Re: Red Meat May Not Be The Only Villain

I have long maintained that eating SOME meat is healthy and that studies which say that eating meat in and of itself is unhealthy are for the most part fatally flawed.  A recent example was a Mike Adams featured article at Natural News which trumpeted the same refrain about eating meat being unhealthy and poijnted to the large study which found that people who eat large amounts of meat are less healthy and do not live as long as those who eat meat once a week or less.  What should be the obvious flaw in such a study is the simple fact that people who consume less meat by and large live a much healthier lifestyle than the majority of those who eat a lot of meat.   So, sure, if you want to compare someone who watches their calories, eats a mostly vegan diet, gets regular exercise and avoids sugar, bleached refined flour and junk foods, etc. to a couch potato who porks out (pardon the pun) on fast food, lots of unhealthy kinds of meat, junk food, sugar, etc. of course there is going to be a difference.

The fact is, humans are omnivores and have been for tens of thousands of years.  Our teeth are the teeth of omnivores and our bodies themselves have developed to incorporate meat as part of our diet.  I can appreciate the ethical concerns some have regarding the consumption of meat, but when it comes to health itself avoiding meat entirely can be distinctively unhealthy unless one really knows what they are doing and takes care to provide essential nutrients not found in a strict vegetarian diet.  Some vegetarians know what they are doing and are quite healthy, but far too many who simply eliminate meat  are courting long term and chronic illness as a result.

I would wager that if all the people who are currently eating no meat added some healthy organic free range meats and fish not subject to feedlot practices and fish farming to their diets their health would improve as a result.