I can't believe anyone truely believes a vegetarian diet leads to higher rates of mortality-really people make google your friend today. Soy and tofu have more protein than meat and almost no fat so saying lack of protein is an issue is not an educated statement that information is more than readily available.
Read this--http://www.becomehealthynow.com/article/soy/316/
This will explain to you why soy, in it's natural state is NOT as healthy as you would like to think, and it describes the extensive processes necessary to make it consumable and beneficial by humans. Interesting...
Healthy oils like flax seed and foods like avocado, nuts, and olives also offer both protein and healthy fats.
Part of a healthy diet, with or without meat...
Humans absorb protein easier from tofu and soy opposed to meat proteins because our bodies can break them down quicker and thus more of this protein is synthesized by the body and used more efficiently- again use a little google today if you don't believe this. Or look at baby formulas because many babies can not break down and digest regular formula which is why their switched to soy by their pediatricians- milk based proteins are rough on the immature body.
Tofu and soy products are processed. I like to eat "real" food instead of processed by-products, and man-made supplements. I can find venison, beef, poultry, fish and LOADS of other valuable and viable fat and protein sources in the wild, kill one, gut it, and eat it. Show me a tofu tree. Just one. Not a soy bean...a tofu tree. Remember the toxins, "antinutrients", and limited digestability of raw soy beans that you read about in the article above? Not a good idea to pick and eat a raw soy bean, IMO...
And I refuse to debate with you regarding the benefits of "Mother's Milk" vs. processed formulas. There is a biological reason why mammals produce milk for their infants. I don't buy that chemical laden, heavily processed bean juice is better for a mammalian infant than it's mother's own milk. Deficiencies such as lactose intolerance, and many others that cause improper digestion from the infant aside, breast feeding is FAR more beneficial.
Iron can be taken orally so again why would their be a problem with obtaining this on a vegetarian diet. Brocoli and plenty of other foods that are non meat based also offer proper amounts.
Oral supplements. Not part of a natural diet, they are a medicinally engineered product that replaces nutrients lost in the absence of a balanced diet.
Unhealthy vegetarians only occur when that vegetarian is not consuming enough fats which we need in healthy doses, but vitamin intake if anything far surpasses the avaerage meat eaters diet.
Vitamin supplementation is what I mentioned earlier. Vitamin supplements are not needed in a healthy, balanced, omnivorous diet. The fact that most "healthy" vegetarians use these additional, NOT natural supplements to complete the balance they are losing by eliminating specific foods from their diet shows in and of itself that a vegan/vegetarian diet, in the majority of situations, is lacking vital nutrients. That's the point I'm trying to make. They take these supplements because without these man-made medicinal supplements...they are not going to be healthy. Pretty much my initial point...
I eat meat and always will because I like the taste, but I know a diet with less meat is healthier, leads to lower cancer rates, lower cholesterol, less heart problems, healthier body weight, and overall provides more energy and efficient uses of vitamins and minerals.
It's all about balance. If I were to eat a strictly carnivorous diet, I would need to take just as many, if not more, supplements and man-made, processed "foods" in order to be healthy. That's the point. Human beings are OMNIVOROUS. We are biological
designed to eat and digest nutrition from a wide variety of plant and animal sources. This is what we have evolved to do over the last hundred thousand years or so. Eliminating major components of this omnivorous diet results in lower nutrition.
Vegetarians and vegans supplement this by eating Tofu and soy products and taking supplements that are not a natural part of the human diet. Eating stricftly fruits, vegetables, nuts, and beans *may* be a healthy choice for *some* individuals. However, the majority of the population would not thrive under those conditions, and would
require man-made, processed sources to balance those missing nutritional values.
It's about balance and variety. Being "healthy" is a lifestyle choice, not a diet. I can eat the most nutritionally balanced, vegan diet ever known to exist, and if I'm a lazy slob that never exercises, I won't be healthy. Same thing with a meat-heavy diet, or equally balanced omnivorous diet. Being "healthy" involves a LOT more than simply not eating meat or dairy products... And a vegan diet is simply NOT inherantly more healthy to an omnivorous species of animal...which humans are.
