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To avoid any future problems, I wish to set out my own position
I have been vegetarian for more than 25 years. Soon after becoming
vegetarian, I stopped telling anybody about its benefits, and
really, I don't care at all what anybody else eats. You are grown-ups,
you have access to information, you must make your own decisions.
Personally, I just don't fancy eating meat any more.
As it happens, I have been very happy with my choice - I went
to the doctor twice a year before making 'the change', usually
for 'flu or tonsillitis, and I have hardly ever been to a doctor
since then. I also feel my timingwas good, and therefore I have
all avoided contact with the recent illnesses derived from animals.
I eat milk products and fish, I prefer wholemeal food, and I avoid
processed foods. In a supermarket with both organic and 'ordinary'
vegetables, I choose the ones that 'look best' from a sort of
'life-energy' perspective.
The "Eat Right 4 Your Type" school of nutrition recommends
a diet according to your blood group, (see http://www.oz.net/~alden/er4yt/adiet1.html
), and strangely, as someone with A-rhesus positive blood,
the diet I have slowly evolved over these years (that is, what
I prefer to eat) is almost exactly what they recommend for A+
people, who seem therefore to be recommended to be vegetarian.
Politically, I think it's only fair to say that I am normally
a radical, but that I think food is an issue where the radical
and conservative sometimes unite. My response to the new additives
and food processes is "that I would rather stick to the 'traditional
diet' rather than these 'new-fangled' stuff". This seems
to be coonservatism !
My normal work for a number of years has been in the international
sales of industrial equipment, normally by auction, so I am very
comfortable with world trade.
Environmentally however, I am much more radical. I am deeply
concerned about world resources, desertification and 'sustainability'
and it seems crazy to use up all the reserves of fossil fuels
as quickly as we can (though this also seems a fairly conservative
statement to me !). I am concerned at the way animals are treated.
I would not like to work in any of these animal businesses, and
I am sorry for the people who have to.
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