The Oil Drum

Ha, that beyondveg website is a joke, no scientific credibility.  If you seriously aren't aware of the thousands of scientific studies implicating animal products as the cause of the epidemic rates of "western" diseases, then you have no business commenting on the subject.  People love hearing good news about their bad habits, and that is what sites like beyondveg are all about.  It is exactly the kind of site that would call peak oilers crazy, and promote garbage like the abiotic oil theory.  Never heard of Dean Ornish, MD?  John McDougall, MD., PCRM.org?  These folks present their arguments based on scientific studies, not on feel-good assurances that the status quo is always right.  

And then bashing grains?  You sound like a raw fooder, lol!
If grain-based diets caused chronic disease then the incidence of western ilnesses like heart disease/cancer should be HUGE in the poor populations of the world that base their diets on grains. Instead, these diseases are nearly unheard of in these populations, which make up a major part of world population - clearly a glaring contradiction.

The book noted below is yet another elucidation of the unhealthiness of meat.  Even tiny amounts (by western standards) showed negative consequences.  5000 people in the US drop dead every day from artery diseases clogged and ruptured by what, rice and vegetables?  The head of The Framingham Heart Study, the grand prix of heart studies,
says they have never seen a case of heart disease from a person with a cholesterol lower than 150.  Guess what level cholesterol drops to when you stop eating meat and dairy?  under 150.

The China Study : The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-Term Health -- by T. Colin Campbell,

It's important to keep an open mind, but not so open your brain falls out.  (Carl Sagan?)  In my unpopular opinion, if you believe meat is healthy then your brain is flopping around on the ground, waiting to be picked up.