Misanthrope

Jlhaslip, thank you for pointing out the cool quote feature! In response to your last post, the information I posted really does beg the question, doesn't it? It also opens the door to further debate, which hofully is a goal of this site. Is the Vegetarian born smart, or is someone who's interested in humane and healthy lifestyle choices inherently smarter? Either way, the study is good news for anyone considering adopting this enlightened diet. Since you seem interested in getting more information on this, I'll be happy to oblige! Zues (great name BTW), you're point is a sad, yet valid one. My own brother is about to undergo a "stent" procedure to widen arteries clogged from a lifetime of meat-eating. Even now, he refuses to remove flesh from his diet. He has grown accustomed to the taste of meat, and that's what it all comes down to for many.

Well put, Delivi! I'm always astounded by some of the input I get when I raise this topic. Some people are under the mistaken impression you can't survivie without meat. All I have to do is point them in the direction of India, where the Hindu majority is vegetarian, and very intelligent.

Are Vegetarians Smarter?I?ve always suspected the average vegetarian may be smarter than your average meat-eater, but was under the impression that was just my personal impression. Now it appears it?s official.A study of thousands of men and women revealed that those who stick to a vegetarian diet have IQs that are about five points higher than meat-eaters. The researchers, from the University of Southampton, tracked more than 8,000 volunteers for 20 years. Individuals who were vegetarian by the age of 30 had an average of five IQ points higher than their meat-eating brethren. The initial IQ tests were performed in the '70s, and the results of the study showed that the intelligent children were significantly more likely to become vegetarian later in life. Researchers say this study is a compelling explanation for why higher IQ in childhood or adolescence is linked with reduced risk of heart disease as an adult.I fear I may be opening a can of worms with this one, but do you concur with the results of this study? Please provide a rational explanation for your opinion.

xtender! You may be on to something with the salty pringles. I have to admit they're one of my favorite junk foods. Suprisingly, they're one of the few potato chip brands that don't contain hydrogenated oil (but that's a topic for another time....). Just to clarify, the tobacco I'm referring to is not an "herb" cigarette, but simply a cigarette as it was meant to be - in it's pure, unadulterated form. There are several brands and that's something folks can look into on their own time. At any rate, a pure tabacco cigarette is a far cry from the chemical ridden garbage most people become addicted to. And it is my belief smokers (and downwinders) would be much better off without the chemicals.Ironically, you have to pay MORE for a cigarette that doesn not contain these added chemicals. I've always found that fact very curious, and it applies accross the board of ingestible products, not just cigarettes.

Better look at it as a permanent lifestyle choice as opposed to "losing weight." That's why walking is the perfect excersise. It's something you do as a matter of course regardless of how crappy you feel. Jogging, on the other hand, is conditional. Not only that, it's just plain hard on the body and will actually compromise your immune system if you hit it too hard.

I think your comments, BuffaloHELP, really help cement my point. That is, the additives create a stronger dependancy than plain tabacco would on it's own. And as you elude to, it's really all mental in the end. Too bad the industry would study man's biology, then attempt (very sucessfuly) to use man's weakness against him. But then again, that seems to be the modus operandi of big business in general! It's cool that you're able to smoke every now and then without becoming addicted, but I fear you're in the minority. I think what bothers me most about the chemical additives is that they trick people into feeling better about the whole smoking thing than they would if it were just pure tobacco. This may be a poor analogy, but I would liken it to Chinese food. Many an American won't bother preparing Chinese food from scratch because it doesn't taste all that good to the western palate. Chinese resturantuers are smart enough to realize this, so they lace their food with a brain altering chemical called, "MSG." Monosodium glutimate tricks the brain into thinking the food tastes good, or better than it actually does. And it's not just Chinese food. My understanding is that this crap is used pervasivly in fast food too. People get "addicted" to the feeling they get while eating out, and wonder why their home-cooked doesn't taste as good. But that's a whole other subject. Notice from KuBi: Merged double posts.

My understanding is that medical doctors are required to take little or no coursework in nutrition, so on that level, yes, they can be quite ignorant. I've been vegetarian since I was 8, and can vouch from my own experience that this lifestyle is a very healthy one. I can remember being the only kid in grade school who didn't get the flu. I sort of felt left out, actually - like I was missing out on something. Now I'm thankful my mother had the good sense to keep meat out of my diet!

I am not a smoker. Never have been, never will. But if for some godforsaken reason I was forced to start, you can bet I'd stay away from the Marlboro man and his ilk. There are organic, natural products available the average smoker isn't aware of - products that will take far longer to rot your lungs out. In the United States, there are up to 409 chemical additives used in commercial cigarettes, including formeldihide. In the Europeon Union, over 600. What I find intersting is that prior to 1970, little if none of these additives were used. Since the advent of chemical additives, lung cancer has done nothing but increase.Specific additives are used to provide high levels of "free" nicotine, increading the addictive factor. Some additives are toxic or addictive in their own right or in combination. When additives are burned, new products of combustion are formed and these may be toxic or pharmacologically active. In short, your average smoker is just as addicted to the additives as he is to the tobacco itself.If you're thinking about quitting, it might behoove you to switch over to a natural brand for awhile. Here you can wean yourself off all those horrible additives and your fight to quit will be all the easier. Or maybe you want to keep smoking, and in a free society, you should have that right. Either way, tell the Marlboro man to kiss-off!