In a message dated 5/7/99 5:42:21 AM Pacific Daylight Time, [log in to unmask]
writes:

>
>  <<  Vegetarian
>   was bad for Linda McCartney (for those that don't know, she died of breast
>   cancer in her 50s), vegetarian is good for some others. >>
>  How do you know that without her chosen nutrition she might not have
> suffered
>  and passed 10 years earlier...that is as likely a conclusion as your
>  statement that this was BAD for her.
>

You're absolutely right S.B. I don't know that.  We never know.

When I said it was bad for her, I meant it in the sense that it didn't prevent
the #2 biggest killer in this country from taking her life.  I understand she
 was big on animal rights.  So her decision to be vegetarian was probably
 a humanitarian one,
rather than solely a health one.  But I'd be willing to bet, that if someone
had told her when she was young, that she would die of breast cancer as
a vegetarian in her 50s, she might have tried a different eating style.  But
its
purely conjecture on my part.

I say this because all of us here, and millions of others, are busily seeking
ways to live longer, healthier lives, and I have no reason to think she'd be
different in that respect.  She stopped to consider her food choices a long
time ago, which means she was concious of food as something that can
be changed and controlled, whether it was for health or a desire to spare
animals pain. I know many people that would rather have their eyes popped
out than give up certain foods.

But in regards to your original question, there are many people on vegetarian
diets because they think it is healthier and will help them live longer. For
some, this will be true. For others it won't.

That's actually the whole point I was trying to make in the beginning.  You
don't know if a paleo way of eating is going to help you live longer. You
think
it might because it makes sense. But if you came down with cancer
tomorrow, actually any of you reading this out there can ask yourself this
question......if any of you came down with cancer tomorrow....Would you
have the presence of mind to say "Wow, this way of eating probably saved
me from getting cancer 10 years ago." Or would you be the typical person
and say "Damn, I thought this way of eating was supposed to help me
avoid cancer!..and I got it anyway!!..What did I deny myself all those years
for!!"...I think most would say the latter.

I could be wrong, but I think most of us are simply playing the odds game
when it comes to food. No one person has the answer to what will help
us live longer or healthier.  We go with what feels good for us.  And that
after all is what living is for...isn't it?

Anna L. Abrante
[log in to unmask]
"...the more things change,
...the more they stay the same."