Being vegetarian shrinks the brain

[Auntie]

Organic grass fed beef still is a huge waste of resources, and still is high in saturated fat.

Isn't the fat on grass fed beef yellow? I've heard that the white fat on grain fed beef is not good for you, but that the yellow fat on grass fed beef is actually healthy.

 

[Veritas]

Organic grass fed beef still is a huge waste of resources, and still is high in saturated fat.

Animals have been grazing off the land since God created them Whoopie!
And the fact that this kind of beef has "saturated fat" is just a huge bonus. I believe you have been sadly misinformed about this type of fat. Forturnately science is making great strides in this field. In fact, fat from organic, grass-fed beef is loaded with Omega 3's and CLA...both extremely beneficial. Further, check out this article on saturated fat. By the time you're done reading you'll be forced to conclude it's probably one of the best fats for you.

http://www.health-report.co.uk/saturated_fats_health_benefits.htm

Before 1920 coronary heart disease was rare in America; so rare that when a young internist named Paul Dudley White introduced the German electrocardiograph to his colleagues at Harvard University, they advised him to concentrate on a more profitable branch of medicine. The new machine revealed the presence of arterial blockages, thus permitting early diagnosis of coronary heart disease. But in those days clogged arteries were a medical rarity, and White had to search for patients who could benefit from his new technology. During the next forty years, however, the incidence of coronary heart disease rose dramatically, so much so that by the mid fifties heart disease was the leading cause of death among Americans. Today heart disease causes at least 40% of all US deaths. If, as we have been told, heart disease results from the consumption of saturated fats, one would expect to find a corresponding increase in animal fat in the American diet. Actually, the reverse is true. During the sixty-year period from 1910 to 1970, the proportion of traditional animal fat in the American diet declined from 83% to 62%, and butter consumption plummeted from eighteen pounds per person per year to four. During the past eighty years, dietary cholesterol intake has increased only 1%. During the same period the percentage of dietary vegetable oils in the form of margarine, shortening and refined oils increased about 400% while the consumption of sugar and processed foods increased about 60%.2

The Framingham Heart Study is often cited as proof of the lipid hypothesis. This study began in 1948 and involved some 6,000 people from the town of Framingham, Massachusetts. Two groups were compared at five-year intervals—those who consumed little cholesterol and saturated fat and those who consumed large amounts. After 40 years, the director of this study had to admit: "In Framingham, Mass, the more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the more calories one ate, the lower the person’s serum cholesterol. . . we found that the people who ate the most cholesterol, ate the most saturated fat, ate the most calories, weighed the least and were the most physically active."3 The study did show that those who weighed more and had abnormally high blood cholesterol levels were slightly more at risk for future heart disease; but weight gain and cholesterol levels had an inverse correlation with fat and cholesterol intake in the diet.4 ....

Mother’s milk provides a higher proportion of cholesterol than almost any other food. It also contains over 50% of its calories as fat, much of it saturated fat. Both cholesterol and saturated fat are essential for growth in babies and children, especially the development of the brain.12 Yet, the American Heart Association is now recommending a low-cholesterol, lowfat diet for children! Commercial formulas are low in saturated fats and soy formulas are devoid of cholesterol. A recent study linked lowfat diets with failure to thrive in children.13

The dangers of polyunsaturates

The public has been fed a great deal of misinformation about the relative virtues of saturated fats versus polyunsaturated oils. Politically correct dietary gurus tell us that the polyunsaturated oils are good for us and that the saturated fats cause cancer and heart disease. The result is that fundamental changes have occurred in the Western diet. At the turn of the century, most of the fatty acids in the diet were either saturated or monounsaturated, primarily from butter, lard, tallows, coconut oil and small amounts of olive oil. Today most of the fats in the diet are polyunsaturated from vegetable oils derived mostly from soy, as well as from corn, safflower and canola.
Modern diets can contain as much as 30% of calories as polyunsaturated oils, but scientific research indicates that this amount is far too high. The best evidence indicates that our intake of polyunsaturates should not be much greater than 4% of the caloric total, in approximate proportions of 1 1/2 % omega-3 linolenic acid and 2 1/2 % omega-6 linoleic acid.30 EFA consumption in this range is found in native populations in temperate and tropical regions whose intake of polyunsaturated oils comes from the small amounts found in legumes, grains, nuts, green vegetables, fish, olive oil and animal fats but not from commercial vegetable oils.
Excess consumption of polyunsaturated oils has been shown to contribute to a large number of disease conditions including increased cancer and heart disease; immune system dysfunction; damage to the liver, reproductive organs and lungs; digestive disorders; depressed learning ability; impaired growth; and weight gain.31
One reason the polyunsaturates cause so many health problems is that they tend to become oxidized or rancid when subjected to heat, oxygen and moisture as in cooking and processing. Rancid oils are characterized by free radicals—that is, single atoms or clusters with an unpaired electron in an outer orbit. These compounds are extremely reactive chemically. They have been characterized as "marauders" in the body for they attack cell membranes and red blood cells and cause damage in DNA/RNA strands, thus triggering mutations in tissue, blood vessels and skin. Free radical damage to the skin causes wrinkles and premature aging; free radical damage to the tissues and organs sets the stage for tumors; free radical damage in the blood vessels initiates the buildup of plaque. Is it any wonder that tests and studies have repeatedly shown a high correlation between cancer and heart disease with the consumption of polyunsaturates?32 New evidence links exposure to free radicals with premature aging, with autoimmune diseases such as arthritis and with Parkinson's disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, Alzheimer's and cataracts.33

And you have no idea why that woman wasn't feeling well--she could have had cancer, been pregnant, or myriad other things...reading one book makes a person an expert innutritional diagnostics?? For that one book, Veritas there are several hundred more giving alternate theories about the optimum diet. If it works for you --that's awesome that you have found that..and even that you recommend it having ifound it so helpful-but you can't use it diagnostically...

No, I don't know why she wasn't feeling well, but she thought it was her diet. That's what I was going on. Are you going to deny that what a person eats effects how they feel? I never claimed to be an expert; I'm just trying to offer information that can help people. The problem is that there is NO ONE DIET IS BENEFICIAL FOR EVERYONE. That's why it's important to "eat right for YOUR type. Personally, when I eliminated grains and other refined carbs including sugars and consumed high amounts of animal protein and fat (70% of my diet), my cholesterol levels, weight, blood sugar and virtually other markers for heart and other diseases dropped dramatically. Why? Because I'm a PROTEIN type. Not all people are but most with European ancestry are.

I get that you don't have a lot of money and are forced to eat a veggie diet. I'm sorry that's the case; if I had extra income I'd gladly forward some funds to a local supermarket for you to buy meat and fish. I just wish you'd stop trying to cram the myth down my throat that vegetarian is healthier than meat eating for everyone. It's just not.

LOL! The study also said that fat womwn have brain shrinkage, and regular wine drinkers. The key viatamin defeciency in the study was linked to B-12. If you aren't eating mollusks or liver regularly- you're likely getting your B-12 mostly from your fortified breakfast cereal

You can fortify foods all you want. It's no different than taking a vitamin supplement. But honestly, I think consuming vitamins from their natural sources with all the co-nutrients and co-factors is much more optimal. The body recognizes them as food sourced and absorbs and assimilates them far better. Just sayin.......

 

[ShannonMcCatholic]

LOL! Veritas

I am not trying to cram anything down your throat...I just think a moderate approach is much more often than not closer to the truth of the matter of things.

I tend to think eating seasonally and locally is probably the best way to go. Eat what grows or roams or swims by you--don't eat crap out of boxes, cans, or bags, as often as possible. Limit refined sugars and refined starches. Eat nothing with trans fat. That's probably about as close to any sort of God designed diet as we'll get.


Thnaks for the offer-- that's really nice We eat do meat/poutlry/fish a couple times a week. (Lol! our hormone/antibiotic free grass fed cube steak is simmering in the crockpot as I type) Our diet is high in other proteins- beans/eggs/whole milk/cheeses/nuts and seeds.

My point about B-12 is that if you're not eating liver or molusks regularly you, just like a evilvegetarian- are most likely getting your B-12 from fortified foods, and not from beef.

Cool article!! It's seems really interesting--I'll have to read it better, when there aren't children dripping off of me. The one thing which comes to mind, though--which I don't know if it's addressed- is that people live longer than they used to- hence incidents of heart disease, etc. and long term effects of nutrition, might be skewed a little.

 

[Michie]

Some of us already feel like our brains are rattling around in our skulls like a lonely dried up walnut. Regardless of diet.

 

[Lady Bug]

Can't help but say this -

I had some marinaded steak last night - first time I ever had steak in literally years - it was the most delicious thing I ever ate in such a long time - I marvelled at every morsel of it - grrrrrrr yum yum

 

[Auntie]

Another thing to add, B12 can be very hard for older people to absorb. I guess that's why some forms are sublingual and also given in injections.

And, to come clean, I am not unbiased here. I make my living by selling baby calves to western ranchers. Some of them end up in feedlots I'm sure, and some of them are grass fed only.

My hubby just made me a BEAUTIFUL dish of grilled salmon & rice, with fried okra, so gotta go, lol.

 

[Michie]

Another thing to add, B12 can be very hard for older people to absorb. I guess that's why some forms are sublingual and also given in injections.

And, to come clean, I am not unbiased here. I make my living by selling baby calves to western ranchers. Some of them end up in feedlots I'm sure, and some of them are grass fed only.

My hubby just made me a BEAUTIFUL dish of grilled salmon & rice, with fried okra, so gotta go, lol.

That sounds good.

 

[Auntie]

That sounds good.

Oh it is delicious. He's never told me exactly how he makes it, but the yellow rice has big chunks of onions & bell peper in it. And he has developed a topping for the salmon that is mouth watering. It is mostly fresh tomato and onion in fresh lime juice, but with some seasonings and other things, oh so good.

 

[Michie]

I think you gave me an idea for lunch tomorrow for hubby. Can't do fried okra but I'll get something together.

 

[plainswolf]

The very nature of our dentition and especially our digestive system tells us that we are born omnivores. I'm all for eating good for our bodies and health, but I truly wonder about the protein intake of strict vegans.. Every protein is only as good as it's weakest amino-acid, and almost all plant sources of protein are not 'complete' proteins, they lack one or more of the essential amino-acids the human body requires. I would never go to a diet that does not include at least a minimal amount of animal protein... even Christ gave the people fish to eat along with the bread.




Just my $.02