the vegan body type

[Guest guest]

Last week, an acquaintance said to me that she HAD TO EAT MEAT BECAUSE OF HER

BODY TYPE. She is of an athletic build: near six feet tall and quite muscular.

She directed this comment specifically at me, the only vegan participating in a

group conversation, as though it were an undisputed fact, and that I, as a

well-read vegan, would know this was unquestionably true. She made this clear by

following this statement by saying derisively I couldn't expect her to survive

on tofu! Under the circumstances, it was not possible for me to reply at the

time, and I have not seen her since. I am going to see her again on Wednesday

evening, and want to be able to dispute her claim, because here is someone who

claims to know what happens in slaughterhouses, and yet I feel that her

underlying intention was to make herself feel better about eating meat. That is,

if I, an educated and dedicated vegan, did not disagree with her (and remember,

the situation prevented me from doing so), then I app

arently ACCEPT that it is only possible for people who are born skinny to choose

a vegan diet. Therefore, if I approve of her meat eating and see it as her only

valid option, then she has no reason to confront her feelings of guilt about

contributing to animal suffering and death. (It is also interesting to note that

she is African American, and she raised this issue specifically because we were

having a conversation about race and prejudice, and I believe she recognizes the

connection between animal enslavement and racial oppression.)

 

Anyway, I have been searching the Internet and can't find anything that

convincingly shows that people of any body type can be healthy (or healthier) as

vegans. The best I've come across so far is a listing of vegetarian and vegan

athletes (including football players, bodybuilders, and wrestlers, which is

somewhat helpful), a bunch of articles on protein (which don't specifically

adress body type), and a passing mention that large land mammals like elephants,

horses, and gorillas are all naturally vegans. Admittedly, the majority of

vegans I've known aren't exactly large of stature, but I know there are

exceptions, so I tend to think that it must be possible for anyone to live

without meat, regardless of their build.

 

Please help me if you have any knowledge on this subject. Especially useful

would be published resources.

 

Thanks,

 

Mat.

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Matthew,

 

There is no published research that large-framed people cannot be vegan, but

it is pretty hard to show someone " a lack of evidence, " if you know what I

mean.

 

There are two ways that I know of to create proof that large-framed people

can or cannot be vegan. One would be to get a large number of large-framed

people, have them try a vegan diet for a period of time, and see how they

fair. This would probably be the best way. Another way would be to do a

survey/study of a large group of vegans and see if many of them are

large-framed, or if the percentage of large-framed vegans was similar to the

percentage of large-framed people in the normal population. I don't think

the percentage of people who are large-framed in the US population has even

been quantified, though I'm not certain about this.

 

Neither of these ways of studying large-framed vegans have been pursued.

Unfortunately, the best I would be able to suggest is to say is that there

have been a lot of studies looking at vegans and a vegan diet and no

researchers have observed that large-framed people have a more difficult

time being vegan, though the question has not been studied directly.

 

I have never even heard of such a thing until now, so the idea that

large-framed people can't be vegan is certainly not common knowledge in

nutritional research.

 

Jack Norris, RD, Vegan Outreach

916/375-0014

jacknorris

http://veganoutreach.org

 

-

" matthew thomas " <ma>

<SFBAVeg >

Monday, November 18, 2002 10:54 PM

[sFBAVeg] the vegan body type

 

 

> Last week, an acquaintance said to me that she HAD TO EAT MEAT BECAUSE OF

HER BODY TYPE. She is of an athletic build: near six feet tall and quite

muscular. She directed this comment specifically at me, the only vegan

participating in a group conversation, as though it were an undisputed fact,

and that I, as a well-read vegan, would know this was unquestionably true.

She made this clear by following this statement by saying derisively I

couldn't expect her to survive on tofu! Under the circumstances, it was not

possible for me to reply at the time, and I have not seen her since. I am

going to see her again on Wednesday evening, and want to be able to dispute

her claim, because here is someone who claims to know what happens in

slaughterhouses, and yet I feel that her underlying intention was to make

herself feel better about eating meat. That is, if I, an educated and

dedicated vegan, did not disagree with her (and remember, the situation

prevented me from doing so), then I !

> app

> arently ACCEPT that it is only possible for people who are born skinny to

choose a vegan diet. Therefore, if I approve of her meat eating and see it

as her only valid option, then she has no reason to confront her feelings of

guilt about contributing to animal suffering and death. (It is also

interesting to note that she is African American, and she raised this issue

specifically because we were having a conversation about race and prejudice,

and I believe she recognizes the connection between animal enslavement and

racial oppression.)

>

> Anyway, I have been searching the Internet and can't find anything that

convincingly shows that people of any body type can be healthy (or

healthier) as vegans. The best I've come across so far is a listing of

vegetarian and vegan athletes (including football players, bodybuilders, and

wrestlers, which is somewhat helpful), a bunch of articles on protein (which

don't specifically adress body type), and a passing mention that large land

mammals like elephants, horses, and gorillas are all naturally vegans.

Admittedly, the majority of vegans I've known aren't exactly large of

stature, but I know there are exceptions, so I tend to think that it must be

possible for anyone to live without meat, regardless of their build.

>

> Please help me if you have any knowledge on this subject. Especially

useful would be published resources.

>

> Thanks,

>

> Mat.

>

>

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>

>

[Guest guest]

Well, personally I find the list of successful vegan athletes most

persuasive. What more could another athlete want? When I was considering

veganism many years ago (early 80's), what I found unequivocal was Andreas

Cahling. I read an interview with that mega-fit hunk in veg times and he

talked about eating fifteen bananas every morning before his sunrise beach

run, and I thought " If that guy can live on bananas, then someone like

myself, with a much more sedentary lifestyle and a much broader diet, will

likely do just fine. " And I was right. BTW, I'm pretty athletic. But

also slight. So who knows.

 

Bruce

 

> Anyway, I have been searching the Internet and can't find

> anything that convincingly shows that people of any body type

> can be healthy (or healthier) as vegans. The best I've come

> across so far is a listing of vegetarian and vegan athletes

> (including football players, bodybuilders, and wrestlers, which

> is somewhat helpful), a bunch of articles on protein (which