Lierre Keith

[Guest guest]

FYI: There was a reference in a recent post to Lierre Keith and " his "

vegetarian myth. Just for the record, Lierre Keith is female; a lesbian, in

fact. So, it's " her " myth. (And I'm really wondering what the myth is. A

quick " google " suggests she has turned on veg'ism. Hope not. Have to go

have a better look.)

Peace,

Cardea

[Guest guest]

Yes, Lierre Keith has totally turned on veganism. I heard her speak on KPFA about her book. She claims she was a vegan for some ten years and a vegetarian for some 20 years (something like that) and that her health broke down because of it. The only cure was meat-eating. The problem with folks like her is that if you become a junk-food vegan and don't plan accordingly to get the nutrients you need over many years, you may very well begin to have health problems. Those problems can be remedied with plant-derived supplements instead of meat and dairy, and planning your vegan diet correctly.

Now, she makes all kinds of arguments justifying meat-eating. She distorts the ecological arguments, acting as if we live in a hunter-gatherer society: she blames agriculture for ecological destruction, but conveniently not animal-agriculture, just agriculture. She is adding fuel to the Michael Pollen, Sally Fallon (Weston Price) "sustainable" meat movement which turns veg people into meat-eaters. And you can be assured that most of those people, once they start eating meat, will not stick to organic, grass-fed meat even if it were actually "sustainable" in terms of land-use.

 

-Beth S.--- On Fri, 3/5/10, celticwitch <celticwitch wrote:

celticwitch <celticwitch Re: Lierre Keith"SFBAVeg" <SFBAVeg >Friday, March 5, 2010, 11:49 PM

FYI: There was a reference in a recent post to Lierre Keith and "his" vegetarian myth. Just for the record, Lierre Keith is female; a lesbian, in fact. So, it's "her" myth. (And I'm really wondering what the myth is. A quick "google" suggests she has turned on veg'ism. Hope not. Have to go have a better look.)Peace,Cardea

[Guest guest]

> The only cure was meat-eating. The problem with folks

like her is that

if you become a junk-food vegan and don't plan accordingly to get the

nutrients you need over many years, you may very well begin to have

health problems.

 

We shouldn't assume that someone had health problems while on a vegan

diet because they were a junk food vegan. You can eat a whole foods

vegan diet and have health problems, especially if you don't supplement

with vitamin B12. Some people have a hard time absorbing iron from

plants, regardless of what kind of vegan diet they are on. Someone

eating mostly whole foods might be getting more fiber than their system

can handle. And unless a whole foods vegan is eating a lot of the

(handful of ) greens that have large amounts of absorbable calcium

every day, they are likely not to get enough calcium for optimal

health. And there are many other things that could affect a few

individuals that are not going to be a problem for the vast majority of

people who become vegan.

 

I don't mean to jump into this by appearing to defend Keith. I'm not --

I disagree with just about everything I've seen written by her.

 

Jack

 

 

--

Jack Norris, Registered Dietitian

President, Vegan Outreach

| VeganHealth.org

Sign up for my nutrition blog at: JackNorrisRd.com

[Guest guest]

Yes, I agree. "Junk-food" vegan was probably too strong a term. The point that you make, and that I was trying to make is that one needs to plan the vegan diet according to the needs of their body and the necessary nutrients. Twenty years ago, when Keith may have started, there was a lot of controversey as to whether B12 supplementation was necessary. Now, it is pretty much accepted across the board that after two years you better be taking B12 supplements or B12 fortified products (such as Red Star nutritional yeast). Now, algae-based Omega 3 with EPA/DHA is available because it was realized that some people from fish-based ancestries have trouble converting long chain Omega 3s into EPA/DHA (you can get the vegan version on-line).

 

If one does not take their individual body's needs into account after embarking on their vegan diet, they may have health problems and end up giving up on veganism instead of taking the plant-based supplements they need, and re-balancing their vegan diet according to their body's requirements. I for one, need a lot of protein to balance my blood-sugar, so I make sure to get my daily intake of beans. I make sure to eat my leafy greens daily for my minerals but I also do take a plant-based calcium/magesium vitamin D supplement each evening to make sure I get what I need. For those with digestion issues, soaking nuts and seeds may be necessary to maintain the vegan diet (they can be soaked and dehydrated).

 

-Beth S. (Certified Nutrition Educator)

 

--- On Sat, 3/6/10, Jack Norris <jacknorris wrote:

Jack Norris <jacknorris Re: Lierre Keith Date: Saturday, March 6, 2010, 1:27 PM

> The only cure was meat-eating. The problem with folks like her is that if you become a junk-food vegan and don't plan accordingly to get the nutrients you need over many years, you may very well begin to have health problems.We shouldn't assume that someone had health problems while on a vegan diet because they were a junk food vegan. You can eat a whole foods vegan diet and have health problems, especially if you don't supplement with vitamin B12. Some people have a hard time absorbing iron from plants, regardless of what kind of vegan diet they are on. Someone eating mostly whole foods might be getting more fiber than their system can handle. And unless a whole foods vegan is eating a lot of the (handful of ) greens that have large amounts of absorbable calcium every day, they are likely not to get enough calcium for optimal health. And there are many other things that could affect a few individuals that are not going to be a

problem for the vast majority of people who become vegan.I don't mean to jump into this by appearing to defend Keith. I'm not -- I disagree with just about everything I've seen written by her.Jack

-- Jack Norris, Registered DietitianPresident, Vegan Outreach | VeganHealth. orgSign up for my nutrition blog at: JackNorrisRd. com