What do you get when you mix a huge dose of recovering vegan with liberalism and some over the top feminism? No, not Roseanne Barr on Atkins. You get The Vegetarian Myth, by Lierre Keith. Flashpoint Press was nice enough to send me a copy of this eye-opening book and although it took me a few months to get through, it has been an enlightening read. In it, Keith combines her own personal experiences with some good hard data to help debunk the vegetarian myth as we know it.
Interspersed throughout the story is Keith’s description of all the trauma her body went through as the result of 20 years on a vegan diet. The pain she went through sounds even worse than the taste of vegetables, and it was all because she wasn’t getting the nutrients she needed. Her spine degenerated, she experienced hypoglycemia and even depression. Some of her medical problems still linger to this day, despite turning back to eating a healthy meat-based diet. This is unfortunate, but to prevent people from suffering the way she did, she methodically debunks the vegetarian myth.
First, she tackles “moral vegetarians.” These are the vegetarians that slip over to the dark side of the eating spectrum because they are against killing. Keith says, “If killing is the problem, the life of one grass-fed cow will feed me for an entire year. But a single vegan meal…will involve hundreds of deaths. Why don’t they matter?” Who decided that plants suddenly wanted to sacrifice their lives to sustain ours. They don’t want to die any more than animals. But if people are still concerned about the lives of animals, Keith notes that, “A square meter of topsoil can contain a thousand different species of animals.” And agriculture kills these animals. Why are they less important than cute animals? I could go on, but suffice to say, she backs up her words.
Then she takes on “political vegetarians.” These are the people that think they are helping save the world by not eating meat. They make claims that the corn fed to a cow only makes a little meat, but could directly feed a lot more people. They don’t realize that feeding corn to cows is wrong and they are meant to eat grass, which humans can’t digest. Keith says, “[the political vegetarians] don’t know that cows eat grass anymore than they know that soil eats cows.” In the chapter she shows how terrible factory farms are, while also exposing that the vegetarian diet is no better for the world. She fixes the water myth and attacks agriculture’s use of water and oil.
Finally she turns to “nutritional vegetarians,” those who simply think the vegetarian diet is healthier. Again, she proves them wrong by first comparing our bodies to those of carnivores, which are quite similar. Her biggest attack is upon soy, which may very well be the worst thing ever. It’s enough to make me look at all the food I eat and consider cutting all soy products out. Read the book if you want to know why.
In the end, the book isn’t simply complaining about vegetarians and dropping data. Keith actually offers some solutions, although the biggest would require the total restructuring of the civilization we have come to know and love.
I found the book to be an interesting read, although it was quite long-winded. It probably could have been half the length, while still making the same points and doing them just as strong. I liked how she wove in her experience as a vegan, but at times she seemed to be following a feminist agenda rather than an anti-vegetarian one. I would recommend this book for anyone looking into different eating lifestyles, but prepare for some scary stuff. This book also makes for a good response next time a vegetarian tries to attack you with propaganda, just don’t offer up this book until they attempt to slam you first, because then you are no better than them.
Buy the book here and see the light for yourself.
you fucking idiot.this woman said she was a vegan but then went on to say she binged on animal products every chance she got and said vegans cheated by eating beef once a week.vegan means no animal foods what so ever.she was not a vegan and she was not eating properly.thats why she got sick.also why are pro meat people like you so bent on giving vegetarians and vegans so much shit?i mean get over it,its just food.nobody cares what YOU decide to eat.so stop attacking others.get a god damn life becuz you obviously dont have one if you spend so much time fixating on food and bashing other peoples health choices.dumbass.oh and all vegans dont use gmo soy as a staple in their diet.ignorant.
so political vegetarians don’t know that cows eat grass?
Have you ever considered where you get the vast majority of your carbohydrates? From plants; potatoes, grains, sugars etc. I would guess.
Would you want all agricultural land, in the world, to become pasture, for cows to graze on, to provide for everyone who eats meat?
Wouldn’t that leave a lot less room for plants that humans can directly eat?
Wow, why are only retards responding?
tori – Awesome use of vulgarity and punctuation. Made your comment really easy to read. GMO soy isn’t the problem – all kinds of soy are bad for you. Do you even know how much processing they have to do to make it “edible”?
Mbox – CAFOs feed cows grain when they should be eating grass.
Your body doesn’t need anywhere near the amount of carbohydrates that people in this country typically eat. You can cut out all potatoes, grains, sugars, etc. and be a lot healthier than the people who do eat them.
We have all that agricultural land because the large corporations that control agriculture have convinced us that it’s OK to feed the CAFO animals grain and to put corn and soy into the majority of the products at the groceries. It’s not necessary.
How much room do you need for your plants, really?
If eating plants causes hundreds of deaths, as the author states, than eating meat causes dozens times that. It requires 8 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of beef, meaning that a plethora of grain is being wasted on feeding animals, when it could instead just be eaten directly by humans. The grain that is used to feed cows could feed 8.7 billion humans, 2 million more than the amount on earth. This is grain going to both factory farms and more humane farms. Not to mention the 50 bathtubs full of water required to make that one pound of beef.
Your argument is null, as is your website.
GO VEGAN!
And you, Kayla, are ignorant fool. Cow is feeding on grass, not grain. Most beef is free-range. Get your head out of your ass and stop citing vegan propaganda websites.
Really? Seems like the debate here is just people screaming back and forth at each other without hearing one another. Everyone is unique and has different metabolic needs. Extremes are never the answer. A whole foods based vegan diet can be health supportive and is unlikely to involve soy products due to their highly processed nature.
Eating pasture raised grass-fed beef can be healthy as well. And Deez I don’t know where you’re from but in North America most of the beef is grain fed.
best regards y’all
Your local whole foods omnivorous consumer
Humans have consumed whatever they could find for milenniums. Meat was consumed for days after a kill and then femine till another kill. We are still designed for an omnivore diet as we have not evolved to a vegan or meat diet totally. Geographic heritage determines what you should eat. My Scandinavian predicessors ate meat and my system does not thrive on a vegan diet. look at your history and design your diet. It is simp,y the only possible solution to the problem. Everybody is right and wrong or possibly just correct. Think about it and thrive.
@Deez:
“Most beef is free-range”, actually, according to the latest government info, 98% of all beef produced in the US is corn and grain fed, and factory farmed.
And, as far as Keith, consuming large quantities of eggs and milk not only makes you not Vegan, but gives you all the protein and vitamin B12 you need. Keith also suggests in her book that we should get rid of all agriculture, civilization, and about 1/2 of the current population
Justin is right. Cows grazing on grass is so rare nowadays, and ultimately cannot support our growing population. I agree commercial agriculture is messed up, but it is not like vegetarians are the only ones supporting it. Buying local organic veggies is the ideal way to go. It’s sustainable and healthy!I’m vegetarian, but I’m ok with others eating wild animals like deer on occasion. Keep in mind, our hunter gatherer ancestors had a diet of mainly berries and nuts and would hunt only about once every three days! They also did this raw, eating EVERY bit of the animal.
The scientific ignorance in the vegetarian/vegan communities is astounding. Not surprisingly, very similar to the far right Christians denying science. It’s based on belief, it’s based on dogma, it’s not based on evidence and knowledge.
Berries and nuts? Gimme a you know what break! Seasonal foods. Nuts being unpalatable and even toxi without cooking. Ditto legumes. There’s a reason the Indians considered acorns food of last resort. Berries? You mean the tiny, bitter, calorie poor little things that existed before we bread them to be big and sweet?
Nicole, what do you base your hunting period claims on? Wait! I know! You read it on the internet! There’s a rich lode of data available from early explorers writing about hunter-gatherer societies long gone, to those that are still extant. And you may not want to believe a non-believer, but what you describe is BS. The largest portions of calories and protein in H-G societies have always come from animal sources. And, did you consider that IF they hunted only every three days, it was because the food was satiating, and probably that was the time limit before the meat went bad in a warm climate?
If there was any reasonably consistent vegetable energy source for early humans, it was starch tubers. No, not potatoes or sweet potatoes, late arrivals. Things like arrow root, widely disseminated, cannis, and cat tail roots. There is a reason we produce alpha-amylase, to break down starches to glucose.
I have a masters degree in theology, and I can assure you that I can recognize religion in its many forms very easily.
Veganism is a religion. No God required, just blind obedience to others following blind obedience.
BTW, I used to drive past the White Wave tofu factory (factory farming?) frequently in Boulder, Co. What a stench! I’m surprised they were allowed to pollute like that.
You have many valid points, however, I would like to add that I did not gather my information off of the internet. I actually learned it in a college-level class! The author of this book sites the internet (Wikipedia to be specific). I have also read books like the China study and there’s a whole lot of SCIENTIFIC (yes, scientific) information on why a plant-BASED diet is the healthiest. Please don’t be so quick to assume. Keep in mind, I’m a very independent thinker and my vegetarianism was purely based on modern factory farming and ethical standards I stood for. No vegetarian friend/book persuaded me to go. I looked at the TRUTH: the fact that 99% of meat in America is factory farmed, that the more meat and dairy we eat in western societies, the more heart disease, osteoporosis, etc.we get. When one turns to WIKIPEDIA to write their coming of age novel, that is not using facts.We are living in an era where meat isn’t necessary. If we all buy sustainable sources of food like local fruits and veggies, we could support our growing population. The people who try to argue against my DECISION(not belief) are the ones that appear the most ignorant. (Where do get your protein, we need meat, etc.)
I do apologize for making it seem as though our ancestors only ate veggies.That is a highly debatable subject because history still remains a mystery. Our bodies, however, are actually similar to that of herbivores. We don’t have claws to hunt or short digestive systems. Hunting isn’t even in our insincts!
PLEASE do not make it seem as if my decision is like a religion. Many vegans/vegetarians are going AGAINST the “blind obedience” of the Western diet. We are also not all the same and are vegetarians for different reasons.
Oh and might I add, I don’t eat tofu. Seemingly accusing vegetarians of eating lots of tofu is such balogne.
I do not want to start a quarrel, I just wanted to clarify my perspective. I also don’t hate meat-eaters. In fact, all of my friends are meat-eaters!
For clarification, might I also add that I am not against a flexitarian diet. I think moderation is okay, but I no longer eat meat because it’s easier to just avoid it altogether. I feel like if I promised I would just eat organic meat, I would break that promise every now and then.
@Nicole: “We don’t have claws to hunt or short digestive systems. Hunting isn’t even in our insincts!” As soon as you wrote that, I knew you have not been as well informed as you believe. I’ve seen that illogical crapola on vegan sites. (And my comment about learning it from the internet was a joke.)
THE REASON WE DON’T HAVE CLAWS IS THAT WE HAVE BRAINS!!!!! We figured out how to make tools to kill animals. And how did we get those big brains? By eating cooked meat. Otherwise, we’d have bellies like gorillas. See The Expensive Tissue Hypothesis. (Go ahead, it’s on the internet.)
Many would and could debate that hunting still isn’t in our instincts. To be honest, that should include fishing.
I’ll only refute one other point. The China Study is hogwash. Denise Minger, a statistician rips the data manipulation to shreds: http://rawfoodsos.com/2010/07/07/the-china-study-fact-or-fallac/ Dr. Campbell had a hypothesis, went looking for supporting data, selected what he wanted, misrepresented what didn’t support him, and conned millions into thinking that a vegetarian/vegan diet is best for us obvious omnivores.
Like Ancel Keyes and his totally dishonest Nations Study that led to the fear of cholesterol, Son of Keyes has done similar with his book. Fooling the public.
No baby ever died from carnivore/omnivore mother’s milk, have they? Big clue there!
I’ll be honest. I’m grateful for CAFO meat because of my low income. But if our meats were raised humanely, and I had to pay more, well, then, I’d have to be OK with it. But all the vegans in the world won’t change our horrible meat production by boycotting meat. The changes will have to come from the inside.
Corrections: “As soon as you wrote that” should be “As soon as I read that.”
And the Keyes study was Eight Nations, not just Nations. (He took datak from 22 nations, found that only eight supported his agenda, and threw all the others out without being honest.)
I didn’t mean to start an uproar and it is not like me to fight back to people. I definitely don’t want to be a victim of a brain-washed society- be it extreme vegan views and extreme pro-meat views. I will take your information into account “pzo”. You are right about our ancestors and the growth of brains. I will not deny that our BODIES are more like herbivores than carnivores. I still need to look into your China Study evidence.
However, I ask that you please don’t put vegans/ vegetarians in such a negative light. Their diets (well, most of them) are solely out of compassion for the world around them and most mean no harm. I am one of them.
Will I begin eating meat just because our ancestors did? No. Our environment evolved, and eating a plant-based, local diet is ultimately very sustainable nowadays. And yes, I know I alone am not preventing the mass-produced, overfed animals from being murdered every day. Surely, all the vegetarians in the US are! 7 million more people buying meat would certainly cause a larger production of meat to be produced! I know that I would definitely want to be a part of the people abstaining than the part of the people contributing.
🙂
Most people don’t know anything for themselves. They know the World and it’s “facts” by reading other people’s statements. Eat an animal based diet and then a vegetable based one. See which one feels better! See which one you are stronger on! Then, you will know the foods your body evolved with. Enough said!
And I feel SO MUCH better on a plant based diet! 🙂
Well the vegan diet doesn’t work for everyone.