The Physician’s Committee For Irresponsible Advertising Strikes (Out) Again
I’m about as sympathetic to vegetarians and vegans as it’s possible for a committed omnivore to be – an assessment that I think the vegetarian/vegan athletes I’ve advised over the years would agree with. If folks want to give up meat/animal products for health, ethical and/or environmental considerations, more power to ’em. There are a lot of ways to eat healthily, and life is just too damn short to engage in “food fights.”
Alas, if only the so-called “Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine” was that reasonable. Unfortunately, like PETA, the group has decided that being publicly outrageous and offensive is the best way to “sell” the general public on a vegan lifestyle.
How else to explain these Albany, NY billboards?
Funny, I’ve eaten cheese all of my life, and my abs/thighs don’t look like that!
There’s a simple reason for that, too: in the end, it comes down to total calories consumed, not the consumption of any one individual food. Overall, my diet isn’t particularly high in fat: my butter consumption is practically nil, I don’t eat fatty meats, use low fat dressings and condiments, and eat fried foods/desserts only rarely. As such, I see no reason not to include some cheese in my diet when I feel like it… for example, I love bleu cheese crumbles on salads; feta cheese in veggie scrambles/omelettes; fresh grated parmesan on pasta and – natch – thin slices of aged cheddar with fruit or rye crispbreads. I also enjoy cheesy entrees on occasion: enchiladas, homemade mac and cheese and even *gasp* pizza!
Point being, it’s just not as simple as “eat cheese —> get fat.”
Yes, cheese is fairly high in fat, so it’s an obvious food to restrict if you’re trying to cut back. But there’s no need to demonize it… particularly since there are so very many other ways to pack on the pounds! I seriously doubt that even the zealots at the PCRM are foolish enough to believe that scaring people off cheese alone would do anything useful.
The PCRM’s stated aim is to reduce the fat content in the lunches served in Albany schools. And according to the PCRM,
School lunches in Albany include an abundance of cheesy foods. The city’s high school menu, for example, includes dairy- and fat-loaded offerings such as chicken parmesan and lasagna with three different types of cheese. Cheese pizzas are available daily.
Fair enough – certainly it’s important to look at the number of calories the schools are serving up, and to consider ways to reduce them IF they’re excessive. But is this the way to go about it? Beyond being inaccurate, the PCRM is risking alienating many of the people that might otherwise agree with them (see here, here, here and here for examples).
Earth to Dr. Barnard: when even vegans think you’ve gone too far, it’s not a good sign. Seriously: billboards like these may call attention to your organization and its goals, but not in a good way.
