"Something new has taken hold of the vegan movement. It’s what everybody seems to be talking about these days. Perhaps you’ve noticed it, too?
There are vegans who are taking a stand against oil: “Oil will kill you, it will destroy you, even the teensiest little drop. It is artery-clogging, liquid death.”
There are vegans who are blowing the whistle on dietary fat: “No, not just oil: all fat. I just tossed out my flaxseeds. I wish I could take back those sunflower seeds I ate last week.”
There are vegans who are shedding light on the dark side of carbs: “Um, carbs are the real problem, not fat. Potatoes, rice, fruit, it doesn’t matter: carbs are the enemy and they will make you obese.”
There are vegans who are exposing the world to the dangers of gluten: “Not all carbs are the devil. It’s just gluten that will destroy your gut, the foundation of your health. The rest is fine.”
There are vegans who are pulling the curtains back on sodium: “Why is no one bringing up sodium?!”
There are vegans who are leading the charge against sugar: “Oh, come on. Sodium? It’s sugar that is the real problem. Just a few granules and you will become instantly toxic.”
There are vegans who are educating the world about acidic foods: “What you really need to be concerned about is alkaline versus acidic. That’s it. You cannot die if your blood is more alkaline. It’s a known fact. Acidic environments equal death.”
There are vegans who are teaching the masses about the hazards of cooked foods: “Oh, please! Why are we all dancing around the truth? It’s all about enzymes: heating food over 104 degrees destroys the enzymes and then it is nutritionally void. End of story.....”
When we use the same kind of righteous indignation for potatoes or olive oil that we do for violence against animals and the planet, something has gone haywire with our priorities.”
It used to be that vegans concerned ourselves with social justice and digging at the roots of unjust privileges. We worked at changing how society conceptualizes other animals, at getting people to finally see the unnecessary, systemic violence that is so pervasive and ingrained, it’s nearly invisible.
We thought that we had a lot of work to do but it turns out that we’d been badly neglecting a whole sphere that deserved our attention: nutritional one-upmanship. No longer, though. Now it seems that so many vegans are consumed with policing each other and the world at large over carbs versus fat intake, the satanic properties of salt versus the sinister underbelly of sweeteners, that the real compelling message of compassionate living is lost in the swirling miasma of paranoia and disordered thinking....
Unless there is something radically and uncommonly wrong with one’s body, that person has serious allergies or addictions, no, a little oil, a little sugar or some carbs won’t likely kill anyone. It just won’t. This is absolutist and fear-based thinking that is not rooted in science or fact.
Scaremongering does sell a lot of books, though. It is a hard sell for celebrity doctors and wellness gurus to build a base without demonizing something(s) – fat, carbs, cooked food – and they need a solid hook to be heard above the clatter of all the other competing celebrity doctors and wellness experts seeking their piece of the (low glycemic index, gluten-free, raw) pie. They realize, too, that the buying public needs a plan to rally around, one that’s easy to understand, to stay motivated. - "
See the entire article @ Free From Harm