It's a Fact. Vegetarians Last Longer

Vegetarians Last Longer

A friend of mine posted a link to a video about all the despicable things they do to animals in the food industry. The motive of the video, of course, was to shame people into never eating meat/fish/poultry again.

Too bad it won't work. Not for the masses anyway.

If you really want to hurt the animal produce industry and really want people to stop eating meat/fish/poultry then you have to take a different approach.

You need to think like a product marketer. You have to focus on peoples' selfish desires (concious or unconcious).

In other words, you have to use the carrot—not the stick.

I imagine a marketing slogan like "Vegetarians Last Longer" which implies a longer life and (for fun) better sexual stamina for men.

I turned (mostly) vegetarian for health reasons. My cholesterol was bad. I struggled with weight. (I wasn't obese, per se, but on my way to that destination.)

Since I've turned vegetarian I've clocked an unbelievably low cholesterol count and the pounds keep coming off.

And I've never eaten more in my life. And I eat a lot. And that's the only negative I have about the diet is that I eat and eat and eat.

So, kids, it's easy to get on your (moral) high horse by trying to make everyone else feel guilty by showing inhumane videos. But don't go there. There is a better, more effective way. Put on your marketing hat. Focus on the benefits. The weight loss. The dramatically lower cholesterol. And, for fun, the better sexual performance.

Vegetarianism as Masculine Trait

Eating meat is a cavemanish thing to do. Or so that's what many believe. So when you're preaching vegetarianism you're going to get lots of resistance from men. The primary objection is that humans were, in fact, designed to eat meat and fish. Don't debate this one. It's true. There's no other purpose for incisors. So don't argue.

Just focus on cholesterol and weight. Cholesterol and weight. Because someday they'll notice that a lot of their friends are having heart disease, cholesterol, and high blood pressure problems. And once they're looking that the realities of a shorter lifespan they'll be more open minded. Until then there's no point in arguing.

Got Milk? Got Meat? Got Osteoperosis?

There's a war out there for your "belief system". Calcium intake is a great example. Everbody knows that milk, and milk products are a great source of calcium which, in turn helps make stronger bones. No brainer. But why do the countries with the highest intake of milk products and meat protein have the highest incidence of osteoperosis? Why why why?

I gotta tip my hat to the milk marketing folks. They've done a fantastic job. Same with the egg marketing folks. They pound it into us. If vegetarians truly believe in their cause, and want to spread the word, then they have to become better marketers than the milk boards and the egg marketing folks. No more cheap guilt-laden videos that nobody has the stomach to watch. Vegetarians can help reduce cruelty to all those farm animals by doing a better job of promoting the benefits (e.g. longevity) of vegetarianism. It's a huge challenge, I know. But that's what it's going to take.

So, vegetarians, get off the moral high horse and get to the real work at hand; marketing.

Below: A graph from a study of calcium intake versus hip fracture.

Below: Another graph from another study. Ten-year probability of hip fracture averaged for age and gender (+95% CI) and adjusted to the probabilities of Sweden (risk ratio of 10-year hip fracture for Sweden = 1.00). Adapted from Kanis JA et al, J BoneMiner Res 2002;