Twelve Black Code Monkeys

A local TV station in Miami did a piece recently about how many vegetarians have flocked to low-carb plans like the South Beach Diet. Their reaction is basically shock. They can’t believe that what has been painted as a meat and butter diet by their own kind can actually be done by someone who doesn’t eat meat.

Many vegetarians out there have the same opinion of low-carb plans, as they are characterized as plans about meat and nothing else, but they aren’t. That is one of the stereotypes that will forever haunt low-carbers. Until, of course, enough vegetarians decide to try the diet and find that it is doable without meat. Sure it’s harder because things that are lower in carbs and higher in protein and fat are generally animal based, but not always. Soy products are a good example. The stricter a vegetarian is in terms of what he or she will eat will also make a difference. If eggs and dairy are eaten, they provide more choices. Fish and shellfish provide even more, although some wouldn’t call those who eats fish and shellfish true vegetarians.

Vegans, on the other hand, are another matter. Vegans eat no animal products whatsoever. Basically, they would have to eat primarily soy products for their diet, because practically anything else they eat is mostly carbohydrate. Although the whole issue of whether soy is healthy for you is becoming more controversial, it’s probably a safe bet that eating 90% of your calories from soy is probably not going to be the greatest thing.

In any case, I have this wish that one day vegetarians will not see the low-carb movement or low-carbers as their nemesis, and likewise low-carbers will welcome vegetarians into an eating plan that so many people have found to be beneficial. Many vegetarians, of course, give up meat for religious or spiritual reasons, and that’s fine, that is a personal choice and I will not begrudge anyone of this. However, I would just in kind not like to be judged for what is a personal choice to eat meat. If meat eaters can manage not to make fun of (ethical) vegetarians for liking animals to much to eat them, and (ethical) vegetarians can manage not to condemn meat eaters their personal choice to do something humans (and animals) have been doing since we existed on this planet, then maybe, just maybe, we can obtain world peace.