Howard Lyman appeared on The O’Reilly Factor on February 26 making the case for vegetarianism. Bill O’Reilly wondered if simply eating in moderation wasn’t the key to health and long life, leading to this exchange between Lyman and Bridget Chufo, the founder of Healthy Performance Weight Loss and Wellness Center,
LYMAN: Well, vegetarians live 10 years longer than people on the standard American diet.
O’REILLY: Is that true, Ms. Chofu?
BRIDGET CHUFO, HEALTHY PERFORMANCE WEIGHT LOSS CTR.: Well, I think you’re mixing up some confusion here in the sense that vegetarians, right, nine to 10 years longer. But most vegetarians have a more healthy lifestyle in the sense that they don’t smoke, they don’t drink, their exercise, they sleep adequately. So just eating in a healthier manner, in a vegetarian way, may not be the single variable that we’re talking about here.
O’REILLY: Right, but does Mr. Lyman have a point that eating meat and dairy products and things like that are harmful to you?
CHUFO: I agree with you, Mr. O’Reilly. Everything in moderation. The fewer foods that you can pick from, the fewer nutrients that you’re going to get into your body, especially with the kids. The kids need protein. And they’re not always going to get it from the nuts and the seeds and the tofu and things of this nature, simply because we have to deal with reality.
I have some pretty strong disagreements with Chufo, but she is spot on about the reason why vegetarians tend to live longer than non-vegetarians, with the proviso that vegetarians also likely benefit from increased consumption of fruits and vegetables (i.e, one of the problems with the standard American diet is not that it includes meat, but rather that it does not include enough fruits and vegetables.
Source:
Meatless or Meaningless? The O’Reilly Factor, Transcript, February 26, 2002.