FOR THE LOVE OF FOOD: Dinner is your enemy, vegetarians suffer from depression, and vitamin B supplements cause cancer
by Darya Rose | Sep 1, 2017
Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.
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This week dinner is your enemy, vegetarians suffer from depression, and vitamin B supplements cause cancer.
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Links of the week
- The Case for a Breakfast Feast – Scientists have seen this pattern for years, but since it has been making the news more recently my husband is finally on board. We’ve been experimenting with light dinners of simple salads and brothy soups and we love it, though it does require more substantial meals earlier in the day. I find that lighter dinners especially help with more restful sleep. (NY Times)
- Men who go vegetarian more likely to have serious depression – It is certainly possible to be healthy and happy as a vegetarian or vegan, but you should be aware that heart disease isn’t the only relevant health outcome and that you need to be sure to get adequate (but not too much) vitamin B12 and other essential nutrients that are not readily available from plant sources. See below for articles that offer more nuance. (Food Safety News)
- Vitamin B6 and B12 Supplements Appear to Cause Cancer in Men – Excess vitamins, commonly derived from excess supplementation, can also be a problem. So be careful with your dosage. This is a major reason I prefer food sources. (The Atlantic)
- Fatty acids lower your risk of heart disease. Without fish, you’re missing out. – One common myth I hear from vegetarian proponents is that you can get adequate omega-3s from plant sources like flax and walnuts. This isn’t true, as your body converts ALA (plant omega-3) to DHA/EPA (essential vitamins) very inefficiently. Fish is the most common source of DHA/EPA, but there are algae options if you have non-health reasons for avoiding fish. (Washington Post)
- How Therapy Can Cure Overeating – Good to see binge eating disorder getting more attention. (The Atlantic)
- PSA: Scales Measure Gravity, Not Health, Happiness, Success, or Effort – Truth. (Weighty Matters)
- The Real Price of Those Cheaper Avocados – In the everlasting quest for cheaper food, keep in mind who is really paying for your luxury. (Slate)
- The Perks of Being an Adventurous Eater – I haven’t gone on an anti-picky eating rant in awhile, but I feel as strongly about it as ever. Expanding your food palette is a choice, and a smart one. (Lifehacker)
- Chefs Use These 7 Tools to Fine-Tune Their Dishes & Hide Their Mistakes – An excellent primer on understanding food qualities and how to optimize them for deliciousness. (Food52)
- corn chowder with chile, lime and cotija – Late summer in a bowl. Yum. (smitten kitchen)
What inspired you this week?
Now that I know you’re expecting a li’l one I’m kind of hoping you share your insights, whenever you have them, about how to help kids be less picky. I mean, unless there are no insights. I’ve prepared myself for the possibility that there’s literally nothing you can do.
I know you don’t want to be a mom blog though! No pressure!!
Hi Shannon,
Awhile back I wrote this about where the science stands on the subject. I’ll start there.
http://www.summertomato.com/11-proven-ways-to-get-kids-to-eat-more-vegetables
Cheers,
D
Amazing! Some of this stuff has never occurred to me–time for some experimentation!
Veganism is the goal, not vegetarianism. Vegetariansm directly supports animal abuse, including the meat industry.
This article is nonsense anyway. You need not take supplements. B12, for eg. is readily available in fortified nutritional yeast, and most nut and plant-based milks. Vegans get more B12 than nonvegans.
The veganism population is increasing very quickly, so articles like these are popping up just as quickly.
These articles are trying to scare you away from not eating animals – not spending your money supporting a trillion dollar industry that tortures and kills sentient beings for nothing more than palate pleasure.
All you need to be a healthy vegan is a sense of justice, the willingness to educate yourself on how to eat properly, and a good bullshit radar for pieces like the one you just read.
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I would like to know more about the risk of getting cancer,related to the consumption of vitamins B6 and B12.
Thank you very much!!
I wouldn’t worry too much about it unless you’re a smoker, but I would also avoid large doses for precaution.
I believe we need diversification of food we take in a healthy way. It has to be moderate. Someone wrote about the 20/80 thing about food intake. 20% meat + 80% vegetables.
Regarding breakfast, Darya, isn’t your husband into intermittent fasting? does this change that at all?
The science is pretty clear that intermittent fasting is best when breakfast is bigger and dinner is earlier and lighter, or skipped all together.
Thanks! I’ve been skipping the wrong meal!