Benefits Of Vegetarianism: Vegetarians Live Longer

Vegetarians Live Longer

The battle has long been waged, and will certainly continue in spite of this study. Are humans designed/evolved to eat everything and at risk of malnutrition as vegetarians? Or is vegetarianism the healthy and ethical choice? The most impressive data arises from a study of 1904 vegetarians over 21 years by the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsche Krebsforschungszentrum). The study's shocking results: vegetarian men reduced their risk of early death by 50%! Women vegetarians benefit from a 30% reduction in mortality.

Long-term Study of Vegetarians
The participants of the the German Cancer Research Center study included 60 vegans (no animal products consumed), 1165 vegetarians (eating eggs, milk but no meat) with the remainder described as "moderate" vegetarians who occasionally ate fish or meat. The health of these study participants was compared with the average German population. Living longer seems not to be exclusively related to eating meat, though, as the results for moderate vegetarians was not statistically different from those for vegan or strict vegetarian diets.

To the argument that it is not vegetarianism but a general interest in a healthier lifestyle which leads to such notable results, scientists reply with evidence that the majority of vegetarians do not cite health reasons for their lifestyle, but make their choice based on ethical commitment, environmental concerns or simply personal taste.

Vegetarians and Malnutrition
Research by a team led by Professor Ibrahim Elmadfa at the University of Vienna found a much better than average intake of Vitamin C, Carotinoides, Folic acid, fiber and unsaturated fats. Where shortcomings may arise is for Vitamin B12, calcium und Vitamin D in a vegan diet. Astoundingly, however, study participants did not suffer from diseases, such as osteoporosis, typically related to inadequate intakes of these micro-nutrients.

More on Vegetarians
How to Become a Vegetarian
Hollywood's Sexiest Vegetarians
Jessica Simpson Offends Vegetarians
Cut Back On Carbon By Cutting Back On Meat

Via Die Welt (german)
Image: copyright Getty images

Comments

[DSizzle]

The comments by the corpse-eaters here have proven it... not only do vegetarians and vegans live longer, they're smarter, kinder, and more ethical. You obnoxious meat-eaters revel in your cruelty and stupidity. Depending on the death and pain of other sentient creatures for your pleasure and sustenance (when it is not necessary) is wrong. Any of your nonsense about how you like the taste and you're so sure of yourself just proves your disgusting, revolting unethical stupidity. Grow up. Stop talking like fascist morons. Care about someone or something other than your stomach... if you think your callous disregard for the pain of animals doesn't impact our world's disregard for the suffering of humans, you're fooling yourself. Listen to Tolstoy (or many of the world's other great thinkers) - As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefield. Please please please grow up and act like moral entities.

[TimmySlagle]

"Stop talking like fascist morons."

Actually, it's the vegetarians that tend to have fascist tendencies.

I don't know any meat eaters that want to force vegetarians to eat meat, but I've met a lot of vegetarians who want to outlaw meat.

If you want to be a vegetarian, fine.

Just don't try to force your religion on me

[Suzie2]

Actually, I am not sure that is true. Whenever I eat with someone in a restaurant, and they find out I am a vegetarian, they always say "Do you mind if I eat meat?" I always am stunned by that. wtf do I care what someone else eats?

However, I HAVE been lectured by more than one co-worked about how unhealthy vegetarianism is and how I should quit it ASAP. One particular co-worker was so adamant about how awful vegetarianism was, I ended up quitting the job to get away from her.

[DSizzle]

Do you think the government telling you not to murder people and rape children is fascist too? Or is that morality? Do you consider it fascist anytime someone suggests that another individual has rights to things like freedom of movement and freedom from unneccessary suffering? It seems to me that ignoring the rights of the weak for the pleasure or convenience of the strong is a hallmark of fascism.

Women, racial minorities, religious minorites, those of different sexual orientation, etc. have all been considered to have the same level of rights we now ascribe to animals at different points in the past. Your ignorant comments are identical to those who would say, If you don't want to have a slave, fine. But who are you to stop me from having one! Don't try to force your religion on me!

It's not religion. It's simple morality. Try it sometime.

[NoSillyName]

Oh joy, Timmy joins the fray.

[TheBlackCat]

Wow, what an asset you are to the vegetarian movement. Let's be as insulting, abrasive, and arrogant as humanly possible, that will win them over!! Why on EARTH would anyone listen to your ideology with that kind of attitude? If someone came up to me and said "Hey you stupid, evil, ignorant Nazi..." I sure as s^&t wouldn't listen to whatever they said after that.

You remind me of the guy I see in the subway every day after work. He has a sign that says "YOU ARE SINNERS AND GOING TO HELL" Big surprise, no one EVER goes over to him to see what he has to say.

The worst part of it is is that you are on MY side, and now others will judge me because of the HIDEOUS way you present your argument. "Care about someone or something other than your stomachs?" What, you honestly think anyone who isn't a vegetarian (i.e. the vast majority of humans in all of history) is bad, and all vegetarians are good? Hitler was a vegetarian (and for animal rights, not health reasons), Nelson Mandela is not. There are plenty of bad vegetarians and plenty of good meat eaters, and vice versa.

I would expect more from a vegetarian. I would expect some semblance of human decency and civility, not to mention understanding. You shame your fellow vegetarians

[JohnMayer]

Hitler was not a vegetarian. Good old Wikipedia tells us, “While Hitler reduced his meat consumption, he may have not eliminated it entirely, with culinary accounts indicating a sporadic preference for sausage, squab, liver dumplings, ham, and caviar.“

And it doesn’t make any difference; that’s the “Poisoning the Well” fallacy. If Osama bin Ladin believes the earth goes around the sun, it doesn’t mean we should begin to reconsider the Ptolemaic system.

[TheBlackCat]

It certainly hasn't made you a kind or smart person, now has it?! What kind of BIGOT declares that any non vegetarian is stupid and revels in cruelty?? Half the products in your home (unless you live in a mud hut) was made by children in sweatshops in Philipeans or political prisoners in China. Even BROOMS are typically made by indonesian children subjected to delorable conditions. Unless you don't own ANYTHING, not even a blanket or pillow or mattress, a DVD or video game or CD (or, I dunno, COMPUTER), your lifestyle is possible due to the suffering of others. You're not so pure as you would like to believe.

If you really believe what you say, that anyone who benefits from suffering must revel in it and be stupid and evil, then give up ALL your possessions and become a hermit. If you aren't willing to do that, what right do you have to say that someone else should have to give up meat to be considered a moral individual?

I am a vegetarian who was introduced to the concept at age 11 by a TRULY compassionate and intelligent vegetarian. If someone like YOU had told me about it with your insulting, self righteous, mean spiritied, intolerant, and ignorant attitude, I likely would have been turned off and never become one.

[Elitnaurista]

Why did European population dramatically increase in the seventeenth century when meat became available to the peasant and lower classes as a result governments granting rights to serfs and eliminating serfdom entirely in some countries?

Just asking.

[sstansbe]

I don't think it was some intrinsic quality of meat that had anything to do with them living longer if that is what you're implying. In the 17th century, they had limited access to a wide variety of veggies and fruits, and therefore missed out on a lot of nutrients. Also, food was often scarce--all it took was one hard winter for people to end up dying of starvation. The population increase probably had more to do with the fact that meat finally introduced enough calories in their diet.
Today, we have an over-abundance of calories, so that is no longer a concern, and therefore, meat now has a more detrimental function than a beneficial one.

[Jonahson]

Actually meat eaters are easily aroused by the opposite sex than vegetarians while vegetarians have a longer stamina in love making. Maybe that is one of the reasons.
Also meat eaters are quick tempered compare to vegetarians but that has nothing to do with making babies.

[KoolBreez]

Elitnaurista,

Why is European population on a decline now when more meat is available to them than ever before? Just asking.

[NYCBear]

They are better educated, have a better standard of living, and birth control is readily available. So they are choosing to have fewer children. It has nothing to do with meat eating today, but it DID in the seventeenth century.

[FloridaGeek]

They don't really live longer. It just seems longer.

[axt113]

no we just live longer, veg for 15 years now and I love it

[Deaninphilly]

How do you know if you're living longer? You never knew how long you were supposed to live to begin with. A meat eater and loving it! Just had steak tonight, moooooooo.

[Mildmannered]

I wonder if it is because they are thinner.

Another interesting study would be to compare vegetarians with non-vegetarians having the same body mass index.

[sstansbe]

Good question!

[KPinSEA]

"Are humans designed/evolved to eat everything and at risk of malnutrition as vegetarians? Or is vegetarianism the healthy and ethical choice?"

Whoa whoa whoa ... if the dietary science involved here is as sloppy as the evolutionary biology, I'm shocked that this found a publisher.

Because we don't evolve for longevity ... evolution doesn't give a rat's ass about longevity. All species evolve by having selective advantages to reach breeding age and then breed more successfully than their competitors .... but once you're done with your breeding years, evolution is off the table.

So unless we're saying that enough people are breeding between 50 and 70 when a 'shortened lifespan' from a non-vegan diet to affect the genetic profile of the species, let's leave what we 'evolved' to eat out of it, because up until the advent of modern medicine and lifestyles, you were old at 40 no matter *what* you ate.

[terramartom]

A Bit of an attitude my friend!
Our ancestors, all of them ate anything they could find to survive. By contrast todays humans eat anything they can put into their mouths!!
The cleanest diet, the healthiest diet leans towards vegetarian types. Too much meat, any dairy and you get blockage of the arteries from animal fat called cholestoral. At 52, I myself a long distance runner for 35 years, surfer for over 40 years, daily workouts, by choice, yet diet is the most important element. I have seen my friend's health deteriorate from 20 year old Hurculean men to broken down in their 40's. because of a poor diet, the typical American diet of too much meat and dairy period.
Fruits, vegetables, rice, tofu, beans, nuts, and if you must small amounts of meat, chicken, pork, beef, fish will be your best diet.
My wife being Vietnamese cooks as all Asian's in Asia cook mostly because of economic circumstance, but I benefit because it is a great diet, and it tastes fantastic.
I can tell you at 52 life is just starting for I feel great and can play as hard as I ever did with much more confidence than ever. What I sense most of the time now is "Jealousy and Envy" from others. They ask themselves "Why does this guy standing in front of me get to be healthy and Happy ?
Choice, Consequence, and Responibility. Once you can understand and practice this thought than anything is possible.

[NMdonkey]

Great example and congrats on your healthy lifestyle. I'm a vegetarian and a runner, and have a colleague who's always telling me that running is bad for me and a vegetarian diet is unhealthy. This from an overweight person with Type II diabetes, who never exercises and underwent triple bypass surgery after suffering a heart attack in his 50s.

[axt113]

longer lifespan allows you to nurture you children and even grandchildren longer, allowing for more possibility thatr they will survive and breed, thereby allowing your line to last longer

[KPinSEA]

An interesting hypothesis and I'd be interested to see any study linking extra-long parental lifespan to offspring's success in hominids.

As social primates it seems at first glance that all that matters is the parent living long enough for the offspring to reach maturity and begin competing for its own mates, but you could argue that the longer the parent lives, the higher its social status and the higher the inherited social status of the offspring, possibly improving access to mates in the social order. But I'd need to see some data to back up the assertion that parents of hominids living significantly longer than maturity age of their offspring statistically increases the offspring's chances of breeding.

[Barbyrah]

With all due respect: Maybe some of us are entering a period when to "evolve" isn't related to "survival of the species" or "mating" or doing the breeding thing anymore. Just a heads up: There are people "waking up" on the planet and asking, "Can't we move beyond this?" (It's so old.)
For me, evolution isn't about biology. It's about spirituality. Not about "surviving­"...but thriving. Growing stronger, healthier, younger, more beautiful.­..as my heart and Soul grow in their ability to be nonjudgmental, love unconditionally, and create with joy. Nonstop. Forever.
My definition of "an evolved human."
Thanks for reading.

[KPinSEA]

Personal development is of course a worthwhile goal, but let's not confuse biology and ethics, and that confusion is exactly what the author's use of language does in this piece.

There are six billion plus of us on this planet because our species evolved into the most successful killer of competing species on the planet, and there was nothing ethical about it.

Whether our species can survive there being six billion plus of us, and more every year, in a world of finite resources, is inevitably going to be a question of our ability to govern the very traits of our species that led to our predominance. That will not be evolution in the biological sense, and one could argue that a species with the degree of control over its environment that we possess is no longer shaped by biological evolution, but by itself. If that's the case, what we become will be our responsibility, not nature's.

[Tabasco]

KP,

While it is admirable that you are objective enough to look for scientific data on this lifestyle topic, I suggest that your scope may be incomplete.

If we reduce diet and health choices simply to breeding, you are partly correct.

If we look at everything else from our own digestive tracts, life span, overall health during that lifespan, sexual health, average comparative atheletic performance, recovery time from injury and decreased reliance on 'accepted' medication, you'll find a different answer.

Compared to carnivores, our own digestive tracts are virtually identical to species that eat no meat, or virtually no meat. Plenty of data on that. Even native populations that rely heavily on animal protein have a much higher rate of osteoporosis, scirrosis, shorter lifespans and greatly reduced quality of life after 30.

And, as you say, 'we don't evolve for longevity', you are fixed on one (and only one) aspect of survival. Quality of life at an advanced age may have nothing to do with breeding, but has everything to do with health and well-being.

[KPinSEA]

Actually I'm not 'fixed' on an aspect of survival, I'm simply criticizing the sloppy writing (and possibly science) that fundamentally misunderstands what it means to say we did or didn't 'evolve' to a certain set of characteristics. It does not help progress, at all, to fudge the facts on issues like this.

Yes, personal lifestyle choices will affect the duration and quality of your life, and especially your comfort level as you survive long past your breeding years, and nothing I said disputed that. Evolution doesn't care whether we live much beyond our breeding years, but most certainly WE care.

[Tabasco]

German study aside, I'm in my mid-fifties, still have most of my hair, little or no grey, have an active lifestyle, have more energy now than in my teens, my weight is almost identical to my High School days, no problems with regulation, a very active sexual life, no medications, mental and physical stamina, good muscle tone, etc. All this while all other siblings in my family are overweight, suffer from chronic health problems, spend $$ on medications, have excessive hair loss and circulatory conditions.

My own health problems began in my 20s, and they mirrored others in my own family. I took meat and fowl out of the equation in 1978, and dairy and fish out in 1992. So while there was a gradual downturn in health of my brothers and sisters over the decades, my own health has dramically improved.

Being able to wait to a later age to 'breed' has its benefits too. And I suggest that having better health, and a healthier attitude, does more for our 'evolution' and our future than strict adherence to Darwinism. Darwin didn't have to factor in pesticides, antibiotics, medications, pollution or modern stress in his equations, maybe he should have been born in the 70s, he may have come up with a very modified theory.

[FormerRushListener]

These common diseases include atherosclerotic heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cancer (colon, prostate, breast, pancreatic), arthritis, and multiple sclerosis. It is criminal that the medical establishment will not tell its patients to adopt a vegetarian diet to prevent or control these diseases. I guess they are getting too much money from promoting pharmaceuticals to let their patients know that there are safer, cheaper, and more effective treatments for these conditions, namely dietary changes.
I have read that Mitt Romney's wife has made her MS mostly resolve through dietary changes. I guess that if you are a member of the Republican elite you will be given the information on what really works.

[vmonter]

The Osteoperosis matter is probably attributable to the consumption of phosphoric acid, commonly found in soda (notably colas).

[Barbyrah]

Additionally, ingesting too much protein (which the avg. U.S. citizen does) can actually lead to "sucking out" calcium from bones. (Why you don't see traditional Japanese women with osteo...th­ey don't drink milk or do the dairy thing, eat a lot less meat/no meat, but no humpback and way fewer bone fractures as they age. Researchers found out: Their protein intake isn't overboard, and that makes all the difference­.)
P.S. As far as the animal fat thing: As one doctor who, after presenting evidence on the Oxford/Cornell eight year study on plant based diets said, "I've never yet heard a physician say, as an autopsy was performed on someone who died from heart disease: "Yep, the guy ate too much broccoli."­)

[JohnMayer]

This is due to calcium being drawn from the bones to buffer the increased acidity. Remember, meat is made of amino ACIDS.

[DavidMG]

If you want good reasons to go vegetarian check out “21 Reasons to Eat Like A Vegetarian” on HealthyHighways.com.

[kingcityguru]

I would rather eat steak.
Every vegetarian I meet is always so pasty and cranky. No way to live.

[axt113]

I'm tan and jovial

[jeffp26]

I'm black and never cranky. 40 years. I still get it up!!!

[InsideBrooklyn]

25 million pounds of chicken every day.

What goes around comes around. I can appreciate karmic justice.

Still if I had to be a vegan, you can bury me now. I like chicken. In fact tonight I'm making a delicious sauteed lemon chicken with mushrooms, garlic, onions, sweet red pepper and lots of parsley and other appropriate seasonings. Mmmmm

We're all going to die anyway. What? Oh you mean I'm going to suffer before I die with some disease and you vegans are not. Don't make me laugh. The entire world is poisoned.

[axt113]

Try Seitan, marinate in soy sauce

[Barbyrah]

Anywhere close to a Whole Foods? I never did tofu until I tried their sesame tofu...the­n their pesto tofu...WFo­ods is fantastic with turning nonmeat stuff into gourmet offerings. P.S. You might also check into local food co-ops. Many times they've got ready-to-eat things that are mouth-watering.
Take care, and blessings.­P.P.S. I didn't start out doing it for the health thing; I just love animals too much and didn't want to participate in their suffering.

[iamjoneskeepupwithme]

remove the chicken from that little recipe of yours and you've got a delicious meal! it's the fresh veggies and spices that provide the flavor....­not the chicken. throw it over some rice, quinoa, or buckwheat soba noodles and you've got a cruelty-free, heart-healthy and yummy dinner!

[NYCBear]

How many quinoa seeds were ruthlessly boiled to death to provide your "cruelty-free" meal? If you were a garlic clove or a grain of rice, you'd be singing a different tune.

[StrayTalk]

excerpt:
"moderate" vegetarians who occasionally ate fish or meat. Living longer seems not to be exclusively related to eating meat, though, as the results for moderate vegetarians was NOT statistically different from those for vegan or strict vegetarian diets"

As a former vegan, I've been around plenty of sick and less than healthy vegetarians. Compared to the way a lot of Americans eat, yes it certainly helps to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. But do you have to be a vegetarian to achieve optimum health. Hell no! The most important factor related to diet is eating WHOLE, unrefined foods vegetable and animal. Of course then you get into other factors like exercise, smoking and stress.The fact is if you take a traditional fish eating population with no access to refined foods and compare it to a random sampling of American vegetarians I'll wager that the traditional fish eaters are somewhat healthier. Some people do well on a vegan diet. Many do not. Having said all this-- everyone benefits from having more fruits and vegetables in their diet.

[leftcoastindy]

I would agree with the caviot-red meat is not in any way 'good' for you. Eating small amounts, i,e, less than a pound a week (not including 'misc. animal parts', just lean meat), may not be 'bad' for one. Fowl, and shellfish to a lesser extent.

[iamjoneskeepupwithme]

i have been eating a vegetarian diet for 23yrs and have always been so happy with my daily decisions to live a healthful lifestyle. i tried the purely vegan route for about three weeks recently and i felt even better, even though I am not a milk drinker and ate little cheese to begin with....BU­T i finally got to the place where i realized that never, ever eating parmesan cheese again was a thought i did not want to entertain!

[JohnMayer]

Wagering (as long as there‘s no money involved) is sure easier than doing a study.

No matter; vegetarianism is going to win out, just on the economics. As the earth’s population doubles and doubles again we won’t be able to afford to squander the grain we now lavish on meat animals, to say nothing of the factory farm manure ponds swelling into manure lakes where Lysteria and other diseases fester and await the moment of their release into our waterways.

Before then, maybe meat-eating will even help thin the human herd, now that smoking has been so effectively repressed. Survival of the wisest.

This has been fun. But I can put off my chores no longer...

[RadioResearch]

I come from a family of high cholesterol meat eaters (many of us have allergies to vegetables, so there really isn't any other choice). The only members of my family who have died befor the age of 95 were those who were killed in accidents. My aunt is 103, my dad is 91, all of my uncles and aunts are over 85 and in good health. Several have survived toxin related cancers and none have ever died of heart attacks.

Good genes are worth as much as a healthy lifestyle. The study, I noticed, did not look at genetics. Some people are simply not healthy on a vegan diet no matter how you try to justify it or propagandize it. I am allergic to 90% of all fruits, a considerable number of vegetables, nuts, seeds, etc., dairy products, and who knows what else. I am in constant danger of being killed by some unknown food extract that might be mixed with my regular diet. Luckily I am able to eat onions, garlic, tomatoes, carrots, and broccoli, but you can't survive on those veggies alone. My most unhealthy period of my life was when I decided to become a vegetarian and stubbornly tried to stick to it for several years.

[leftcoastindy]

I can't see how this means anything to me. If my genes are not as impervious to crap food as yours, I should just be prepared to die early?

Try eating lots of the vegies you can handle, and stop thinking that the scientists don't know what they are talking about.

You do realize that 75% of the people who smoke won't get lung cancer even if they chain smoke 18 hours a day, don't you?

[UNCLEJOE]

I became a Vegan for moral reasons after I viewed videos on how animals are torturtured before slaughtering by being cooped up in filthy crowded cells and fed debilitating chemicals for fattening and finally being hacked to death and often lingering in pain before succumbing from the wounds.

However, I soon learned that my expanded choices of delicious fruits and vegetables reduced my food budget by a third and I was feeling healthier and more energetic.

And eating dead corps defiles, pollutes the body with hartmful bacteria and dibiltating hormones and creates body oders and bad breath that are offensive to the sense of smell.

[NYCBear]

So you don't mind seeing pinto beans cooped up, some times for years, in little plastic bags - before being dumped into boiling water and killed. Bell peppers covered in wax, slowly suffocating until it's sliced into pieces and then chewed into a pulp. Garlic that has been smashed while still alive, then tossed into boiling oil.

You mammalian supremacists get my goat - all high-and-mighty about how it's morally superior to eat living things that can't scream. You're all ignorant hypocrites.

[rh654]

I'll trade a few years for the enjoyment of eating tasty animals.

[Ezerbio]

As you age I bet you won't think the same.... it is not just about a few more years but about the quality of your life for maybe 30+ years. Needless to mention the medical expenses and the burden you may put on others.

[meleon]

Agree. My 75yrld mother recently had hip replacement surgery, and her surgeon and primary + the physical therapy pro have all determined that her quick recovery is due to her her vegan lifestyle. The hospital nutritionist kept wanting to include animal products in there, but my mom insisted on fruits, vegetables and wholegrains (for a hospital, brown rice was it on that one). They wanted to give her not only ENSURE (they were worried she wasn't getting her nutrients), but also laxatives. She told them no because she said everything she needed was in the foods, and as for the bowels, she told them to just make sure she got a bowl of steamed okra each day lol. She really gave some of the staff something to think on in the 9 days she was there.

[meleon]

I'm an odd one because I'm vegetarian and not because of ethical reasons but solely health ones and I can say with serious truth that it is the best move I could have ever made. I just don't have weight worries, energy worries, complexion issues, or any of the other things I use to deal with eating red meat, poultry, fish and heavy dairy. I don't eat dairy, but might if it's something I wanted, and although I doubt I would eat seafood, I can't say that if I were in Tokyo I wouldn't want some sushi lol, but so far I haven't craved anything, and I just don't believe I will. I eat way more than I ever did, but funny thing is I lose weight over gaining. My allergies have abated, my eyes are white, and most of all, I just love the freedom of not stressing about what I'm going to eat. It's a lovely way to live.

[zizyphus]

All you have to consider is how mankind ate when we were pre-agricultural. That would have been a preponderance of green leafy foods, some roots, berries, nuts and seeds. Small amounts of insects, birds, etc.

What I have learned from poring over the phytochemical databases is that common vegetables contain hundreds of chemicals that keep our body healthy. Especially the dark green ones. Cilantro, basil, watercress, and parsley are are extemely potent. Our bodies are starving for dark greens.

Make a pesto using any combination of dark greens, nuts, garlic, olive oil and season to taste. Use it on everything you can think of. With this you can get even family members who won't eat greens to enjoy them. We like it on pasta, bread, salads, crackers, celery sticks.

Salsa is the other way to get lots of vegetables into people. I grew a cherry tomato this year called Black Cherry Tomato. It is the most outrageous flavor, ever. The salsa it makes is so mouthwatering, you just can't stop eating it. The seeds are available at many seed sellers.

[magicmary]

I'm astounded at what people think is food. If you saw 60 minutes this Sunday, Andy Rooney was ranting about what' gets passed off as milk. There's a list of 20 chemicals on the carton and only one of them is really a food ingredient. Same for just about anything processed that you buy. My philosophy is that if doesn't come from mother nature it's not food. Or consider the distance from dirt to plate. The shorter the better. I'm not a vegetarian but I have cut way way down on meat and dairy and try to live by my own philosophy amap. On the other hand, I told my vegan cousin that there will be days when a bacon cheeseburger is what I want (from Culvers in WI - filled with yummy fat!) but that I consider such things to be the food equivalent of Crack and I don't eat that way very often.
Those black cherry tomatoes sound yummy!

[iamjoneskeepupwithme]

i saw the andy rooney piece, too, but i was thinking something else. i have never, ever liked milk from the first day someone tried to give me a glass as a child. it was absolutely disgusting to me and as an adult i have never understood this american milk-drinking habit. i can only imagine it is the dairy industry brainwashing everyone into thinking that it is THE only way to get vitamin D for healthy bones.

milk is for baby mammals, period. cow's milk is for calves, not people. human breast milk is for human infants. it is NOT natural to drink cow's milk!!!

[capsaicin]

Great points! Pesto is truly heaven on earth -- I remember when I first tasted real pesto (i.e., fresh and homemade and not store-bought), I thought the sky had opened and angels were singing to me in surround-sound stereo. And salsa is also a great way to "sneak" great foods into your diet.. Never had a Black Cherry Tomato salsa, but i'll be looking for it -- sounds fantastic!