I completely agree and I think it’s important for people who become vegetarians for moral reasons to realize that there are alternatives. Have you read The Vegetarian Myth? I haven’t read it yet, but I’ve heard a lot of great things about it and it sounds like a book that you’d enjoy.

I was vegetarian for 20 years because the way animals were reared was so horrific. Thank goodness there are now some better alternatives and more and more people are rejecting intensively farmed meat.

My lineage is nomadic horsemen from Central Asia. Really. Lamb chops were my favorite food for 35 years. I’m a vegetarian for 15 years & 100% healthy.

Neither lineage, genetics, nor any biological parameter is a concern if your spiritual practices are deep & consistent. We live in carbon-based bodies which can stay that way or we can break limits. We totally have that potential.

By the way, “properly raised” livestock still release methane which is a major contributor to global warming.

Even beyond the Eskimos, most cultures that are native to cold climates have a predominately meat based diet. If this is in your lineage, it doesn’t matter if you’re a city dweller or not. Your dietary needs will still be primarily based on your genetics.

Furthermore, the fast paced modern lifestyle hasn’t existed long enough to cause an evolutionary impact. If I remember the statistic correctly, it takes 100,000 years to change the human genome 0.01%.

In regard to the ecological footprint, I think it’s mostly a result of conventional farming and doesn’t apply as much, if at all, to properly raised livestock.

While I think you have some great points, I think we’ll have to agree to disagree about the need for some to eat meat.

Just to wrap up on these thoughts, most people live in temperate climates. The Tibetans also have an animal flesh & fat diet since not much grows there either & yaks are plenty. It’s especially difficult for them since it’s a Buddhist country & nonharming is a core tenet.

As you may know there have been some reports that Horizon Organic has gotten so big that their practices are now questionable. I feel family farms need to be supported and protected against agribusiness. Still, there are no guarantees. After elucidating how meat is toxic I was very surprised at the conclusion of this post.

Those who fear anemia or lack of protein if following a plant-based diet need to look again at solid information.

There’s the ethical question of slaughtering & eating animals too. And just because it works for Eskimos doesn’t mean it will work for a city dweller for instance.

We live in a different world. The great thing about evolution is that it keeps evolving. I feel a flesh-based diet (including fish) leaves a huge human footprint.

Available online, Lava Lake Lamb http://www.lavalakelamb.com is raised humanely, sustainably and its sales support a major non-profit land and critical habitat conservation project in the Pioneer Mountains of Idaho. Lava Lake is also know for its innovative ‘predator friendly’ practices. The don’t shoot wolves.

I am passionate about animal cruelty and I became veggie for a year until I became anaemic because I just didn’t like enough of the right foods or know how to cook them.

I now have a completely organic diet. Meat from http://www.sheepdrove.co.uk which is just the most amazing quality you will ever get to eat. Veggies and dairy from http://www.rivernene.co.uk. You can absolutely taste the difference and I know that I am healthier as well as the animals living as they should do, instead of force feeding in barns with no air. Aaargh don’t get me started. Supermarkets are driving farmers to produce food at such a cheap price that the only way they can do it is unethically. I think governments have a role to play in making sure that supermarkets don’t force us down a route of eating poisons in our fresh food (meat and veg) as well as processed food which is barely more than a bunch of chemcials made to look and smell like food.

Well done Vin for raising such an important issue.

Regarding the Framingham study, I suggest you read the following book to get another perspective of it as well as most other cholesterol studies.

The Cholesterol Myths: Exposing the Fallacy that Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease by Uffe Ravnskov MD, PhD.

Furthermore, if you look into the work of Dr. Weston A. Price and Dr. Francis M. Pottenger, you will find that they studied many native cultures that lived on a very high intake of red meat without any significant issues relating to heart disease. In fact, these cultures enjoyed far better health than the average American. Eskimos are an excellent example. Their diet is extremely high in red meat and saturated fat. They are also some of the healthiest people on the planet.

Among other things, cholesterol is a precursor to important hormones, is essential for proper cell membrane and nervous system function, is a strong antioxidant, and is an important part of tissue repair. Regardless of how much or how little cholesterol is in your diet, your body will still produce however much it needs.

In regard to heart disease, cholesterol is used by the body to repair damaged artery walls. This is a sign of deeper levels of malfunction that cholesterol is merely there to fix. Blaming cholesterol for heart disease is like blaming a fire truck for starting a fire.

Go to http://www.westonaprice.org and look around, you’ll find plenty of excellent information.

You may also want to check out the article I wrote concerning the bias often found in modern scientific research: http://naturalbias.com/the-truth-about-scientific-research/