Originally Posted by
squark
Sigh, it's just called the Mediterranean diet, because it's based on some traditional foods eaten in the region, like olive oil etc, it's just a name. And it's been around for years and recommended by cardiologists for years. You can look up the specifics of it. But in summary, it's a high vegetable diet, with olive oil and fish and any other meats are less often eaten and in smaller quantities.
Yes, iodine is added to iodized salt, and table salt is NaCl so you're getting sodium there too. Most people end up with too much sodium, but guess the folks trying out the vegan diet weren't putting much salt on their food or something. And no, when you buy grass-fed beef the farmers are not supplementing the cows with B12 lol. Ruminants create it in their guts from their gut bacteria. They might put out a salt lick for the cows though, because like us cows too need salt and that may contain other minerals as well. Deer and other animals seek out natural salt deposits as well and supplement themselves. Also, the cause of mad cow disease is feeding cows other cows ground up into their feed, which obviously doesn't happen if they're eating grass. . .
Veganism is a diet, as a diet is just a way of eating, and yes it's deficient in nutrients. I'm not trying to discourage you from doing it, just saying that you'll probably need to supplement.
As far as mistreatment. . . well, that depends on where you're getting your meat and milk. I get raw milk from local dairies here that I go to in person, and no the cows are not mistreated. I can also get local grass-fed beef and lamb, and have also seen in person how those animals are raised. None of them are mistreated. If you consider any use of an animal exploitation and mistreatment, well okay, I understand where you're coming from, but I personally don't agree. I raise my own chickens and ducks for eggs so I'm one of those exploiters too I guess. I do have issues with feed lots and factory chickens and eggs - those are really disgusting, you'll see a big tin building and inside it's packed wall to wall with chickens, or feed lots where the cows are standing on hills of their own poop crammed together on bare ground or concrete fattening them up. But the small local farms around me are nothing like that.