veganism: It's actually very healthy and prevents loads of medical problems and you can still get the same amount of protein as someone who eats meat. What were they thinking when they wrote this textbook? Did they not see the other side?|||Medical research has shown that base vitamins, minerals, etc are not possible without supplementation unless meat, fish, and dairy are consumed regularly. Supplementation is tricky as exact ratios are needed for proper absorption and use. In addition, statistical data from the US census indicates that strict vegetarians have a significantly shorter life expectancy then do regular people. They state that because it is the truth, not the self delusions of people trying to defend their habits. People don't eat meat because they have a philosophical problem with killing animals for food, not because it is healthy. The "it's healthy" urban legion they promote can be dangerous.|||Probably because the vast majority of people who go vegetarian will not eat healthy, and therefore will miss nutrients in their diets meat provided. There is a right way and a wrong way to go about eating meat free. You can be very healthy as a vegetarian, but it takes time, effort and the willingness to actually cook (microwaving food does not count as cooking). Since most people do not want to take the time and effort to do it right, it is probably a better idea go discourage it from the majority of the population. Slapping a veggie burger on a bun is not a healthy meal, even if it is meat free. Taking the time to cook a nutritionally balanced meal 3x a day from fresh veggies, grains, nuts and beans is not something most people want to do. So what do they eat instead? A veggie burger because it is fast and easy. Then they feel like crap, are lacking nutrients, and eventually go back to eating meat. Vegetarianism is then pegged as unhealthy because of all the people who they it for the "coolness" factor, but don't put any effort into doing it right.|||I know I might be a little off on this but I know our body needs like 16 different chemicals/compounds to survive and our body only lets say makes like 8 of them naturally so we have to intake the difference from outside sources like bread, meat, vegetables and so on, being a vegetarian or vegan you are actually depriving your self of certain nutrients which is why some veg's have a orange skin color as well as other characteristics.|||Are they old textbook or more recent? If they are old then it could be because they didn't really know much about nutrition. If they are more recent textbook my only explanation is because veg*ns might lack certain nutrients like vitamin B12 and iron because we don't eat meat. Then again it might be all propaganda crap to get people to eat meat but I doubt that.|||A lot of those textbooks are old and from the days where very few people were vegetarian. i was just reading an article about it as well, there was something about a college in Austin saying the same thing.|||I didn't know that American Health textbooks say that. If they do, I would think it's because no vegetable has complete protein on it's own, and people would have to learn enough to combine them properly to get the nutrition they need, and they think the public won't do that.|||I agree that some are very unhealthy. I mostly think that this book was stereotypic of teenage girl vegetarians. Which I agree most eat extremely unhealthy (processed foods, sweets, etc).|||probably because meat has certain proteins and crap we need ! i D k !|||You should read textbooks more recent than 1950's,|||Because it is correct.|||It's not healthy to deprive yourself of certain food groups. If certain things weren't supposed to be eaten, then they wouldn't be in the Food Pyramid|||You're likely to live 7 years longer. You are also 3X more likely to go nuts. You guys never cease to thoroughly amuse me. I'm bad b/c you don't like the facts.