What is Really Healthy For You and Your Skin

More information: www.ProVegan.info

The quality of our diet directly influences our health: Our diet enables us to remain in good health and good shape for the majority of our life. Considering its extraordinary importance, shouldn’t we want to learn what nutritionists and studies from around the world say about a healthy diet?

We are all familiar with articles that urge us to eat more fruit and vegetables and less meat. Numerous scientific studies have proved that consuming meat and animal fats can damage our health in various ways.

The negative impact that milk and cheese (which contain saturated animal fats) have on health is just as well known. The public is shocked whenever natural disasters or terrorist attacks kill hundreds or thousands of people. So why don’t people react in the same way when millions of people die of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other diseases that are related to diet and malnutrition?

The myth that meat and dairy products are healthy foods – a myth that continues to be propagated by the meat and dairy industries – is widely accepted by uninformed consumers and careless politicians. Additionally, the European Union (EU) and countries around the world subsidise meat and milk with taxpayer’s money even though the products are unhealthy and even though their production causes cruelty to animals. This political approach is completely unacceptable, as it appears to put a higher value on the economic interests of the meat and dairy industries than on public health, which should be governments’ primary focus. In the past, vegetarian foods were looked down upon just as vegan diets are often denigrated today. Because of stupidity, ignorance and people’s vested economic interests, healthy diets are often ridiculed in the media.

Here’s just one example: In 2004, a toddler whose parents had reportedly fed him a vegan diet died. However the child had not actually eaten any vegan food. In fact, he hadn’t eaten any food at all! He had lost his appetite because he’d contracted pneumonia and hadn’t received medical treatment for the condition. The child had not been fed a healthy, vegan diet – his parents believed in a special diet, which had been recommended by a self-appointed “nutritionist”. However, as far as nutritionists are concerned, that special diet has nothing to do with a healthy vegan diet. As it is too often the case, the media did not think it was necessary to do proper research or even try to learn the nutritional basics of a vegan diet. No, instead they denigrated veganism and approached the issue with their usual prejudices intact.

On the other hand, millions of people suffer and die because their meat-based diets – which are laden with animal fat – lead to obesity and all its consequences as well as to hypertension, heart attacks, angina pectoris, strokes, atherosclerosis, osteoporosis, cancer, diabetes and other chronic diseases. Numerous studies have demonstrated a connection between the consumption of meat and dairy products and these diseases. Studies have also shown that many fish are contaminated with shockingly high levels of environmental toxins such as dioxin and heavy metals. If you can read German please visit www.fleisch-macht-krank.de (the website of the Medical Society for the Promotion of a Vegetarian Diet) for further information and to find studies that clearly prove the connection between meat- and dairy-based diets and disease. The fact that millions of people are victims of meat, eggs and dairy products is simply accepted as “normal” – it generates no outcry from the public or the media. However, if one person dies because his irresponsible parents fed him an irresponsible diet that people could only wrongly allegeas vegan, the incident sparks a huge public outcry and outrages clueless consumers and meat-industry representatives. The findings of scientists and the statements of renowned nutritionists and physicians strongly contravene the “lyrical rhapsodies” of non-professional journalists and meat, egg and dairy industry lobbyists. For example, in 2003, in a joint position paper, the American Dietetic Association (ADA) and Dietitians of Canada (DC) commented on the health advantages of vegetarian and vegan diets. Some of the most renowned dieticians in the US and Canada belong to these organisations. The ADA alone has approximately 70,000 members. The position paper states, in part, “Well-planned vegan diets and other forms of vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Vegetarian diets are associated with a number of health advantages.” It goes on to say, “It is the position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada that appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases”. “Dietetics professionals have a responsibility to support and encourage those who express an interest in consuming a vegetarian diet.”