Dante DiVongola said:
However, when you bring up flimsy arguments and then go on to say that you "wouldn't even call an ambulance for me when I have a cholesterol-induced heart attack or choke on my steak", you lose all value as a person to me.
You want to know my favourite part of what he said? Eating animal fat will not cause you to have a heart attack. You know when your arteries get all clogged up with cholesterol and cause heart attacks? The type of cholesterol that does it is created in the blood through a process called glycation which requires sugars to happen. The sort of sugars you aren't likely to find in large quantities in the meat that you eat. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110526204953.htm
And if that wasn't evidence enough, how about the fact that reducing cholesterol with Statins isn't likely to reduce your risk of heart attack very much, and even then, only if you're a young man with existing risk factors for heart disease and heart attacks. Whether or not your risk of dying is reduced though the drug companies won't say. http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/2010/06/03/a-few-reasons-to-avoid-statins/
Here's the thing about vegetarianism. I don't advocate it because I don't think it's the ideal diet to promote good health in human beings. Nor do I have any ethical qualms with killing animals, especially when they are an important part of the diet we evolved to thrive on.
But I don't have a problem with vegetarians choosing to give up meat for whatever reason. It's their choice, and they have every right to make it. And if they supplement properly, and actually eat mostly vegetables and fruit in addition to wherever they're getting their protein and some good fats, while cutting out foods high in refined sugar and reducing their consumption of wheat products, then they'll most likely be healthier than someone eating your average North American diet. Hell, they'd just be some grass fed steak away from a paleo diet at that point.
Sadly, the problem with a very small number of vegetarians is that they not only choose to give up meat, but they pursue said choice with an almost religious fervor. And in the case of fellows such as the one you quoted almost seem to actively hate anyone who doesn't agree with them, or spend their time trying to argue why everyone else is wrong, and that sort of stuff doesn't fly with me. The funniest part perhaps is that I actually tend to agree with such people on some things such as the sort of factory farming performed in much of the US being undesirable, not just for the conditions the animals are subjected to, but because it relies heavily on growth hormones and grain feeding to fatten animals up when neither is natural, and while it may be more efficient for raising a lot of meat quickly, it's too destructive to be the ideal way to raise meat, especially when there are large quantities of land out there which can be used to raise meat more naturally, and isn't suited for any other agricultural purpose that we could make use of.
And I'll fully admit that things go the other way as well, and again, it's only a small percentage of vegetarians just like any other group of people. Most are fairly normal folk content to do their thing while leaving you be.
