I finally read The Vegetarian Myth over my winter break. I know I’m more than a little late joining the party — the book has been out for some time and received quite a few reviews — but I’m going to add my review to the mix anyway, for one simple reason: It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read, and I want you to read it too, if you haven’t already.
Lierre Keith is an extraordinarily talented writer. I enjoy some authors because they’re diligent researchers and fill their pages with facts I didn’t already know — Gary Taubes immediately comes to mind. I enjoy other authors for the logical, persuasive arguments they make on controversial issues — Thomas Sowell is one of my favorites in that arena. Still others, like Tom Robbins, are simply a pleasure to read, thanks to the grace and beauty of their prose.
As I read this book, I soon realized that Keith is all three: a tenacious researcher who can dig up the facts, arrange them into coherent arguments, and fold them into sentences that are pure brain-candy for anyone who loves words. (Okay, she wouldn’t eat candy and neither do I, but you get the idea.)
If you’ve spent any time debating vegetarians, you know the supposed superiority of a meat-free existence boils down to three main beliefs: it’s immoral to kill in order to eat, we must all give up meat to save the planet, and giving up animal products will improve your health. Keith refers to these as the Vegetarian Myths, and during her decades as a dedicated vegan, she believed them. But in this book, she destroys them one by one — by offering what she calls adult knowledge. Knowledge, after all, is the reason adults don’t believe in the Easter Bunny. As Keith puts it: “What separates me from vegetarians isn’t ethics or commitment. It’s information.”
And the information is rich indeed. In part one, Moral Vegetarians, she dispenses with the “killing animals is immoral” myth. I found this section particularly enlightening, because I long ago conceded the point that vegetarians don’t kill to eat. Okay, Mr. Granola, my food involves killing animals and yours doesn’t. Good for you. It so happens I don’t believe it’s immoral to kill an animal for food, especially since I’m healthier now, but if you feel morally superior ordering a soy burger, be my guest.
Turns out I was wrong to concede even that much. As Keith writes:
The moral argument is the clarion call that rallies most vegetarians to the cause. It’s what kept me unable to examine or even question my vegan diet, despite all the evidence that my health was failing. I wanted to believe that my life – my physical existence – was possible without killing. It’s not. No life is.
She then explains why living without killing is impossible, beginning with a fascinating, detailed description of the cycle of life … and “cycle” is the crucial concept. There is no food chain, with humans sitting at the top. We are members of a food cycle, with all of us eating each other. As Keith explains, even the soil is alive, with literally millions of organisms in each tablespoon. Take the animals out of the equation — along with the urine, feces, blood and bone that the soil “eats” — and the soil will die.
Keith discovered this for herself when she decided to grow her own food. She soon learned that her soil required nitrogen, and discovered to her horror that she had two choices: natural nitrogen — mostly blood meal and bone meal — or synthetic nitrogen made from fossil fuels … another form of dead animals. As she reluctantly concluded, “My garden wanted to eat animals, even if I didn’t.”
Her garden gave her further fits when she realized she had to stop the bugs from eating the plants she planned to eat herself. Chemical pesticides were obviously out, so she looked into “natural” pesticides — which she learned rip the guts out of the bugs. She finally elected to keep some chickens that would eat the bugs instead. Yes, she knew was simply outsourcing the killing to the chickens, and yes, she struggled with the double-standard. Her personal odyssey, sprinkled throughout the pages, is at times equally funny and sad.
Much of the Moral Vegetarians section describes the killing fields of mono-crop agriculture. Never mind the countless critters shredded by farm machinery. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. The real damage occurs earlier in the process. To create those sprawling acres of wheat, corn, and soybeans, prairies and forests that were home to millions of animals are destroyed, taking the animals down with them. Rivers are dammed, killing all the animals who depended on them. That soy burger Mr. Granola chews so smugly requires at least as many deaths as my steak, if not more.
And as Keith explains in section two, Political Vegetarians, eating soy burgers won’t save the planet, either. All those goofy vegetarian arguments about how many more people we could feed per acre if we all ate the crops instead of the animals who eat the crops are based on a flawed idea: that the animals who provide our meat are supposed to eat corn. They’re not. They’re supposed to eat grass. Keith recalculates the calories-per-acare figures assuming we were smart enough to raise our animals on their natural food, and not surprisingly, the disparity shrinks to nearly zero.
And feeding the masses is only part of the equation. When you raise animals in a pasture, you create topsoil — you literally can’t create topsoil without animals. But when you raise corn, you destroy topsoil. It’s mono-crop agriculture that uses extraordinary amounts of water and creates soil runoff. Then, of course, there’s all that fossil fuel required to keep the crops growing as the topsoil disappears. (Imagine the fun of explaining to your wild-eyed vegan friends that their “sustainable lifestyle” is enriching the oil industry.)
To make matters worse, our federal farm subsidies have created huge grain cartels and made our crops irresistibly cheap, destroying local farming around the globe. Keith recounts this in detail. But because of where she lays the blame, I’m going to pause and raise the couple of minor quibbles I have with an otherwise outstanding piece of work.
She is apparently hostile towards capitalism. As a libertarian whose definition of capitalism is “keep the @#$%ing government out of it,” I agree that farm subsidies are an outrage. But that’s not capitalism; it’s socialism. The huge farm subsidies that spawned mono-crop agriculture and the grain cartels were the work of FDR, the hero of the “Progressive” movement. As the old farmer told the filmmakers in King Corn, “You couldn’t make any money growing corn without the government payments.” Duh. Take the socialist federal handouts away, and much of the mono-crop agriculture will go with it. So will the cheap corn we feed to cattle.
My other minor quibble is Keith’s interjections of feminism (some have called it male-bashing) into the narrative. I don’t see any reason for it, other than the fact that she considers herself a radical feminist and felt a need to express some feminist ideas. As she points out herself, brutality and patriarchy existed in plenty of hunter-gather societies. And most of the radical, “meat is murder!” granola-chomping vegetarians I’ve met have been women who consider themselves feminists. Maybe I’m missing something here. But again, these are minor quibbles.
In part three, Nutritional Vegetarians, Keith recounts how her vegan diet destroyed her health. I’m sorry to say much of the damage is permanent. Her spine has degenerated, and it won’t come back. She spends much of her life in pain. I’m also sorry to say I know some vegetarians with ailments similar to hers, but unlike Keith, they refuse to connect the dots.
Now, 20 years too late, Keith has done the research. Some of the information in this section will be familiar to readers of this blog, but it’s presented in great detail and, of course, beautifully written. She describes how our digestive systems work … which would be pretty much like the digestive system of a meat-eating animal, not an herbivore. She explains the biochemistry of the physical damage caused by eating grains and soy. She knows this topic well, since she lives with the damage every day.
And of course, she now recognizes the many benefits of eating animal fat, as well as the shoddiness of the “research” that concluded animal fats will clog our arteries and kill us. She craved animal fat during her vegan days, but rarely allowed herself to eat it. When she did, she felt simultaneously renewed physically and tortured with guilt for giving in. She describes the depression, the fatigue, the “vegan rage,” and the chronic forgetfulness that plagued her and her vegan friends. And of course, none of them could admit that perhaps their diets had something to do with it.
At least she’s admitting it now, in a book sincerely I hope becomes a best-seller. I could post literally hundreds of delightful quotes from this book, but it’s getting late, and like I said, I hope you’ll read the whole thing. So I’ll close with this one:
Listen to your body, reader, a listening that must make your body known to you, less mysterious and more beloved. The listening is hard. You will have to hear past the propaganda of the agriculturalists, both the corrupt and the righteous. You will also have to listen past the cravings those foods produce: the addiction to opioids and intense sweeteners, the biological emergencies of blood sugar swings. And you will have to accept “the soft animal of your body,” as poet Mary Oliver so sweetly says, not punish it.
Told ya she could write.
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Hi Tom, I’ve read so many excellent reviews of this book, I can’t wait to read it. I ordered it weeks ago from Amazon UK but I’ve no idea when it will arrive… I guess I should have ordered it direct from her.
It’s worth the wait. I ordered it awhile ago, but can’t remember if it was through Amazon or direct.
I also loved the language. Most of the information I had already known, from WholeHealthSource. This is definitely one of the best books I have read.
Even if I knew every fact she cited (I didn’t), I’d read it just to enjoy the way she strings her sentences together.
Tom,
I read Lierre’s book some time ago on the review recommendation of Michael Eades. Your review is spot on. You have it exactly correct when you talk about Lierre’s way with words, as well as the virtue of the content of the book.
Probably more importantly, I have seen no criticism of the book that is of substance, an attribute that Lierre shares with Gary Taubes wrt Good Calories, Bad Calories. I may suffer from confirmation bias, but I do find some comfort when a book that I think is great has suffered no major damage at the ahnds of critics.
It’s hard to argue with such a well-researched book. I have of course seen some vicious personal attacks disguised as reviews, but I knew those would be coming as soon as I saw the title.
Listen to your body–that’s really it. The body isn’t interested in fads and opinions. It’s just Nature, and Nature does her own thing.
I tried avoiding meat for about 15 years and I slowly gained weight and became more lethargic. An inflammatory condition prompted me to switch to a meat diet. I really was amazed how quickly my body reacted.
I didn’t just lose weight (I’m now close to what I weighed in my early 20s) but the depression disappeared. I’d been seeing therapists for years, without any transformative effect. When I went low-carb and mostly meat, my depression simply vanished. It actually saved my marriage too, because we had suffered from my terribly pessimistic moods.
The lesson is don’t mess with Nature.
As Nora Gedgaudas says, all the therapy in the world won’t replace a missing nutrient. I wonder how many in therapy simply need a better diet.
An interesting read for sure. It’s sad to see the dumb things people do trying to be “moral” instead of just embracing who they are, and the way of the world around them. Hope no males read that and decide to neuter themselves because of their sins of competitiveness and desire for domination.
She does seem to have a little blind spot on that topic.
I quit eating soy when I learned that agri-businesses were destroying the Rain Forests to grow it. It became a socially conscience decision to make. Now I have to avoid all soy products and its by products because it will hurt me badly.
You can get away with consuming fermented soy products. She spells it out in the book. But other than a little soy sauce now and then, I don’t seek out any soy products. I have a friend who’s a big believer in the virtue of soy milk. I shudder every time I see her drink that swill.
Oh oh MY! And so can you write beautifully! Wonderfully done, and a great synopsis… I agree (and my husband agrees): This is an IMPORTANT book.
I’m trying to figure out how to entice my foster daughter — the (39-yr-old) vegetarian who is desperately trying to get pregnant (and entirely unable to) — to read Lierre Keith: her health is falling all-to-hell and yet she will not consider changing her diet. (At least I got her to add coconut oil!) She has only just learned that soy is bad (her repro doc told her) and affects her reproduction system — so I’m thinking to send her just the (amazing!) info Lierre Kieth has written on soy (tons of stuff *I* didn’t know — and I know soy is poison!) and see if that will start her on reading the Vegetarian Myth… I’ll also send her your review right away. Thanks Tom!
I hope she reads it. If a former dedicated vegan armed with a ton of facts can’t convince her, probably nobody can.
Sounds like a ton of great information in one book. I’ll have to give it a try.
Hopefully I don’t get more irritated than you with feminist and anti-capitalist stuff. I had to stop reading a book about the evolution of man when global warming made it’s way into the picture for no real reason.
I just kind of let that stuff go, since she was interjecting it more as editorial comment than as part of the overall premise. In a nutshell, she seems to believe than whenever a man fathers a child, he’s abusing the mother, Mother Earth, or both … so prepare yourself.
Great review, thank you!
We’re not perfect, but we are trying to eat a low-carb, paleo diet these days. About 80% of the time!
And I’ve been an avid reader of your blog after we watched your movie two or three months ago, and have been a fan of MDA for almost a year and the WAPF for two. We’ve been slowly working on changing our diet during that time and have found great health benefits.
As the mother to two little boys I’ve also been trying to really restrict our soy intake. Not only because of the whole commodity/bad for the environment reason, but because it isn’t healthy as it mimics estrogen and messes up one’s thyroid. Unfortunately, it is in almost all processed foods in one form or another. So I’ve become the crazy mom who makes homemade sourdough crackers (when they eat crackers) and feeds her kids nuts, berries, fruit and cheese.
So, yesterday I was with two other moms that I am getting to know and we’re talking about food and allergies and I mention that since we’ve stopped eating anything with soy in it, I’ve seen a marked improvement in my son’s attitude and digestion, as well as my own. Suddenly, one of the woman said, “What’s wrong with soy?” So, of course, I told her my viewpoints in a nutshell. It’s a phyto-estrogen. It’s a thyroid disruptor. It’s not meant to be eaten unless it’s been thoroughly soaked and fermented. It’s a commodity and food scientists are trying to make a “food product” out of cheap waste. Etc. Then she goes, “Well, I’m a vegetarian and I eat a ton of soy. And so are my children.”
ugh. Okay, well, let me tell you why I don’t feed soy to my growing boys. . . . and instead feed them bacon and eggs for breakfast, meat and cheese and fruit for lunch and meat and veggies for dinner slathered in lots of fat. Oh, and I’m not serving my (eight month old) any grain cereal. At all. He gets breastmilk, yogurt, soft fruit and chews on pieces of steak for fun, We video tape it It’s cute.
Pretty much I think I freaked her out. It seemed like once she’d made the decision (for ethical reasons) to be a vegetarian oh so many years ago, she hasn’t kept up on any recent information. I’m hoping that maybe she’ll ask a few more questions of me as I’d be happy to steer her into a healthier lifestyle (oh, and she is one of those marathon runners who have to keep running more to keep weight off, have poor skin and just looks fatigued all the time. Eat some meat, I want to tell her!) even if she still doesn’t eat “meat”, maybe she can give up soy.
Anyway, that was an awfully long comment, but I had to share. Thanks again!
Best,
Sarah
I hope your friend sees the light, for her kids’ sake if not for her own.
Tom, I value your blog not just for the insight about food and health, but also for your libertarian leanings. Not that I always agree, but I find it makes me think. I have one quibble with your quibble about agricultural policy. We can all agree that subsidies for corn/soybean monocultures have been disastrous. But to simply lay the blame on “socialism” is a gross oversimplification. Libertarianism depends on free-market capitalism, and while free-market capitalism is a great theory, it is too easily corrupted by power, politics, greed, and “market distortions” (i.e. “advertising” or “propaganda”). So be honest: huge abuses of power, politics, greed, and propaganda are directly attributable to enormous corporations, like ADM, Cargill, and Monsanto. Sure the government is responsible also, but mostly because it is the political tool of corporations.
I don’t excuse corporate abuse, but much of that abuse requires government power. If politicians become involved, it’s no longer a free market in action. Many of the largest and most powerful corporations are large and powerful only because government enriches them directly and/or stifles their competition. ADM would barely exist without federal subsidies. Cargill’s profits would probably plummet without subsidized grains. So I believe we should get the government out of it — completely, other than enforcing contracts and anti-pollution laws — then deal with whatever abuses of power still exist. My guess is there’d be way fewer of them.
I saw a stupid documentary everyone was praising called (I believe) “The Corporation.” The filmmakers were outraged that some corporation that provides water moved into a country and got collecting your own water outlawed. They of course blamed the corporation. I blame the government; corporations can’t pass and enforce laws. Their solution of course was to turn it all over to “the people.” That means turning it over to the government … the same government that enacted the law and was therefore corrupt.
(Sorry for the slow reply. Your comment ended up in the spam folder for some reason, and I just now dug it out.
Poor Lierre Keith. Spent her entire life as a feminist vegan only to find out too late that Veganism is based on false premises. If she ever gets around to read Farrell’s “The Myth of Male Power” (or the works of Esther Vilar on the subject), she would probably feel that she has wasted most of her life. It’s a pity, because – as you said – she’s a great writer.
Comedian Blake Clark on what it’s like for most married men: “You get conditioned real fast. Pretty soon it goes like this …”
“Blake!”
“Sorry!”
I don’t know what most of her views on feminism are, and I’ve got no interest in disputing them. They just felt out of place in this wonderful book.
Thanks for the great review Tom. Dana Carpender told me about this book a few weeks ago and I have it in my must read list. Maybe I can get my hands on it this weekend. It sounds like a fantastic read.
(Oh… not gonna make it to Nashville this month like I’d thought. So I’ll guess we’ll just see you soon on the cruise.)
The cruise will be here soon. Looking forward to meeting you then.
This was the first book I bought on my Kindle application for iPhone, although I may break down and buy a hard copy because I love it just that much. I agree that the feminist politics were a bit hard to swallow–there were several times while reading it I was like “okay, we get it, you think men suck, let’s move on, shall we?”–but everything else was spot on. And a sure sign the book’s making its mark? The vegans are FREAKING. Go on a vegan board (if you can stand it) and bring up the book, the flailing is very entertaining.
I’ve seen some of the diatribes the vegans have written. Nothing logical there, of course, but plenty of that vegan rage she describes in the book.
Oh man, my son dates a vegitarian. He asked me if her diet had anything to do with the fact that she’s sick a lot. Duh!
I’m tempted to get this book for her, and mail it anonymously, or give it to my son to give to her… something, anything to keep a 19 year old girl from going down the same road as the author. It’s not too late for her.
It’s kind of funny though. My son thinks of himself as a “meat-a-tarian”. He’s home on break from college and asks for “meat salads” consisting of just a bowl of different kinds of meat. Somehow I’ve got to get him off grains though.
I’m gonna get that book, read it and get it to that chick… at least she’ll have no excuse for continuing to punish her body.
I hope the book does the trick. Unfortunately, it’s a bit like asking someone to change religions.
On the downside, Keith seems to think “global warming” is an actual problem.
Yeah, I know … so do some of my good friends. I of course disagree with those views (at least what I can glean), but she’s spot-on about the vegetarian myths, and that’s where she’s done a ton of research.
Great review……
The reasons that this is such an important book…..are precisely the reasons that some of us have disagreements with what she writes. Things like her views on feminism and capitalism.
Because of her perspective…….she is much more likely to reach a segment of the population that can watch Fat-Head 20 times and read Gary Taubes for hours………and still not appreciate the facts.
You said it best……”If a former dedicated vegan armed with a ton of facts can’t convince her, probably nobody can.”
At least there is now ammunition for showing vegetarians……in their own language…..exactly the damage they are doing to themselves.
I’m with you. She can reach the vegetarians in a way that I never could.
Interesting review, and the book sounds like a good read. But the comments make me wonder whether this blog is preaching to the choir. Are there *reasonable* opposing views worth thinking about or all the arguments beyond dispute?
The blog attracts fans of the film, so there’s definitely some preaching to the choir. People who disagree tend not to stick around, but we welcome their comments.
If you order direct from Lierre, you can have her sign it for you. That’s what I did for one of the three copies I have, but I only loan out the other two.
Great review, Tom. I sent the link to Lierre in case she hadn’t seen it.
Her interview with Jimmy Moore should be coming up, and there’s one somewhere on the internet by a guy names Croxton that I listened to a week or so ago.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/undergroundwellness/2009/10/08/the-vegetarian-myth-with-lierre-keith
Heck, I should’ve ordered direct. Thanks for the interview link; I’ll listen later tonight.
Just in from Lierre:
She hadn’t seen this review yet, loves it and loves the comments. She also loves your film Tom and has lent it out so many times she can’t recall who has it right now.
She’s charmed you like each other’s work. I’ll get you her email.
That’s great to hear, Richard. Thanks.
I guess it’s easy to assume what she is spewing are facts because they’re wrapped in a nice, wordy package, but she, and you, are dead wrong.
Soy, wheat, and corn taking away the land from the animals? That definitely is true. But humans are not the main benefactor of these crops. Most of these crops are fed to animals who are living in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). That’s right! All the billions of hectares of crops are being fed to animals.
Also, she wasn’t smart enough to thrive on a vegan diet, not because of just being vegan, but because she obviously didn’t look into nutrition and eat proper things for her body. If she’s not smart enough to do research on basic vegan nutrition, then it’s obvious why she failed. She’s a loser.
In the end, the book doesn’t really teach non-vegetarians anything that they don’t already think so I don’t think this book is too damaging. I’m glad you liked the book, but it should be listed under fiction.
Out of curiousity, have you actually read the book? She’s not in favor of feeding soy or corn to animals, or raising them in pens. Neither am I. Given the reams of research in her book and her obviously ability to comprehend science, I think it’s highly unlikely she didn’t do basic research on vegan nutrition when her health began to fail.
I also tried living as vegetarian, eating the “right” foods, and got progressively fatter and sicker. If it works for you, go for it. But don’t try to tell the rest of us we didn’t actually experience the health problems we had.
@ Elenor
Regarding your daughter trying to get pregnant, Robb Wolf has in the past talked about his Crossfit/Paleo clients and how that when they go on the diet, they very quickly get pregnant.
Could certainly be selection bias and so forth, but an amusing anecdote.
http://robbwolf.com/
On the other hand, I recently saw a NOVA series on human evolution and one of the speculations for our success was our heightened fecundity.
At her website, you can request an autographed copy of her book when you order it directly from her.
http://www.lierrekeith.com/work.htm
Thanks for the info.
I guess I’ll have to google Blake Clark.
One thing I really admire about Keith is that she was actually able to change her long-held beliefs. It must be horribly hard to be a 20-year vegan and then change your mind so radically. She documents her struggle with that really well. Changing such a long-held belief that is part of your very identity takes a tremendous amount of courage. For that she gets my highest respect. It must be one of the hardest things to do. I guess she must have pissed off some of her long-time friends with that thinking, too. It takes a lot of integrity to reach her point and write such a book from her intitial position.
I hope she didn’t lose too many friends over this book. I believe she said in an interview that some of her friends concluded veganism wasn’t working even before she did. But I’m sure it’s made her a bit of an outcast among people who would, in nearly every other way, be her kindred spirits. (Kind of like what happened with John Mackey.)
I loved The Vegetarian Myth (heard about it from a comment here or Eades’ blog) and I learned almost as much from it as I did from reading Taubes. I had a few minor disagreements with her recommendations at the end that I shouldn’t drive a car or have kids, but to ignore her intriguing, compelling, well-reasoned thesis because of that? I think that’s how Atkins got such a bad reputation. He made somebody mad. The messenger got confused with the message. This happens a lot. The Weston A. Price Foundation advocates eating fermented grain. I won’t touch wheat ever again, but I don’t ignore all of the rest of the WAPF ideas and recommendations and work because of one dead wrong one that I wholeheartedly don’t espouse. I’m not about to bite my nose to spite my face and harm my health further. Jimmy Moore has been taken to task for being such an artificial sweetener-o-phile. Come on, he and his ideas and his presentation are amazing. So he has a residual sweet tooth. So do I !!! I love the Fat Head movie because it is such an effective transmitter of ideas in Taubes. Plenty of people in my life will never read Taubes, but I’ve gotten them to watch Fat Head. I love this blog and will continue to read it despite that I disagree with you about FDR and the damage he did. That started a few years earlier, like 10K with the advent of agriculture, in my humble opinion. However, agriculture is also a double edge sword, as Ms. Keith hints. We have certainly bred more since then and because of agriculture and the more people, the more chance for genius and innovation. That we have advanced to where we are today because of society, culture and farming, there is little doubt, but maybe we are the victims or our own social success.
Good attitude. If I dismissed everyone with whom I have minor disagreements, I wouldn’t be listening to anyone … especially if we have political disagreements, since I’m apparently one of about 12 or 13 libertarians in the country. (I’m just going by election results here.)
Gee, am I the only person who found this book rather tedious? I plan to give it another shot but on my first attempt, it just put me to sleep….
You would be the first I’ve heard describe it that way, but hey, we all have different tastes. Far from putting me to sleep, I found myself staying awake when I should’ve been sleeping because I didn’t want to stop reading.
Ah, yes, if vegetarians/vegans have health issues from their WOE, it is always because they didn’t do it correctly. It’s really a shame that they are so closed-minded. I have lost count of the number of vegetarians I know that have simply tripped and fallen down with multiple broken bones as the result. And they believe that this is normal. One is a teenager who was being raised as a vegetarian since birth–she also has osteoporosis! My grandmother wasn’t a fan of milk, but she ate plenty of meat and fish throughout her life; as she aged and began falling more frequently than she would have liked, all she did was bounce. Numerous calls to the local police got her back on her feet, but not once did she break a bone.
I had a vegan friend who required extensive dental surgery because 50% of the bone mass in her jaw was gone … not that she took that as any sort of clue.
Thanks for posting this Tom … I was just getting ready to place a book order with Amazon but felt the need to wander a bit on the Internet before I checked out. When I saw your post, I knew why! (Just finished my order after adding this book.) I’ll read good writing even if it’s about the phone book, but when it’s about a topic I really care about, that just sounds irresistible. Thank you for adding your two cents.
To go off-topic … I’m planning on starting a “Spiritual Cinema” movie night at my church, and so I am reading the book by the same name to get ideas for movies. One of the recommended movies is Supersize Me. Um, no! However, I think if that movie could be considered spiritual (it was considered “spiritual” because it presumably teaches about taking responsibility for one’s life and choices), yours is even more so – because yours is about looking past common assumptions about life and discovering the truth, in a way that challenges almost everything you thought you knew. That’s how I’ll spin it, anyway, if I decide to show the movie!
That could be a future blog post for you – how making the movie changed you personally. You’ve written a bit about that here and there, but I don’t recall if you’ve written a whole post about it (or if you think it warrants that kind of focus). Just a thought. If you have written such a post, please post a link to it (because I apparently missed it).
And here’s a big general “thank you” to you for the work you put into your blogs. Your writing is good, thoughtful, respectful, and I like the balance you strike in expressing your unhappiness or outrage with certain topics without demonizing the people who disagree with you. That balance gives your commentary far more credibility than all the crap spewed by the shock jocks (whatever their political or moral stripes). I always look forward to reading your work.
I appreciate the compliments. The film did change me, and I’ll certainly think about writing more on the topic.
I love having some new ammunition to fight back against most vegetarians’ smug attitudes. My 19-yr old niece was brought up as a vegetarian all her life (at least she did eat eggs, cheese and milk) but had some health issues, including horrible yeast infections. She went to a wholistic nutritionist who took her off of all soy products, limited her dairy and fruit, and had her start eating grass-fed meat. It was a difficult transition for her, but I believe it has had great benefits. Her mother, though, is still eating the same. I just this morning came across this link: http://www.uswellnessmeats.com/newsletter/catherine_ebeling_jan_10_10_newsletter.html#Continued (please, this is not a plug for US Wellness, but they have a lot of good columns in their weekly newsletter) that talks about yeast and how a poor diet contributes to it. My 26-yr-old daughter has had a terrible time with vaginal yeast infections, and I’ve tried to encourage her to eat more fat, etc. so I’m hoping this article may persuade her. Unfortunately, we were on the low-fat bandwagon for years, and I’ve tried to convince my two adult daughters that I’m paying for it with Type 2 diabetes. I’m making progress, but I’d like to spare them and they’re not really listening.
Maybe they’ll read the book. I was delighted to see that in addition to providing a ton of information, it’s just so well-written, you want to keep reading. I know some people gave up Good Calories, Bad Calories because it’s dense with science and wasn’t really written for the general public, but The Vegetarian Myth is an easy read.
A classic example of what happens when people put their ideological preferences ahead of what science and the facts tell us. Hasnt this already happened to us as a culture with the ‘animal fat is bad for you’ mantra we’ve been hearing for the last 50 years!?
Vegetarianism and Veganism have always struck me as an ideologies masquerading as a ‘good’ diets. The ideas came first – with all their logical flaws related to personal health and sustainability. But, those who were attracted to their ideology have tried to wrap it in nutritional science. The facade is pretty and appealing but the house is built on sand. Lierre’s book is a steak in the heart of V/V.
I finally had to listen to my body, even before I really grasped the science. When you feel fatigued, depressed and sick to your stomach, it’s not a good diet. That’s what a vegetarian diet did to me.
I have not read this yet, but will definatley add it to my “to read” list. How funny you mentioned Thomas Sowell and being a libertarian. I can really relate. I love Michael Pollan, but I too have to roll my eyes when he discusses how free market does not work in agriculture. There is nothing free market about our agricultural system. Despite these differences I still think of these folks as kindred spirits when it comes to “getting it” about food. Food is so important, too important to let politicians get ahold of it. Can you say “hello food pyramid- hello diabetes and autoimmunity”?
I agree with people like Pollan about what’s wrong with our food, but of course have a different opinion about the cause. As Milton Friedman said, anything you subsidize, you get more of it. That’s why we’re awash in dirt-cheap corn.
Oh, I forgot to mention I am a fellow libertarian and I love Thomas Sowell. He has a great book about his son.
I wasn’t aware of that one. I’ll look for it.
Intresting point about being one of 12 or 13 libertarians around. I’m libertarian (with a small “l”, agree with most of the party platform but you’re never going to do away with drivers’ licenses) and sometimes vote third party, but often decline to vote because I’m sick of voting for the lesser of two evils–if you do that then all you have left is evil. Either a repub. or a dem. is going to win and they both are taking the country in the wrong direction.
I know what you mean about veganism and health problems. I’ve had three good friends who were vegans and they all had health problems–intestinal growths/polyps, depression, weight gain, allergies. Can’t they see the writing on the wall?
I gave up on the Libertarian party years ago, after realizing I was just wasting my votes. So I’m a small l libertarian as well.
Ever notice how bitter, defensive and judgmental vegetarians and vegans are? We know why, don’t we? Great review.
It saddens me to say my Mom’s been diagnosed with diabetes, and after her borrowing recipe books and a meal guide poster from a co-worker, I skimmed over them and mentally flipped my lid at the 20g of carb recipes and quotes such as “Remember, sugar doesn’t cause diabetes” and “Avoid saturated fats which increase your risk of heart disease.” It seems us low-carbers who don’t fear Sat fats are few and far between. When it was said in Fat Head that in a decade the Lipid Hypothesis would be on the junk pile? I now wish that it was more like 3 years instead, because this fat phobia drives me crazy sometimes.
And have you seen UGwellness’ video on soy? How it’s processed and soaked in hexane, the explosive gasoline by-product when made into soy foods? And vegetarians say it’ll be better for you and save the planet… Yeah right.
I almost in a devilish sort of way wish you would review The Skinny Bitch diet, just for kicks n giggles. Especially their “Bun in the Oven” edition. I know as a father you’d rip those girls apart.
It was Dr. Al Sears who said give it a decade and the Lipid Hypothesis will be on the junkpile of history. I think he’s being optimistic. It’ll go away someday, but probably not soon. Too many careers and businesses are built on it.
Having read the book, and read a number of reviews of the book, it intrigues me how many reviewers don’t mention the authors radical agenda of dismantling agriculture and civilization.
She says we must abandon our cars, our roads, our dams, our industries, our economies, and our infrastructures. We must abandon our monocrops. We must abandon our grain fed meats and all the technological horrors of the modern meat industry. We must abandon our modern cultures of masculinity, domination, and patriarchal religions. We must learn to live on what we can cooperatively and sustainably grow, hunt, fish, or gather, within walking distance of where we live. We must drastically reduce the world population to a sustainable level (well under half a billion) in order to bring population density inline with the carrying capacity of the ecosystem. We must reinvent our culture and our spirituality. And – last but Not least – we must engage in an organized, political revolution to dismantle all the power structures that stand in the way of achieving these objectives.
Here are three specific, key things the authors advises us to start doing right now to support the cause:
1. Don’t have kids.
2. Get rid or your car.
3. Grow your own food.
Does any of this sound a tad bit unrealistic and utopian to anyone but me?
It is utopian, and she more or less says she’s just throwing out suggestions. As a father of two who lives in a suburb and drives a car, I’m obviously not following them. Nor do I want to become a rancher/farmer. But I agree with her that the mono-crop agriculture isn’t sustainable and is wrecking the topsoil, and I hope we can work towards an alternative. Stopping the insane grain subsidies would help. We’ve also started buying our meats from a local farm.
I’ve been wanting to read this book since I read Dr. Eades’s review of it. However I have held off buying it since I’ll be losing my job in a few months (it’s being off-shored to India) so I am trying to: 1) get RID of many of the thousands of books I have so that I can sell my house and move somewhere smaller, and 2) trying to save a little money by spending less on books. So I decided I could at least borrow a copy from the library. But I just checked my local library catalog, and they don’t have a copy of the book there. So I went to their inter-library loan catalog which represents over 100 libraries in the state, and not a single one of THEM carried the book either. Not one! Ditto Jennifer McLagan’s book ‘Fat’ which I have also been wanting to read. Not carried by a single one of 100+ libraries. What’s up with that?
Wow, hard to believe it’s not in any of them. She’s shown up on some podcasts, so you can at least listen to her speak on the topic. But the way she crafts her sentences, you’ll want to read the book as well when you get the chance.
@Daniel
I agree that the last chapter “To Save The World” tainted what was an otherwise excellent book. I personally don’t share her radical environmentalist and feminist views. There is no evidence to support the notion that matriarchal societies are any less violent or religious than patriarchal ones. And I won’t even get into the whole global warming mess.
I do agree with her that soil is a non-renewable resource, much like fossil fuel. But I also believe that there are technological answers to both (hydroponics, solar energy, etc.) It’s only a matter of cost/benefit ratios before those technologies are exploited. You could grow your own food, or more practically, buy it locally from an organic farmer who knows what he/she is doing. But what about the 4 billion people in China, India and Africa that have no means of transportation? They are the ones who are buying cars at exponential rates. Car sales in the west are tapering off.
As for children, western societies have pretty much stopped having kids at a sustainable rate (2.1 children per couple.) The economic reality is that as the cost of raising children goes up, less children will be born. The east will quickly catch up to us in this regard if their economies will be allowed to come on-line. Keeping the Asian and African nations poor only persists the need for large families as a means of subsistence. I just don’t understand the liberals in this regard. Let them gain wealth and our world problems will begin to get solved.
i like Sowell. he devastates with facts and stats.
…to avoid confusion, when i get into it with someone who dislikes my love of free-market creative destruction, i defend my position in terms of “pure capitalism” vs “corporatism”. i find that when i put it this way, its more clearly understood.
That’s an important distinction, as is free-market capitalism vs. crony capitalism. Not everyone interested in big profits is a free-market capitalist. Many happily use the political process to squash competition.
Interesting review. I look forward to reading the book.
Ok I do have one moral argument though…
First, I am not a vegetarian, nor do I intend to be. I do, however, have a problem with the majority of the animal husbandry industry. I think the poor conditions in factory farming is completely unnecessary. It frustrates me that many vegetarians seem more concerned with converting people rather than fighting for more humane conditions. Stopping to eat meat only makes the problem worse. Giving business to free-range farms is one easy and healthy way of applying pressure.
Thats all.
I agree. We subscribe to a local farm for our meats … free-range, gras-fed. I’m voting with my dollars.
Nice review. I just recently watched FatHead and I am also in the process of finishing Lierre’s book right now, and it really is refreshing to see Tom and other reviewers put aside the book’s politics (which are definitely radical) for a moment and focus on the common ground elements. The book really is just that amazing and I have been recommending the book (and your movie, Tom!) to everyone I will think would appreciate it.
It was easy to set aside my quibbles with her politics. So much good stuff in there, I wasn’t going to dismiss the book over some editorializing on topics that weren’t central to the theme.
I went to Lierre’s website and skimmed her blog. After that, I really don’t think she is as much of a “run around in the forest with the sisters” as she came across in the book. She handed out candy to the kids (using non locally grown industrial food), went to the doctor for an MRI (extensive use of fossil fuels to make the MRI technology, the building, and to get the doctors and techs to work). The last chapter was more of her version of utopia, not how she expects to live in the real world, in my opinion.
My version of utopia involves Thomas Jefferson coming back, convincing all Americans he knew what he was talking about, and winning the next presidential election with 98 percent of the vote. But I don’t think it’ll happen, and I deal with the world as it is, changing what I can. She probably does too. She strikes me as far too intelligent to live in a dream world.
Hey Tom,
Glad you finally read the book.
I spent 8yrs as a mostly vegan veggie and now I take TWO different kinds of thyroid medications and have eczema and allergies that I never had before. Thanks soy!
The eczema is 99% under control, but the other stuff is for life.
Josef
I had a psoriasis during my vegetarian days, along with other ailments. Not anymore.
Hey Tom, great review of a great book! I have one qualm with your one qualm however. FDR was not a “Progressive” candidate, you’re getting him confused with Theodore Roosevelt. Also, that “socialist” stance about farming subsidies started with Nixon, not FDR. It’s right there in King Korn. Nixon’s head of the USDA is responsible for the outrageous corn, wheat and soy subsidies, not FDR, or TDR, or whomever you were referring too. Now, having said that, I fancy myself a Progressive, but I don’t think that Capitalism is bad, it’s just misguided. I think that there isn’t enough regulation, and that is why we have so many problems with the food industry. (That’s more of a Food, Inc. argument however)
Also, I really loved your documentary. Fathead is probably the best documentary on health and nutrition that I’ve ever seen. Thanks again for all of your hard work exposing the Diet Dictocrats (as Sally Fallon calls them) for what they are, frauds!
With respect,
Steve Scarfia
Both Roosevelts were considered “progressives,” but FDR enacted far more of the progressive agenda than Teddy. I agree that Nixon’s administration shares much of the blame. I’m no fan of Nixon’s economics, as I’ll explain in a minute.
FDR first put the federal government in charge of agriculture through the Agricultural Adjustment Act. They initially tried influencing farm income through limiting supply. Among other incredibly stupid practices, they paid farmers not to grow crops and destroyed literally millions of hogs to keep them off the market– this during one of the few times in American history that people were actually starving.
They also set production quotas and prices, and prosecuted people who dared sell their products below the federally-mandated prices. So you’re a shop-owner, you’ve got a chicken that’s scrawny and doesn’t look so good, and you decide to knock down the price to sell it. Bingo … you go to jail! I know that sounds ridiculous, but it actually happened.
The Supreme Court declared that version of the AAA to be unconstitutional, along with much of the New Deal legislation — this was the last Supreme Court that actually gave a rat’s @## about the Constitution’s clear purpose of limiting government. Roosevelt, you may recall, then tried to enact a law expanding the court to 15 justices so he could pack it with judges who would follow that “living, breathing Constitution” concept that basically allows them to decide the Constitution means whatever they’d like it to mean — or in this case, whatever FDR wanted it to mean.
Later (1938), FDR did indeed enact direct subsidies to farmers, establishing the practice as federal policy. Nixon’s man Earl Butz, as you saw in King Corn, ran wild with the idea. Nixon was never a fiscal conservative or fan of free-market capitalism. He was labeled a conservative mostly because of his strident anti-communism, but on economic matters he was pure Keynesian. Not sure how old you are, but I remember Nixon imposing wage and price controls in the 1970s. After he imposed a price cap on beef, the predictable happened: stores quickly ran out of beef. The public then blamed the stores, apparently for not magically conjuring up more beef. I still remember the protests at our local A&P.
Anyway, I’m sure we can agree that the subsidies are outrageous, that they are largely responsible for our mono-crop agriculture, and that they have nothing to do with free-market capitalism.
Has the author chosen to share, or simply to ignore inconvenient information?
However good the style might be, based on the review only, this book is biased, ill-informed (e.g. no mention of nitrogen-fixing plants, green manures, etc), and in summary SILLY.
Is there any mention of there being no kindness in avoidably and unnecessarily killing any sentient beings? That producing meat as food is a 90% inefficient process? And throughout the temperate regions 100% unnecessary? That cattle produce milk for their calves, (calves we kill so we adults can unnecessarily drink the milk of the mothers of another species)?
I’m a 5th (yes, fifth) generation vegatarian and for the past two years a vegan. Never in my 53 years have I ever suffered from any illness or condition which might have been caused by my diet.
Stop unnecessary killing, and stop unnecessarily harming environments, and stop making unjust justifications, and get real.
You clearly haven’t read the book. She once made all the same arguments you’re making and desperately wanted to keep believing them, but couldn’t … not after doing research and keeping an open mind while doing it. And yes, she discusses nitrogen-fixing plants. I can’t actually cite every fact from a 275-page book in a single review.
I’m glad you haven’t suffered any ill effects from your vegetarian diet, but she did. So did other people I know. So did I. Some people can smoke three packs of cigarettes a day and never get lung cancer, but that doesn’t make it a good idea for everyone.
Thanks for your reply Tom! Also, thanks for setting me straight, so to speak, on the subject of FDR’s starting the Mono-crop culture. I am only 25, so please excuse my jumping to conclusions too quickly. Thanks for clarifying some of that info for me. I was never a huge fan of FDR, but I am an enormous fan of TDR. He busted big corporations, but only when it came to their gouging of the American public, and when they tried to monopolize their respective industry (sort of like it is today…). By the way, I am a supporter of Ron Paul, so I know where you’re coming from about free market economy being a good thing. I have family and friends that own businesses, so I know what hardships they have to go through just to live in today’s economy (especially the insane amount of taxation that they see… Thanks large, inefficient government!!). I think that the middle class and small businesses get the shaft more than anyone else in this country.
Thanks again for all of your vigilance Tom, and I’m looking forward to your future projects.
Stay healthy,
Steve Scarfia
FDR was a great war-time president. He deserves credit for that. You might enjoy reading “The Forgotten Man” if you want to know more about how his New Deal economic policies played out.
My dad ran his own business too. I understand the pressures small business owners live with every day.
Yes, this is a great book. I just published my own in-depth review, in case anyone needs more convincing to buy the book.
http://www.selfdestructivebastards.com/2010/01/review-vegetarian-myth.html
Very good review. Thanks for the link.
Firstly I havent read the book, but googled it after watching a video that mentioned it and came across your review, and will be sourcing it as soon as possible. Youve written a great book review, and even though i havent read the book, your review was well written and got me interested.
I have played around with my diet alot and continue to do so, I was a Vegetarian that ate a little fish for around 10 years, Vegetarian for 3 years, Vegan for 6 months and Raw Vegan for about 4 months, All with varying degrees of success and failure.
My time spent as a Raw Vegan was at a ‘Rejuvenation’ Center, there were many people there living on this diet, some for as long as 20 years or more, others just starting out. Some looked healthier than others, some were thin, some average, some overweight, Alot had lost weight, a few gained weight, and some hadnt lost or gained a pound.
During my time there I heard alot of personal stories of overcoming health problems, curing incurable diseases, beating depression, reversing Diabetes etc. etc.and thats what brought everyone there, a common belief, that Raw Veganism was the way forward, and for alot of the people there, its true.
Seeing first hand the healing some of the people were going through was sometimes nothing short of amazing. Someone with the one of the worst cases of full body excema having a 99% recovery was astonishing. My Skin has never felt so soft and pimple free as on that diet( it is still really good) and talk about clear headed!! But Personally i struggled with My energy levels and lost too much weight, and just didnt feel “well”.
After I returned home I continued to investigate different diets, and became “open” to eating meat again. Its funny how meat eaters are considered close minded, when from personal experience Vegetarians and Vegans can be just as closed to other opinions and ideas. Maybe if Everyone let go of beliefs, expectations and preconceived ideas, ‘openness’, would take on new meaning, maybe thats how you become ‘enlightened’, maybe thats getting off the story a bit…..
So I came across the Eat Right 4 your Blood Type diet book, devoured that and then read The Metabolic Type Diet. Both books said in different ways that I should be eating meat for ‘MY’ type (yes thats right, MY type, not yours). This isnt a plug for the books its just that these books, and I’m sure theres other books out there, have helped me to understand the ‘possible’ reasons why certain people seem to thrive, and others not, on different diets and from personal experience, it makes sense.
I know A Vegetarian friend of mine that eats anything, deep fried foods, sweets and desserts, white bread, grains, milk, Alcohol (he does eat heathy stuff aswell, I’m just making a point) He has NEVER eaten meat( well there was this one time he accidentally ate ham and threw it back up, so maybe i should say he has never digested meat), was raised as a Vegetarian, and is a picture of perfect health, he should be the poster child for Vegetarianism, perfect glowing skin, thick silky hair. radiant perfectly formed teeth( I know, i hate him aswell haha) and walks around smiling and laughing all the time.
I think the number of diets on the planet is exactly equal to the number of people on the planet. Your unique, of course one diet isnt going to work for everyone, whats that old saying ‘one mans food is another mans poison’.
So go forth, investigate, experiment, research, try, be open to others opinions,
Thanks for all the great posts, I’m now off to find that book……
That’s the key — be open-minded and find what works for you.
Author Of The Vegetarian Myth Attacked By Militant Vegans
March 13th, while speaking in the auditorium at the 15th Annual Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair, Lierre Kieth was assaulted by pie throwing goons. The 3 pies were laced with hot pepper and therefor had an effect similar to pepper spray, blinding the author for a time. The painful attack was was carried out by three masked, militant vegans unhappy with the substance of the authors new book, The Vegetarian Myth.
Post coming up on the topic.
Many of you are marvelling at how Keith presents the facts so well that no vegetarian has been able to produce any kind of reasonable objection. Many of those facts are selectively represented or outright misrepresented. Also, her use of anecdotal evidence as proof is absurd. She develops degenerative joint disease, then blames this on veganism. As an anecdotal rebuttal, I don’t know any other vegans with this problem. And since we are considering anecdotes, what about all the people who feel healthier or see improvements in their ailments after becoming vegan or vegetarian? By this logic we must also consider all the meat eating population that develops degenerative joint disease, in which the incidence is likely the same.
In her book, Keith has placed a lot of blame on the small number of vegans and vegetarians out there, even though vegans and vegetarians can and often do live sustainably and do not rely on commercial crops and large scale agriculture. As a result, she has not earned herself many friends in the vegetarian community. What happened at the Bookfair was unfortunate, however, those people do not represent the all vegans and vegetarians. Many people in attendance wanted to hear what she had to say so they could produce sound counter-arguments, like these: http://tinyurl.com/yk5ew6t
It’s still anecdotal, but the vegetarians I’ve known also had health problems. One had a degenerated spine (hmm, another one), one had to have massive dental surgery because her jaw lost 50% of the bone mass, another has arthritis, etc.
I tried living as vegetarian and had asthma, arthritis, frequent respiratory infections, digestive problems, fatigue, depression, psoraisis and signs of developing diabetes. I also got progressively fatter from all the insulin-producing foods. That’s all gone now.
If you feel healthy as a vegetarian, great. Stick with it. But trying to tell those of us who tried it and felt awful that we’d be healthier as vegetarians isn’t going to work.
I don’t think the cowards who attacked Lierre Keith are typical of vegetarians or vegans. None of my vegetarian friends or associates would ever do such a thing.
I think the key here is to do your own research and not rely on someone elses experiences, research, and so called evidence. Like most I sometimes read books for information that A) Makes me feel better about my choices, B) Provides arguments for me to continue living the way I live and believing the things I believe, and C) Provide arguments and “facts” to counter anyone who might disagree. I have not read this book but do intend to.
As a vegan for 14 yrs I do not presume that the way I choose to eat is the best way, simply the best way for me. I also do not foolishly presume that my decision has no negative repercussions, nor do any veg/ans/etarians I know naively presume this. Every single thing we do has the possibility to harm/bother/upset someone or something. I live my life with intention not so I can feel superior to others.
As a small farmer I know exactly what goes into agriculture and I know what does not. As a small farmer who knows many other small farmers I also know that the consumer can never know exactly what the practices of said farmer is. You may find comfort in believing your chicken is free range but if you really care, if you really want to know and not just take comfort in thinking you know, go visit a farm. I can assure you that a vast new education will follow.
What is disturbing to me, and again I have not read the book, is the inflammatory title. Why bother to alienate well meaning folks and present them as dumb clots and not simply present the story and experience of being vegan? To propose an extreme opposite as being superior and health giving is just as naive. Perhaps she says this…I’ll know more soon. We have enough to argue about from moment to moment, don’t we? Is it just me or does anyone else want to strive to find some sort of commonality? Whether you are vegan or an intentional, well-meaning person who Really does her/his research, grows your own garden, lovingly raises and kills animals, don’t we all just want to get along? Honestly.
Do your own research, yes, and I would add “listen to your own body.” The “myth” part of the title refers to some dogmatic beliefs, one of which is that everyone would be healthier without meat. That simply wasn’t true in my case, but could be true for others.
Lierre Kieth is a bit of a joke, methinks
All the most reputable and independent* health promoters out there in blogland are promoting high raw veg and fruit (at least 75%) – there must be a reason for that.
* not working for the cattleman’s association or suchlike
Methinks you haven’t read the book. And methinks since you haven’t read the book and can’t effectively debate the points, you’re stooping to the two weakest forms of debate: personal attacks (she’s a joke) and appealing to authority (all the really SMART bloggers agree with me!) And of course, your definition of “reputable” is “agrees with me.”
In other words, methinks — no, actually meknows — you’ve made absolutely no point here whatsoever.