[lbo-talk] Alternet reviews Singer's latest (The Way We Eat)

info at pulpculture.org info at pulpculture.org
Wed May 24 16:01:43 PDT 2006


At 06:28 PM 5/24/2006, / dave / wrote:
>info at pulpculture.org wrote:
>
>>what I'm try to find out is: over the course of a week, how much do you
>>have to eat of the food you eat to get the essential fatty acids, amino
>>acids, and B vitamins. Do you know what a human needs? One of the
>>arguments Carrol draws on is that our bodies evolved under conditions of
>>eating animal products, thus we have developed to require amino acids and
>>fatty acids as well as certain vitamins. B12 comes from animal products
>>and hardly anything else provides it. that's why they are called essential.
>>as vegans i know have told me, you have to carefully eat the right
>>combinations to get it all in.
>
>Why not pills? Pills do fine.

No reason. I'm making a point about a few things:

1. cost. people ignore the cost of living this lifestyle. don't forget to add the real costs of it, including the pills. As far as I can tell, animal products are the most efficient, in terms of consumer price, delivery system for the essential fats, proteins, and B12.

2. the state of health knowledge and education. It's fine to advocate this, but it has real effects and those real effects are that even smart people like me will think, Oh hey, I can only afford beans and rice anyone, and everyone says it's healthy. Then you get sick. I was very ill from eating this way a few years ago, primarily because I simply can't live on a carb-based diet. my body can't take it. It makes me sick and affects my liver's ability to manage cholesterol production. Not surprisingly, I'm waking up pretty regularly to find that my heart stopped in my sleep. That's the damage that results from eating a diet that's fine for calories but insufficient in terms of what i need to live -- and having my particular heart condition.

3. human practice. And people who are sick and need meds are so good at taking their meds. The likelihood that people will take their vitamins regularly may be an issue. As Deb pointed out re: living on food stamp diet, food stamps don't pay for your vitamins. Most poor people won't find the money to afford them, either, since 1. people don't like pills and 2. people don't realize how important they are.

singer's claims are interesting, but to effectively bring them about requires a lot more than individuals sitting around making 'ethical' decisions on the basis of what some philosopher claims about what it means to lead the ethical life.

e.g., perhaps all of thie becomes common knowledge and everyone thinks the state of the world will be much improved were we to follow his plan. What costs are associated with _that_ -- to make it happen, for instance.

Just thoughts.

"Scream-of-consciousness prose, peppered with sociological observations, political ruminations, and in-yore-face colloquial assaults."

-- Dennis Perrin, redstateson.blogspot.com

Bitch | Lab http://blog.pulpculture.org



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