THE VEGAN BIBLE: A book review

Not Vegan

But good

I have labored over this book for over two weeks, and I want to give it a fair review.  It is an important book and should not be dismissed with a “Ewh!  Broccoli throw- away” retort.  Reluctantly, I am afraid, I must recommend this book to any of you who are dead serious about lifetime health.  At 86 I am not so fervid about a prolonged existence, but even I have modified my diet because of this book – a tiny bit.  So, here goes.

The document in question is entitled How Not to Die, a monumentally absurd concept on its very face.  What a needed subtitle might say is foods to eat that may – perhaps – reduce your risk of dying from various common ailments.  Die you must.  Dying early can be largely prevented, so say the authors.

The author is Michael Greger, M.D.  Dr. Greger is fully qualified in the medical field, but seems to earn his living through lectures and writing.  He is assisted by Gene Stone, an editor-writer-ghost writer who is a practicing, and extoling, adherent to the vegan lifestyle.  As you probably know, I am a firm believer in omnivorism.  Nevertheless, I found much in How Not to Die to be worth considering.  Read it yourself and make up your own mind.

Unlike authors of much dietary literature, Dr. Greger backs up his claims, recommendations, and inflammatory statements with scientific citations; the final 129 pages are “references cited”.  I checked quite a few; some are what you might call “grey literature”, but most are from reputable journals.  Thus, we need to take Dr. G seriously.  So what does he say?

Well, he recommends a totally plant-based diet; in other words, be an all-in vegan.  If you can’t avoid meat entirely, at least stay away from chicken and, surprisingly, many kinds of fish.  Shun milk and anything made from it, like cheese and ice-cream.  Don’t drink too much booze (well, maybe a little won’t hurt), and stay away from soft drinks as fervently as if they were bottles filled with Black Death.  Whenever possible, consume raw stuff in preference to products made from them; in other words, don’t drink V8 juice, rather eat the eight vegetables themselves. 

And, of course, get your exercise.

So.  I am prepared to concede that, had I subsisted on broccoli, blue berries, beans and kale all my life I might have been marginally healthier on average,  and might die a few years later. But would the ultimate total of contentment be higher?  I doubt it.

Our very distant sort-of simian ancestors almost certainly were arboreal, and probably ate a plant-based diet.  But, for some reason they eventually swung down from the trees and began to eat animals.  Why would they do that, especially if it was a step backwards in an evolutionary sense?  Well, for one thing, a dead animal represents a far more concentrated source of energy than a comparable volume of shoots and leaves.  But, I maintain, the main reason may have been that – the dead animal simply tasted a whole lot better!  And thus was born the omnivore! 

The sad fact is that I have never encountered a vegan dish that I truly liked.  Some are almost passable, and some are okay but a bit bland and boring.  A few I have fed to the crows.  Dr. Greger implies that a vegan diet will grow on you, given time.  That may be so – but I don’t have that much time!

All that said, this is a serious, well-researched book.  If you are concerned with diet you can do worse than to study it.