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Minger at it again with a review of How Not to Die

PostPosted: Mon May 22, 2017 12:03 pm
by Helpinghands
Yes, Denise has once more decided to review a plant based book with predictable results.

https://authoritynutrition.com/how-not-to-die-review/

For those that are interested above is the url to her review.

Re: Minger at it again with a review of How Not to Die

PostPosted: Mon May 22, 2017 12:40 pm
by colonyofcells
It is probably no secret that Dr Greger is pro vegan so that obviously will influence his interpretation of studies and there is a strong temptation to overstate the benefits of a unrefined vegan diet. Virginia Messina used to recommend Dr Greger as one of the few vegan doctors who do not overstate the benefits of a vegan diet and I do not know if Virginia Messina still recommends Dr Greger. The new book of Virginia Messina : Even Vegans Die seems to be her answer to Dr Greger's How Not To Die. Another problem is Dr Greger relies on reductionist studies so it is easy to find reductionist studies that are against the position of Dr Greger.
I do not have the patience of Denise Minger to read many studies but I am familiar with the Adventist Health Study 2 and I am aware of how pro vegans use this study to overstate the benefits of a vegan diet and an unrefined vegan diet. Dr Greger also sometimes mentions the pritikin diet and dr dean ornish diet which are not vegan diets altho the dr dean ornish diet is nearly vegan and I often just pretend the dr dean ornish diet is vegan to avoid being too wordy.
Denise Minger has her own biases. She is personally allergic to soy so I would guess it influences her interpretations of soy studies. Recommending grass fed livestock is not practical due to environmental problems like lack of land, water shortage and global warming. Grass fed livestock has the same problem of bioaccumulating pollution and radiation. All animal products are loaded with calories and have 0 fiber so they are obviously not health food. I do not know if Denise Minger still believes that her diet somehow miraculously protects her from her personal overconsumption of polluted wild seafood (has both pollution and radiation and the mainstream only allows 2-3 servings per week). Some experts also predict most sealife will be gone in just a few decades due to overconsumption and global warming, so it is not practical to recommend seafood. Currently, the best argument for going vegan is environmental and global warming so the politicians conveniently banned environmental concerns in the 2015 diet guide for americans.

Re: Minger at it again with a review of How Not to Die

PostPosted: Mon May 22, 2017 1:25 pm
by GlennR
Denise was pretty even handed in her analysis and more pro for the book than anti.

Re: Minger at it again with a review of How Not to Die

PostPosted: Tue May 23, 2017 5:04 am
by Jeff the Chef
GlennR wrote:Denise was pretty even handed in her analysis and more pro for the book than anti.


If she gave an even handed analysis, that would maybe be a first.

Re: Minger at it again with a review of How Not to Die

PostPosted: Tue May 23, 2017 5:16 am
by Jeff the Chef
colonyofcells wrote:It is probably no secret that Dr Greger is pro vegan so that obviously will influence his interpretation of studies and there is a strong temptation to overstate the benefits of a unrefined vegan diet. Virginia Messina used to recommend Dr Greger as one of the few vegan doctors who do not overstate the benefits of a vegan diet and I do not know if Virginia Messina still recommends Dr Greger. The new book of Virginia Messina : Even Vegans Die seems to be her answer to Dr Greger's How Not To Die. Another problem is Dr Greger relies on reductionist studies so it is easy to find reductionist studies that are against the position of Dr Greger.
I do not have the patience of Denise Minger to read many studies but I am familiar with the Adventist Health Study 2 and I am aware of how pro vegans use this study to overstate the benefits of a vegan diet and an unrefined vegan diet. Dr Greger also sometimes mentions the pritikin diet and dr dean ornish diet which are not vegan diets altho the dr dean ornish diet is nearly vegan and I often just pretend the dr dean ornish diet is vegan to avoid being too wordy.
Denise Minger has her own biases. She is personally allergic to soy so I would guess it influences her interpretations of soy studies. Recommending grass fed livestock is not practical due to environmental problems like lack of land, water shortage and global warming. Grass fed livestock has the same problem of bioaccumulating pollution and radiation. All animal products are loaded with calories and have 0 fiber so they are obviously not health food. I do not know if Denise Minger still believes that her diet somehow miraculously protects her from her personal overconsumption of polluted wild seafood (has both pollution and radiation and the mainstream only allows 2-3 servings per week). Some experts also predict most sealife will be gone in just a few decades due to overconsumption and global warming, so it is not practical to recommend seafood. Currently, the best argument for going vegan is environmental and global warming so the politicians conveniently banned environmental concerns in the 2015 diet guide for americans.


Pritkin and Ornish aren't vegan, but they are plant-based, which is Greger's focus. And they're lowfat, whole food as well.

You're right about the problem of using reductionist studies.

Re: Minger at it again with a review of How Not to Die

PostPosted: Tue May 23, 2017 11:52 am
by colonyofcells
Whole foods plant based can mean an unrefined diet that includes small amounts of animal products and or an unrefined vegan diet so to find out which is which requires context (There are also people who are ok with both types of unrefined diets). Dr Greger is an employee of a vegan activist organization (Humane Society) so I would guess that the purpose of nutritionfacts.org is to promote an unrefined vegan diet altho Dr Greger is ok with people starting out as flexitarians and reducetarians. Dr Greger (and also his employer the Humane Society) has openly supported reducetarians in the reducetarian website. I do not see PETA and PCRM in the list of reducetarian supporters. https://reducetarian.org/supporters/
(as a side note, I am not sure why a bunch of atheists are at the top of the list of reducetarian supporters and could this mean that atheists are having a hard time going vegan).

Re: Minger at it again with a review of How Not to Die

PostPosted: Tue May 23, 2017 3:33 pm
by Jeff the Chef
I didn't know Gregers was an employee of the Humane Sochery. The PCRM/PETA connection I am familiar with.

Re: Minger at it again with a review of How Not to Die

PostPosted: Sun May 28, 2017 9:14 am
by vgpedlr
Jeff the Chef wrote:
GlennR wrote:Denise was pretty even handed in her analysis and more pro for the book than anti.


If she gave an even handed analysis, that would maybe be a first.

Actually she has done it before. She was interviewed by LC host where she went into the results that Kempner got. She seems to think that both LCHF and LFHC methods will work as long as the "low" and "high" are done correctly.

In other words, I have no idea what she is promoting. I can't stand reading her writing, and her brand of dietary relativism confuses me. It seems to be just an excuse to do whatever you want.