Comments on: Winter Vacation, Sort Of

By: ScottR

ScottR — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:00:18 +0000

Thought this might interest you. http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/100104/canada/canada_us_dementia

It does. Seems to be a growing problem worldwide.

By: Kate

Kate — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:26:09 +0000

I read and liked most of The Vegetarian Myth. The personal experiences were poignant, her facts were cited, and it was an interesting read as well. Where it fell down for me was when she said no one should have kids, when her entire thesis was built upon the idea of living in harmony with nature. Choosing to go extinct is NOT living in harmony with nature. Her man-bashing didn’t sit well with me either.

We had the same objections. Feminism is obviously a big part of her identity, but I didn’t see how blaming patriarchy for agriculture fit in with the otherwise outstanding work … especially since the majority of vegetarians I know are women who consider themselves feminists.

By: Fay

Fay — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 08:26:39 +0000

Hi Like the site and found the video an eye opener.
Have one question about GI though – if something like ripe bananas has such a high GI – why dont’ we feel like we’ve had a ‘sugar rush’ from eating them?

I do, actually. Bananas, fruit juice, etc., do it to me.

By: GL

GL — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 07:58:23 +0000

Just finished watching your documentary and I enjoyed every moment. My lone bone to pick with you is on the calorie debate. You contest that you lost 12.5 lbs where the cals in/out calculation said you would lose 7.5 lbs.
I believe you are mistaken in not counting the fact that glycogen stores in your body hold water and that protein is dehydrating. Given that you reduced your carb intake and increased your protein intake, I would bet that the extra 5 lb loss consisted of lost water.

FWIW, a fellow paleo/low-carber.

Happy new year

There’s water loss on most diets, so there was probably some of that too.

By: Nancy LC

Nancy LC — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:51:03 +0000

I loved Barber’s adagio for strings playing in the background. More poignant music does not exist!

It certainly felt like her “Platoon” moment, since she kept re-creating it for us.

By: ScottR

ScottR — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:31:32 +0000

The Vegetarian Myth is a good book, if only the author could let go of that other erroneous belief that the real problem is overpopulation. With birth rates below what is considered “replacement rates” throughout most of the world (what they call replacement rate being 2 though 4 would actually be replacement because you will always have a portion of the population that cannot or does not have any children). The numbers just don’t add up. Well people are living longer they say or what about the chinese? Anyone who reads this blog will be well aware the days of our increasing life expectancy are quickly coming to an end and that with the majority of our population reaching retirement age and their health outlook being less than encouraging we are going to find ourselves quickly underpopulated. I can also never figure out why people always bring up the chinese in population discussions I mean they have had birth limits in place since I was in elementary school over two decades
ago. Don’t believe me? Here is an excerpt from Michael Crichton’s speech on the fallacy of global warming (I linked to it in commenting on an early post) in which he compares the lie of global warming to the lie of overpopulation. Enjoy.

“Back in the 90s, if someone said to you, “This population explosion is overstated. In the next hundred years, population will actually decline.” That would contradict what all the environmental groups were saying, what the UN was saying. You would regard such a statement as outrageous.

More or less as you would regard a statement by someone in 2005 that global warming has been overstated.

But in fact, we now know that the hypothetical person in 1995 was right. And we know that there was strong evidence that this was the case going back for twenty years. We just weren’t told about that contradictory evidence, because the conventional wisdom, awesome in its power, kept it from us.”

I have a couple of minor quibbles with the book as well, but it’s still a terrific work.

By: Ellen

Ellen — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 05:27:57 +0000

She’s a natural in front of the camera.. but I wonder, can she do comedy?

She’s already got pretty good comic timing for a kid.

By: johnmc

johnmc — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:56:49 +0000

The book’s been ordered and should arrive Thursday. I’ll give it a quick look through first, but I’m going to ask her to read it first before dismissing it outright.

Good luck. The arguments are a lot stronger coming from an author who was a committed vegan for 20 years.

By: Trish

Trish — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:42:13 +0000

Nice use of Barber’s “Adagio” there. And I look forward to your review of “The Vegetarian Myth.” I’ve re-read it several times and it just keeps getting better.

I have a feeling I’ll be re-reading it as well.

By: Anna

Anna — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:49:30 +0000

He, he. I’d hate to have a little kid testifying to a jury…

With her flair for the dramatic, she’d have ‘em convinced.