The vegans seem to be talking about us CRers

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

There is so much on CR these days it seems. The vegans seem to be talking

about us CRers also. See:

http://cwpp.slq.qld.gov.au/vvsq/forum_messages.asp?Thread_ID=37 & Topic_ID=1

From The Vegetarian and Vegan Society of Queensland at:

http://cwpp.slq.qld.gov.au/vvsq/default.asp

comes Vegetarian Forum Home at:

http://cwpp.slq.qld.gov.au/vvsq/forum_threads.asp?Topic_ID=1

(I thought " Why are onion, garlic and mushrooms bad. " was not too bad to

read either.)

Here is the edited thread of the discussion they have about us:

" Caloric Restriction vs. Vegan

cr, caloric restriction, rhesus, lab animals

Sheryl 3/09/02 9:39:08

Found this tonight on a site. We need to speak up about these monkies. I

thinks its true that Vegans are leaving for CR. I will stay Vegan!

From Vegan to CR

Written by: Anai Rhoads

With America battling the bulge, we find ourselves drowning in various

diets that simply do not work. The newest fad to surface is the Caloric

Restriction Diet, or simple better known as " CR " .

CR is based on research that suggests consuming fewer calories helps the

individual live longer, avoid disease, and even claims to reverse a greying

person to their natural hair colour. CR makes a good argument when it comes

to weight loss, but at what price?

CR?s History

In 1987, Dr Roy Walford led a study along with the National Institute on

Aging where rhesus monkeys were used to experiment the results of caloric

restriction. The NIA conducted a study of CR to determine how the diet

would affect overall performance.

After 12 years of research and application, it was concluded that CR showed

promising data when it came down to life span, the aging processes and

disease in general.

Populations in third-world countries which have limited food supply and

consume fewer calories do not live longer due in large to inadequate

nutrition. But it is proven that Okinawa is an example of low caloric intake

with adequate nutrition, which researchers believe may be why Okinawans live

so long. The Okinawa diet consists of at least 7 servings of vegetables and

fruits daily, an equal number of grains, two daily servings of soy products,

green tea every day, and fish rich in omega-3s, which is very similar to how

the CR diet is set up.

The following are the negative aspects to this diet:

It will in no doubt, become the next craze in America that may

ultimately leave many in an anorexic state if not supervised properly.

It is more of a crash diet - suggesting women eat only 1,000-1,200

calories per day, and men restricted to 1,500 to 1,700 calories per day.

It has been noted that there is a significant reduction of iron in

the CR diet, yet - " those taking iron supplements should consider that

excess iron may promote disease such as cancer " [1]

There is little data gathered about the hereditary factor. It would

be considered neither safe nor effective in certain individuals with a

background of disease and weakened immune systems.

The NIA continues to experiment with the Caloric Restriction in order

to further the connection between low calorie and optimum health. Although

this study recognised that monkeys are nearly identical to humans

genetically (over 90%), the researchers at NIA have yet to treat them with

the same respect.

Speaking to several who praise CR, there is a clear distaste with Vegans

among the community. A good percentage claim to have been Vegans in the

past, but were struggling with their protein intake, so opted for the CR

diet instead. When I listed foods that would adequately supply them with

protein without using animal products, they appeared surprised and unknowing

of the basic Vegan diet. My only conclusion was that they either were never

really Vegans or were but lacked the information required to maintain the

Vegan diet properly.

It makes one wonder how ex-Vegans can turn their back on the animals they

once wished to protect and save in order to satisfy their own needs. It is

worrying that this diet may spread quickly without the consideration for the

rhesus monkeys that were experimented on while in search for the fountain of

youth.

[1] Blanc JF, et al. (2000). Iron overload and cancer. Bulletin de

l?Academie Nationale de Medecine, 184(2), pages 355

………….

The above article can be found at http://orgasmicvegan.org/crdiet.shtml

............

lanth 14/05/03 13:54:21

........Restricting intake, being vegetarian, being vegan, low carb diets,

etc: all are strategies and practices that one contemplates towards

achieving larger goals that we have: improving the quality (or perhaps just

quantity?) of your life. .........

he suggestion I?ll offer here, as to the overall virtue of the notion of

restricting one?s caloric (is there such as word as kilojoule-ic?) intake

is: does the cure misdiagnose the disease? What kind of enjoyment will I

achieve in life if I starve myself unduly as I go along? Is that what life

is meant to be like? Is that how our bodies are meant to be treated?

........

Eve Spencer 14/05/03 18:15:04

.........does that mean starvation? You ask what kind of enjoyment is there

in that, and is that what life is meant to be like? In my humble view, we

eat to maintain health, and as we must eat for that purpose, we may as well

enjoy what we are eating. So if, for example, someone enjoys a hot meal of

TVP, great. If someone else enjoys a bowl of pawpaw, bananas, and other

tropical fruits, once again, that?s great. But what is the virtue of being

miserably hungry? ..............

Kat New 15/05/03 13:07:43

I hate the whole idea of this CR mainly because the minds that produced it

are of the same ilk as those that created the blood group diet and the high

protien diet etc... ........

but, i do accept that there is interesting science behind the idea... i just

can?t help getting the shudders when i read about it... largely because as a

former sufferer of an eating disorder i know how suseptible some people canm

be to taking this information as license to do harm to themselves...

.............

But yes, everyone is different... i know my dad prefers to eat only once a

day and tuck into a big meal, whereas i go nuts if i don?t eat at least

every four hours, not including little snacks!

Once again, individual knowledge of oneself is important...

the wisdom to know the difference!

Cheers, Al.

Alan Pater, Ph.D.; Faculty of Medicine; Memorial University; St. 's, NL

A1B 3V6 Canada; Tel. No.: (709) 777-6488; Fax No.: (709) 777-7010; email:

apater@...