on reading the reviews
(both good and bad) apparantly he posits that the reason crocodiles are leathery is because they eat meat. Mind you I'm not very good at re-eduction so it probably wouldn't work for me anyway
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 9:51, 2 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

Some of his claims are somewhat spurious
but the overwhelming theme is, why would you put anything but the best food through your body if the best food is always available?
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:04, Reply)

but I'd dispute
that fruit and vegetables are the best food. Unless he just means quality in which case I entirely agree
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:20, Reply)

Yep
We are cleary omnivorous. You can choose not to eat some foods for your believes, but not because it's good for your body. If you stop eating some foods you need supplements so your body doesn't stop working.

I have a friend who loves gardening and has planted a lot of fruit and vegs. They're starting to give fruit now, but she can't eat them because she's sawn them growing. She has no problem with supermarket ones.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:23, Reply)

Your friend is weird.
Unless, of course, she was fertilising the soil around them with her own shit...?
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:27, Reply)

I don't think she did
She started planting vegetables because she didn't trust the supermarket ones being organic enough.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:34, Reply)

And yet now she's grown them, she can't bring herself to eat them?
I can understand people growing emotionally attached to an animal and being unable to slaughter it when the time comes...but a tomato?
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:34, Reply)

And beans?
I know, we laugh at her a little.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:37, Reply)

Does she just need to talk to people more often?
I now have an image of a woman sitting in a greenhouse having a cup of tea and a chat with an array of runner bean plants.
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:41, Reply)

Hmm
I've been a lifelong vegelesbian and I've never had to take supplements for anything. I don't have anaemia, which is quite common in veggies but maybe I've just been lucky.
( Lampito rise with the moon, go to bed with the sun, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:28, Reply)

Yep, I was a vegetarian for the first 28 years of my life
and I was incredibly healthy for the first two-thirds of that, without supplements, therefore I disagree entirely with what you're saying on the internet.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:34, Reply)

Maybe
I eat a very healthy diet with a bit of everything, but I have a problem in my blood and need to take vitamins and iron. I don't think my doctor would approve me quitting meat.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:35, Reply)

You can get iron and B vitimins from other foods.

( girlinthehole, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:36, Reply)

Ok, ok
I'm cleary wrong there. I just say what the doctor told me. I know you get a lot of iron from lentils (mmmmm... lentils) and fruit and vegs have tons of vitamins. I just understood you needed supplements. Maybe for proteins? You get the fat from butter and oil, I imagine.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:39, Reply)

You don't need fat if your body's using carbohydrates for energy.

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:41, Reply)

Well, you need certain oils for certain functions.
And you need fat because it MAKES STUFF TASTE SO GOOD.
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:42, Reply)

You need fat

(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:43, Reply)

I think with your vegemetarian example and Aberracion's omnivorous counterexample
it's probably fair to say it depends on the individual. Everyone's metabolism is slightly different, and presumably everyone's requirement for iron, vitamins, beer, etc will differ. Most veggies make up their iron easily enough by eating spinach, but some people will just need to eat red meat and liver.

I am, however, fairly sure that my housemate's diet, which is quite the opposite extreme (very carnivorous), whilst rich in protein and iron, is probably not doing him any good at all.
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:39, Reply)

^This
I have been slightly anemic at times but not worryingly so. Guiness FTW.
( girlinthehole, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:42, Reply)

^ this
I'm allergic to eggs, fish, shellfish and peanuts. So I sort of need to keep up the meat eating
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:42, Reply)

Poor you!
You can't have eggs or shellfish?

I'm only allergic to artichockes (well, no, but I hate them)
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:45, Reply)

I can have some egg
in cakes for example. But things like meringues, or fried eggs or whatever are inedible
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:48, Reply)

I would die without eggs
They're part of almost all my meals.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:49, Reply)

don't even remember what they taste like
though even the thought of fish makes me want to be sick
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:52, Reply)

Ah eggs
my diet is woeful. I'm going to feast on all the free food at home.
( Lampito rise with the moon, go to bed with the sun, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:54, Reply)

I tell people I'm allergic to mushrooms because I hate them.

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:49, Reply)

I might try that
with something I don't like.

I'm intolerant of apples, pears and bananas as well come to think of it. They don't kill me, but they make me red and itchy and spotty
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:53, Reply)

Buf
I don't know what I'd do if I was allergic to any of them, or any food in general!
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:54, Reply)

it's been since I was a child
so I don't really even know what I'm missing. Occasionally I'll do a tester to see if I'm still allergic. Not with peanuts or fish obviously, but with the fruits and egg
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:58, Reply)

I'm luckily not allergic to anything
but certain things just make me gag having them in my mouth.

Shut the fuck up.
( Lampito rise with the moon, go to bed with the sun, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:54, Reply)

so...many...possibilities

( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:57, Reply)

I don't like onions
it makes it feel like a cockcroach has crawled into whatever I'm eating and as I bite down I'm crunching the shell.
( Lampito rise with the moon, go to bed with the sun, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 11:00, Reply)

:(
that makes me feel a bit sick. Like the mere thought of that Centipede film
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 11:01, Reply)

So, you know, nothing to do with them being reptiles or anything?
*picard facepalms*
I'm trying to work out whether that's more or less retarded than Gillian McKeith claiming that the reason green vegetables are good for you is because "the chlorophyll in them helps to oxygenate your blood."
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:30, Reply)

That's so good!
I had never heard it before, but I'm not surprised some people believe it.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:36, Reply)

I hadn't heard it myself until recently.
I thought she was just a mad Scot who liked to look at poo, but it was after reading a bit of Ben Goldacre that I found out about these ridiculous claims she was making. The way he picks apart that particular example is hilarious, basically along the lines of
1. Chlorophyll requires light to convert CO₂ into oxygen. Your body will absorb this chlorophyll through your bowels. If there were any source of light in your bowels, then there would be something seriously wrong with you.
2. Assuming there was enough light in there for the chlorophyll to function, it would start producing oxygen. Lots of oxygen, in a warm environment full of methane. Might cause some complications.
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:47, Reply)

You're still missing the 3rd part of the triangle
As long as you stay far from an ignition source you should be fine. That can be complicated to do if your belly is so thin/full of holes that light can reach your bowels.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Wed 9 Jun 2010, 10:53, Reply)

Oh, I don't know
Put enough oxygen into an environment and you start to lower the ignition temperature...
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 11:06, Reply)

Only to a point
We'd have to do some checks there, but if you add too much O2 you run out of fuel (or you increase the pressure in your bowels so much you might explode anyway)
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Wed 9 Jun 2010, 11:13, Reply)

At any rate
I think we can agree that the whole proposition is quite ridiculous and that Gillian McKeith is talking utter shit.
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 9 Jun 2010, 11:17, Reply)

Yes, we can agree on that

(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Wed 9 Jun 2010, 11:21, Reply)