Thinking of going veggie, need some advice??

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(F8L @ Apr 15 2007, 05:24 PM) [snapback]423771[/snapback]</div>

Hey, I really like hemp hearts which is a hemp seed product. It has great protein and omega content. Check out this pdf and this is the hemp hearts I buy

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SSimon @ Apr 16 2007, 10:09 AM) [snapback]424049[/snapback]</div>

I remember reading a study that said that Asian peoples typically consume a little meat with their tofu and that somehow counteracts some of the negatives that tofu alone provides. I've looked high and low and can't find the article. Sorry.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(AnOldHouse @ Apr 16 2007, 10:18 AM) [snapback]424058[/snapback]</div>

I'm curious why you keep saying that. From what time period are you starting to judge when humans diet requirements started? You use the work cooking which would mean fire was required but hasn't fire been used for hundreds of thousands of years by homo sapiens and possibly before? Even if it has only been 40K years that is still a lot of time for our systems to evolve to eat new foods like we did when we developed a tolerance for dairy products.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Fibb222 @ Apr 16 2007, 02:54 PM) [snapback]424181[/snapback]</div>

Heh..

We know you really like hemp...... hearts.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(desynch @ Apr 17 2007, 09:31 AM) [snapback]424674[/snapback]</div>

If you are implying that I'm probably a pot head - your mistaken. I don't believe inebriation is ever healthy and I don't self-medicate. But hemp is a useful plant no doubt about it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Fibb222 @ Apr 16 2007, 12:54 PM) [snapback]424181[/snapback]</div>

Thx Fibb

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Fibb222 @ Apr 17 2007, 05:35 PM) [snapback]424935[/snapback]</div>

Good. As for the merits of hemp, I am unaware. I have heard it is a much better source of paper and fibers than trees are.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(desynch @ Apr 18 2007, 10:36 AM) [snapback]425422[/snapback]</div>

Hemp is a very useful plant. It is related to marijuana, but does not contain the alkaloid responsible for getting high. In clothing, it has many of the qualities of cotton, but where cotton is very labor-intensive and requires great quantities of chemicals, hemp is a weed and can be grown sustainably.

It is illegal to grow it in the U.S. The official reason for this is that it is supposedly too hard to distinguish from marijuana, but a more likely explanation is that the cotton lobby fears competition from a fiber that is cheaper to grow.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jesart @ Apr 22 2007, 11:16 PM) [snapback]428121[/snapback]</div>

Good for you! As you may have noticed, information is your ally, but the source, and therefore the intent, should be closely paid attention to. Follow the money, so to speak.

I stayed out of this topic; too much battling going on over who is right and who is wrong. Too many threatened parties.

I was a strict vegetarian for many years. It started from some information I gleaned from nutritional courses I attended in college, which then festered over the years until I started my own research into this area. I suffered no ill effects from this period (about 10 years) other than the constant belittling from family about my choice (of course, I received similar comments when I continued to exercise instead of "settling down" and "being normal"). My energy level was always very high, I was not the pale, sickly spectre referred to in some of the responses here, etc..

Do your own research and then follow what seems right for you - just be prepared for some of the confrontational opinions that has been displayed here...good luck!

 

Jesart, I'm happy for you that the dietary choices you're wishing to incorporate into your life have been welcoming to you thus far. It can be a very healthy lifestyle and will lighten your impact on our planet. I think, however, that if you're feeling like you need a burger or a steak once in a while you should indulge yourself. After all, it's difficult to adhere to such strict dietary practices if you find that you're going to start craving meat. I know people that have meat once a month or so, but live by a vegetarian lifestyle the remainder of the time. There's no right or wrong so just do whatever you're comfortable with.

Thanks for the update. I've been wondering about what you've decided. Be well!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SSimon @ Apr 23 2007, 09:21 AM) [snapback]428385[/snapback]</div>

Just speaking for myself, I know that if I had continued to eat meat, even occasionally, I'd have continued to crave it forever. Only by elminating all meat from my diet, and even avoiding immitation meat, was I able to purge myself of the craving for meat, so that after a couple of years I did not even like the sight of it, much less the smell.

I'm not putting down people who eat meat once in a while. I'm just saying that if your goal is to become completely vegetarian, it may be harder if you continue to eat meat occasionally.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jesart @ Apr 22 2007, 10:16 PM) [snapback]428121[/snapback]</div>

So, which is it?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Apr 23 2007, 08:11 PM) [snapback]428733[/snapback]</div>

Thanks for the perspective. I didn't think of it this way because I went cold turkey and never looked back. I never missed eating meat, never craved it and immediately found it vile. My suggestion to him was more tailored to the thought that it's never good for someone to feel punished for following a diet. I think that's probably what leads to one abandoning their diet in totality. With any diet, small doses of decadence are encouraged and meat just may be his.


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(AnOldHouse @ Apr 23 2007, 09:16 PM) [snapback]428776[/snapback]</div>

I noticed this too but perceived "it's been tough not eating meat" to mean that it's difficult to figure out how to prepare veggie dishes when one is so used to meat eating.

 

spend a month on veggie burgers, pizza with no meat and meatless soup, no BBQ, and being somewhat of a pest everytime the group goes out to eat. If you make it then you may live longer, loose weight and feel perhaps better. This is the only way to know. Doing this is for yourself and what you want. Your not going to save one hair on one animal or start a movement.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(km5er @ Apr 24 2007, 06:08 PM) [snapback]429424[/snapback]</div>

Nice bit of gratuitous nastiness there. The implication being that people who decide to make a smaller footprint on the Earth are "pests."

The OP may not "start a movement," because the movement is already here and going strong and growing daily. More and more people are deciding to improve their health and reduce their impact on the planet by living lower on the food chain, much as Prius drivers have decided to use less gas for their transportation. And while one single person's impact alone may be impossibly to quantify, the collective effect of vegetarians is that fewer animals are slaughtered than if everyone ate meat.

By your logic, we might as well all drive Hummers, because one person's impact is statistically insignificant in the overall petroleum industry.

"Never doubt that a small group of dedicated people can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." I think it was Margaret Mead who said that, but I am not sure.

I cannot fathon people who get so upset by other people's decision to eat less meat, that they have to insult and goad and taunt them.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(km5er @ Apr 24 2007, 08:08 PM) [snapback]429424[/snapback]</div>

Nonsensical. It's estimated that vegetarians in the US alone have elected to cumulatively forgo ingesting $1,100,000,000 pounds of animal per year. You may not categorize this as a movement, but it is an impact.



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Apr 25 2007, 08:47 AM) [snapback]429685[/snapback]</div>

And it is we that are deemed worthy of the title "Pest".

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Apr 25 2007, 06:47 AM) [snapback]429685[/snapback]</div>

It has nothing to do with going vegetarian. It has to do with being different. We get the same attacks from driving a Prius, or trying to save energy or water or being atheist, or being educated. The fact is most people like to ridicule that which they know little about simply to make themselves feel good about their choice and cannot fathom being wrong.

 

This tread seems to have died out, but perhaps I can stir the pot a bit...

My wife and I have been vegetarian (almost vegan) now for about 15 years. We did it for health reasons, and have been generally happy about the health effects.

We recently got a new dog, and the breeder recommended a diet that we previously thought would be dangerous. It is basically raw chicken wings, raw ground beef, and an oats/nuts granola sort of dry mix. We beat up the chicken wings with a carpentry hammer to break the bones. Apparently the raw bones are quite soft, and do not represent any danger of getting stuck or otherwise harming the dog. Cooked bones are much harder and more brittle, and thus would be dangerous. As for the raw, I guess you'd have to be a dog to appreciate it. He rips a wing apart in about 5 seconds, and then vacuums the several chunks in the next 10 seconds. As for the bacterial safety, a dog is not a human. They can bury a bone in the ground for several months, and then dig it up and enjoy it. His feces show no evidence of the bones that I know he eats. The enzymes present in raw meat, plus the high acidity in a canine stomach must totally dissolve the bones.

Watching this dog consume chicken wings confirms my opinion that humans shouldn't eat such food. We're just not equipped to consume or digest raw meat. We have to heat it enough to kill off bacteria, divide it up into bite size pieces, chew it for several seconds, and only then swallow it. Heating meat destroys the enzymes, and thus makes digestion more difficult. Meat is dog food.