Vegetarianism
- Thread starter shadow
- Start date
- Status
rey meustrus
Sponsor
Mr. N, would you care to share some of the specific food you eat? I'm very curious about how to cook vegan food.
arbiter
Guest
;D
I make a lot of Italian, Mexican food, Asian food, I can even do a relatively traditional American-style meal just swapping out the main course for tofu or fake meat. For instance this week I had a pasta salad with ranch dressing (homemade using vegan substitutes), fake bacon, olives, water chestnuts and sunflower seeds. The day before that I had white bean stew, before that I did taquitos with guacamole dip, and sometime last week I had burritos.
I also made crepes, curry, fajitas, a spinach & artichoke pasta with portabella mushrooms, chow mein, and probably a few other things I can't remember sometime this month.
I also made crepes, curry, fajitas, a spinach & artichoke pasta with portabella mushrooms, chow mein, and probably a few other things I can't remember sometime this month.
rey meustrus
Sponsor
It's probably too much trouble, but I'd like help learning to cook the variety of food you just listed, specifically without meat or with substitutes. It's probably also outside of the scope of this thread...
I think that vegitarianism can be a big crock, it's not healthy to not eat meat. In fact it's not natural. This is how nature is intended to be done, we eat meat because it provides the iron and protein we need that vegetables alone cannot.
Also, any vegitarian who says "I don't eat meat to protect the animals becaue it's cruel" is being a complete and utter moron. No less animals will be slaughtered because the demand for meat will always be the same even if you drop out of the cycle of nature. In fact, they'll be dying in vain because you won't bloody well eat them. Secondly, if a Tiger jumps on a gazelle or something that's nature, it's meat eating, but it's nature. Do we blame the Tiger, no, but we blame humans when they eat meat. Why we kill in such mass quantities is pretty much the same, we are the top of the food chain, we are more intelligent than all the rest and technology is just another part of evolution, we no longer club them to death before we eat them, we shoot them instead. It's more mass-quantity because there's 6.5 billion humans on Earth.
In any case, vegitarianism because you don't like the taste of meat or because you are grossed out by meat is okay. That is nature, it's a human reaction to an external stimulus. You choose not to eat because of the way the meat itself makes you feel, not because you feel sorry for some cow.
Rant. Over.
Also, any vegitarian who says "I don't eat meat to protect the animals becaue it's cruel" is being a complete and utter moron. No less animals will be slaughtered because the demand for meat will always be the same even if you drop out of the cycle of nature. In fact, they'll be dying in vain because you won't bloody well eat them. Secondly, if a Tiger jumps on a gazelle or something that's nature, it's meat eating, but it's nature. Do we blame the Tiger, no, but we blame humans when they eat meat. Why we kill in such mass quantities is pretty much the same, we are the top of the food chain, we are more intelligent than all the rest and technology is just another part of evolution, we no longer club them to death before we eat them, we shoot them instead. It's more mass-quantity because there's 6.5 billion humans on Earth.
In any case, vegitarianism because you don't like the taste of meat or because you are grossed out by meat is okay. That is nature, it's a human reaction to an external stimulus. You choose not to eat because of the way the meat itself makes you feel, not because you feel sorry for some cow.
Rant. Over.
second_crimson
Member
I eat fairly healthy, low-processed foods. A nice lean steak or a filet of tuna go a long way. I don't go crazy eating meat, and I balance it with other foods. I do eat more carbs than is good for a normal person, but it's doctor recommended. I think it's entirely possible to be healthy and vegetarian, but it takes a lot of effort and careful planning. I think it's so much easier to be healthy if you don't exclude meat.
I have no problem with people being vegetarians. It's their choice. But the minute they start telling me I'm ammoral, unhealthy, or generally wrong to eat meat is when I get shitty.
I have no problem with people being vegetarians. It's their choice. But the minute they start telling me I'm ammoral, unhealthy, or generally wrong to eat meat is when I get shitty.
Nature "intended" humans to be highly adaptable omnivores. We are "intended" to eat whatever is most convenient to us and can derive nutrition from a broader variety of foods than almost any animal on the planet. We don't need beefsteak any more than we need kiwi fruits to survive.Petros":21xs3xn7 said:
In a world of closing on 7 billion people, eating a couple pounds of meat a day is not practical or convenient for the majority of the population and a waste of natural resources, and it's not required for health.
Fallacious and ignorant argument. A single individual cannot make much of an impact but an aggregate of many individuals does make a significant change. If no one person can do anything according to your logic people as a whole are incapable of doing anything, which is clearly false. It's a cheap excuse for inaction when others run out and it doesn't fly. If you believe something to be the correct course of action "but I'm just one person and can't make a difference" is a pathetic excuse. If you don't believe in it, you don't need to make the excuse or state it.
False. Tigers are carnivores, as are other predators. Humans are neither predators nor carnivores. Point in fact meat-eating humans are closer to carrion-eating scavengers; the vast majority of meat they consume was neither predated by them nor is it fresh - it's usually a week or two dead at best by the time it hits the store. This is a poor comparison, but also see above: humans are not carnivores, they do not depend on meat as a primary part of their diet, but rather as an optional supplement.
False. Humans do not participate in any "food chain". Our bodies in most cultures are preserved after death (see corresponding thread here in the Symposium), and no significant portion of our population goes to feeding or replenishing natural resources after death. The only contribution we make is our production of waste materials, which supports a large population of scavengers. We have extricated ourselves from all natural cycles; natural selection does not apply to us, neither does any cycle of life. We are parasitic in nature - we contribute very little to the natural order.
I'm not a vegetarian because I feel sorry for cows, I'm a vegetarian because I believe it's the most efficient and practical solution to a growing population problem and a simple solution to proper nutrition in wealthy sedentary cultures. I don't act based on guilt.
Translocator
Member
I used to be one of the people who made fun of vegetarians and vegans. Actually, that was about a year ago  :dead:...
I used to eat a heavy amount of meat in my diet (in fact, I ate a ridiculous amount and pushed away vegetables of any kind) as I am a bodybuilder, for the proootein. Well, I was pretty stupid about it and ate way too much red meat (hot dogs in particular), and many terrible artificial products and whatnot that visibly deteriorated my health. My joints would hurt a ton, I would always be very tired and unwilling to hang out with friends, and my attitude was crap. After living like this for a while, I began getting a serious acne problem on my face, and so I of course went on plenty of acne medications and all that good stuff for their recommended time. They didn't work.
So, I did some more research on acne, and read many many health books on the subject, and it seemed the best (yet most annoying for many people) solution to my problem was simply to better my health. Now, I obviously thought I was a pretty damn healthy guy; I mean, I had a very good physique... that makes me healthy, right? :wink: Anyways, one of the biggest causes for both my joint pain and my acne was the heavily acidifying diet I consumed (read: normal western diet, especially heavy on meat). This would need to be balanced by my bodies' own alkaline buffers, the best of which is calcium in your bones. So, while I thought I was supplying my body full of calcium with my ridiculous amounts of milk and meat and all that good stuff, I was pretty much just sucking it out of my bones. Also, eating a high amount of saturated fat in meats raised my blood fat levels (this inhibits the function of insulin, fyi). I'd compound the problem by eating a large amount of refined sugary foods, which would spike my insulin levels (and even higher due to insulin being inhibited) and caused my body to rely on different methods to lower my blood sugar. Candidiasis (or 'candida albicans'), a floral bacteria present in all of us (though in very small and controlled amounts) thrives on sugar, and my body allowed more sugar to go to these bacteria as it was at it's limit for dealing with it on its own. This caused an overgrowth of candida in my body, and one of the many symptoms of candida is acne (as well as depression, bad attitude, exhaustion, and plenty of other symptoms I was showing).
The best way to kill candida and raise overall health levels I found was to increase consumption of plant-based alkalizing wholefoods, and to reduce or eliminate my consumption of acidifying and refined, and, well, pretty much useless foods in terms of nutrition. This included meat, wheat, lowered intake of soy, refined sugar or food, and the like. What does that leave? Well, a surprising amount, actually. See, I was under the impression that once meat is eliminated from your diet, protein is nearly impossible to come by... maybe a bit here and there in some nuts. Actually, the plant kingdom is VERY abundant in protein; a fact many dietitians and YOU seem to ignore :tongue2:. For example, hemp, yellow pea, brown rice, flax seed, chlorella and plenty other plant foods contain a very high amount of protein (between 30-60% per calorie content), and when uncooked and unrefined, this protein has its enzymes intact and is perfectly complete source of protein (it contains all essential and non-essential amino acids) and thus is VERY easily digested, resulting in more useable nutrients as well as it is alkalizing in the intestines.
Also, B12 is NOT nonexistent in plants, it's just a bit harder to come by nowadays. Some great plant sources of B12 include chlorella (a damn book could be written on the benefits of chlorella), cordyceps sinensis, suma, nori (seaweed) and some other types of seaweed as well. Note this: a perfect wholefood multivitamin can be easily made with EVERY ingredient of an artificial multivitamin using just plants, in fact, there is a very popular vegan brand called "Vega" who produces such a wholefood multivitamin/meal replacement (and contains, for those who give a crap, 7 g of fat, 4 of which being essential polyunsaturated, 23 carbs (15 grams of which is in fibre, 1 in sugar), and 26 grams of protein. That's 7:23:26 fat:carbs:protein. With every nutrient you could possibly need. All made with plants, and non-allergic ones either. Kinda kicks the crap out of a lot of carnivorous arguments, right?).
Anyways, sorry for the rant, my point is is that now I am MUCH more outgoing, my muscles grow FASTER than before (mmhmmm), my cholesterol levels are very low, I cured my acne problem, I can run 15 miles and not feel tired. I dunno, I just feel perfectly "nourished". I'm never hungry, I never crave foods I used to eat (imagine looking at raw broccoli, does your appetite scream "EAT IT!!!" to you? Probably not. That's what it's like for me and 'junk food' now. My body realizes it doesn't get 'nutrition' from them, only calories.) In fact, when I'm hungry, I crave fruits, vegetables, raw nuts and the like. So in that sense, it just takes a transitional period to get over your love for the foods Americans usually eat.
To sum it up: You get everything you need from plants, iron, b12, protein, zinc, magnesium, I don't care; everything. So don't use that as a basis for argument against vegetarianism. It's also actually MORE healthy, in my opinion and experience.
Now, on to those who say it's natural to eat meat and unnatural not to:
Let's take a look at our physiology. Take a look at your hands and think about how strong and fast you are in comparison to other animals. Looking at myself, I don't think I could go catch a rabbit very easily (not without the use of my superior brain anyways, but I'll get to that). I'm not sure I could wrestle down a cow and then bite into it's flesh and have that as my evolutionarily given trump card to food gathering. However, I am pretty well built to pick fruit off of a tree, in fact, I did so just a little while ago and had a decent time doing it (cherry trees ftw). Picking vegetables, as well; pretty easy stuff. Also, it just so happens that fruits and vegetables happen to contain a lot of fibre in them (very important for digestive health) and many vitamins and minerals as well. Also, fruit contains a high amount of natural sugar. What is my main source of fuel for EVERY CELL IN MY BODY? Nice, it's glucose! Pretty easy there. I eat sugar from fruits, and I don't need to task my body with converting it into anything other than what it already is; it's ready to be used. Fats need to be converted, though, are still important for long-term energy usage, but I think you see my point. Protein are used for muscle recovery and building, and so are important for a different use. (Although, just so you know, if you eat too much protein and too little carbs and fat, your body CAN convert protein into sugar, but it is a highly toxic process and that's a retarded diet anyways, so...)
Now let's look at our digestive system in relation to other animals. Carnivores' have very strong digestive acids that can melt bones. They can swallow meat without even chewing it, and it'll dissolve in their stomachs. What happens when you swallow say a seed or a piece of corn even without chewing it? It passes through. That's how strong your digestive juices are :tongue:. Also, look at our teeth differences. The lower part of jawbones of carnivores are locked; ideal for ripping flesh from bones. Also, their teeth are quite sharp. However, we DO know that we are anatomically and physiologically similar to gorillas and monkeys and the like. They consume mostly fruits and green, leafy vegetables, though will occasionally eat some insects if few are available. Seriously, just look at fruits and vegetables: Their nutritional profile matches our needs, they can be eaten without needing to be cooked or seasoned, they are hostile to bacteria, virus, parasites, and other pathogens because of their alkalizing nature and they are instinctively appealing to us because of their taste/sweetness.
However, many will argue that we are omnivores, and we don't need to stay in one food group. Well, actually, yes, that's true, but it's also not optimal. No animal is really adapted to eat all things, but if any animal comes close, it'd have to be the bear. They consume ants, bees, honey, seeds, roots, nuts, berries, insect larvae (grubs), flowers, rodents, fish, deer, pigs, lambs and fish. Sounds a bit like an American diet, which is why many conclude that the natural human diet is that of an omnivore. But looking at our physiology again, the biggest difference is in our teeth; omnivores have sharp canines of a carnivore as well as the pronounced incisors of the herbivore. They also have molars that are both pointed and broad-topped. That's nothing like ours. Also, our digestive tract matches that of frugivores (gorillas, etc.) being about 10-12x the length of the body from mouth to anus. Carnivores are 3-5x, and herbivores 20-28x. So, by this definition, we are frugivores.
Does this make a vegetarian diet automatically better? Not really. In fact, there are some theories that, depending on blood type, some people actually do better when they include meat in their diet. Other factors in our diet affect our health to a much greater degree than simply whether we eat meat or not. However, eating too much meat (3oz or less a day is perfectly fine), like I've rambled on above, significantly compromises good bacteria and promotes bad bacteria (ie: Candida) as well as making your intestines acidic.
So to break this down:
- It is NATURAL for humans to eat a purely plant-based diet. That being said, it's also 'natural' to eat a small amount of meat.
- One can gain all they need from a plant-based diet, as long as they're not stupid about it (even without an artificial multivitamin, if they can get ahold of either a wide array of plants or simply some Vega or a similiar product.)
- Too much meat can be detrimental to your health, but to a lesser degree than say refined wheat and sugary treats, or lack of excercise... or stress... or lack of any of 'teh gud stuf'.
So with that, you're not allowed to 'make fun' of vegetarians. Honestly, it doesn't take a PhD to step back and look at this with common sense. Of course, vegetarians can be very unhealthy. I mean, eating a microwaveable pizza pocket (cheese flavour) is vegetarian, right? Yeah. Is it healthy? Hell no. So vegetarian =/ healthy, but it's a step in the right direction; no meat means a quicker digestive route (meat stays in our digestive system for ridiculously long while fruits/veggies go through quickly and cleanly).
Last thing, our brains. What do you think developed first evolutionarily, our brains or our bodies? It doesn't take a stretch to figure our bodies became as they are, and our brains developed to their current state later on. I mean, if our brains developed first, we wouldn't really need to be as strong or fast or tall or big as we are, that's all a waste of energy that could be put into creating junk. So taking that into account, my argument on eating easy-to-obtain fruits and vegetables makes more sense. Meat eating probably became 'normal' in a time ago measurable in the thousands of years; hardly enough for us to become perfect omnivores. Maybe enough to tolerate and use meat for some good. I'm not sure where some of you get the idea that eating plants and vegetables is unnatural while eating meat is.
Mah gawd, sorry for the huge response, and for being a bit unorganized, but this is a big point
PS: This isn't even touching on the subject of the wastefulness of meat production compared to plant production. Combat me on these points and I'll elaborate:
-60% of the greenhouse gas production if from meat production (and people get pissed off at your for driving too much :P)
-I think someone already mentioned the waste of land for meat production to veggies. Something like 1:3000, it's insane. People get mad at biofuels taking up space, >.>.
Also, if you care about your health but refuse to give up meat, make a determined effort to eat organic. Organic meat does away with the hormones and toxic chemicals in meat, relieving some of the nutritional stress on your body.
I used to eat a heavy amount of meat in my diet (in fact, I ate a ridiculous amount and pushed away vegetables of any kind) as I am a bodybuilder, for the proootein. Well, I was pretty stupid about it and ate way too much red meat (hot dogs in particular), and many terrible artificial products and whatnot that visibly deteriorated my health. My joints would hurt a ton, I would always be very tired and unwilling to hang out with friends, and my attitude was crap. After living like this for a while, I began getting a serious acne problem on my face, and so I of course went on plenty of acne medications and all that good stuff for their recommended time. They didn't work.
So, I did some more research on acne, and read many many health books on the subject, and it seemed the best (yet most annoying for many people) solution to my problem was simply to better my health. Now, I obviously thought I was a pretty damn healthy guy; I mean, I had a very good physique... that makes me healthy, right? :wink: Anyways, one of the biggest causes for both my joint pain and my acne was the heavily acidifying diet I consumed (read: normal western diet, especially heavy on meat). This would need to be balanced by my bodies' own alkaline buffers, the best of which is calcium in your bones. So, while I thought I was supplying my body full of calcium with my ridiculous amounts of milk and meat and all that good stuff, I was pretty much just sucking it out of my bones. Also, eating a high amount of saturated fat in meats raised my blood fat levels (this inhibits the function of insulin, fyi). I'd compound the problem by eating a large amount of refined sugary foods, which would spike my insulin levels (and even higher due to insulin being inhibited) and caused my body to rely on different methods to lower my blood sugar. Candidiasis (or 'candida albicans'), a floral bacteria present in all of us (though in very small and controlled amounts) thrives on sugar, and my body allowed more sugar to go to these bacteria as it was at it's limit for dealing with it on its own. This caused an overgrowth of candida in my body, and one of the many symptoms of candida is acne (as well as depression, bad attitude, exhaustion, and plenty of other symptoms I was showing).
The best way to kill candida and raise overall health levels I found was to increase consumption of plant-based alkalizing wholefoods, and to reduce or eliminate my consumption of acidifying and refined, and, well, pretty much useless foods in terms of nutrition. This included meat, wheat, lowered intake of soy, refined sugar or food, and the like. What does that leave? Well, a surprising amount, actually. See, I was under the impression that once meat is eliminated from your diet, protein is nearly impossible to come by... maybe a bit here and there in some nuts. Actually, the plant kingdom is VERY abundant in protein; a fact many dietitians and YOU seem to ignore :tongue2:. For example, hemp, yellow pea, brown rice, flax seed, chlorella and plenty other plant foods contain a very high amount of protein (between 30-60% per calorie content), and when uncooked and unrefined, this protein has its enzymes intact and is perfectly complete source of protein (it contains all essential and non-essential amino acids) and thus is VERY easily digested, resulting in more useable nutrients as well as it is alkalizing in the intestines.
Also, B12 is NOT nonexistent in plants, it's just a bit harder to come by nowadays. Some great plant sources of B12 include chlorella (a damn book could be written on the benefits of chlorella), cordyceps sinensis, suma, nori (seaweed) and some other types of seaweed as well. Note this: a perfect wholefood multivitamin can be easily made with EVERY ingredient of an artificial multivitamin using just plants, in fact, there is a very popular vegan brand called "Vega" who produces such a wholefood multivitamin/meal replacement (and contains, for those who give a crap, 7 g of fat, 4 of which being essential polyunsaturated, 23 carbs (15 grams of which is in fibre, 1 in sugar), and 26 grams of protein. That's 7:23:26 fat:carbs:protein. With every nutrient you could possibly need. All made with plants, and non-allergic ones either. Kinda kicks the crap out of a lot of carnivorous arguments, right?).
Anyways, sorry for the rant, my point is is that now I am MUCH more outgoing, my muscles grow FASTER than before (mmhmmm), my cholesterol levels are very low, I cured my acne problem, I can run 15 miles and not feel tired. I dunno, I just feel perfectly "nourished". I'm never hungry, I never crave foods I used to eat (imagine looking at raw broccoli, does your appetite scream "EAT IT!!!" to you? Probably not. That's what it's like for me and 'junk food' now. My body realizes it doesn't get 'nutrition' from them, only calories.) In fact, when I'm hungry, I crave fruits, vegetables, raw nuts and the like. So in that sense, it just takes a transitional period to get over your love for the foods Americans usually eat.
To sum it up: You get everything you need from plants, iron, b12, protein, zinc, magnesium, I don't care; everything. So don't use that as a basis for argument against vegetarianism. It's also actually MORE healthy, in my opinion and experience.
Now, on to those who say it's natural to eat meat and unnatural not to:
Let's take a look at our physiology. Take a look at your hands and think about how strong and fast you are in comparison to other animals. Looking at myself, I don't think I could go catch a rabbit very easily (not without the use of my superior brain anyways, but I'll get to that). I'm not sure I could wrestle down a cow and then bite into it's flesh and have that as my evolutionarily given trump card to food gathering. However, I am pretty well built to pick fruit off of a tree, in fact, I did so just a little while ago and had a decent time doing it (cherry trees ftw). Picking vegetables, as well; pretty easy stuff. Also, it just so happens that fruits and vegetables happen to contain a lot of fibre in them (very important for digestive health) and many vitamins and minerals as well. Also, fruit contains a high amount of natural sugar. What is my main source of fuel for EVERY CELL IN MY BODY? Nice, it's glucose! Pretty easy there. I eat sugar from fruits, and I don't need to task my body with converting it into anything other than what it already is; it's ready to be used. Fats need to be converted, though, are still important for long-term energy usage, but I think you see my point. Protein are used for muscle recovery and building, and so are important for a different use. (Although, just so you know, if you eat too much protein and too little carbs and fat, your body CAN convert protein into sugar, but it is a highly toxic process and that's a retarded diet anyways, so...)
Now let's look at our digestive system in relation to other animals. Carnivores' have very strong digestive acids that can melt bones. They can swallow meat without even chewing it, and it'll dissolve in their stomachs. What happens when you swallow say a seed or a piece of corn even without chewing it? It passes through. That's how strong your digestive juices are :tongue:. Also, look at our teeth differences. The lower part of jawbones of carnivores are locked; ideal for ripping flesh from bones. Also, their teeth are quite sharp. However, we DO know that we are anatomically and physiologically similar to gorillas and monkeys and the like. They consume mostly fruits and green, leafy vegetables, though will occasionally eat some insects if few are available. Seriously, just look at fruits and vegetables: Their nutritional profile matches our needs, they can be eaten without needing to be cooked or seasoned, they are hostile to bacteria, virus, parasites, and other pathogens because of their alkalizing nature and they are instinctively appealing to us because of their taste/sweetness.
However, many will argue that we are omnivores, and we don't need to stay in one food group. Well, actually, yes, that's true, but it's also not optimal. No animal is really adapted to eat all things, but if any animal comes close, it'd have to be the bear. They consume ants, bees, honey, seeds, roots, nuts, berries, insect larvae (grubs), flowers, rodents, fish, deer, pigs, lambs and fish. Sounds a bit like an American diet, which is why many conclude that the natural human diet is that of an omnivore. But looking at our physiology again, the biggest difference is in our teeth; omnivores have sharp canines of a carnivore as well as the pronounced incisors of the herbivore. They also have molars that are both pointed and broad-topped. That's nothing like ours. Also, our digestive tract matches that of frugivores (gorillas, etc.) being about 10-12x the length of the body from mouth to anus. Carnivores are 3-5x, and herbivores 20-28x. So, by this definition, we are frugivores.
Does this make a vegetarian diet automatically better? Not really. In fact, there are some theories that, depending on blood type, some people actually do better when they include meat in their diet. Other factors in our diet affect our health to a much greater degree than simply whether we eat meat or not. However, eating too much meat (3oz or less a day is perfectly fine), like I've rambled on above, significantly compromises good bacteria and promotes bad bacteria (ie: Candida) as well as making your intestines acidic.
So to break this down:
- It is NATURAL for humans to eat a purely plant-based diet. That being said, it's also 'natural' to eat a small amount of meat.
- One can gain all they need from a plant-based diet, as long as they're not stupid about it (even without an artificial multivitamin, if they can get ahold of either a wide array of plants or simply some Vega or a similiar product.)
- Too much meat can be detrimental to your health, but to a lesser degree than say refined wheat and sugary treats, or lack of excercise... or stress... or lack of any of 'teh gud stuf'.
So with that, you're not allowed to 'make fun' of vegetarians. Honestly, it doesn't take a PhD to step back and look at this with common sense. Of course, vegetarians can be very unhealthy. I mean, eating a microwaveable pizza pocket (cheese flavour) is vegetarian, right? Yeah. Is it healthy? Hell no. So vegetarian =/ healthy, but it's a step in the right direction; no meat means a quicker digestive route (meat stays in our digestive system for ridiculously long while fruits/veggies go through quickly and cleanly).
Last thing, our brains. What do you think developed first evolutionarily, our brains or our bodies? It doesn't take a stretch to figure our bodies became as they are, and our brains developed to their current state later on. I mean, if our brains developed first, we wouldn't really need to be as strong or fast or tall or big as we are, that's all a waste of energy that could be put into creating junk. So taking that into account, my argument on eating easy-to-obtain fruits and vegetables makes more sense. Meat eating probably became 'normal' in a time ago measurable in the thousands of years; hardly enough for us to become perfect omnivores. Maybe enough to tolerate and use meat for some good. I'm not sure where some of you get the idea that eating plants and vegetables is unnatural while eating meat is.
Mah gawd, sorry for the huge response, and for being a bit unorganized, but this is a big point
PS: This isn't even touching on the subject of the wastefulness of meat production compared to plant production. Combat me on these points and I'll elaborate:
-60% of the greenhouse gas production if from meat production (and people get pissed off at your for driving too much :P)
-I think someone already mentioned the waste of land for meat production to veggies. Something like 1:3000, it's insane. People get mad at biofuels taking up space, >.>.
Also, if you care about your health but refuse to give up meat, make a determined effort to eat organic. Organic meat does away with the hormones and toxic chemicals in meat, relieving some of the nutritional stress on your body.
Thanks for the intelligent and informed post, you don't catch that often in a vegetarian thread here - you typically have self-proclaimed "carnivores" babbling anecdotal nonsense, a few hippies on the moral bandwagon and nobody with any sense of actual nutritional health. I do have a few comments though:
First, there has been no actual scientific research in support of the blood-type based diet fad to my knowledge. If you know anything contradicting that, please feel free to post some references.
Second, I'm on the fence about chlorella as the research on it over the past several decades hasn't really panned out. I do believe it's one of the common sources for vitamin B12 supplements though. It sounds like it takes a lot of processing to be valuable as a food source.
I had a question for fellow strict vegetarians (vs. those who regularly consume dairy products and eggs). Do you guys notice a lack or significant reduction in bug bites? I literally have not been bitten by any kind of bug in years. My wife, a lacto-ovo, gets bitten pretty often, especially when we're outdoors camping or picnicking but I can't think of the last time I've had so much as a mosquito bite. I'm really curious about the cause of that and if it has anything to do with diet
First, there has been no actual scientific research in support of the blood-type based diet fad to my knowledge. If you know anything contradicting that, please feel free to post some references.
Second, I'm on the fence about chlorella as the research on it over the past several decades hasn't really panned out. I do believe it's one of the common sources for vitamin B12 supplements though. It sounds like it takes a lot of processing to be valuable as a food source.
I had a question for fellow strict vegetarians (vs. those who regularly consume dairy products and eggs). Do you guys notice a lack or significant reduction in bug bites? I literally have not been bitten by any kind of bug in years. My wife, a lacto-ovo, gets bitten pretty often, especially when we're outdoors camping or picnicking but I can't think of the last time I've had so much as a mosquito bite. I'm really curious about the cause of that and if it has anything to do with diet
Translocator
Member
That's actually very correct. That whole thing has been very anecdotally supported rather than scientifically so, and my inclusion of it was I suppose a bit unnecessary. (My sister swears by the damn thing and she's much healthier than she used to be, so that type of thing changes perceptions :tongue
Edit: Hmm, reading through my post again, I seem to have put quite an emphasis on that point. Blah, sorry, not my intention, I edited the portion pertaining to the ph diet to be more factually correct.I can see where you're coming from. Initially (in the 1930-1940s was it?) it was supposed to be the miracle solution to world hunger through a very renewable source of important nutrients, but its hype was much too ambitious as its actual usability was not that great. I guess it was harder than they thought to farm and refine/package it well, and thus is perhaps not all that practical as a source of protein. Even so, I don't believe that it should be overlooked if you're wanting to obtain other benefits it has to offer (this being b12, I'd imagine, as well as the ever-wonderful chlorophyll), and thus has an important part in my rant :thumb:.
Also, about bug bites (mosquitos in my case, I live in western Canada on the right side of the mountains = lots of the buggers)... you know, I'm not sure if it's correlated or not (it would be really damn strange if it were, hah), but I haven't gotten a mosquito bite since I changed my diet, while I'd get eaten alive when I drank 2-3ish litres of milk a day. If you've got something there, then all the more reason to switch off of meat/dairy! :grin:
In my opinion, It's not bad to eat meat. Animals eat other animals, and humans happen to be animals too!
Edit: That doesn't mean "Eat your neighbor because he's an animal too" :grin:]
Ok, there is nothing important or groundbreaking to add to the discussion, so why in the world would you almost 3 month necropost in this? Use your head dude, next time make sure you realize what you post ahead of time! If you would like to continue the discussion PM a mod with a well-thought out post or just start a new thread instead of necro-ing with minimal intentions, ok? ~moog
This is an example of what to never, never, never do in this forum. ~N
Edit: That doesn't mean "Eat your neighbor because he's an animal too" :grin:]
Ok, there is nothing important or groundbreaking to add to the discussion, so why in the world would you almost 3 month necropost in this? Use your head dude, next time make sure you realize what you post ahead of time! If you would like to continue the discussion PM a mod with a well-thought out post or just start a new thread instead of necro-ing with minimal intentions, ok? ~moog
This is an example of what to never, never, never do in this forum. ~N
- Status