I’m going to preface this by pointing out that as I’m writing, the details surrounding Michael Jackson’s death are still sketchy. There have been rumors for some time that he’d become a heavy drinker. Several news sites also reported earlier in the year that he was living on biscuits, gravy and painkillers. So we don’t know – and may never know – what killed him. The families and handlers of celebrities are pretty good at keeping those details locked up.
Having said all that, when I first heard of Jackson’s death, I couldn’t help but recall that vegetarian advocacy groups have mentioned him many times over the years as a shining example of the healthy vegetarian lifestyle. Here’s a quote from Jackson’s book Moonwalk, published in 1988:
“I’m a vegetarian now and I’m so much thinner. I’ve been on a strict diet for years. I feel better than I ever have, healthier and more energetic.”
I’m pretty sure we can rule out a lack of exercise as a contributing factor in his death, because Jackson was an incredible dancer. His concerts were as much athletic events as musical events. To prepare for his tours, he worked out with Lou Ferrigno, a bodybuilder who once portrayed The Incredible Hulk.
So Jackson was a lean guy who exercised more than most of us, and he apparently didn’t eat meat. Now he’s dead at age 50 … my age.
One isolated case doesn’t prove anything, of course. But obviously his vegetarian diet didn’t make him immune to cardiac arrest, if that’s what killed him. And if he was abusing alcohol, a diet consisting of vegetarian foods that metabolize easily into blood sugar may have made him crave the stuff, as I talked about during my interview with Nora Gedgaudas.
You will also no doubt recall that Linda McCartney, another famous vegetarian, died of cancer at age 56. Again, one isolated example doesn’t constitute proof, but it doesn’t surprise me when someone who eats a lot of starch – vegetarian or not – develops cancer. Starches turn to glucose, and glucose feeds cancer cells. Drip glucose on cancerous tissue in a lab, and it will proliferate like crazy.
Meanwhile, cancer is virtually non-existent among hunter-gatherers. There’s a reason cancer, heart disease and Type II diabetes are called “The Diseases of Civilization.” They barely show up in populations that still live on a primal diet.
I have a few friends who are vegetarians. I wouldn’t trade my health status with any of them. One had reconstructive dental surgery because she lost more than 50 percent of the bone tissue in her jaw. (She’s a vegan, by the way.) Another is currently suffering from autoimmune diseases and bone loss in her spine. Again, I’m not surprised. Too much starch can leach calcium from your bones, and grains can cause your intestines to leak proteins into your blood; when the body attacks those proteins as foreign invaders, it ends up attacking your own tissues as well.
Vegetarian web sites love to point out that vegetarians in general have lower rates of heart disease and cancer. That may be true. But vegetarians are also, compared to the rest of the population, more concerned about health. They are far less likely to smoke or drink 44-ounce Big Gulps of soda, and they’re more likely to exercise. It’s not avoiding meat that makes them healthier; it’s avoiding all the junk so many people put into their bodies.
One of the studies that fueled the notion that avoiding meat was the key to health involved Seventh-Day Adventists, who are strict vegetarians. The study noted that the Seventh-Day Adventists suffered fewer health problems and lived longer than the average American.
But Seventh-Day Adventists also don’t smoke, don’t eat candy, don’t drink sodas or alcohol, and don’t do drugs. So another group of researchers thought to compare them to Mormons, who also avoid those health hazards, but do eat meat. In fact, they’ve been described as “some of the biggest beef-eaters in the world.” Guess what? The Mormons were even healthier and lived even longer.
So the moral of the story is: don’t smoke, don’t do drugs, and don’t eat junk food. But a steak isn’t junk food. Biscuits are junk food.
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Do you have a reference for the Mormon and Adventist paper?
Here’s what I could find onlline. Mormons apparently have the longest life expectancy of any group aside from Asian-Americans.
http://www.arthurhu.com/INDEX/lifeexpe.htm
http://www.cairn.info/revue-annales-de-demographie-historique-2004-2-page-85.htm
http://www.westonaprice.org/basicnutrition/vegetarianism.html
http://www.westonaprice.org/mythstruths/mtvegetarianism.html
http://homodiet.netfirms.com/otherssay/vegetarianism2.htm
I have been thinking similar thoughts about MJ. He was probably also anorexic and he most certainly lived an intensely stressful life. The stress hormones coursing through his veins, in addition to his reported vegetarianism and eating no life-sustaining, healthy animal fats, would have probably killed even stronger men. He was 1/2 billion dollars in debt and preparing for a 50 stops concert tour! The autopsy may add some fine points, but I’m pretty sure why he died.
I was also thinking that Farrah Fawcett’s cancer might be linked to her diet, whatever it was. She was celebrity thin and came up during the low-fat eating recommendation era, so who knows?
I believe stress had a lot to do with it. Lawsuits, huge amounts of negative publicity (much of it deserved), family squabbles, enormous debts … that would probably kill me too.
Do you have a link to the Mormon research? That’s the first I’ve heard about a study of Mormons, and I would love to read more.
See my reply to Marki.
I know one person isn’t proof of anything.
I’m one of them, too.
I was a vegetarian for about nine months. Why I did this, I’m not sure. I had a vegetarian co-worker at the time who was morbidly obese. She’s just one person, though.
I then started eating meat again. I instantly became pregnant, and six months after having my son I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder.
Since I used to be a medical editor, this is what started my research, and when I cut out all grains except for rice, I got so much better it was hard to believe. Up until then, I’d only had increases in every medication prescribed and none of them were working.
My son has autism and now we are both on a very strict completely grain free Paleo-type diet. Both of us have improved immeasurably.
But I’m just one person. So is my son, apparently. 🙂
I don’t want to be a busy-body with my friends, so I tried — just once — to convince my friend that her autoimmune disorders are probably related to all the grains she consumes. She didn’t want to hear it (avoiding meat is partly a religious issue for her), so I now I keep my mouth shut. Hate to see her suffer, though.
Another great post. Thanks Tom.
I will be interesting to see if we hear the results of an autopsy, or if it’s even conclusive. I agree about what constitutes “junk food”. On the other hand my 5-year-old collie was just diagnosed with a very aggressive nasal sarcoma. I’ve always had him on a high protein, low carb, good fat diet with absolutely no grains, no sugars. I always thought this would be protective against cancer for him too! Obviously not.
Of course he is a rescue dog, and the first three years of his life he lived in a small cage in the back yard of a puppy miller/backyard breeder in West Virginia, where I’m sure his diet was the cheapest crap they could get away with giving him. Some might say he got cancer because of what he ate *then*.
After all, that’s what Barry Groves says about his own colon cancer. But if so, what hope is there for most of us really? I think I eat a pretty healthy diet now – low carb, good fats, no grains, no sugars, all natural stuff, virtually no processed foods. But I have 50 years of eating the SAD behind me too, so who knows what that has done to me.
Sometimes, certain folks (or animals) just catch a genetic bullet. We can improve the odds with the right diet, but there’s no guarantee. My maternal grandfather died of lung cancer … never smoked cigarettes.
You’re a brave man, Tom! 🙂 I posted a message questioning Michael Jackson’s lifestyle and prompted people to ask themselves if they may be making the same mistakes. I quickly got a few comments about it being tasteless. I probably went overboard by suggesting my free course about healthy lifestyle, but in all honesty, my goal is to spread awareness and help improve people’s lives through better health. What better an opportunity to make people understand the importance of their lifestyle habits than the unfortunate and premature death of a major icon? Apparently, I’m in the minority for thinking this way. I was planning to write an article about this, but now I feel like I don’t want to go anywhere near it.
It’s always very sad to hear about the loss of a life, but I feel like people are putting Michael Jackson on such a pedestal that they’re missing an opportunity to learn and take value from this misfortune. Too much vegetable oil, grain, and omega-6 fatty acid consumption (all commonalities of a vegetarian diet) and excessive alcohol and painkiller use are just a few of the possibilities that may have contributed to his very premature death, and these are all things that many people can learn from.
Nonetheless, I am sad for Michael Jackson’s family, especially his kids. However, I still hope that people will loosen up, open their minds, and take a minute to learn from this. Otherwise, it might be their kids that end up with one less parent!
I respect your courage in bringing attention to this!
I was a little hesitant to bring up the vegetarian issue — especially since we may learn he overdosed on painkillers.
I’m a Mormon who’s been LCing since first reading Protein Power many years ago. My only “vice” if you will is Diet Coke. Many other Mormons I know who’ve tried LC have been very successful. The one Mormon vegetarian I know died a couple of years ago of cancer. She was more than a vegetarian; she only ate raw fruits and vegetables (which she was told was the only way to fix her health). She slowly wasted away during her final year of life.
On an unrelated topic, I’m the leader of our Young Men’s program, which includes our Boy Scouts. We have a couple boys who are labeled ADHD. I’d love to get some links to the studies you mention on your facts page about increasing their saturated fat levels. One of the boys is overweight, too, so if could convince his mother to try it, maybe we’d see a double-benefit. She already refuses to medicate, so maybe she’d be open to trying the boy on LC for a few weeks.
I’d say reducing sugar and starch intake is at least as important as the fats.
http://www.wddty.com/the-importance-of-saturated-fats.html
http://www.newsrx.com/newsletters/Medical-Letter-on-the-CDC-and-FDA/2006-11-12/291112200650DC.html
http://www.webmd.com/epilepsy/the-ketogenic-diet
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T4S-4F1G1FD-F&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=941082893&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=c590acccf27cd566023b9b1113ce2b1c
Hey Tom,
Just heard your interview about carbohydrates and alcohol and they do really go hand in hand. I know, I’ve had an evening drinking problem for a while now. I keep trying to go cold turkey on both items, but usually end up breaking down and drinking, which leads to a full on carb cycle. It’s really quite amazing. I could be days into detoxing from carbohydrates and feeling really good, but within a couple of hours of the first drink, bam, I’m walking down to the 7-11 (I don’t keep any junk food at the house).
“Starches turn to glucose, and glucose feeds cancer cells. Drip glucose on cancerous tissue in a lab, and it will proliferate like crazy.”
This brings up a good point that I haven’t been able to find much information on yet. Our bodies are terribly complicated, a fact the media rarely seem to notice, and this is probably why people think that you can’t have energy without carbohydrates. Starches turn to glucose, which goes into the bloodstream and to your cells providing them with fuel.
Could you elaborate more for me, so I can back up my statements when people ask, as to what fuels our cells when we eat a diet primarily of protein and fats, and also burn the fat released from our cells? Do you know what the pathway is?
Thanks.
Your body can burn glucose or fatty acids for fuel. The brain can also use ketones. If you live primarily on fat and protein, the body will break down fats into fatty acids and burn them. This process produces ketones, which are taken up by the brain for fuel.
The body does require a bit — just a bit — of glucose, but it can easily convert dietary protein to glucose to fill that need.
If you are losing weight, your body is releasing fatty acids from your fat cells and using them for fuel. Of course, if sugar and starch is jacking up your insulin, the insulin increases the activity of lipoprotien lipase, which blocks the fatty acids from leaving your fat cells.
Good luck on giving up the evening drinking. The longer you stay away from carbs, the easier it will probably become. I’ve heard for years that people break their diets when they drink because their inhibitions are lowered. I don’t believe that anymore. I think the alcohol triggers a sugar-burning cycle and the desire for more sugar becomes overwhelming because the body is screaming for fuel.
One other quick thing: “So Jackson was a lean guy who exercised more than most of us, and he apparently didn’t eat meat.”
My housemates friend, who is in her early twenties, upon hearing the news about Jackson was surprised that he had a heart attack. “But was so skinny!”. Again, of course, another fallacy that all skinny people are healthy and all overweight people are unhealthy. Our generations are just SO misinformed and uninformed. Oh, she made this remark while cooking “healthy” real oatmeal cookies… with vegetable shortening. Vegetable is always better than animal, right? 🙁
I’ve seen too many skinny people with health issues to believe it’s all about how much you weigh. Stay away from those cookies!
I hate to clog the comments with links and references, but if you can read this link and article:
“Cholesterol Plays Cancer-Prevention Role at Cellular Level”
http://health.dailynewscentral.com/content/view/472/63
and this article in ‘Science’ (try PubMed) that the link refers to ( I have the whole article but the Abstract and the link are good)
‘OSBP is a cholesterol-regulated scaffolding protein in control of ERK 1/2 activation’. Wang, Weng Science, March 4 2005
and this article that refers to “cancers linked to low cholesterol levels include hairy cell leukemia”
Pandolfino J, et al. Hypocholesterolemia in hairy cell leukemia: a marker for proliferative activity. Am J Hematol 1997; 55: 129
I am collecting, painstakingly, articles linking low-cholesterol with cancer. The second article lays out this link but it then concludes something like this… even though low-cholesterol increases cancer cell replication because we all know high cholesterol is bad, cholesterol in this type of leukemia should be further lowered!!! Stunning.
Love the links. Clog away.
Dr. Malcolm Kendrick pointed out in his book that because high cholesterol is associated (weakly) with heart disease, the experts insist cholesterol is the cause. But when confronted with the fact that low cholesterol is associated with cancer, they change gears and decide cancer is depressing cholesterol production. Go figure.
I have a post up at my blog that came to the same conclusion. I think there was more than diet, though — probably too much endurance-type activities related to dancing and performing, like those vegan marathon runners. (You know a sport is crazy when the pioneer dropped dead after his first try at it.)
BTW, wherever there is a decent concentration of Mormons, the stereotype seems to be that the females are better looking than the non-Mormon women of the same race. Probably due to not drinking so much soda and eating more meat — then your collagen proteins won’t be so zapped (glycated), and you’ll maintain a more youthful appearance. And since hair quality goes to hell once you remove most animal products, they likely have more lustrous hair. Nuts to Pantene — just feed your de facto vegetarian daughter some bacon and eggs!
I have a good friend who’s a Mormon, and I performed my standup act at a Mormon charity event she helped put together. (One of the advantages of being a clean comedian; you can work cruises and church events.) The stereotype seemed to be true.
For all those of you who are trying to blame his vegetarian lifestyle take a good look at all the healthy vegetarians out there. And research proves a vegetarian diet is heathier – search it . Vegetarians are less likely to get a number of illness.
“Scientific evidence suggests that animal protein—found in meat, eggs, and dairy products—tends to leach calcium from the bones and encourages it to pass into the urine. Plant protein does not appear to have this effect. The most healthful calcium sources are calcium-rich legumes and green leafy vegetables—including broccoli, collards, kale and most other greens—which are loaded with highly absorbable calcium and other healthful nutrients.”
I’m not saying that a deit that includes meat in moderation is unhealthy or anything and you can get unhealthy vegetarians (all diets have flaws) but I think everyone needs to stop blaming the vegetarian diet.
It’s such a shame he died he music is amazing and I don’t think he will ever be forgotten.
All the calcium-rich vegetables you mentioned are good foods, and I wouldn’t discourage anyone from eating them. However, I would discourage people from eating legumes and grains, which contain anti-nutrients that can lead to auto-immune diseases. Those diseases are nearly non-existent in cultures that don’t consume grains.
Humans don’t need dairy products to be healthy, but if animal protein leached calcium, the hunter-gatherer tribes would’ve been snapping bones every time they bent over. When anthropologists compared the bones of farming tribes and hunting tribes who lived near each other in the same era, it was the farmers who had rotted teeth and bone deformities. The farmers were also five inches shorter and had a higher rate of infant mortality.
I’ve already explained that vegetarians are less likely to smoke, drink sodas, etc. That, not avoiding meat, is what makes them healthier on average. If you look at people who also avoid those things but do eat meat, they have the longest life expectancy.
All that aside, we don’t really know what killed Michael Jackson. We may yet learn it was a drug overdose.
To lanna regarding animal protien and bone loss:
It took a while to hunt this one down, but found the link from a comment on Dr. Mike Eades’ blog.
http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/full/24/suppl_6/526S
Dietary Protein: An Essential Nutrient For Bone Health
Jean-Philippe Bonjour, MD
Service of Bone Diseases,* Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, SWITZERLAND
“Several recent human studies do not support the notion that the protective effect of protein on either bone loss or osteoporotic fracture is due to vegetal rather than animal proteins. In apparently sharp contrast with these very consistent results, an epidemiological study reported that individuals consuming diets with high ratios of animal to vegetal protein lost bone more rapidly than did those with lower ratios and had a greater risk of hip fracture. The physiological meaning, particularly in terms of impact on calcium-phosphate and bone metabolism, of animal to vegetal protein ratio remains mechanistically quite obscure. Indeed, variations in this calculated ratio can result from differences in the absolute intake of either animal or vegetal proteins. More importantly, however, in this study the statistically negative relationship between the animal to vegetal protein ratio and bone loss was obtained only after multiple adjustments, not only for age but also for energy intake, total calcium intake (dietary plus supplements), total protein intake, weight, current estrogen use, physical activity, smoking status and alcohol intake. In sharp contrast, a positive relationship between the animal to vegetal protein ratio and baseline BMD was found when the statistical model was only adjusted for age. This inconsistency according to the way this set of data was analyzed makes the generalization of these findings, in terms of nutritional recommendations for bone health and osteoporosis prevention, difficult.”
Hi Tom, great post!
Just a little note, I am an Optician, and just read a trade magazine article directly linking carbohydrate consumption with cataracts.
Cataracts are when the lens inside the eye gets cloudy and inflexible, and results in gradual loss of vision. Typically seen in the elderly, there is a cure as the lens is broken up by sound waves and then removed, however the patient has to be practically blind to get this surgery. They are then given an implant lens, which usually provides clear vision.
Seems the recent 30-40 years of increase in carbohydrate intake has accelerated those folks in their mid 30s-40s to getting this condition. So not only are we getting sicker, we are also losing vision earlier.
Additionally, I read an article showing the 10 bet nutrients to protect your eyesight, and seems all of them are found in what constitutes a low-carbohydrate diet.
I guess along with living longer, we can include seeing better, longer too!
Interesting. But it doesn’t it make you wonder just how many ailments have to be linked to excess carb consumption before the “experts” admit they were wrong?
I didn’t know he was a vegetarian. Not to speak ill of the deceased – a lot of people noticed he had weird behavior, and not in the “normal” eccentric kind of way… that might have something to do with the meatless-ness. I’ve seen things linking mental illness to vitamin deficiencies and high carb diets. Of course, that’s just speculation on my part.
Hard to say. Very low cholesterol is associated with depression and other mental disorders, but of course there are plenty of meat-eating weirdos in the world as well. He may just be a classic example of how often artistic genius is accompanied by deep personality flaws.
Thanks for this excellent blog. Did know that about the 7th day Adventists/Mormons. Thanks.
A few years ago, just after I had finished reading Nourishing Traditions and my head was spinning from all of the information, I happened to be perusing the obituary section of my local newspaper (as one sometimes does after turning 40!) and I ran across two obituaries that ran during the same week. I wish I had thought to cut them out and save them, but I didn’t. The first one talked a 90+ year old woman who had died and how everyone was surprised that she had lived so long because she lived what was perceived as such an unhealthy lifestyle. She ate a high animal fat diet consisting of eggs and bacon every morning, she had an alcoholic drink every evening and she even occasionally smoked. A few days later a similar obituary ran, this time on the untimely death of a 50+ year old woman who 30 years earlier had “fallen in love” with tofu and lived a very “healthy” life, minimizing (or maybe eliminating, I don’t remember now) meat, exercising, etc. Nonetheless, cancer beat her, and her friends and family didn’t understand why.
On a similar note, one of my distant relatives was recently diagnosed with colon cancer and he could be the poster boy (man) for “healthy eating”. He and his wife are in their 60’s, fit and trim, have always eaten low fat, whole grain, with lots of fruit and vegetables and very little meat. They exercise religiously and take a lot of pride in their appearance. Everyone is shocked that he, of all people would get colon cancer, and unfortunately, their conclusion is that it really doesn’t matter at all what you eat, so have greatly increased their consumption of refined carbs. I mentioned to those folks that perhaps the conclusion we should come to is that what we have been told is a heathy diet really isn’t, but sadly they look at me in total incomprehension as if I am really stupid. 🙂
I get a similar reaction from my vegetarian friends. Despite their ailments and my lack of them, they see me tearing into a steak and look at me like I’m suicidal. My great-grandfather loved his bacon and eggs, butter, cream, etc. His diet finally killed him at age 101.
Farrah Fawcett died of anal cancer caused by the HPV virus. Most people don’t know that about 1/3 of cancer is caused by viruses. The other 2/3rds are environment and genetics.
How about his avoidance of sunshine (in addition to poor diet, medications, and likely skin bleaching)? One can get quite sick from either the lack of natural vitamin D or from overdose of the synthetic vitamin D. See my old article “I Told You So. . . Sunshine is Good for You” at http://www.stadion.com/free/nltr0305.pdf .
I didn’t know he avoided the sun. Not a good idea.
The human immune system is critically cholesterol dependent and keeps viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites and, most importantly for cancer prevention, rogue ‘self’-cells in check. It may be the most complex ‘organ’ system, after the brain. Vegetarian diets may be uniquely degrading to the immune system and if she was one, Farrah Fawcett may have died from virally induced cancer. But a low-fat diet could have damaged her immunity and allowed the virus to wreck its havoc. Low immunity may permit a virus to take hold and cause genetic damage which can then result in a cancer. However, the daily routine business of all cells produces free- radical molecules that damage cells and can lead to, well, cancer. If the immune system cannot detect these rogue ‘self’- cells, cancer can take hold. It may not matter that a virus that slipped past the immune defenses is the catalyst to the cancer or some other daily, natural process is, but low cholesterol is most probably highly correlated with cancer via weakened overall immunity.
What’s interesting is how quickly some researchers flip-flop on cause and effect when the data is clear that low cholesterol is a risk for cancer. Instead of suggesting low cholesterol leads to cancer, they insist cancer depresses cholesterol. As Malcom Kendrick pointed out, the low cholesterol shows up long before the tumors do, so it’s likely a microscopic growth in, say, the breast tissue could depress cholesterol in the liver.
Seventh-day Adventists live longer than Mormons because of a vegetarian diet, it is a proven fact. A good site to see some videos about all of this will be found at amazingdiscoveries.tv and click on media, then health and then “life at its best.” I think that is the order anyway. I’m not connected to them, but going by memory. They are excellent videos and by the time you get finished watching the, I believe, 5 videos, you will probably want to change your diet. They are scientific facts presented by a scientist, but easy enough for a layman’s viewing.
It is actually too much protein in the diet that leeches calcium from the bones and too much protein is linked to cancer.
If your vegetarian friends are unhealthy, maybe they eat too much sugar and are just not eating a balanced diet. A complete protein combination can be peanut butter-whole wheat bread, corn-beans, brown rice-peas-mushrooms and other simple combos. Also important in the diet are seeds and nuts, along with grains, fruits and vegetables. And if a vegetarian is fat, then they are doing something wrong. Vegan is even better than vegetarian because you virtually lose all cravings and therefore don’t eat as much, but you end up eating how much you want and never gain weight. Leaner people, actually those on the skinny category, are shown to live longer too.
Fox News said the coroner said MJ was in healthy condition and that is why they are having the neuropathologist do further testing on the brain, because they have not found a cause of death yet. Also, propofol is allegedly something that can build up in the system to prove fatal as was discovered due to an anesthesiologist found dead who had been abusing it by using it on herself to get high. At first they thought she had committed suicide and then discovered it was due to an abuse of it over time.
Check the research links again. Mormons live longer than Seventh-Day Adventists. They outlive pretty much everyone except Asians.
Too much protein isn’t good, but it’s too much glucose that’s linked to cancer. Cancer cells literally cannot survive without glucose. If diets high in protein caused cancer and osteoporosis, the buffalo-hunting tribes and other hunting societies would have been riddled with cancer and bone problems. But they weren’t. Those diseases only show up in significant numbers among populations who consume sugars and grains.
My vegan friends are not healthy. I’m sure there are healthy vegans out there, but they’re a self-selected group: they can live on that diet without suffering health consequences (some people can smoke and never develop lung problems), so they do. But I also know many ex-vegans who became ill and went back to eating animal foods.
Something also worth noting, Seventh day Adventists do not consume alcohol or caffeine or any other type of stimulant or depressant. They also do not smoke nor is anything with vinegar consumed. Remember, if you read the Bible, when offered vinegar to drink on the cross, Jesus refused it. It’s unhealthy, it’s not a religious thing. It’s about the body and taking care of it.
Their immune systems are excellent. Our bodies make the right amount of cholesterol that we need. Since consumed cholesterol can only be found in animal products and not plant fat products, that is where people get too much cholesterol. Our body makes a sufficient amount already.
Regarding sunshine, I believe studies said 20 minutes a day was sufficient and it does not need to be direct sunlight.
I know you usually are thorough with your fact-checking, but I did a quick check and got quite a bit of debate over whether Michael Jackson really was vegetarian. One site says friend Magic Johnson watched him eat KFC, another mentions him talking about his favorite Brazilian food including shrimp, steak, and some vegan blog is horrified by his pepperoni and Mexican habit. The International Vegetarian Union (I’m not sure how much authority they have in the vegetarian world) has officially ah…”demoted” him from his veg status.
By any chance, have you read a book that came out recently, Catching Fire, by Richard Wrangham? It’s basically one long educated guess about how the biggest leap in our evolution might’ve come from cooking. There’s an interesting chapter where the author researches raw-foodists, and finds out nearly 50% of the raw-foodist women participants in a German study don’t even menstruate. He also makes it very clear that without modern conveniences, “natural” diets like vegetarianism, veganism, etc etc wouldn’t be possible without extinction. It’s sortta “DUH”, but fun hearing from an anthropologist,. Licensed dieticians still can’t figure it out.
I did see that some people said he was eating junk food, even as he claimed to be a vegetarian. I guess we’ll never know for sure. If he was abusing alcohol and drugs, it’s pretty clear his health habits had gone to pot, whatever his diet. I haven’t read Catching Fire, but it sounds good. Right now I’m finishing up “The 10,000 Year Explosion,” which is about how agriculture changed the course of human evolution.
Like half of people with eating disorders, Jackson was a vegetarian- but when his body got desperate, he cheated with chicken, or when his doctors forced him to eat some real protein. But that’s beside the point I want to make- it has NOT been “proven” that protein “leeches” calcium from bones. This is one of the big fat lies of the Vegevangels. It was been DISPROVEN since the 80s, though the ‘ethical mafia” perpetuates it at the price of the only animal they hate- humans. John Robbins keeps blasting this theory, as do the PCRM. The fact is, those studes were done with protein isolates, but real meat has phosphorus, potassium, and more minerals that work in synergy. Our bone matrix is made of protein, and when that is strong, the calcium builds nicely on it. We didn’t need dairy for calcium before we ate bones and bone marrow and fish and tiny shells.
Here’s a real proven fact, however, and go ahead and research it. Grains and soy and many other plant foods contain an antinutrient, as in TOXIN, called phytates (the veg mafia call this an ‘antioxidant’) Phytates or phytic acid bonds in the body to nutrient molecules, rendering them inert. It is actually plants, especially grains, that ‘leech’ calcium from the body. Furthermore, most nutrients can only be absorbed in the presence of saturated fat and cholesterol- which is why all cultures put butter or lard on veggies.
BTW, Jackson avoided the sun not because he had lupus.
OMG!!! i love michael jackson so much and thats finall!!!
I heard a radio commercial the other day for an insurance company that gives discounts if you lead a “healthy vegan-vegetarian lifestyle”. I’m wondering if they are publicly traded. Wanna join me in short selling, Tom? 😁
I’m in.