anyone for a glass of milk?

[fedfan]

There are so many mixed messages out there about what is good for you and what isn't, some people get so hung up on "healthy living".

You can get someone who leads the model lifestyle and still get sick whereas people who do eat whatever they want, smoke and drink may not. I am still to be convinced of any single common denominator.

On another note, and excuse me if this is a stupid question, but is cancer just a human condition or can animals get it too?

[beltic caldy]

Have you watched the video clip mate? It's not claim - it's an explanation of long-term scientifically analysed and scrutinised data - I agree that there a million opinions out there - this isn't opinion - it's evidence - please view/read it and come back : )

and no, cancer is not the premise of humans - it happens across practically all 'higher' mammals and indeed animals.

opinion and reports reading 'recent studies suggest.....' are one thing - this is a study, or the results of many years of study/experimentation/analysis with data presented...not an opinion.

[Chederer]

I've been a vegetarian for most of my life (27 years) - so no need to convince me. I will watch the clip though, when I have a bit more time.

On the subject, have a look at this when you have time. Great/disturbing movie:

this documentary disturbed me....if you have watched this one there is another documentary called fed up it should be on your netflix intant...watch it and it might disturb you a little more about the vegetables you eat if they are not organic

[beltic caldy]

Not seen it, so can't comment directly - 4.6/10 on IMDB doesn't incline me to rush to the shops (Fed Up, i mean - Food Inc was fantastic and very very scary) - still, will give it a look.

We're pretty lucky in Britain/Ireland as regards home produce - GM has not been embraced and is really treated with suspicion/caution.

[jayl0ve]

I like cooking and eating meat way too much to stop (in fact I BBQ'd a bone-in NY steak last night and it was delicious), but I don't drink cow's milk, that stuff honestly disgusts me.

with regards to meat, I dunno if that's 'cancer-causing' or whatever like casein is, but bring it on, I don't really care, I don't want to live forever

[beltic caldy]

used to feel exactly the same way man, i really did. And to answer your question, yup, animal protein, be it from milk or directly thru meat ingestion is unequivically, undeniably linked to boosted (massively) cancer rates, heart disease, diabetes and other critical diseases.

we're none of us getting off this boat alive man, i just want to enjoy the trip and have it last longer I suppose

[coke4]

Nowadays almost everything 'causes cancer'

[beltic caldy]

"must try harder"

C'mon Coke, you can do better than that!

What did you make of the video clip?

[jayl0ve]

Well he's right though, you can barely do anything now without somebody believing it's cancer-causing or eco-unfriendly or politically incorrect or... whatever.

[beltic caldy]

Nowadays almost everything 'causes cancer'

I understand the sentiment, but let's be sensible! Does Top Spin 3 cause cancer? How about going for a walk, or playing the piano?

Sorry, I know I'm being facetious but am avoiding 'right' or 'true' - just facts and evidence based conclusions : )

[Chederer]

Not seen it, so can't comment directly - 4.6/10 on IMDB doesn't incline me to rush to the shops (Fed Up, i mean - Food Inc was fantastic and very very scary) - still, will give it a look.

We're pretty lucky in Britain/Ireland as regards home produce - GM has not been embraced and is really treated with suspicion/caution.

its not an action packed film....basically what it explains is here in the US is that everyone is eating genetically modified foods...some of these modified foods have been directly related to cancer and other ailments....what freaks me out is that you cant get away from it...98% of the corn grown in US is genetically modified...which we feed to our cows, chickens, and many other animals...what fed up explains is GM will eventually kill nature...it explains how you should not mess with mother nature...some of the pollens have been known to kill butterflies...these vegetables that are GM are no better than meat

[beltic caldy]

Coolio man and thank you : )

In my opinion, and I don't know much really about GM, but we really need more time to study and examine GM foods and complex interaction with the human food chain/health affects etc - it's such a drastic 'interference' and so little long-term affects have been studied - there simply hasn't been time.

Scary as far as I'm concerned - time will tell but I wouldn't be surprised to see, over the next decades, significant changes in human physiology, immunology and who knows what else.

We're already seeing growing resistance in humans to antibiotics as a direct of over-drugged livestock - livestock over-drugged because it's more 'cost effective' to keep them in horrendous unclean conditions (google CAFO's - concentrated animal feeding operation) and pump them full of drugs - this immunity will grow and increase - antibiotics of course are relatively new and we have a finite number of types - they have saved millions if not billions of lives since they came into widespread use - one tip of the iceberg effect of this 'farming' (in name only) method is and will be dramatically reduced effectiveness of these 'wonder drugs' - this is and will result in loss of human life - significant loss, and why? So a very small number of inconceivably wealthy people can get even wealthier....if that doesn't scare people, it absolutely should.

[beltic caldy]

Just watched Food Inc again - really really potent film and again can't recommend highly enough : )

Chederer bro - sorry, I repeated some of what you said - will defo give Fed Up a look.

Seems being vegan may be more expensive (relatively - more expensive than meat-eating) in the US - can any of our stateside friends share their experiences?

let me be clear on that - it's more expensive to be vegan in the UK than it is to be a meat-eater....but i get the sense that the difference is greater in the US....or is this a false impression?

[Sherlock 117]

Just watched Food Inc again - really really potent film and again can't recommend highly enough : )

Chederer bro - sorry, I repeated some of what you said - will defo give Fed Up a look.

Seems being vegan may be more expensive (relatively - more expensive than meat-eating) in the US - can any of our stateside friends share their experiences?

let me be clear on that - it's more expensive to be vegan in the UK than it is to be a meat-eater....but i get the sense that the difference is greater in the US....or is this a false impression?

I haven't ever figured it out, mainly because I right now I don't make the food choices for myself. I would guess that in the US it would not be significantly higher, unless you shopped at a "better" grocery store to get more variety in healthy food options. One interesting fact I've seen somewhere is that in the US, the average percentage of income spent on food is around 20-25%, which is the lowest percentage EVER! Typically people have always spent around 33% of their income on food.

I second your recommendation of Food Inc. Another great book is the Omnivore's Dilemma. In fact, I would go so far as to say this is an even more interesting book and quite an easy read.

I've always thought about trying to go almost all vegetarian (I don't think I could ever go completely. I just love meat and milk too much), but not much I can do right now on $16,000 a year This would also require me to learn to cook, which is ok because I like doing it, but would require me to have more time than I do right now.

[Mike Rotchtickles]

As jaylove said, and I feel the same way- I just can't see myself giving up on eating meat products. Have tried to in the past but have always tended to miss it when it's not on the plate.
The vid posted by the OP shows compelling evidence and I guess the "right" way to follow, but I just can't do it.
This kinda reminds me of that speech in 'Scent of a Woman',

"In my life I always knew what the right path was. Without exception, I knew. But I never took it. You know why? It was too damn hard".