Vegetarians found more unhealthy. Interesting article.

mschicagocubs

http://www.science20.com/news_articles/vegetarians_found_to_have_more_cancer_allergies_and_mental_health_disorders-133332

Thought that was fascinating. One study, but I like bacon.

peleroja

Well, it's certainly not difficult to have more trouble getting the appropriate nutrients when you cut stuff out of your diet, so I'm not very surprised. Vegetarians have to work harder at balanced meals, and there are tons of vegetarians who seem to subsist on fries and white bread (especially young ones and those who are vegetarian for ethical reasons rather than health ones.) There's also a pretty substantial number of people with eating disorders who become "vegetarian" so it's easier to restrict food in public.

Ideally, everyone should be paying attention to their macro and micro nutrient intake and getting everything their bodies need, but vegetarians and other people who restrict their diets (paleo etc) need to be extra careful, obviously.

PaleoPath4Lyfe

I was aware of the mental illness being more prevalent due to most vegetarians eating very low fat in general which causes chemical imbalances in the brain.

Interesting findings on the rest of the stuff.

I will stick with eating my meat, vegetables and fruit.

Rocbola

Vegetarians tend to eat a lot of dairy. That stuff is terrible. Even the paleo crowd figured out to avoid it like the plague.

PaleoPath4Lyfe

Well, it's certainly not difficult to have more trouble getting the appropriate nutrients when you cut stuff out of your diet, so I'm not very surprised. Vegetarians have to work harder at balanced meals, and there are tons of vegetarians who seem to subsist on fries and white bread (especially young ones and those who are vegetarian for ethical reasons rather than health ones.) There's also a pretty substantial number of people with eating disorders who become "vegetarian" so it's easier to restrict food in public.

Ideally, everyone should be paying attention to their macro and micro nutrient intake and getting everything their bodies need, but vegetarians and other people who restrict their diets (paleo etc) need to be extra careful, obviously.

No need to throw paleo in with that. When you are eating an abundance of protein, fats, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds it is not hard at all to meet both your micronutrient and macronutrient needs.

One main reason my Doctor recommends the Paleo Lifestyle to his patients to get them off medications and just eating real food.

RGv2

IN...

eric_sg61

Science FTW
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navyrigger46

In, this one should go nuclear pretty quickly.

Rigger

salembambi

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm was vegetarian for 15 years and vegan almost 3 now

got all the blood work done to make sure I was getting all my needs when I went vegan & doctor said I was perfect

ahh yea so perfect

jwdieter

Woo hoo confirmation bias article for the carnivores!

nomeejerome

:huh:

TheGymGypsy

I've been a vegetarian all my life. I used to be fat and miserable because all I ate was cheese, bread, pasta, and ice cream. It's easy to be unhealthy as a vegetarian. Now my diet is full of fruits and veggies and I'm obviously in much better shape!

kayla_who

1. There are pros and cons to every diet. Choose your evils

2. This is one study, need more info

RunBakeLove

As a former vegetarian (and still light on the meat these days!), this is very interesting. Thank you for posting!

I can echo a lot of the comments made in this thread. It is incredibly hard to reach all your nutrients on a vegetarian diet. Not impossible but you have to pay SO MUCH MORE attention to it. I didn't cut out fat and the only thing that didn't make me a vegan was cheese so I can't agree with the overload in dairy comment. I've hated cow's milk since I was little. I made 98% of my food from scratch while being a vegetarian and lived what I thought to be a healthy lifestyle for a few years but it was hard to keep up with that kind of precision.

I still have several days a week that I eat as a vegetarian would. I eat a lot of fish and meat 1-2 times a week maybe. It isn't something I have "strived" to do, it is just naturally how I eat and what I crave. Not surprisingly, when I travel and have to eat out, my meat intake increases significantly. I think Micheal Pollan said it best...Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.

I do find it weird that the article referred to vegetarianism as a "fad"...I don't think it classifies as a fad. I know people who have been vegetarian for 20, 30 years.

peleroja

Well, it's certainly not difficult to have more trouble getting the appropriate nutrients when you cut stuff out of your diet, so I'm not very surprised. Vegetarians have to work harder at balanced meals, and there are tons of vegetarians who seem to subsist on fries and white bread (especially young ones and those who are vegetarian for ethical reasons rather than health ones.) There's also a pretty substantial number of people with eating disorders who become "vegetarian" so it's easier to restrict food in public.

Ideally, everyone should be paying attention to their macro and micro nutrient intake and getting everything their bodies need, but vegetarians and other people who restrict their diets (paleo etc) need to be extra careful, obviously.

No need to throw paleo in with that. When you are eating an abundance of protein, fats, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds it is not hard at all to meet both your micronutrient and macronutrient needs.

One main reason my Doctor recommends the Paleo Lifestyle to his patients to get them off medications and just eating real food.

I should have known I'd get the paleo police on my case here...they're like Betelgeuse except you only have to say the word once for them to appear.

Yes, whole foods are good. Restricting your diet from a huge number of foods can be bad if you're not careful.

Serah87

In. *munching on popcorn*

TheGymGypsy

You can be unhealthy and overweight no matter what you eat or don't eat. There are plenty of junk food options for vegetarians, vegans, and omnivores alike.

I_Will_End_You

I was a vegetarian for 18 years (I now eat seafood) and it's really not hard to eat a healthy, well balanced diet without meat.

Dewymorning

People may have adopted a vegetarian lifestyle if they were already unhealthy, for example.

This sentence popped out at me.

Correlation does not equal causation, though I do think this is an interesting study.

Also, I agree with a previous post that it is harder work to be healthy and vegetarian, and so some vegetarians could be missing out on important nutrients without realizing it.

lavaughan69

in

ahamm002

I thought it was interesting that vegetarians tended to be thinner on average than omnivores, yet still had poorer overall health. Of course the study is just an epidemiology study. There are too many possible confounders to really draw any conclusions other than "more studies are needed."