But let's assume they did. Does this place our world in peril? Does watching that movie with Lady Gaga in the room make the universe implode? If so, we'd better make damn sure she never sees it.
I was settling down to watch an episode of Voyager with my mom, when she sat up abruptly and attempted to prevent me from sitting on her glasses. They were on her face, not the chair I was about to sit in. You'd think the fact that she could clearly see me trying to sit in the chair would have tipped her off...
This morning I was talking to my friend, Wes. He tells me he's sick, again. With the flu. I point out that he's sick a lot and that that must suck. He agrees, it does suck. The only advice I can give him, because he's vegetarian, is to take some vitamin D, which he then renders useless by telling me he takes 100% of all the vitamins. Which doesn't mean a whole lot to me, but I don't pursue the issue much further because I rather like talking to him, and if I piss him off he might not talk to me ever again. My entire theory about why he gets sick all the time revolves around his vegetarianism, so I'm having a hard time keeping my damn mouth shut, of course.
Instead of telling him about it, I chose to tell another friend, Ben, about it in fifth period. If you've ever heard me, you know that my natural talking voice is more than quiet. I'm not horribly loud, but I am not quiet. So, I'm telling Ben about it. "So, I was talking a friend of mine earlier. He has the flu, right? And he didn't know why he gets sick so often. And all I could think was, 'It's because you're vegetarian, Wes,' but I couldn't tell him because that'd probably piss him off."
Apparently I was loud enough to break through the constant haze of chatter coming from the table in front of us, because the next thing I know, Emily, a cheerleader (and vegetarian, apparently) turns around and proceeds to interrogate me about what I just said.
"I just said that vegetarians have poor immune systems," I replied confidently. Maybe I'm not completely right, but I've never met a proper vegetarian that actually looked healthy, and Wes has always been both sickly and Vegetarian since I've known him. I'm capable adding two and two and getting Fish, thank you.
She sort of scoffs and turns back around, denying my claim by telling me she's almost never sick, but the quasi-confrontation attracts the attention of another vegetarian at the table, Perry. She says she's almost always sick, a fact I'd never before noticed, and then proceeds to say that she thinks it's not related to her diet.
At some point, I make a rather blunt statement about my dietary preferences, "I like meat. ._."
Dramatic Reenactment
This was mostly in an attempt to get them to drop the subject, since I know some vegetarians are halfway crazy and motivated by some idea of being morally superior half the time. Don't get me wrong, Perry and Emily are awesome, and quite affable, but I like to keep my opinions between me and my friends for the most part, and a debate about whether meat is bad for you or not isn't exactly something I think should be going on during Brainwashing 563. So I retreat by pretending my government worksheet is ever so interesting, but I can't stop thinking they'll turn around and start up again.
After about ten minutes, I start saying paranoid things to Ben, because it's the best way to get rid of thoughts like those. And I notice that they don't seem to even remember the earlier almost-debate at all, so I tell him as much as in vague but understandable terms. "I guess they've forgotten about earlier," I say, then, under my breath and hiding my mouth, I add, "It's a vegan thing."
If there is such a thing as being diet-ist, I totally qualify. Also, I do not hate vegan/itarians, I know quite a few of them that are quite affable; I don't have a problem with them as people, I have a problem with theirs diets. And, as long as they have the courtesy to keep their anti-carnivorous comments to themselves, I'll keep my comments about reduced brain mass to a minimum.
Those crazy vegans. I cannot say it's 100% dietary, but a some vegetarians tend to try to rely on supplements and such to replace what they miss from meat. I can't say that's a good idea, because not all supplements (especially pills) absorb as they should. Apparently people think they can override biological design with no issue. It may, however, simply just be weak immune systems. But diet, aside from being balanced, is often just a crutch, in my experience.
ReplyDeleteThere's also the fact that some vitamins aren't as effective, or effective at all, coming from plants to consider, as well as the fact that Omega-3 doesn't come in plant form, and it's an essential vitamin for fighting inflammation, which is one of the causes of heart disease.
ReplyDeleteLong sentence is long.
Indeed, and indeed.
ReplyDeleteActually omega-3 is found in plant sources like flax seed. It's B12 that's pretty much found only in animal sources. There is so much good nutrition in animal foods that veggie people have to be very careful with their diets to assure that they get proper nutrition. As Denise Minger points out in a very interesting article, here's one way they do it:
ReplyDelete"But here’s the kicker. Out of those 334 so-called vegetarians, almost two thirds were still guzzling meat on their diet recall days. And we’re not just talking pesco-vegetarians eating fish, either: The fake vegetarians averaged 80 grams of red meat per day, not terribly far from the 137 grams reported by the omnivores with the highest meat intake." http://rawfoodsos.com/2011/01/06/vegetarians-and-heart-disease/#more-767
Whole food omnivores rule!!!!!
"Whole food omnivores rule!!!!!"
ReplyDeleteI need to correct this to:
"Whole foods (sans grains) omnivores rule!!!!!"
And this is why my mom needs to write her own blog. :/
ReplyDelete