There's a research study out now that suggests that kids with high IQs are more likely to be adult vegetarians [HealthDay] [British Medical Journal]. hmmm. Wow! I would love it if I really believed this, and I wish it were true. (I disagree more with the assumptions made in the HealthDay article than the conclusions drawn by the study itself.)
First of all, 33.6% of the self-reported vegetarians in the study admitted eating fish and chicken. ummm... those aren't vegetables. When I started down this veggie road, I did it slowly, starting by giving up beef, then pork, then chicken... continued to eat fish for about the first 5 years of it and called myself a "fish-eating vegetarian", but you know what? That's an oxymoron. It doesn't exist. You can be "almost vegetarian" or an "evolving vegetarian" but not a "fish-eating vegetarian". So, their data are skewed by 33.6% not being what they are claiming that they are, although they've stated that the correlation is there nonetheless.
Second, I have known lots of really smart people either through friendship or association. Not only am I a member of Mensa* but I have many years under my belt working with scientists (as a support person). What the study suggests, in my humble opinion, is not borne out by the reality I've lived in. All I'm saying is that I'm a bit skeptical and would really like to see this same study conducted in the USA and other cultures as this one was done in the UK.
I now think of myself as an "evolving vegan". Not sure if I'll ever actually get there all the way.
Image from Lettuce Ladies.
*Please note that I am not bragging. I qualified and joined, that's all. If you qualify for something or win something, do you keep it a secret? Is there any reason to do that? It's not a big deal, and it's also not a secret. I'm just sayin'.
EDIT 12/16: This post is starting to eat comments. If you've left a comment and it didn't show up, or showed up and disappeared later, it's probably Blogger's fault. My apologies on behalf of Blogger (I hoped beta would make this not happen anymore! I've seen it happen a couple of times before)
Tags: vegetarian - IQ
5 comments:
I myself am not vegetarian, although I think I am quite intelligent. (I said quite).
As someone said, "I didn't fight my way to the top of the food chain to become a vegetarian".
I never could understand vegetarians who eat fish and just the drumsticks of chicken... it's like being pregnant: you either are, or ain't.
Your road to vegan reminds me of that wonderful episode of The Simpsons, with this charming dialogue:
Lisa: "Oh, the earth is the best! That's why I'm a vegetarian."
Jesse: "Heh. Well, that's a start."
Lisa: "Uh, well, I was thinking of going vegan."
Jesse: "I'm a level 5 vegan - I won't eat anything that casts a shadow."
:-)
I am so much like Lisa Simpson, it's almost frightening.
;-)
Just read about Mensa (never heard of it before, I admit).
You am is a smart peoples, ain't ya!
Sounds quite intriguing!
Arrrgh! This post is starting to eat comments! I've seen Blogger do this a couple of times before -- it displays the wrong number of comments on the overall blog view, and some of them disappear from the permanent link!
I didn't delete anything, I read them in email even if they've disappeared here. It ate my last comment before this (now watch it show up later). On behalf of Blogger I apologize. (Beta! Why didn't you fix this?)
That's Beta for you...
Come back home, to the stable bosom of the traditional Blogger, my child.
Repent, and you shall be forgiven.
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