Tag: vegan

Historical Advocates of Plant Based Diets

Whilst they are in the minority of the general population, there have been advocates for diets devoid of animal products for centuries in populations such as ancient Rome and the Italian Renaissance.

In The Republic, Book 2, Plato describes a “rustic picture” of a way of life. The inhabitants “spend their days in houses which they have built for themselves; they make their own clothes and produce their own corn and wine. Their principal food is barley-meal and flour of wheat, and they drink in moderation. They live on the best of terms with each other, and take care not to have too many children. […] They will have salt and olives and cheese, vegetables and fruits, and chestnuts to roast at the fire.”

Plato continues that those “who want the comforts of life”, will create a state where “living in this way we shall have much greater need of physicians than before. […] Then a slice of our neighbours’ land will be wanted by us for pasture and tillage, and they will want a slice of ours.”

Sotion of Alexandria was a 1st-century Roman stoic philosopher who is best known as a teacher of Seneca the Younger.

Sotion believed that avoiding animal flesh was beneficial for the soul and body and that killing of animals is immoral.

Some 500 years later, in Plutarch’s Morals. Vol. V, Plutarch writes at great length against the mistreatment, exploitation and killing of animals.

“But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh, we deprive a soul of the sun and light, and of that proportion of life and time it had been born into the world to enjoy.”
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20 January 2026
Samoa and a Whole-Food, Plant-based Success Program

Samoa is small Pacific island nation consisting of 2 main islands with another 2 inhabited islands. Total population is slightly more than 200,000. In 2010, 80% were overweight with 25% diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

The 2 main islands consist of 350 villages with self-sufficiency being important.

Matuaileoo Environment Trust Inc (METI) introduced their Taiala program in 2018.

This program is an implementation of Colin Campbell’s Whole-Food, Plant-Based program based on The China Study.
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13 December 2024
How to Survive a Pandemic by Michael Greger

How to Survive a Pandemic by Michael Greger is essential reading for those who wish to understand the history of pandemics and how to minimise their impact on ourselves and our society. The book describes the causes of these diseases and most importantly, how to prevent these events from occurring.

The majority of infectious diseases (and all viral diseases) result from our interaction with animals. This book, with thousands of references, gives detailed descriptions of our greatest diseases from bubonic plague, smallpox, the deadly influenza of 1918 and the deadly viral diseases SARS, MERS and COVID-19.
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13 January 2022
Japanese Diet, Cuisine and Health

Japan is at the top of the list for life expectancy and health. There are strong regional variations although the diet in recent decades has become more westernised and the variations in diet are becoming less distinct throughout Japan.

A wide variety of dipping sauces accompany most meals. Udon is a thick wheat flour noodle and yakisoba is a buckwheat noodle. Soba is the Japanese name for buckwheat.

Despite the increase in dairy, egg and meat consumption in recent decades, Japan (according to the National Health and Nutrition Surveys) still consumes a predominately plant-based diet.

Hookaido had the lowest percentage of plant-based foods at 74.5% in 1980 and 82.2% in 2012. In 1980, Kanto II had the highest percentage at 78.2% with Hokuriku topping the list in 2012 with 84.5%.

Australia and the US consume approximately 30% of their diet from plant-based sources.
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18 August 2020
Seventh-day Adventists and Health

A strong commitment to health has been a part of Seventh Adventist’s tradition since in founding in the 1840s.

Within the Californian Seventh-day Adventist community, as the diet becomes more vegetarian, so do the health outcomes.

Californian Seventh-day Adventists are much healthier than the average American.
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31 December 2019
Do vegetarians live longer?

On 2nd February 2017, Melody Ding, a senior researcher from the University of Sydney published an article in The Conversation titled “Do vegetarians live longer? Probably, but not because they’re vegetarian”. Her preferences were revealed early in the article when she writes, “vegetarianism and its more austere cousin, veganism, are becoming increasingly popular”.

A person calling a vegan diet austere does not know how to cook.

There is overwhelming evidence that vegans (and particularly whole-food, plant-based vegans) live longer and healthier lives.
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13 September 2017