In the UK's The Economic Voice this morning, I found an opinion piece by Richard Henley Davis in the "Lifestyle & Travel" section ("To go vegan or not to go vegan that is the question") that read more like a troll's rant in a vegan online discussion forum than something that should actually be featured in any sort of worthwhile publication. The kindest thing that can be said about it is that the piece's writer uses the term "vegan" when he means "strict vegetarian". It's all downhill from there. For instance, he writes:
The prospect of chewing on a carrot for the rest of my life is about as attractive as Churchill in drag so why on earth would I want to become a vegan?Because talking about eating nonhuman animals is deemed sexy by food writers, there are many descriptions mean to present the allure of consuming raw flesh (e.g. "the vegan diet just seems like one step too far from the rare bloody steak that I am used to" and "I have my steak dripping with blood and I might use that blood as a sauce I love it so much"). And of course no piece mocking veganism (even if he does have a completely skewed understanding of the term "vegan" and misuses it) would be complete without taking a kick at ethics or animal rights, he mentions "pro vegan scientists who would bore at length on the evils of eating animal produce".
So what reason does Henley Davis offer up for eating "vegan" (i.e. being an omnivore who occasionally eats a meal that contains no animal products)? He says that it leaves him feeling "cleaner" and with "more energy" but then tempers this by stating that not eating animal products doesn't jive with heavy weight training--even though he's not a heavy weight trainer, himself. He concludes his article by saying he'll "appease both camps" and asserts that "the vegan diet is a healthier option" but that "we should gorge on meat and true organic dairy products once a month just give those amino acids and protein levels a boost". I wonder what he would need to gorge on to give his ability to write a respectable article a boost?
2 comments:
It's annoying to think that this guy is taken seriously.
But anyone who doubts the possibility of vegan athleticism should look up Tim Van Orden, a raw vegan marathon runner who is in his 40s and is pretty decently ranked for a guy who took 10+ years away from the sport. For example, he started tower racing and began winning almost immediately.
Tim Van Orden's site
Absolutely! A couple of Google searches are all it takes to bring up information on any number of professional or amateur athletes of all sorts who are vegan, including body builders and such.
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