kland,

I work closely with a doctor who shares with me from time to time about the sad cases of mothers in their thirties and forties, vegan, dying from cancer. Due to patient privacy issues, I never hear their names, unless a patient happens to discuss it with the doctor in my presence, which happens now and then. (People who see a doctor at church, for example.... Glad I'm not a doctor sometimes!) Just in the last two years, I have personally become aware of a large number of vegans who are succumbing to cancer.

I don't think more vegans get cancer than non-vegans. At least, I don't have any special evidence regarding the cancer frequencies. The evidence that I do have, however, is that the vegans have insufficient ability to fight it off once they have it. A few escape. Many do not. It is a sad situation.

I have seen a study posted online somewhere, but cannot seem to find it just now, that gave statistics comparing meat eaters, lacto-ovo vegetarians, and vegans for all causes of death. Vegans and meat eaters were almost tied in their mortality rates, while lacto-ovo vegetarians had better longevity. If I find it again, I will post it.

What seems to help the meat eaters and the lacto-ovo vegetarians when they get cancer is to go vegan. But vegans, when they get cancer, seem to be already running behind and have no way of correcting their deficiency when they need it. It would be a bit like going on a fast when you have some extra weight to carry you through your illness, versus when you are already running lean. The lean person cannot afford to fast when he or she becomes sick, even if it might otherwise have been a healthful thing to do to let the body focus on the healing process.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Kind of makes one wonder if something else is going on, huh?

Here is a statement that expresses Mrs. White's position on the topic.



There are vegans who are becoming "weak and unable to work" as well. Generally speaking, such individuals do not advertise their disability, nor perhaps even connect it to their diet.

Interestingly, Ellen White says "God will interfere to prevent the results of these too-strenuous ideas."

God bless,

Green Cochoa.

Maybe your part of the world is different than in the states. In our church of about 200, there are only about 4 or 5 who could even be accused of being a vegan. And that's only if you don't watch what they eat.

I guess I'm saying that some of these so called vegans, even if they truly eat that way and not confounded as others have pointed out switched when they started having problems, that even then, they may be doing what Ellen White was cautioning people about eggs and milk in her day. That is, they did not replace the bad with something good, and then were damaging their health. It is better to keep the milk and eggs than to do what they were doing. But, it's best to switch your diet, to have true health reform.

When will this time of 100+ years "soon" come to give up milk and eggs. How will you know? Relating how Ellen White talks to how the Bible or Jesus talks does not seem relevant to me. Ellen White expected Jesus to come in her youth. "Soon" should mean something different. Look at the dates of your quotes.

When was this written?
Who cannot obtain in 2012?
Are you of those?

Well said.

But hey, enjoy eggs, enjoy milk, enjoy pork and octopi. For tomorrow we die.

For surely God will wink at our love of food
and not hold it against us
till it come out our nostrils...

Since this thread seems to focus on milk and eggs and what EGW has said about them, we need to be sure we see the spectrum of comments she has made. Here are 2:
I think this is clear. Let the people be taught how to eliminate milk and eggs. The time is coming, and hints are we are on the edge of that time now "in my opinion", that the animal creation is suffering more disease. Buying commercially provided milk and eggs, we have NO IDEA the health of the animals

So - there are those for whom eggs should NOT be eaten. And there are those, whose "blood making organs are weak", (Green?) should not give up eggs. BUT - GREAT CARE should be given in selecting the animals where eggs and milk come from. This can NOT be done if bought in the usual commercial venues.

It is clear, we need to teach people now, how to cook without milk and eggs, the "now" was true in EGW's time. We must not condemn those who can not give up their use, for health or economic issues. We must not condemn those that find it healthful to give these items. There are extremists on both sides! If we think that just because we give up meat and other animal products that we will be disease free, we are kidding ourselves.

APL,

I appreciate your balanced approach here. I think we should be doing more to teach people how to cook delicious vegan foods. The time will come when such knowledge will be very valuable. Even now, many non-vegans could benefit from vegan cookery at least part of the time. Mrs. White never stated that one must eat eggs or milk for every meal.

Since the liver can store B12 for a long time, there may not even be a need to use eggs or dairy products every week or every month. Of course, there are other reasons to use them besides B12. But many meals can be vegan and delicious. I eat vegan the majority of the time.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

A trend I have noticed among vegans is that they somehow connect their diet to sinless living. They frequently view eating an egg or using milk just as they would eating meat or even unclean meats. You are not the first one to bring up the extreme to vilify the moderate.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

I notice that you missed the sentence in between that says "There are those who try to abstain from what is declared to be harmful." It is by abstaining from these things that are declared to be "harmful" that they "fail to supply the system with proper nourishment." And what are those things? Sugar? Candy? Potato chips?

Obviously not.

The context requires this to be the milk and eggs that she just spoke of a few sentences earlier. Those are frequently declared to be "harmful" but Mrs. White indicates that they are needful for proper nourishment.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.