasn't vegan). But even if it were possible for everyone to be a healthy vegan, the fact that it is so hard to do so is hardly a ringing endorsement for the lifestyle

Ukraine: Vegan refugee struggling to find a home - "A woman who fled Ukraine has said she feels "isolated" after failing to find a vegan-friendly host.  Oksana Kopanitsyna said being in the same room as someone eating or preparing meat was like "someone was cutting a child in front of you".  Now living in a bed and breakfast in Ystrad Mynach, Caerphilly county, she said her beliefs were being tested as she looks for her own place to live... She has said she would stay in any home she is offered, but cannot share a fridge with non-vegans or be in the room when they are cooking or eating animal products.  "I will have my own fridge I will keep in my room and I going to pay them for electricity," she said.  "How would it be for you if someone was cutting a child in front of you or keeping body parts in the fridge and you just see a hand or half of face? That is what it feels like for me."... The charity Vegan Society said someone's veganism needs to be taken as seriously as religious and allergy requirements and it was understandable a vegan refugee would want to live "in a plant-based household where their values and views are shared by others"."

Vegans block access for customers wanting milk in four UK cities - "Demonstrators from the activist group Animal Rebellion appeared at numerous supermarkets this week for their 'anti-dairy' protest armed with signs reading ‘Plant-Based Future’ and ‘Rewild our Land’, and attempted to stop shoppers from purchasing milk.  They entered a Whole Foods in London and Marks & Spencer’s stores in Southampton, Birmingham, and Manchester... In a statement, the group expanded on their reasoning behind the protests, saying 'millions of consumers will be unable to buy dairy milk' once it begins taking action in the first two weeks of September.  "We have spent months trying all the proper channels to engage with the government on the scientific consensus to transition to a plant-based future, but they have chosen to ignore us," Animal Rebellion’s statement said.  "We have been left with no choice but to step into civil resistance to pressure government action to preserve our futures.  "We are announcing our intentions in advance so the British public [can] prepare for a disruption to the milk supply this September.  "We apologise for any stress this may cause during a cost of living crisis, but the government are sleepwalking every single one of us into poverty, misery, and climate and ecological collapse. We cannot sit by and let this happen." The group are well known for promoting a plant-based lifestyle and using extreme measures to get their message across. This includes members recently spilling full bottles of milk all over the floor at the Harrods Food Hall in London as part of the 'anti-dairy' protest."
When life is too good. The UK seems to have more activists protesting about meaningless bullshit than other countries, e.g. Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain etc
Why people hate vegans

Vegan restaurant 'left with no choice' but to close and reopen as new one selling meat - "A vegan restaurant has come under fire for reopening as a new eatery and no longer being 'exclusively vegan', stating being fully plant-based isn't 'sustainable'.  The Mango Tree – a cafe and restaurant located in Taunton, England – founded itself on its 'care for [the] environment, [its] crew, [its] customers and all lives on Earth'.  However, the eatery has since faced backlash for revealing that it's set to close and reopen later in the year under a new name with 'new menu options' that 'won't be exclusively vegan'... The revelation has been met with fierce backlash from some customers, with one branding The Mango Tree 'unethical'... The Mango Tree claimed 'despite lots of marketing, many special offers, offering dine in and takeaway, introducing the use of home delivery partners, and working incredibly hard to be as efficient as possible, not enough of the local population used us regularly enough to make continuing in the current format sustainable'.  The restaurant explained it was left with only two options. To rebrand and introduce non-vegan items to the menu or 'close permanently'."
So much for rights not being like cake and other people getting more not meaning you get less

Vegetarian Women Face Higher Risks for Hip Fractures - "Women who are vegetarian are more likely to experience hip fractures later in their lives than those who eat meat regularly... Vegetarians may not consume sufficient nutrients for proper bone and muscle health, which could increase their risks for falls and fractures... Previous studies have suggested that vegetarian men and women have poorer bone health, on average, when compared with meat-eaters"

Most Vegetarians Lapse After Only a Year - "84 percent of vegetarians and vegans return to eating meat, says the Huffington Post. Most lapse within a year, while nearly a third don't last more than three months.   The study falls in line with previous research. According to Skeptoid, “ex-vegetarians outnumber current vegetarians by a ratio of three to one.”... the researchers “found that a majority of them lacked social support, vegetarian-themed group activities and didn't like sticking out from their friends... Other reasons for giving up: having trouble with animal-based cravings and the difficulty of doing anything cold turkey, so to speak.”  Meat is tasty, but meat is also nutritious. Eating a balanced vegetarian diet is certainly possible, but it takes deliberate decision making to compensate for the nutrients typically delivered by meat. According to a separate survey, says Skeptoid, “[a] full thirty-five percent of participants indicated that declining health was the main reason they reverted back to eating flesh.”"

A Summary Of Faunalytics’ Study Of Current And Former Vegetarians And Vegans - "Former vegetarians/vegans were asked to give the primary reason they stopped eating the diet. Of 908 codeable responses, the reasons for lapsing mentioned were: unsatisfied with food (293 people; 32%), health (237 people; 26%), social issues (120 people; 13%), inconvenience (115 people; 13%), cost (56 people; 6%), lack of motivation (56 people; 6%), and other (228 people; 25%)."

Meme - ""#TheBeatlesIn5Words Both surviving members are Vegan #animals #Vegan #FridayFeeling"
"I MIGHT BE BUGGIN BUT I DONT THINK JOHN LENNON DIED CUZ HE ATE MEAT"

Meme - "If vegans say restaurants should offer vegan options Vegan restaurants should offer meat options. Change my mind"

YouTuber Mari Lopez who claimed veganism cured her of cancer and homosexuality dies of cancer

Restaurant scraps plant-based dishes after becoming fed up with ‘holier-than-thou’ vegans - "The Kitchen at London House on the Isle of Wight went online to defend itself against “nasty” and “bullying” vegans who were outraged at their decision to refuse to cater to their diets.  Addressing its critics, it said: “If you want vegan food, go to a vegan restaurant.”  The popular high street restaurant in Ventnor said that though it used to serve some vegan food, they decided to stop because of a “militant minority” that spoilt it for the majority...   The menu boasts mains including short rib of beef, confit duck leg cassoulet, sea bass – and a sole vegetarian option of goats cheese fig tart... others supported the restaurant’s decision, with one user telling disgruntled vegans, Nice to see vegetarian[s] catered for rather than being lumped in with the tasteless vegan nonsense that some slop up” and another writing: “Can’t wait to come visit”...   “We have in the past catered for vegans. Everything from Vegan cream teas, even had special Vegan bacon made so they could enjoy BLT’s amongst other things.  “We stopped. Why? Because we got fed up with the arrogant, ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude.” Sally Cooper, the bistro owner who wrote the Facebook post, said that she made the decision to stop catering to vegans after staff started to get abused.  Before the pandemic, the cafe served vegan cream teas and vegan bacon, she said. But customers started to complain that vegan products were being stored in the same chiller cabinets as meat...   “It’s a small kitchen,” she said. “We produce tasty, home-cooked food. We don’t want to cook plant burgers, pulses and beans. It’s not our food.”  She said that since her post she had received a call to the shop from a man who had called her a ‘disgusting, dreadful woman.”"

Vegan group sparks fury for demanding a roundabout called Pork Pie Island be renamed - "A  vegan group has sparked mockery after calling for Leicester’s Pork Pie Island roundabout to be renamed.  Controversial animal rights group PETA wrote to Leicester Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby to ask for the name change, writing “this is not a pie-in-the-sky request”.  They suggested that it should instead be called “Vegan Pie Roundabout”, sparking mockery from locals. The roundabout in south Leicester is named after a nearby library which is said to resemble a pork pie when viewed from above... James Aris, from the Countryside Alliance, called the group “renowned attention seekers” and said “they are best ignored and no politician should take them remotely seriously”."

Woman stunned by vegan plane ‘meal’ served on Air Canada flight - "A passenger on an Air Canada flight was left stunned at the “meals” she was given during the flight after she ordered several vegan meals, but was served only a bottle of water.  Miriam Porter, a travel blogger on TikTok who goes by the name @TheKindTraveler, was on a flight travellling from Toronto, Canada to Frankfurt, Germany when the incident occurred... Ms Porter says she was eventually given some food, but it was a makeshift meal a flight attendant cobbled together from leftover business class trays"

New psychology research finds meat eaters tend to have better mental health than vegetarians - "vegetarians/vegans were at a greater risk of depression, anxiety, and self-harm... The two studies that provided some evidence of causality had mixed results. A randomized controlled trial found that vegetarians reported significantly better mood than omnivores and fish eaters after the trial, but a longitudinal study found a vegetarian diet was predictive of depression and anxiety.  “Correlation does not imply a causal relation and we present several explanations for our results. For example, individuals struggling with mental illness may alter their diets as a form of self-treatment; vegan and strict vegetarian diets may lead to nutrient deficiencies that increase the risk of mental illness; many individuals with eating disorders use veganism and vegetarianism as a ‘cover’ to hide their illness; and individuals who are extremely sensitive to or focused on the suffering of animals may become both vegetarian and depressed/anxious as a result”... “There are two major questions that need to be addressed. First, why do most vegans and vegetarians return to eating meat? Is it a biological drive to overcome nutrient deficiencies or are the perceived benefits overwhelmed by the social stigma of non-Western dietary patterns? Or perhaps, is it that the novelty and attention lose their effect over time while the effort required to maintain a vegan and vegetarian lifestyle remains the same. Second, what is the temporal pattern of the relation? In other words, does the shift in diet occur before or after the psychological issues are manifest?”  Dobersek and her colleagues decided to conduct a systematic review because the research on meat-abstention had become increasingly contradictory... “Our study provides further evidence that because humans are omnivores, it is illogical and potentially unhealthy to recommend “eating a varied diet” followed by a long list of foods, beverages, and nutrients to avoid (e.g., meat, eggs, sugar, salt, fat, fruit juices, cholesterol, etc.). This is especially true, as my co-authors demonstrated, when the proscriptions and recommendations are based on a ‘fictional discourse on diet-disease relations.'” The study, “Meat and mental health: a systematic review of meat abstention and depression, anxiety, and related phenomena“, was authored by Urska Dobersek, Gabrielle Wy, Joshua Adkins, Sydney Altmeyer, Kaitlin Krout, Carl J. Lavie, and Edward Archer."

The Failure to Measure Dietary Intake Engendered a Fictional Discourse on Diet-Disease Relations - "Controversies regarding the putative health effects of dietary sugar, salt, fat, and cholesterol are not driven by legitimate differences in scientific inference from valid evidence, but by a fictional discourse on diet-disease relations driven by decades of deeply flawed and demonstrably misleading epidemiologic research. Over the past 60 years, epidemiologists published tens of thousands of reports asserting that dietary intake was a major contributing factor to chronic non-communicable diseases despite the fact that epidemiologic methods do not measure dietary intake. In lieu of measuring actual dietary intake, epidemiologists collected millions of unverified verbal and textual reports of memories of perceptions of dietary intake. Given that actual dietary intake and reported memories of perceptions of intake are not in the same ontological category, epidemiologists committed the logical fallacy of “Misplaced Concreteness.” This error was exacerbated when the anecdotal (self-reported) data were impermissibly transformed (i.e., pseudo-quantified) into proxy-estimates of nutrient and caloric consumption via the assignment of “reference” values from databases of questionable validity and comprehensiveness. These errors were further compounded when statistical analyses of diet-disease relations were performed using the pseudo-quantified anecdotal data. These fatal measurement, analytic, and inferential flaws were obscured when epidemiologists failed to cite decades of research demonstrating that the proxy-estimates they created were often physiologically implausible (i.e., meaningless) and had no verifiable quantitative relation to the actual nutrient or caloric consumption of participants. In this critical analysis, we present substantial evidence to support our contention that current controversies and public confusion regarding diet-disease relations were generated by tens of thousands of deeply flawed, demonstrably misleading, and pseudoscientific epidemiologic reports. We challenge the field of nutrition to regain lost credibility by acknowledging the empirical and theoretical refutations of their memory-based methods and ensure that rigorous (objective) scientific methods are used to study the role of diet in chronic disease."

Eating Vegetables May Not Protect Against Heart Disease, Study Suggests - Bloomberg - "Researchers say past studies may not have taken into account lifestyle factors such as smoking, drinking alcohol, and meat intake – and socioeconomic factors such as a person’s education, income and wealth.  They add that evidence from previous studies has been inconsistent.  New results from a large-scale UK study shows that a higher consumption of raw or cooked produce is unlikely to affect the risk of CVD."

The Role of the Anabolic Properties of Plant- versus Animal-Based Protein Sources in Supporting Muscle Mass Maintenance: A Critical Review - "Plant-sourced proteins offer environmental and health benefits, and research increasingly includes them in study formulas. However, plant-based proteins have less of an anabolic effect than animal proteins due to their lower digestibility, lower essential amino acid content (especially leucine), and deficiency in other essential amino acids, such as sulfur amino acids or lysine. Thus, plant amino acids are directed toward oxidation rather than used for muscle protein synthesis. In this review, we evaluate the ability of plant- versus animal-based proteins to help maintain skeletal muscle mass in healthy and especially older people and examine different nutritional strategies for improving the anabolic properties of plant-based proteins. Among these strategies, increasing protein intake has led to a positive acute postprandial muscle protein synthesis response and even positive long-term improvement in lean mass. Increasing the quality of protein intake by improving amino acid composition could also compensate for the lower anabolic potential of plant-based proteins. We evaluated and discussed four nutritional strategies for improving the amino acid composition of plant-based proteins: fortifying plant-based proteins with specific essential amino acids, selective breeding, blending several plant protein sources, and blending plant with animal-based protein sources. These nutritional approaches need to be profoundly examined in older individuals in order to optimize protein intake for this population who require a high-quality food protein intake to mitigate age-related muscle loss."
i.e. plant protein is inferior to animal protein

Hufu: The Vegan Cannibal's Alternative to Human Flesh - "Hufu was a tofu-based product designed to taste like human flesh, providing an alternative meat source for health-conscious cannibals. Hufu founder Mark Nuckols was reading the book Good To Eat: Riddles of Food and Culture by anthropologist Marvin Harris, while eating a tofurkey sandwich, when the idea came to him: a healthy, vegan alternative to human meat.  Nuckols launched Hufu in 2005, and the initial stock of 144 boxes of Hufu Classic Strips sold out in just two days...   “Hufu was originally conceived of as a product for students of anthropology hungry for the experience of cannibalism but deterred by the legal and logistical obstacles,” the now defunct Eat Hufu website stated. “However, our preliminary market research revealed the existence of a larger segment of the public that was interested in the availability of a legal and healthy human flesh substitute, as well as vegetarians and vegans. We also found that Hufu is a great product for cannibals who want to quit. Hufu is also a great cannibal convenience food — no more Friday night hunting raids! Stay at home and enjoy the flavorful, convenient human flesh alternative.”... The website offered articles on famous cannibals and cultural traditions, merchandise and recipes: Hufu Stroganoff, Lechter’s Liver with Fava Beans, and Aztec Human Stew for anyone who wants to “vicariously participate in one of the great Aztec customs, the human sacrifice festival.”  Sadly, Hufu closed up shop in 2006."

'Vegan' Eleven Madison Park offers secret meat menu for the rich - "Just call it Eleven Madison Pork: It emerges the city’s most exalted vegan restaurant has a secret meat room for the mega-rich.  This May chef Daniel Humm had announced with much flowery fanfare that his Eleven Madison Park restaurant would reopen in June from its pandemic closure with a fully plant-based vegan menu. But not just any meager meatless menu: It’s 12 courses for $335.   Humm hammered his message home by telling the New York Times the restaurant would no longer serve meat or seafood, huffing, “The current food system is simply not sustainable, in so many ways.”...   However, it seems those principles are off the plate in the restaurant’s private dining room — which insiders tell Page Six is targeted to corporate events and is a big money-maker for the establishment.  The private dining room at Eleven Madison Park comes complete with a meat-heavy menu that includes foie gras, beef tenderloin, roasted chicken and pork. New York Times food critic Pete Wells just slaughtered the restaurant in his review, adding at the end, “It’s some kind of metaphor for Manhattan, where there’s always a higher level of luxury, a secret room where the rich eat roasted tenderloin while everybody else gets an eggplant canoe.” Page Six has exclusively obtained the private dining room menu, which features dishes such as the highly controversial foie gras, beef carpaccio and butter-poached lobster with black truffle and celery root."
Elites want the hoi polloi to suffer while they retain their luxuries (we see this with climate change too)

Vegan student complains to college over farming module that included visiting an abattoir - "  Fiji Willetts, 18, was encouraged by her tutors to complete a course on animal husbandry as part of her degree in Animal Management.   The module requires students to work on a farm and possibly visit a slaughterhouse.   Ms Willetts, from Downend, in Bristol, claimed that one tutor at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College said skipping the unit would result in an “automatic fail” - which is denied by the college.   In a letter to the Government-sponsored Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), she said learning which animal breeds yield the highest amount of milk, meat and eggs would cause her “extreme anxiety”.  Ms Willetts, who has been a vegan for the past four years, claimed that attending the Unit 19 Farm Livestock Husbandry would be in breach of the Equality Act 2010 as veganism is a “protected characteristic”.    But officials at the college have strenuously denied her claim that it was mandatory to take the farming modules and say she was offered alternative courses.   The college said that on at least “three separate occasions” they reassured both Ms Willetts, and her parents, that the unit had been “ethically planned” and would not be delivered in a way that “disregards” her beliefs or “disadvantages” her...   Neither of Ms Willetts’s complaints to the college or the EFSA were upheld.   The college said that information sought from the Equality and Human Rights Commission confirmed that “obligations do not apply to anything done in connection with the content of the curriculum”.  “This means that you are not restricted in the range of issues, ideas, and materials you use in your syllabus and will have the academic freedom to expose students to a range of thoughts and ideas, however controversial.”"
Amazing. Can a Muslim oenology student skip wine tasting?

No, Kwasi Kwarteng, we aren’t all going to go vegan - "Kwasi Kwarteng, secretary for business, energy and industrial strategy, now thinks that people going vegan could help the UK hit its targets for cutting carbon emissions... Most people, though, don’t want to give up meat and animal products. And even fewer will appreciate the government passing judgement on their dining habits. Even if we did all go vegan, it wouldn’t achieve much in the grand scheme of things: Brits make up a small percentage of global meat consumption, and meat production makes up a small proportion of emissions anyway. The government’s absurd new target – to cut carbon emissions by over 75 per cent by 2035 – will require major sacrifices from the public. Kwarteng’s comments confirm what we already knew: that our politicians don’t care about our living standards or quality of life and have become obsessed by the sort of green lifestyle hectoring once confined to the fringes. The Tories have turned into the parliamentary wing of Extinction Rebellion."

Dear Prudence: My white girlfriend told my black mom that eating vegan is like the civil rights movement. - "Mom refuses to talk to my girlfriend until she apologizes, and my dad sides with my mom"
"Your parents are behaving appropriately in light of your girlfriend’s racism, and she should apologize immediately. It is possible—easy, even!—to advocate for vegan principles without comparing black people to animals. Comparing black people to animals is racist (not “maybe” stumbling lightly over the line of racism, but fully fledged, fully dredged, head-to-toe, top-to-tails racist), your girlfriend was being racist, she should apologize for her racism, and she should stop saying racist things."
So much for intersectionality - we are told that blacks are more likely to be vegan because they know what oppression is like

Vegan activist 'killed more than 90 newborn rabbits' during rescue - "A vegan activist who was shot at while ‘rescuing’ animals from a Spanish farm has been accused of killing more than 90 rabbits during her mission.  Barcelona-based ‘Mythical Mia’ claimed she had saved 16 rabbits from the land in Osona, Catalonia, before being allegedly shot at by angry farmers."
Doing the "right thing" is more important than saving animals. This is like how PETA euthanises so many animals

Great British Bake Off’s first vegan contestant faces online backlash – for riding horses - "The Great British Bake Off’s first vegan contestant has been forced off Facebook after being called a hypocrite for riding horses.  Freya Cox, 19, was targeted by social media users who criticised her for taking part in what they deem to be a cruel sport."

As plant-based meat growth stalls, what does it mean for the category? - "“I don’t think that we are going to turn on a switch and convert meat eaters,” Holland said. “We’re just seeing no evidence of that over the past several years, and so I think I think we’re seeing a bit of that [reluctance to adopt plant-based] now.”"
No one wants this shit

Growth, body composition, and cardiovascular and nutritional risk of 5- to 10-y-old children consuming vegetarian, vegan, or omnivore diets - "Vegan diets were associated with a healthier cardiovascular risk profile but also with increased risk of nutritional deficiencies and lower BMC [bone mineral content] and height. Vegetarians showed less pronounced nutritional deficiencies but, unexpectedly, a less favorable cardiometabolic risk profile. Further research may help maximize the benefits of PBDs in children."
Aka "Children Are Much Shorter And Weaker When Raised On Trendy Vegan Diets, Study Shows"

Plant-based meat not nutritionally the same as real meat: study - "the beef contained 22 metabolites that the plant-based substitutes did not have. The plant-based meat, meanwhile, contained 31 metabolites that meat did not include. Researchers found the largest disparities were in vitamins, amino acids and types of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids found in both food products among other variables... several metabolites proven to be vital to human health were found either exclusively or in greater amounts of beef, including creatine, spermine, anserine, cysteamine, glucosamine, squalene and the omega-3 fatty acid DHA, researchers said.   “These nutrients are important for our brain and other organs including our muscles,” Stephan van Vliet, a postdoctoral researcher at the Duke Molecular Physiology said in a statement. “But some people on vegan diets (no animal products), can live healthy lives – that’s very clear.”"
Many of the metabolites can't be found in plants, which explains why vegans tend to be unhealthy

Plant-based diet doesn’t always mean it’s healthy - "plant-based meats are often high in sodium, ultra-processed and not any healthier than the meat they imitate. Meanwhile, nearly half of the consumers think they are more nutritious... Diets that substituted animal products with the plant-based alternative were below the daily recommendations for vitamin B12, calcium, potassium, zinc and magnesium, and higher in sodium, sugar and saturated fat. Even with added vitamins and minerals, these products are not nutritionally interchangeable, says Stephan van Vliet, a postdoctoral associate at the Duke Molecular Physiology Institute.  “Meat made from plants isn’t meat made from cows and meat made from cows isn’t meat made from plants,” he says.  Animal sources like meat, milk and eggs are complete proteins, meaning they contain enough of the nine essential amino acids we must get from our diets every day.  Plant-based foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and grains often lack one or more of these amino acids and need to be eaten in combination... focusing on protein is too “simplistic,” says Dr van Vliet. “Foods contain hundreds to thousands of compounds that are capable of impacting human metabolism and health.”...   He sees plant and animal source foods as complementary in our diet, where some nutrients are better obtained from animal sources and others from plants... Just because it’s made from plants, doesn’t mean it’s healthy. “I do think it’s very confusing for the consumer,” says Dr van Vliet.  “It’s probably not the chicken, but everything else that comes with the chicken nugget that is probably detrimental to our health.”"

Association between meatless diet and depressive episodes: A cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from the longitudinal study of adult health - "Depressive episodes are more prevalent in individuals who do not eat meat, independently of socioeconomic and lifestyle factors. Nutrient deficiencies do not explain this association. The nature of the association remains unclear, and longitudinal data are needed to clarify causal relationship."

Peta calls for sex strike against meat-eating men 'to save the world' - "The call for a sex strike on carnivorous males has caused outrage in Germany, which is famous for its love of sausages... The German branch of Peta pointed to research last year from Plos One, a scientific journal, which showed men caused 41 per cent more pollution than women because they eat more meat. Peta said that such “toxic masculinity” required enforced chastity and even a ban on having children. Every child not born would save 58.6 tonnes of CO2 a year... To make matters wurst, Peta also called for “a hefty meat tax of 41 per cent” for men to save the planet from global warming emissions caused by agriculture. “Now there is scientific proof that toxic masculinity harms the climate,” Mr Cox added, “a ban on sex or procreation for all meat-eating men would also be purposeful in this context.”... In 2003, a sex strike helped end Liberia’s brutal civil war, which earned organiser Leyma Gbowee a Nobel Peace Prize."
So now eating meat is "toxic masculinity". We always knew this concept was useless, so

Meme - "Hunting but make it vegan"
"girl didn't know the word for "gathering""

The Ecologist archive: The myths of vegetarianism. - "Vegetarianism and veganism, despite claims made by adherents, are neither healthy nor natural diets. Indeed, only in the 20th century, with the advent of vitamin pills and supplements, has it been possible to follow a strictly vegan diet without dying of malnutrition. Contrary to popular myth, a diet with a very low fat and cholesterol content is extremely dangerous, and meat and dairy products are not the main cause of heart disease and cancer - which are practically unknown in traditional meat-eating societies...
Myth 1: Meat consumption contributes to famine and depletes the Earth's natural resources...
The pasturage argument ignores the fact that a large portion of the Earth's dryland is unsuited to cultivation. The open range, and desert and mountainous areas yield their fruits to grazing animals, not to arable crops. Unfortunately, the bulk of commercial livestock is not range-fed, but stall-fed. Stall-fed animals do not ingest grasses and shrubs (like they should), but are fed an unnatural array of grains and soybeans - which could be eaten by humans. The argument here, then, is not that eating meat depletes the Earth's resources, but that commercial farming methods do. Such methods also subject livestock to deplorable living conditions where infections, antibiotics, steroids and synthetic hormones are common. These all lead to an unhealthy animal and, by extension, an unhealthy food product.
Myth 2: Vitamin B12 can be obtained from plant sources
Of all the myths, this is perhaps the most dangerous. Vegans who do not supplement their diet with vitamin B 12 will eventually get pernicious anaemia, a fatal condition, as well as nervous and digestive system damage. Claims are made that B12 is present in certain algae, tempeh (a fermented soy product) and Brewer's yeast. All of them are false. Like the niacin in corn, the B12 present in algae is not available to the body. Tempeh, though a healthy food, does not contain B 12. Further, the ingestion of too much soy increases the body's need for B12. Brewer's yeast does not contain B12 naturally; it is always fortified from an outside source. The only reliable and absorbable sources of vitamin B12 are animal products... In my own medical practice, I recently saved two vegans from death from anaemia (iron and B12) by convincing them to eat generous amounts of dairy products.
Myth 3: The body's need for vitamin A can be met by plant foods. Vitamin D can be obtained by exposure to sunlight
Vitamin A is principally - and usable, full-complex vitamin D entirely - found in animal products. Plants do contain beta-carotene, a substance that the body can convert into vitamin A, and the impression given by some vegetarian sources is that beta-carotene is as good as vitamin A. This is not true. First, the conversion from carotene to vitamin A can only take place in the presence of bile salts. This means that fat must be eaten with the carotenes. Additionally, infants, people with hypothyroidism, gall bladder problems, diabetes, or infants either cannot make the conversion or do so very poorly. Lastly, the body's conversion from carotene to vitamin A is not very efficient: it takes 4-6 units of carotene to make one unit of vitamin A. What this means is that the sweet potato (containing about 25,000 units of beta-carotene) you just ate will only convert into about 4,000 units of vitamin A (assuming you ate it with fat and do not have a thyroid or gall bladder problem). Relying on plant sources for vitamin A is not a wise idea. This is why good old fashioned butter is a virtual must in any diet. Butter from pasture-fed cows is rich in vitamin A and will provide the intestines with the fatty material needed to convert vegetable carotenes into active vitamin A. Relying on sunlight for vitamin D is equally unwise. Even in tropical areas, where people are exposed to a great deal of sunlight, native diets are rich in vitamin D from animal foods. Vitamins A and D are all-important in our diets, as they help the body to use proteins and minerals.
Myth 4: Meat eaters have higher rates of heart and kidney disease, cancer, obesity, and osteoporosis than vegetarians
Such stupendous claims are hard to reconcile with historical and anthropological facts. All of the diseases mentioned are primarily twentieth century occurrences, yet people have been eating meat and animal fat for thousands of years. Furthermore, several native peoples around the world (including the Innu and the Maasai) have traditional diets very rich in animal products, but do not suffer from the above-mentioned maladies... It is usually claimed, too, that vegetarians and vegans have lower cancer rates than meat eaters, but a 1994 study of California Seventh Day Adventists (who are largely vegetarian) showed that, while they did have lower rates of some cancers (e.g. breast), they had significantly higher rates of several others (brain, skin, uterine, cervical and ovarian).
Myth 5: Saturated fats cause heart disease and cancer, and low-fat, low-cholesterol diets are healthier
As noted above, diets of native peoples the world over are rich in saturated fats, and heart disease and cancer are primarily modern diseases. Saturated fat consumption, therefore, cannot logically cause these diseases. As with the poorly-done studies of the Innu, modern day researchers fail to take into account other dietary factors of people who have heart disease and cancer. As a result, the harmful effects of refined sugar and vegetable oil consumption get mixed up with animal fat consumption...
Myth 6: Vegetarians live longer and have more energy and endurance than meat eaters
Surprising as it may seem, some prior studies have shown that the annual all-cause death rate of vegetarian men was slightly higher than that of non-vegetarian men (93 per cent vs. 89 per cent) and that the same was true of women (86 per cent vs. 54 per cent). Dr Russell Smith, author of an authoritative study on heart disease, showed that as animal product consumption increased among some study groups, death rates decreased. Such results were not obtained among vegetarian subjects...
Myth 7: The 'Caveman' diet was low fat and/or vegetarian...
Present-day African tribes readily consume the fatty portions of animals, especially organs such as brains, liver and tongue. The Aborigines, another hunter-gatherer society, also have a diet rich in saturated animal fats. Stefansson reported that the Innuit and North American Indian tribes would worry when their cache of caribou was too lean: they knew sickness would follow if they did not consume enough fat... On his journeys, Dr. Price never once found a totally vegan culture. Anthropological data support this: across the globe, almost all societies show a preference for animal foods and fats. Price also found that those peoples who, out of necessity, consumed more grains and legumes had higher rates of dental decay than those who consumed more animal products. Archaeological evidence supports this finding: skulls of prehistoric peoples who were largely vegetarian have teeth containing caries and abscesses (and show evidence of tuberculosis).
Myth 8: Saturated fat consumption has increased in the 'developed' world in the 20th century, with a corresponding increase in heart disease and cancer
Statistics do not bear such fancies out. In the US, for example, butter consumption has plummeted from 18lbs per person a year in 1900 to about 5lbs per person a year today...
Myth 9: Soya products are adequate substitutes for meat and dairy products...
On a purely nutritional level, soybeans, like all legumes, are deficient in cysteine and methionine, vital sulphur-containing amino acids. Soybeans are also lacking in tryptophan, another essential amino acid. Furthermore, soybeans contain no vitamins A or D, required by the body to assimilate and utilise the bean's proteins. It is probably for this reason that Asian cultures that do consume soybeans usually combine them with fish or fish broths (abundant in fat-soluble vitamins), or other fatty foods.
Myth 10: The human body is not designed for meat consumption"

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