let me begin by saying that dr. oz has always bugged me. he's a hugely enormous gigantic proponent of (and participant in) vivisection, which automatically makes him a massive tool in my humble opinion. and it drives me bonkers that he's held up as this wonderful amazing "doctor for the people" and that everyone thinks his word is gospel. ugh.
so imagine my surprise when i saw (via someone's facebook last week) that he had some guy on his show adopt a vegan diet for 28 days in order to improve his health. the guy in question is "rocco the cowboy," and i watched a 10-minute segment that showed rocco's transformation and apparent adoption of a vegan diet, and by all accounts it sounds like he's planning to stick with it. yay for rocco. of course, it probably doesn't even need to be said that dr. oz never once mentions animals; this is entirely a health-based argument, so we already know he's not necessarily on my team here.
after watching rocco's segment, i clicked through to check out dr. oz's "go vegan" page, and let's just say it's sorely lacking in awesome.
first, he totally misuses the term 'vegan' when he explains that "many vegans also choose not to purchase items made from leather or that have been tested on animals, but the commitment that you bring to veganism is your own." um, wrong. ALL vegans choose not to do those things, or they wouldn't actually be vegans, duh.
second, in his "action plan," he outlines a four-week process to going vegan. in week one, he implies that vegans need to take multivitamins and B12 in order to get protein. what? good one, doctor. in week two, he advocates substituting all meat products with soy products. seriously, has he ever heard of beans, or peanut butter? i know that doctors get next to no nutritional training, but seriously.
and in what is perhaps my favorite part of the whole charade, dr. oz's week four of his "go vegan" plan is that you don't actually go vegan. what the eff? he honest-to-christ suggests that you re-introduce eggs and meet (sic) into your diet in week four, because veganism "isn't a reality or even an ideal." wow, i feel healthier already.
Oh, wow. That's ridiculous. You'd think he'd have someone to do some research for his site!
Have you seen Ellen Degeneres' vegan page on her site? Much better! :)
Posted by: Jo | 17 November 2009 at 06:25 AM
Well, crap! I didn't even see his vegan page. Ellen totally puts him to shame. Stupid doctors thinking they know everything. Dr. Phil is bad about that too. Can't stand, Dr Phil. Don't know much about Dr Oz, though when I saw him on the show I could tell he is really superficial and has had work done on his "hollywood" face.
Posted by: la phoenicienne | 17 November 2009 at 12:43 PM
wtfff?
Dear Mr Oz:
- B12 is a vitamin. multivitamins are vitamins (many of them!) protein is not a vitamin.
- protein is in a lot of things that are not soy OR meat. I know, crazy! protein is in almost everything we eat. YEAH, really!
- stop calling strict vegetariansim veganism, it makes you look stupid.
sincerely,
Not a Dietitian, and yet I know more than you
Posted by: gladcow | 17 November 2009 at 06:00 PM
oh, my heart just skipped some beats. now so many more people are going to be uneducated about veganism and think i'm not healthy because dr. oz said so. oh man. i'm freaking out. first i hear about the oprah veganism thing and now this?? NOOOO.
Posted by: Arianna | 20 November 2009 at 02:06 AM
OZ is just a silly TV punk. Whay isn't that man working?
Posted by: larry | 03 February 2010 at 04:06 PM
Interesting blog about Dr. Oz, I enjoyed the reading, thanks!
Posted by: Real State in Costa Rica | 06 April 2010 at 02:03 PM
I thnk Dr. Oz is good as far as helping many t stay healthy.
Posted by: Tommy T | 04 November 2010 at 09:21 PM
I just think he doesn't want to be taken to court. He wrote the foreward to Kathy Freston's vegan book 'Quantum Wellness' and also Joel Fuhrman's book 'Eat to Live.' Joel Fuhrman totally supports a well planned vegan diet, vegetarian diets and very near vegetarian diets. It seems that Dr Oz is trying to do it through others so that the meat and dairy industry don't take him off air. His wife is vegetarian and his daughter can be found on PCRM's/Neal Barnards website talking about her vegan diet. Go figure?
Posted by: Emma | 12 April 2011 at 08:11 AM
Dr. Oz is more a tv personality to the people, so he wants to appeal to the masses in a positive light.
I have to comment though, your statement that ALL vegans avoid all animal products or else they wouldn't be vegan, duh..... I know many people that eat vegan for health reasons, not animal rights. I myself went vegan for health and not animal rights. That doesn't mean that animal rights is not a good reason, or should be condoned, I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that a lot of people do care about their own health first above all else when they get really sick and are living miserably.
I have some vegan friends who freak out about absolutely everything whether it's certified vegan or not, items containing vegan sugar, not white sugar (cuz it's filtered through bone char) and buying vegan wines and beers (that aren't filtered through fish scales) Eating something like that that is not technically vegan, is not detrimental to health because it came into contact with animal products. It does not contain animal products, they were used in processing.
But then what about all the other foods that don't contain animal products, but animals were killed or came into contact with the food? I'm talking about everything in factories, rats, mice, beetles, flies, ants etc. Don't pretend their legs and hairs are not in your beloved peanut butter or pasta sauce that LOOKS vegan from the label.
What about using any mode of transportation when tires are not vegan?
Where do you draw the line?
I do care about nothing supporting the meat and dairy industry and I don't eat those products for my own health and to vote with my dollars on fruit and vegetables instead.
But that doesn't mean that everyone who eats vegan is the same kind of vegan that you are.
The original description of vegan is that. But nowadays people are just calling it a plant-based diet. Because a lot of us are getting damn sick of labels and elitist vegans coming out of the word work and screaming at us that something we bought could contains trace amounts of animals.
Don't pretend that those fruits, vegetables and grains you eat from a farm had nothing to do with the death and destruction of insects, rodents and birds during their growth and processing.
So technically you can't even breath air or feed a baby breast milk as these are not vegan practices. Some children are dying because of this... uneducated ethical vegan parents starving their kids feeding them rice milk, because hey it says milk on the package, must be the same right?
I prefer to educate people on how to eat more vegan or mostly vegan for their health and then they tend to err on the side of almost no animal products because they like the health benefits so much. For the whole world to embrace this practice would be outstanding.
You cannot convince the whole world to go vegan for ethical reasons alone. Most people love their dog or cat and hate chickens, fish, cows, snakes, alligators, sharks, spiders, bugs etc. So both approaches are best when educating people. Health benefits and ethical reasons.
Posted by: Veronica Patenaude | 01 November 2011 at 01:46 AM