Re: Our place in the world (was Re: Raves VIII)

[http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert (robert)]

 > From: Bill Olson <http://www.accessone.com/~wdolson>
 > Date: Thu  May  6,  8:02pm
 >
 > Really from: Bill Olson <http://www.accessone.com/~wdolson>
 > Dion Detterer wrote:
 > > Anyway, our bodies rely heavily on iron, which should be the first hint
 > > as to what food we naturally require.  I'm happy to let vegetarians live
 > > a life they feel comfortable with, but don't tell me what I'm doing is
 > > immoral.
 > 
 > Additionally B 12 is very hard to get from vegetable sources.  According
 > to one source I read, some species of sea weed are the only source
 > that's not an animal product.

That's almost true: there are yeasts which have small amounts of B-12 in them.
(Many nutritional yeasts have it, for example.)  (I don't consider yeasts
to be "animal", though some people do.)

 > B 12 does take a long time to work it's
 > way out of the body (about three years) and it's very plentiful in all
 > animal sources (at least as much as our bodies need), so a diet that
 > includes just a little bit of animal products is usually passable for B
 > 12.

I have not had any B-12 deficiencies with my diet.  I eat a vegan diet
(vegetarian but with no dairy, eggs, or other animal products (I'm not
completely vegan -- I eat honey)) and have been for 8 years.  I have never
heard of any incidents of malnutrition from a vegan diet, but I know of
people who've tried it and said they felt lousy and went back (whereever
"back" might be).  In fact, my only problem has been keeping the weight
off!  (This started being a problem when I hit 28; I guess it's a common
problem, though, not related to diet.)

Of course I do advocate a vegan diet, but I'll never force anyone to do
anything.  (My girlfriend is an omnivore and we've been living together for
6 years!)