[NOTE: Since posting this yesterday, I read a study that implicates Saturated Fat in helping cause Altzheimer's disease. Here's a link to my post about the study.]
I posted a few coments regarding another fat-sugar-ladden chocolate bar giveaway on Happy Herbivore early this morning. The first was a link (she removed this without telling me or anyone). The second was to point out the nutritional numbers on the products being promoted, and the third, in response to the blogger, politely asking is it really worth it? Don't know what else has gone on there, after the blogger deleted my link, I lost interest.
Anyway, the blogger sent me an e-mail. Unfortunately, I didn't intend to post any more comments (and said as much), but a friend told me that she posted a large comment, effectively exaggerating and blowing things outta proportion. Didn't realize the e-mail was the same comment (she didn't tell me). So, in the interest of fairness, here's the exact long e-mail I sent back to her.
I don't like doing this in public, but she's left me no choice. FYI, Mark
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To: Happy Herbivore <[email protected]>
From: Mark Sutton <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Comments
Mark, you are nothing short of a bully. You’ve harassed VeganDad and now you’re terrorizing my giveaway. Yes I run a fat-free blog & believe in a low fat / no added fat diet. Though, the body does need some fat to survive and as someone else pointed out, there have been dozens of studies have shown that dark chocolate is beneficial and HEALTHY if eaten sparingly. There are plenty of raw foodists who also preach the benefits of dark chocolate. That said I am not ADVERTISING dark chocolate. I am giving it away. Newman’s kindly sent me free products. I was not paid for them. I was not paid to review them. I was not paid to give them away. They were free promotion items I was sent and since they gave me so much, I decided to share it with others AT MY EXPENSE.
[Terrorizing? Hardly. Harassing? Gimmee a break.
'Sides, each of those bars contain a day's worth of saturated fat and 2/3 a days worth of sugar (according to the AHA). I just pointed out the truth. You run a fat-free blog and believe in a low fat/no added fat diet, and you giveaway this processed junk and think that it's okay morally?
That's your call, and open game to voice opinion on.
"Sparingly?" Yeah, someone's going to eat part of a bar and save the rest for later. Right.
The truth is, that to drive up your stats and promote your website, you are promoting, effectively forever, vegan junk food that isn't healthy. Extra credit for tweeting, joining a newsletter, etc., using free fatty chocolate bars as bait. Watching those numbers rise is a rush, isn't it?
As I wrote, hardly terrorizing, "I love your recipes" (what a bully!!), "but despise the giveaways. " That's my prerogative. I got many supportative e-mails from my own posts about what you're doing (note: never linked directly to your site or used your blog name). They all, unanimously, can't believe you'd promote such products. They've questioned your credibility and motivation.
And it is advertising. Why do you think they sent you the stuff for free? You are being used, and in this case, it's to promote unhealthy fat and sugarful vegan junk food.]
[Rest of the Long E-mail Response is Below]
If someone finds that chocolate is not acceptable to their diet, they don’t have to enter this contest. I have lived and loved the low fat vegan lifestyle for many years. I do indulge in a piece of dark chocolate and other fatty items, like avocados and walnuts on occassion because life without them in moderation would be miserable for me. I also know omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidents are important so I use these healthy, organic foods to supplement.
Unlike you I am not telling people how to live their lives or what risks they should take or avoid. Those are their decisions. If someone wants free chocolate, I hope they enter this giveaway, if they find it is unhealthy, they can decline.
[I'm not talking avocados and walnuts, I'm talking 100 % of the daily recommend SATURATED FAT for women in ONE chocolate bar.
Did you bother to look at the nutritional stats on these bars before you promoted them? You might have done that and made note of such so people could make good decisions. Took me all of a minute's worth of time to find the numbers. Did you not care?
I did. I simply pointed out the numbers and what the AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION recommends.
THEN people can decide, in an intelligent, non-emotional manner, what they should eat. It will also help them judge the quality of the advice they are being given and/or the promoter.]
Please refrain from debating in the comment s9ection of my blog in the future and attacking me or my website. I will ban all future hateful comments as nothing positive every comes out of negativity.
[What debate? Were my stats from the AHA regarding the bars incorrect?
"Hateful?" I think you are grossly exaggerating matters. Can you tell me what was hateful about my comments on your blog?
I think banning all future hateful comments is a good thing, banning the truth is another matter.
Also, there's no need to reply to this note. My position is clear and solid on the matter.
Like it or not, and there's no way to sugar coat this, you shilled for Newman's. You promoted high-fat high-sugar products. You did that Pro Bono. That's now forever, digitally.
As I've written, love your recipes, despise the giveaways.
Maybe I hold you to a higher standard than you do. You know, the one that inspired you to write your books and do you blog to begin with?
As for VeganDad, yes, his recipes are often abysmal on the fat scale, and we've discussed the matter off line. But posting a comment pointing it out (and I haven't in awhile, but STILL promoted his book in the newsletter), hardly qualifies as terrorizing.
Again, I respect and admire your work in general, but the products promotion I don't. It's a slippery slope, and someone needed to point it out.
I also suggest you re-examine how you are using the words "terrorizing" and "bully." I understand that you've gotten emotionial about this all, but they are not appropriate to throw around indiscriminately. I didn't debate. I posted a link, then posed a question to your response. You've overreacted, unfortunately.
I didn't comment on your blog your first giveaway. A bully or "terrorist" would have acted quite differently, I'd imagine.
In the final analysis, people will do what they decide to, whether it appears I'm telling them what to do or not. In general, I'm trying to point out the nutritional realities that are often missed when using the word "vegan" in the unconscious belief that this means it's good for you.
Considering all the e-mail I've received agreeing with me on the matter, I see no reason to stop.
I do wish you the best, and hope you consider some of these issues carefully.
Blogs like yours have influence. Whether that be good or bad, ultimately, is your decision, and no one else's.
My comments on your blog were polite and concise.
What I write on my blog is MY prerogative, and if you wish to comment on them directly, that's yours.
Mark]
-Lindsay
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Visit <http://happyherbivore.com>happyherbivore.com
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