Like this:

You know how a couple of posts ago I mentioned that one of PETA’s animal cruelty videos had helped turn me vegetarian? Let’s just forget I ever said that. Because right now I want nothing more than to disassociate myself with PETA as much as possible.

I’ve never been a big fan of PETA’s “shock and awe” ad campaigns, but I thought they were, although sleazy, generally well-meaning and fairly benign. I’ve never been able to work up a good rage over their exploits.

That is, until this:

Oh, where to begin? Besides being horribly offensive and inexcusably crude, the ad is complete bunk. Eschewing meat will not make you to lose weight. A vegetarian diet can still be full of sugar and carbs, which are much worse for you than, say, lean chicken breast or grilled fish. A healthy diet is a healthy diet, meatless or otherwise.

You know what else doesn’t make people lose weight? Guilt trips. If shame were a successful dieting tactic, there would be no fat people on the planet.

The worst part of this ad, though, is the bad name it gives us reasonable vegetarians. The majority of us have little interest in evangelizing our diets or ridiculing meat-eaters, despite what PETA would have you believe. And focusing on the “vegetarian=skinny” argument takes the focus away from other, more important reasons to reduce or quit your consumption of meat. And they’re myriad–but weight loss isn’t one of them.

And now back to your regularly scheduled food blog.

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