A few years ago I took my health into my own hands and started eating in a way that made my body, and my mind, happier with me. Lean meats from grass fed beef, pastured poultry, fish, sustainable seafood, are all on my list along with garden veggies or stuff bought from farmers markets. Cutting out grains and eating whole foods has saved my health. Lierre Kieth isn’t talking out of her ass as some hardcore vegans/vegetarians claim. I’ve lost weight, sleep better, am more energized, and have less depression than I ever did before. However, just because I eat this way and feel better, doesn’t mean others can and reap the same benefits; our bodies are all slightly different.

With that being said… Whether you are vegan, an omnivore, or a meat-a-tarian, we all know CAFO’s and monoculture is bad m’kay. The main problem isn’t the fact that some people eat meat and others don’t; it’s the food industry and how our government supports the idiotic system. Even though I don’t believe in veganism, that doesn’t mean I can’t be open minded to other people’s choices. What you shovel into your mouth is your business, but please be aware that the food choices we make can contribute to a corrupt system. Namely our “food industry” that promotes cheap grains, cheaply raised, inhumane meat sources, all in the name of making the all mighty dollar: They pretty much say to hell with the farmers and consumers! Vegans and meat eaters aren’t enemies. We should be allies in a war for real food.

Seems that all could benefit from this article:
http://www.cracked.com/article_19468_5-logical-fallacies-that-make-you-wrong-more-than-you-think.html

(especially the author, who seems to aggressively attack pro-vegetarian comments, while ignoring dubious “facts” and emotional comments stated by pro-high protein dieters (like the last one), and avoiding to comment all of the wrong facts in the book in question, like that oil and petroleum came from dinosaurs. The book itself is very well written, and I agree with a lot of it, but here and there there was such an obvious misinformation or bad research that it made me shiver)

and this one too:
http://www.atkinsdietalert.org/advisory.html

In my opinion, all of these extreme, controlling diets that try to kick out whole groups of foods focus on something else than the real issue: the omnipresent industrialization of all the food we eat. In this context, “The Vegetarian Myth” is very valuable. Try also “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan.

The AtkinsDietAlert site is run by PCRM, a group of vegans. Sure you don’t consider that site unbiased? They’re cherry-pickers to the ultimate degree, and they flat-out lied about what killed Dr. Atkins.

But MEAT contains everything we need, yes even Vitamin C in the organs.Now as cute as Bambi is,a few weeks without food and all those sweet Disney memory’s will probably get blanked out by hunger and well,it would be a Bambi burger for me and probably most vegetarians and vegans unless they want to die?,in which case…they may find themselves on my plate too!.

Yes, they’re supposed to eat grass but they don’t. You can’t recalculate mathematical models with different figures just to serve your thesis.

Of course I can. The vegan zealots insist we should stop raising livestock so we can use the grains to feed starving populations. First off, people aren’t starving because of a grain shortage in the world; name any country where people are starving and you’ll also be naming a country that is (or was until recently) being stifled by a command-and-control economy or was run by a dictator who used starvation as a weapon. Secondly, animals are a sustainable form of food production, whereas monocrop farming isn’t. Grow corn and wheat and soybeans year after year, you deplete topsoil and poison waterways because of the fossil-fuel fertilizer that’s required. Raise cows in a pasture, you create topsoil.

Reading the comments after the review confirmed this for me once again. Those who hold a belief for ideological purposes cannot be convinced with argument or fact because they will accept no evidence as sufficient to overturn their ideological commitment. It’s sad really…

Vegetarians who consume eggs and dairy products at least get some animal fats and protein into their diets.

If you think T. Colin Campbell does honest and unbiased “empirical research,” I’d suggest you read some critiques of his work. He’s a master cherry-picker.

I have not read the book. But hold on…. I want to now!

The simple fact that you read the book after being a vegetarian shows that you are open minded. Did I miss something? The fact that you changed your mind when confronted with new information makes you brainwashed? Because this lady’s facts are not supported by the vegetarian agenda makes them false? WOW! I need a glass of wine.

[Mr. Writing Expert, which “it” owns the time? Did you mean to communicate that “it is” time? That would be written as “it’s time.”]

I guess the easiest way of educating you would be to start from the top. I think the first myth I would like to crush is one of yours. I am a vegetarian. I changed my lifestyle after reading articles articles by authors such as Peter Singer. I would be impressed if you could understand most of what he says as it was written in an intelligent fashion.

[Hey, you missed a comma there, Mr. Writing Expert ... unless you meant to communicate that Peter Singer was saying and writing at the same time. I'm also wondering, Mr. Writing Expert, why Mr. Singer wrote articles articles instead of just articles. Did he write everything in duplicate form?]

Assuming that you don’t, the informed vegetarians I know all have heard of the cycle of life. It turns out that adults as well as kids watched the “Lion King”.

[Mr. Writing Expert, are you aware that in America, we place periods inside quotes? That's rudimentary -- which means "basic." (See how I put that period inside the end quote?)]

Your first myth is that vegetarians believe they are somehow not involved with killing. Perhaps you are partially right and some vegetarians truly believe this. However, the vegetarian movement is mainly a revolt against our meat industry. Once again I urge you to read Singer. It is not the killing, but the unnecessary pain and suffering inflicted upon animals that we oppose.
The second myth you attempt to quash is interesting. I do not think I have met one person who thinks that we must all give up meat to save the planet. It is true that we do wish to lower the total amount of meat consumed. This is because of the amount of grain that we use to feed the animals that our meat industry slaughters. Did you know that if the grain used to feed food-animals was converted for human use we could COMPLETELY ELIMINATE WORLD HUNGER???

[Mr. Writing Expert, since you're expressing a hypothetical, that should read "if the grain used to feed food-animals WERE converted for human use."]

I would guess, probably no.

[Mr. Writing Expert, did you mean to express that you might guess, but probably won't? If not, you've got a comma splice in your sentence.]

I am not sure what your point was about animals being fed on grass. I think this is probably because you have little to no idea what point you are actually trying to disprove. If we stop consuming such massive amounts of meat we will not need that land to feed the meat we are not eating.
I think your third point was about health. It is true that some people are not fit for a vegetarian lifestyle. Different people have different dietary requirements. That being said, vegetarian and vegan lifestyles can be more healthy than an omnivorous one. However, this requires research into what the body needs to eat to maintain a balanced diet.
In conclusion, you are so uninformed it saddens me. I honestly do not care if you do or do not eat meat. I think our meat industry is cruel and so I have chosen to abstain. It is a personal choice. I have no delusions that I will make in great difference in the industry. I am an American who fully realizes that corporations control the world and the meat industry is a corporation. Any industry with that much power is simply to rich to be easily stopped. I urge you to read Springer simply so that you may become informed about the world.

[Mr. Writing Expert, what does "to rich" mean? Does "too rich" mean the same thing?]

Oh, and if you think vegetarians or vegans are truly unhealthy, you are dead wrong. Multiple Olympic athletes have successfully maintained a vegetarian lifestyle. Also, I am a collegiate athlete who has completed several triathlons.

Well (comma) I must say (comma) you’re quite rare among vegetarians. If you don’t believe most other vegetarians are convinced meatless diets will save the planet (comma) or that vegetarians manage to eat without any killing involved (comma) I suggest you go back and read some of their many comments on the blog. If you honestly don’t care that I eat meat (comma) you’re also rare among the vegetarians trolling the internet (comma) most of whom who clearly care very much what other people eat.

By the way (comma) could you please name the champion athletes who were raised as vegetarians from childhood (comma) thus going meatless while their muscle mass was being formed?