Last week I reported on beef, and celebrated yesterday by grilling a well-marbeled rib eye on my roof, which is now almost as pristine as the day I purchased this condo more than 30 years ago, save for one plant, Pearl's sunburst, which just bloomed:
Then a sunset over Punchbowl:
And now for the bad news about beef:
Do you need to be a vegetarian to lead a healthy life?
Not surprising, but nevertheless disappointing, for a major study of more than 70,000 Seventh-day Adventists (Protestants, approaching 20 million worldwide, 1.2 million in the U.S., who worship not on Sunday, but conduct services on Saturday, in combination with fellowship, nature walks and charity, while practicing a "healthy" lifestyle) provided a resounding YES! It is said to be the fastest growing church in the USA. Maybe they're just living longer.
Thirty five percent of Adventists are vegetarians, most who also adhere to kosher laws and abstain from alcohol, tobacco and drugs. They maintain close social networks, and like Mormons, have outreach missionaries in over 200 countries and territories on humanitarian missions. Healthcare is prominent and Loma Linda in Southern California is their largest medical school. They don't bear arms, but in the 1950's, the U.S. government worked out a deal to have them serve as biological subjects for medical studies. They, therefore, became over time, a model population to fulfill their patriotic duty.
Earlier studies showed that Adventists lived from 4 to 10 years longer than the average Californian. This recent study from Loma Linda University, reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Internal Medicine, included slightly more than half vegetarians. But you need a legend to understand the results:
- vegan (7.6%, no eggs, dairy products, seafood and other meats)
- lacto-ovo-vegetarian (28.9%, okay for dairy and eggs, but no seafood nor meat)
- pesco-vegetarian (9.8%, okay for eggs, dairy and fish, but no terrestrial meat)
- semi-vegetarian (5.5%, ate anything, but meats only once a week)
Slightly half of the subjects were non-vegetarians. In comparison, 2% of Americans are vegan, with 5% vegetarian and the rest, I guess, meat eaters of some kind. Two-thirds also drink alcohol:
What were the results of the Loma Linda study led by Michael J. Orlich? Some of these statements are slightly out of context, and, for reasons not explained, men benefited more than women:
1. Compared to people like most of us, non-vegetarians, Vegan men were 55% less likely to die as a result of reduced blood supply to the heart, 42% less for cardiovascular causes and 28% less for any cause. A vegetarian is 12% less likely to die of any cause. Interesting that there was a 29% reduction of heart disease, but no corresponding benefit for women.
2. Lacto-ovo-vegetarians reduced their risk of death from any cause by 9%.
3. Pesco-vegetarians reduced their risk of death from any cause by 19%. Let me see, then. It must be better to add eggs, dairy products and seafood to your diet. Something must be wrong here. Then again, if true, an important factor in your diet.
The researchers stated that :
None of this proves that vegetarians live longer than nonvegetarians.
Meaning that they were incredibly conservative or wanted more money to continue their study, and probably both.
Another analysis showed that vegetarians eat cheaper, with a vegan saving $1300/year relative to an meat eater:
So will I become a Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) and convert to a vegan diet? Heck, no, for I continue to be puzzled at how anyone can believe in something like the afterlife, and I have only a few years left to enjoy wagyu beef. SDAs liken death to sleeping forever (John 11:1-4) and don't believe in Hell. Hmm...that seems reasonable to me. But, aha, there is an inevitable escape clause, for Jesus Christ will return, someday soon, and raise to heaven the righteous dead. Do SDAs actually buy this??? They do believe that God created the world and life in six days, less than 10,000 years ago. Also, homosexuality is forbidden and women are subordinate to men.
I had a very expensive $14 Korean garlic chicken bento lunch from Kenny's with beer at Magic Island, where the waves were up to 12 feet face:
The wipeouts were spectacular. I continue to be amazed that so few surfers drown. Data is hard to find, but apparently Hawaii has 50 drownings/year, half visitors, and, maybe 4/year from surfing. Even I got sprayed, but his photographer was indomitable:
I counted six Japanese weddings:
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Andrea, now at 60 MPH, became the first named tropical storm in the Gulf/Atlantic, but will not become a hurricane:
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