The quality of our diet directly influences our health: Our diet enables us to remain in good health and good shape for the majority of our life. Considering its extraordinary importance, shouldn’t we want to learn what nutritionists and studies from around the world say about a healthy diet?
We are all familiar with articles that urge us to eat more fruit and vegetables and less meat. Numerous scientific studies have proved that consuming meat and animal fats can damage our health in various ways.
The negative impact that milk and cheese (which contain saturated animal fats) have on health is just as well known. The public is shocked whenever natural disasters or terrorist attacks kill hundreds or thousands of people. So why don’t people react in the same way when millions of people die of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other diseases that are related to diet and malnutrition?
The myth that meat and dairy products are healthy foods – a myth that continues to be propagated by the meat and dairy industries – is widely accepted by uninformed consumers and careless politicians. Additionally, the European Union (EU) and countries around the world subsidise meat and milk with taxpayer’s money even though the products are unhealthy and even though their production causes cruelty to animals. This political approach is completely unacceptable, as it appears to put a higher value on the economic interests of the meat and dairy industries than on public health, which should be governments’ primary focus. In the past, vegetarian foods were looked down upon just as vegan diets are often denigrated today. Because of stupidity, ignorance and people’s vested economic interests, healthy diets are often ridiculed in the media.
Here’s just one example: In 2004, a toddler whose parents had reportedly fed him a vegan diet died. However the child had not actually eaten any vegan food. In fact, he hadn’t eaten any food at all! He had lost his appetite because he’d contracted pneumonia and hadn’t received medical treatment for the condition. The child had not been fed a healthy, vegan diet – his parents believed in a special diet, which had been recommended by a self-appointed “nutritionist”. However, as far as nutritionists are concerned, that special diet has nothing to do with a healthy vegan diet. As it is too often the case, the media did not think it was necessary to do proper research or even try to learn the nutritional basics of a vegan diet. No, instead they denigrated veganism and approached the issue with their usual prejudices intact.
