Do you find it worrisome?

Question

that so many people on here say "my doctor advised me to eat meat". Do you think medical school is not doing a good enough job and/or the doctor is letting emotions interfere with his/her job? It's well established that no one needs meat, for any reason.

Answer 1

I've been over this same question with my cardiac nutritionist. There is only ONE medical reason to eat meat, that is if you have Cystic Fibrosis. For anyone else a vegetarian diet is not only perfectly adequate, it's *healthier*!

We should all learn from the lesson of Dr. Atkins who invested heavily in meat related investments before inventing his 'rupture your heart' to lose weight diet.

I've nearly been killed several times in my life by doctors errors. If they're *really* telling all these people to eat meat that's just one more screw-up.

Answer 2

I just don't buy the 'my doctor sez i need 2 eet meet' these people come up with. Like so much else on teh internets, it's just made up.

Perhaps vegetarians are to be commended for not saying 'my doctor says I SHOULDN'T eat meat!'

Speaking as somebody vegetarian since birth, here. Doctors, universally: "That's great!" I doubt I've somehow hit on wildly different doctors for the last few decades.

I did see a dietician once. Verdict: at the time, I needed a slightly higher iron intake. A bit more spinach was all that was needed. There wasn't even the slightest suggestion that being vegetarian was a poor choice.

Hmm. Perhaps I can see a paediatrician telling a rather malnourished thirteen-year-old who saw a PETA video and ate nothing but fries and cheese pizza for three months that eating meat was a better idea than being vegan. But, that's it.

No professional organisation of physicians has any problems with vegetarianism. It seems highly doubtful that notable numbers of physicians would.

All that said, though -- 50% all doctors graduated in the bottom half of their class, so...

Answer 3

My former doctor tried to get me to
eat some dairy in the form of yogurt.
He explained that Activa by Dannon
has live bacteria cultures that aid
digestion. I told him that I am Vegan
and asked if cranberries, grapes,
and apples can serve the same
purpose. He said yes.

I guess what I'm trying to point out
is that the general public needs to
do more of its own research.

That doctor is now grossly overweight
by the way.

What concerns me most is that there
is more money for doctors in treating
the constantly sick than there is in doing
routine check ups on the healthy.
They hate to see me coming because
they can't find anything wrong. There's
a reason for a" follow up" appointment.
How much money would you make if
noone ever paid anymore than a 20$
copay each year?

Answer 4

It is worrisome that some people who claim they want to be vegetarians don't because thier doctors say so.

To me, this type of veggie had no commitment. If my doc said eat meat, i'd say "no, i'm a veggie". If he said "you'll die if you don't eat meat" I'd say "no, i'm veggie".

We all know we will not die if we don't eat meat, and there is nothing missing from my diet of 27 years of being a veggie.

Being a veggie is so simple, i've no clue why all these wannabees try to make it so complicated.

Its worrisome if a doctor says "you need meat" yes.

But, if a doctor has no moral stance on eating meat then s/he is perfectly ok to recommend it. Its up to the veggie to say its not an alternative for them.

As an interesting aside, our veggie B&B registration book has lots of doctors in it as we're relatively near ( 5 miles ) to a teaching hospital. They all seem to be of mid-asian origin and i'm guessing they are veggie for religous reasons. Just shows though, we never get anglo-saxon veggie doctors....maybe there aren't any.

Rochelle needs to bury his/her head in the sand a bit further. Be careful, one day you might actually realise what that slab of decaying flesh on your plate is. If you think that's gross, I suggest you take yourself to an abatoir to see what cruel barbaric behaviours meateaters sponser.


I love the typical meat-eater responses. Sometimes i can't tell if they are joking or if they really believe it.
the "its been in our diet for hundreds of thousands of years" is quite funny. in what way does that make it right ?

Less than 500 years ago all girls were married off at 12 and forced into pregnancy as soon as they were capable. Is that right too, because "we've always done it"........

or are these meateaters so incapable of thier own free-thought that they have to rely on cavemen for thier morals.

Answer 5

No, I don't find it worrisome. I think medical schools are doing an adequate job teaching students a basic framework of the pro's & con's of major diets, including meat and vegetarian diets (and Southbeach, Zone, Atkins, etc.). More importantly, physicians learn in medical school how to practice "evidence-based medicine" (how to look up & critically analyze research, and incorporate that information into their clinical decision-making), as well as the importance of a physician knowing his/her own limits of expertise to know when to consult specialists (like nutritionists). It sounds like this is an emotion-laden topic for you, as it is for many of my vegetarian friends, but that doesn't necessarily mean doctors are sorting through strong emotions about it, unless those doctors happen to be vegetarians :) All lightheartedness aside, I 'm glad you practice thoughtful questioning of standards instead of blind acceptance. Kudos to anyone who should cite a well-designed study in support of his/her side of this argument, & even more Kudos to anyone who is involved in the research.

Answer 6

To add to what Dolores said, which is entirely correct, our digestive tract/system resembles those of herbivores like cows. We are biologically meant to be vegetarians: this is the reason why we have a small intestine and a large intestine.

Meat-eating animals have really short digestive system because they need to get their food out of their system right away. If humans eat meat, it stays too long in the digestive system, polluting their bodies and causing all sorts of health problems.

Your tummy is not a graveyard for the carcasses of dead animals!

Answer 7

When I told my doctor I'd gone vegetarian, he congratulated me. He is, by the way, a most excellent doctor!

Answer 8

To answer your question, yes, it's worrisome that doctors are not as well trained in nutrition as they should. Doctors in America receive an average of only 2.5 hrs of nutrition training in all their years of medical school.

After reading the first answer about human canine teeth, and can't not write this:

We are NOT anatomically designed for eating flesh. So many otherwise intelligent people say that since we have canines, our teeth are made for tearing flesh. OMG, who are we kidding??? Look at the canines of man, and look at the canines of meat eating animals, there's a HUGE difference. They have fangs, while our canines are puny. There's also a huge difference between the molars of carnivores, and the molars of herbivores (us!). Ours are designed to grind grain and vegetation, theirs are designed to continue tearing flesh.

Carnivores and omnivores have claws to kill prey and tear its flesh, we have delicate fingers to pick and peel vegetation. Can a leopard do any farming? Can they plant crops? Pick them? Cook them? Of course not.

The jaws of carnivores and omnivores move only up and down, while herbivores' jaws move up and down and also side to side, so that we can grind and mush up grain & vegetation.

Their digestive juices are SUPER STRONG, much more powerful than ours, so that they can digest raw and rotting flesh. Our digestive juices are not designed for that, they're not as strong. Their digestive tracts are much shorter than ours, that way they can eliminate rotting flesh much more quickly. Basically, their digestive tracts and juices and teeth and jaws are designed to eat entirely different things. Can we go out and gnosh on raw flesh and not wind up on the toilet all night? Try it.

NOW do you STILL think we're anatomically meant for eating flesh???

As for any nutritional need for consuming animals or animal products, there is none. Every plant food (veggies, fruits, grains, nuts, seeds, etc) has protein in it, even fruit. As long as we eat a variety every day, we get all 9 essential amino acids. Of the 26 amino acids, we need at least these 9 for good health. Our bodies produce the rest, so ingesting them isn't necessary. In other words, we get the protein we need just fine from plant sources. If we take a multi vitamin and B12 vitamin (if the multi doesn't have 100% RDA of B12), we're fine, really. Besides, only 9% of our caloric intake needs to come from protein, and since everything has protein, we're FINE. Really.

Rochelle: Animals are made of skin, organs, blood, muscle, bone, teeth, hair, and gristle. So are we. It's certainly reasonable to compare non-human animals with human animals, as we all have very similar parts. Similar parts, just arranged very differently. Besides, we're all found in the animal kingdom. Now if we compare ourselves to amoebas, or to grass, then that's way far fetched and unreasonable.

Flesh? Yep, meat is flesh. So is chateaubriand and steak frites (okay just the steak, not the frites). It's all cooked flesh. Gross? Absolutely. True? Absolutely.

Answer 9

Yes, because mine was pleased that I went vegan. They should be helping vegetarians not forcing their own dietary beliefs on people .

Answer 10

To Rochelle above...

Humans are animals... so the comparison is completely logical and acurate... also... what is wrong with using the term flesh?

That is exactly what it is.