Excerpt
Meat Industry's Fat Lies
The meat and dairy industries have spent many millions of
dollars to promote the belief that carbohydrates, such as
potatoes, bread and pasta are the real culprits that
cause excess weight gain. But literally thousands of
impartial studies have shown this to have no basis in
fact. Due to their high fat content, meats are far indeed
from "calorie conscious."
The renowned Harvard nutritionist, Dr. Jean Mayer,
explained the matter this way:
In becoming a vegetarian, you will eat a greater
percentage of your calories from cereal grains, dried
beans and peas, potatoes and pasta -- the very foods most
dieters avoid with zeal. And you will lose weight.
Because people eating the standard American diet eat such
a very high percentage of their calories as fat, most of
them fight a never-ending "battle of the bulge." But
obesity is not merely an aesthetic issue. It has been
found to be a significant co-factor in all the
degenerative diseases that cripple and kill modern man.
The obese, and to a lesser but still significant extent
the overweight, have higher rates of heart disease,
diabetes, liver disorders, gallbladder disease, cancer,
arthritis, and virtually every other degenerative
disease. Infant mortality rates are far higher for babies
born to obese mothers. Obese teenagers have a life
expectancy that is 15 years shorter than normal.
Clinically, the term "obesity" refers to excessive levels
of body-fat. It is, quite literally, a case of being fat.
-From a clinical standpoint, the body weight most of us
think as "normal" is anything but healthy. As one
authority wrote:
A teenager who remains 20% under the normal weight enjoys
a 15-year increase over and above normal life expectancy.
Lower than normal weight is also associated with marked
reductions in the incidence of cancer, cardiovascular
disease, diabetes, and other degenerative diseases. In a
very real sense, then, U.S. and European weight standards
are excessive, and the overwhelming majority of Americans
and Europeans are detrimentally overweight . . . The U.S.
Public Health Service estimates 60 million Americans are
overweight. In reality, the number of Americans who are
above optimal weight may be three times the government
estimate. [That is 3 out of 4 Americans.]
When we realize that so-called "normal" weights are
actually too high for optimum health, and a very high
percentage of Americans are above even these weights, a
picture emerges that is neither flattering nor healthy.
What is considered "normal" in our culture is actually a
moderate form of obesity.
So, if you are concerned about your health and our
environment, eliminate meat from your diet.
o Mayer, J. and Goldberg, J., "Nutrition" (a syndicated
column) Washington Post, July 26, 1981
o Tartter, P., "Cholesterol and Obesity as Prognostic
Factors..." Cancer, 47:2222, 1981
o Donegan, W., "The Association of Body Weight with
Recurrent Cancer...," Cancer, 41:1590, 1978 Editorial,
"Obesity -- The Cancer Connection," Lancet, 1:1223, 1982
o Hur, R., "Foor Reform: Our Desperate Need" Neidelburg
Publishers, 1975, pg 74
o Robbins, John, "Diet For A New America" Stillpoint
Publishing, Walpole, N.H., 1987, pgs. 289-290
Jai Maharaj
http://www.mantra.com/jai
Om Shanti
