FoodBanter.com - View Single Post

(Steve) wrote in message m>...
> Mark Thorson > wrote in message >...
> > Steve wrote:
> >
> > > I'll second that. I have been eating tempeh for close to 24 years
> > > on a regular basis. I have had no health problems. Neither have
> > > the millions of Asians who must have beene eating it for centuries.
> >
> > The same argument could have been used 100 years ago
> > for tobacco. All those Indians smoked it, and it didn't hurt
> > them, right?
>
> From what I have heard ( and I could be wrong ) Native Americans only
> used tobacco in ceremonies, they did not have the accompanying 6
> dozen toxic chemicals added to their tobacco, and they didn't add
> nicotine to it either

>
> If I sound unimpressed with you quoting the summary of a study ( a
> single one?, by whom?) you read its because in a few months I will
> have been a vegetarian for 25 years.
>
> Nutrition has been a hobby of mine in all that time as well.
>
> I've seen nutrition scares, theories, special diets etc come and go
> more frequently then women's fashions.
>
> The only thing that has endured over that 25 years is my excellent
> health as a tempeh eating vegetarian.
>
> I'm sorry, you will just have to do better to get me concerned about
> this issue.
>
> No offense
>
> Steve

It's sometime next year that I hit the quarter century mark. I can't
say I'm a regular tempeh eater, but that's because I don't find
the taste and texture so appealing, so I have it only once in a while.
(Though, I would like to make it sometime, and that might increase
my intake.)

But there's two things here. One is an assumption that health
is the reason for vegetarianism. It is in some cases, but I could
simply never stomach eating animals, so I stopped as soon as I could.

I suspect people who are make big food decisions based on health
might give this "study" more importance.

But realistically, there is a study for just about everything that
"proves" it is unhealthy, and usually a similar study proving
the same item is healthy. Maybe there is some truth to this
particular study, but I can't believe that suddenly tempeh
is found to be so unhealthy that everyone should stop eating it.
Things don't work that black and white. Even smoking, which can't
be good for people, is an accumulative thing and so people who smoke
tend to live with it. The way these studies are often presented,
it becomes imperative that people not eat them, which can't be
the case.

There is a certain segment of the population that tends to worry,
and they react to such studies, without a lot of study or even
consideration to the fact that people have eaten the "dangerous"
food item for a very long time. This week's concern gets passed
around as gospel, yet there isn't much to back it up as to
the level of concern, since the passers are just concerned rather
than by degree. These things that suddenly arise, you can't
even be sure if they are simply garbled by someone who reads
the thing and passes it on.

Michael