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Re: If you're vegan, I assume it isn't a leather couch

I think it all comes down to there are no easy answers. Just like in audio, everything has a trade-off. Planar speakers may have a transparency and audio qualities that we appreciate, but have trade-offs in difficulty of placement, size, lack of efficiency, etc. CD's travel well, have low measured distortion and are readily accessible; but many people prefer the "natural" sound of turntables, despite the pops and hisses. New Class D amplifiers have high efficiency and low measured distortion, but some people prefer the warmth of tubes.

Diets often have similar tradeoffs:

Trans Fat (a.k.a. hydrogenated vegetable oil/vegetable shortening) was promoted as a healthy alternative to saturated fat-laden butter and lard. Turns out trans-fat is worse for you than animal fat. If you use regular vegetable oil (which has lower molecular weight) and try to cook with the same temperatures/durations as trans fat/saturated fat, you run into problems of polymerization (oil turning into plastic), which can release carcinogens.

Phytoestrogens (a.k.a. isoflavones) found in soy, are the flip-side of the coin to BGH in beef. These plant-based chemicals act like estrogen (female hormones) in the human body (which can actually be beneficial for post-menopausal women, people with risk for some cancers and men with ailments related to high testosterone levels like enlarged prostate and high cholesterol). However, they have their own set of potential problems. For infants, soy formula has been linked to impaired sexual development of males, impaired thyroid function, behavioral problems, and hundreds of times more the estrogen exposure than breast milk or cows milk (whether the cows were given hormones or not). Israel has even placed recommended limits on soy consumption. In our current society, high testosterone is not really needed for adults- the muscle mass, high cholesterol and increased blood clotting served more of a purpose when heavy labor was a daily practice and men were more likely to die of bodily trauma at 30 than heart disease at 70. In a sedentary lifestyle, women's bodies are far better suited for inactivity and high body fat (it has been estimated that men could live up to 7 years longer if they got castrated as adults, kind of like the way neutered dogs live longer). I kind of like the way I am now, testosterone and all.

Other vegetable-based protein sources do not have the phytoestrogens, but often have a lot of fat (nuts have twice as many grams of fat as they do protein) or have poor amino acid profiles and utilization rates in the human body compared to animal products (e.g., protein in beef liver has almost twice the utilization rate compared to protein in wheat). Considering protein concentrations in natural vegetable sources and utilization rate, you may need to eat much more fat and calories to supply the same amount of utilized protein as you would with a lean cut of meat- but you avoid the saturated fat and cholesterol.


Like Audio, there are people who have the same philosophy but dramatically different results: UcD versus cheap Class D car amps, PA speakers versus Avantgarde, the wide variety of class A/B amps. In diet it is the same- many vegetarians use a lot of salt, fat and sugar to make their food taste good while sitting in front of the TV. However, some carnivores eat lean cuts of meat, exercise and keep their weight in check. And results vary: Linda McCartney was an activist-vegetarian and died at 56, while George Burns was almost an activist for an "unhealthy" lifestyle and lived to be 100. On one side you have vegetarians in India with low heart disease rates, and, on the other, Inuits with virtually no heart disease and diets almost exclusively of meat and fish. It is hard to make sweeping generalizations about either group.

Just like audio, there are general rules to follow regardless of philosophy: for audio we seek flat frequency response and low distortion, for diet low fat and sugar. Overall, it seems like you have to use your best judgment, keep an open mind and not follow fads blindly. If I followed fads in audio, I would probably own Bose. I would still have horn speakers and class A/B amps if I single-mindedly followed the "high-efficiency" dogma. I'm sure there are many people who have different opinions than I do on almost every issue, but I try to use my best judgment and do what's best for me.

Best of luck



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  • Re: If you're vegan, I assume it isn't a leather couch - lne937s 10:24:38 10/21/06 (0)


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