‘The proponents of the vegetarian diet argue that studies have shown that the longest-lived animals had a low-calorie vegetarian diet and that rats fed a high protein, high fat diet had the shortest life span.’
OUR diet plays a very important role in the development of cardiovascular diseases, metabolic illnesses, and some forms of cancer, especially of the gastrointestinal tract. A diet high in saturated fat and cholesterol, and low in fiber – consisting mainly of red meats (pork, beef, non-skim dairy products, etc.) and eggs, has been branded as unhealthy.
Voluminous clinical studies have shown that excess serum cholesterol, specifically chronically elevated HDL (the bad cholesterol) and triglycerides, is the culprit in the more than half a million deaths from heart attack each year in the United States alone. This translates to one person dying from a cardiovascular illness every 60 seconds. And this does not even include the mortality from cancer, which is higher among red meat-eaters.
Diet and longevity
The proponents of the vegetarian diet argue that studies have shown that the longest-lived animals had a low-calorie vegetarian diet and that rats fed a high protein, high fat diet had the shortest life span. The studies of Dr. Paul Dudley on the Hunzas of Pakistan, who have amazing longevity, showed that they subsist on spartan and vegetarian diet of nuts, grains, fruits, vegetables, and a little goat milk. Fresh and/or dried apricots are their staple food. The Hunzas’ lifespan is 140 years.
Vegetables and fruits
Vegetables and fruits have phytochemicals that are good for our bodies. Twenty-three epidemiological studies have shown that a diet rich in grains and vegetables reduces the risk of colon cancer by 40%, and breast cancer by 25%. Some of the hundreds of phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables are: lycopene, ellagic acid, lutein, flavonoids, saponins, monoterpenes, phthalides, phenols, ajoene, capsaicin, coumestrol, genistein, sulforaphane, zeaxanthin. Our mothers were right in cajoling us to eat vegetables and fruits. Too bad, most of us didn’t listen. The incidence of cancers, heart and kidney diseases, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity among vegetarians is much lower than among meat-eaters. Those fruits and veggies capsules being advertised are a sham. One has to take 20 or more capsules a day to satisfy the minimum daily requirements. Eating fresh fruits and vegetables (without preservatives) is healthier and lesser expensive. Diabetics must include the calories from fruits in their computation.
Types of vegetarians
Vegetarian forms: (1) Lacto-ovo vegetarians, whose diet consists of vegetables, dairy products and eggs, no meat or flesh of any kind (pork, beef, lamb, etc., poultry, fish, and seafoods); (2) Lacto-vegetarians who do not eat eggs, but eat vegetables, fruits and milk; and, (3) Vegans or pure vegetarians, who do not eat any food or food products of animal origin, including milk and eggs, and subsist on vegetables, grains, nuts, and fruits only. The Rev. William Metcalfe of England, together with his friend, Sylvester Graham, a young Presbyterian minister, and 40 other English church members, brought the vegetarian way of life to the United States in 1817. For thousands of years, being a vegetarian was a part of socio-cultural-religious practice around the globe, most notably in the Far East. Many people around the world today choose to be vegetarians for health reasons.
Vegetarian who’s who
If you are a vegetarian, you’re in good company. Some of the famous vegetarians include Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Leonardo da Vinci, Buddha, Plutarch, John Milton, Sir Isaac Newton, Mahatma Gandhi, The Dalai Lama, Benjamin Franklin, Shakespeare, Vincent Van Gogh, Leo Tolstoy, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Voltaire, Albert Schweitzer, George Bernard Shaw, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Rabindranath Tagore, Mark Twain, Robert Browning, Linda and Paul McCartney, John Denver, Richard Gere, Kim Bassinger, Steven Spielberg, Cameron Diaz, Josh Hartnett…etc.
Man: Herbivore?
Was man supposed to be plant-eaters instead of meat-eaters? Yes, according to several investigations and books on the subject. A. D. Andrews, the author of Fit Food For Men, made an anatomical and structural comparison between herbivores (plant-eating animals) and carnivores (meat-eating animals), and came to the conclusion that man’s teeth, salivary glands, quality of saliva, long intestinal tract, absence of claws, are all similar to those of herbivores, very much unlike those of carnivores. Thus, he argues that man is a natural herbivore, and must eat what herbivores eat: vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains, and not meat or flesh, in order to stay healthy. Eating red meat more than once a week is unhealthy and is a factor in most of man’s ailments.
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Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, a Cardiac Surgeon Emeritus based in Northwest Indiana and Las Vegas, Nevada, is an international medical lecturer/author, a Health Public Advocate, and Chairman of the Filipino United Network-USA, a 501(c)3 humanitarian and anti-graft foundation in the United States. Visit our websites: philipSchua.com and FUN8888.com Email: scalpelpen@gmail.com
