Comments on: WAYNE CREED: I Was Wrong about Backyard Chickens

By: Sandy Mayer

Sandy Mayer — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 05:15:11 +0000

B 12 is best absorbed if it dissolves in the mouth. Stomach acid can affect the benefits. It is great for correcting possible nerve damage. Doctor told me it must be sublingual.

By: Karen Gay

Karen Gay — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 16:53:12 +0000

Dorie and Mike, I definitely agree that B12 would be needed. The problem with the China and other studies is that in addition to the removal of meat they also include a lot of beneficial lifestyle changes like smoking cessation, elimination of refined products and sugar. There has been no study to compare a moderate holistic omnivorous diet to vegetarian and vegan diets over a long time. This type of study is just too hard to control. In the defense of vegetarians, though, if I were diagnosed with cancer, the first thing I would do would be to eliminate meat, sugar and grains. However, over the long term, very moderate amounts of pastured meat are very nutrient dense and provide ready sources of vitamins A, B12, and K2, as well as Omega 3 fats. K2 is very important in getting calcium out of our arteries and into bones and teeth.

By: Dorie Southern

Dorie Southern — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 03:07:32 +0000

Mike: There is only one supplement you have to take if you eat a healthy vegan diet — vitamin B12. Dr. Neal Barnard notes in his book “Power Foods for the Brain” that “The US government recommends that everyone over the age of fifty take a B12 supplement or choose B12 fortified foods. My advice is that you not wait until you are fifty. A B12 supplement is essential for people who avoid animal products and an excellent idea for everyone else, too.”

You might be interested to read “The China Study” by Campbell and Campbell. It addresses the “diseases of civilization” (heart disease, stroke, and diabetes to name a few) that result from the animal-based diet that most Americans eat. Chinese on a mostly plant-based diet were found to have largely been spared those diseases. The book also reports that consuming animal protein contributes to cancer growth, but consuming plant protein does not.

By: Mike Kuzma

Mike Kuzma — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 19:11:47 +0000

I’m curious, should I choose to go vegetarian, what are the best vitamin supplements to take?

By: David Kabler

David Kabler — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 17:26:56 +0000

Wayne, thank you for your well-researched article that sheds light on an industry that wants to be kept in the dark. Most folks just have no idea of where and how their meat originates, and if they did, at least they can make informed choices, hopefully compassionate ones. I think chickens are the most abused animal on the planet, but shamefully only closely followed by cattle, pigs, and fur bearers. Go vegetarian, not only for health but out of compassion for our animal brethren.

By: Karen Gay

Karen Gay — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 16:45:22 +0000

My friend and neighbor, Wayne — I am absolutely in agreement with you regarding the treatment of CAFO animals. I do not agree with you about killing animals for food nor do I agree with Dean Ornish’s ideas about meat and eggs causing heart disease. Face it, you and I can find a doctor a day to spout any opinion we want to believe. I side with Weston A. Price who studied secluded “primitive” societies and saw firsthand how every one of them used some kind of animal product. These societies were tied into nature and they ate based on their biology. We are omnivores for a reason, and there are health implications for denying this. I’ll write my next article (probably coming in two weeks) for The Alternative Table discussing why animal products are important for us. Then you can all pile on the comments!

BTW, how were you wrong about chickens?

By: Susan Bauer

Susan Bauer — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 14:50:39 +0000

Thank you, Wayne, for an informative and powerfully persuasive article. Those who continue to consume animals often resort to framing the issue as one in which the choice to eat meat should be “respected” or “tolerated” by those who disagree. In other words, to respect the conscious decisions to pollute our waterways, irrevocably alter the world’s climate, contribute to world famine, and facilitate torture of other species. Are we humans so enthralled with our bacon double cheeseburgers that we are willing to sacrifice the quality of the world our children will inherit? Sadly, the answer seems to be yes.

By: Pete Baumann

Pete Baumann — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 11:54:18 +0000

Thanks, Wayne!

By: Karen Davis, PhD

Karen Davis, PhD — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 20:32:34 +0000

Wayne Creed’s commentary “I Was Wrong about Backyard Chickens” brings everything together beautifully about why we must start thinking differently about our food choices. “Everything is connected” is a meaningful cliché and truly a fresh idea whose time is now – an opportunity for us as individuals and collectively to make life-affirming changes and choices on behalf of the animals, the planet, our own health and wellbeing, and the wellbeing of others on Delmarva and elsewhere.

Thank you for publishing this terrific article!

Karen Davis, United Poultry Concerns http://www.upc-online.org