Got this off of MSNBC Interesting considering so many comments about P and his apperence last week on Leno.


The Dark Side of Vegetarianism

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By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter by Steven Reinberg
healthday Reporter – 1 hr 46 mins ago
WEDNESDAY, April 1 (HealthDay News) -- Despite its proven health benefits, a vegetarian diet might in fact be masking an underlying eating disorder, new research suggests.
The study, in the April issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, found that twice as many teens and nearly double the number of young adults who had been vegetarians reported having used unhealthy means to control their weight, compared with those who had never been vegetarians. Those means included using diet pills, laxatives and diuretics and inducing vomiting to control weight.
There's a dark side to vegetarianism, said Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine. He had no role in the research.
"Adolescent vegetarians [in the study] were more prone to disordered eating and outright eating disorders," Katz said. "This is not due to vegetarianism but the other way around: Adolescents struggling to control their diets and weight might opt for vegetarianism among other, less-healthful efforts."
Vegetarianism, or a mostly plant-based diet, can be recommended to all adolescents, Katz said. "But when adolescents opt for vegetarianism on their own, it is important to find out why because it may signal a cry for help, rather than the pursuit of health," he said.
Katz said he thinks a balanced vegetarian diet is among the most healthful of dietary patterns, and the study suggests some of the benefits.
"Adolescents practicing vegetarianism were less likely to be overweight than their omnivorous counterparts and, were the measures available, would likely have had better blood pressure and cholesterol, too," he said. "Eating mostly plants -- and even only plants -- is good for us, and certainly far better for health than the typical American diet."
The study's lead researcher, Ramona Robinson-O'Brien, an assistant professor in the Nutrition Department at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University in St. Joseph, Minn., agreed.
"The majority of adolescents and young adults today would benefit from improvements in dietary intake," she said. The study found, for instance, that the vegetarians among the participants generally were less likely to be overweight or obese.
"However, current vegetarians may be at increased risk for binge eating, while former vegetarians may be at increased risk for extreme unhealthful weight-control behaviors," she said. "Clinicians and nutrition professionals providing guidance to young vegetarians might consider the potential benefits associated with a healthful vegetarian diet, [but should] recognize the possibility of increased risk of disordered eating behaviors."
The researchers collected data on 2,516 teens and young adults who participated in a study called Project EAT-II: Eating Among Teens. They classified participants as current, former or never vegetarians and divided them into two age groups: teens (15 to 18) and young adults (19-23).
Each participant was questioned about binge eating, whether they felt a loss of control of their eating habits and whether they used any extreme weight-control behaviors.
About 21 percent of teens who had been vegetarians said they used unhealthy weight-control behaviors, compared with 10 percent of teens who had never been vegetarians. Among young adults, more former vegetarians (27 percent) had used such measures than current vegetarians (16 percent) or those who'd never been vegetarians (15 percent), the study found.
In addition, among teenagers, binge eating and loss of control over eating habits was reported by 21 percent of current and 16 percent of former vegetarians but only 4 percent of those who'd never followed a vegetarian diet. For young adults, more vegetarians (18 percent) said they engaged in binge eating with loss of control than did former vegetarians (9 percent) and those who were never vegetarians (5 percent), the study found.
Young adult vegetarians were less likely to be overweight or obese than were those who'd never been vegetarians. Among teens, the study found no statistically significant differences in weight.
"When guiding adolescent and young adult vegetarians in proper nutrition and meal planning, it is important to recognize the potential health benefits and risks associated with a vegetarian diet," Robinson-O'Brien said. "Furthermore, it may be beneficial to investigate an individual's motives for choosing a vegetarian diet and ask about their current and former vegetarian status when assessing risk for disordered eating behaviors."
More information
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has more on a healthful diet.

Eating disorders is not the fault of vegetarianism any more than drug use is the fault of rock music. I've been a vegetarian for a long time, and I've never gotten caught up in any of this mess.

I would say the key word is balanced. Perhaps most adolescents don't know enough about balancing their diets while being vegetarian. Fortunately, I've never had these problems.

Anxiety said:

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I do not think they are saying that it is. I take it that the theory is that some people who are vegetarians are really suffering from an eating disorder and using vegetarianism as a cover. It sounds plausible but I certainly do not think it applies to all vegetarians.

I missed comments on Prince's appearance? What are people saying? I thought he looked great.

Anxiety said:

Technically you're not a vegitarian because you own meat eating pets though.

In my honest opinion, the American diet as prescribed our national 'food pyramid' is itself an unhealthy eating disorder, institutionalized and mass produced for hordes of people to practice.

Imago said:

oh, why don't you eat ME?

Laura is a great orger but doesn't this topic belong in GD, unless I missed something in the article about music?

UncleGrandpa said:

I was just thinking that, like um this is not related to music

The sickest-looking people I know are vegetarians. Skinny, but dark around the eyes, and just a very heroin-addicted look altogether in most cases. I have never known a vegetarian who looked like they were brimming with health. We have a BIOLOGICAL imperative to eat meat. We are NOT cows. Our ancestors hunted AND gathered. If we were meant to eat only vegetables, don't you think it would have made sense for our ancestors to have JUST gathered? You know why they didn't JUST gather? Because humanity is HARDWIRED to hunt down, kill and cook M-E-A-T. And enjoy the hell out of that shit. So-called modern "evolved" men and women can, unlike most other animals, override their own genetic hardwiring, usually causing untold damage to themselves, which then must be hidden as best as possible so that the illusion of "victory over nature" can be maintained and they can continue to feel superior to us lesser meat-eaters. What fucking ever.. I think vegetarians have some real misanthropy going on and rebelling against the normal diet is their way of giving the finger to the world. Vegetarianism in my experience is almost always ideological.
[Edited 4/1/09 19:10pm]

thekidsgirl said:

good point. done deal.

lowerregister said:

wow.

lowerregister said:

[flame snip - CarrieMpls] As a vegetarian of 20 some years you are perfectly full of [flame snip - CarrieMpls]. We are omnivores [flame snip - CarrieMpls]. And I'd kill Bambi in a heartbeat and cook it up if it was me or the deer. I have no sense of victory over nature, but I do know I don't have a bunch of meat rotting in my lower intestine.

Anxiety said:

You were looking a little thin last week.

Anxiety said:

lowerregister said:

There are plenty of hot veggie Orgers on this site.

lowerregister said:

say...aliens exist....suppose there was a horrible race of aliens that came down onto our planet to feed on humans....because it was in their nature...would you say it's ok for them to feed on us?

so, please explain to me

veggie teens were more likely to have an eating disorder because they were NOT obese? I tried really hard to understand the article, but I think I failed miserably

I know plenty of obese vegetarians (my sister is one) she especially likes that vegetable tobacco

I'm naturally skinny and I'm not a vegie. I might have some other problem though...because I'm skinner than average.

peacenlovealways said:

so get it checked if you are worried, do you feel tireder than you feel you ought to? no energy?

ZombieKitten said:

yes, and I stay away from cheese, bread, milk and i try to cut down on sugar. I think these things upset my stomach and make me tired.
[Edited 4/1/09 19:30pm]

Adolescents can fuck up anything.

Vegetarians are hot

peacenlovealways said:

maybe you have an intolerance - you can cut out the gluten from your diet for 6 weeks, keep a diary of what you ate and how it affected you, then introduce it again at normal levels (keep a diary) for another 6 weeks, then take it out of your diet again, still keeping a diary. Do the same then for lactose. You should be able to see from the way your body reacts what you are intolerant of - if you feel a lot better in that middle 6 weeks, you'll know.

See your doc first and maybe get your iron checked and ask about intolerances.

thekidsgirl said:

That Prince guy is alright.

thekidsgirl said:

Some of the hottest people I know are vegetarians. Because they're so healthy.

Vendetta1 said:

yeah, he seems to be doing alright healthwise

ToraToraDreams said:

Same here!

I'm working on being one myself...if only I could let go of eggs and spicy salmon sushi rolls

just like there are healthy and unhealthy omnivars there are healthy and unhealthy veggies.
i've been one for 33 yrs. i don't do it perfectly. it's just the way i eat that happens to have a label