Preserved Topic: Vegans (Page 1 of 2)

Well I think I've decided to become a Vegan or at least a semi one. Veganism is a way of living, at least dietary, without the consumption of animal products. I've did alot of research for it. I do enjoy meat, but I don't eat allot of it anyways. I'm Italian and I've been eating pasta since I was kid so becoming a Vegan is completely an option for me right now. I was thinking hard about it when I found this site. It put me over the edge.

The image of the farm manager beating the pig with a metal gate rod is appalling. What a sadistic lowlife poor excuse for a human being that man has to be. I grew in a farm community, worked in processing plants owned by Publix and later worked in Publix Supermarkets as a Grocery Manager so I'm fully aware of what it takes to prepare an animal for Food, but prolonging their suffering is completely out of line.

I'm kind of interested in what you guys have to say about the subject of being a Vegan. Have you ever thought about it? Even doing a Vegitarian Kick for a little awhile isn't such a bad idea. It's actually pretty healthy for you. My only consern was the lack of Vitamin B12 in the Vegan Diet.

Plant foods do not contain vitamin B12 except when they are contaminated by microorganisms. Thus, vegans need to look to other sources to get vitamin B12 in their diet. Although the minimum requirement for vitamin B12 is quite small, 1 microgram a day for adults, a vitamin B12 deficiency is a very serious problem leading ultimately to irreversible nerve damage. But those problems can be solved by simply eating fortified cereal or by talking a vitamin B12 supplement.

Hehe...

quote:

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talking a vitamin B12 supplement.

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Uhhh...what?

I think this was covered in a previous thread...do a search of the Asylum...here, the link http://www.ozoneasylum.com/Forum17/HTML/000430.html






[This message has been edited by WebShaman (edited 08-28-2002).]

well, why do not just keep livin' like you are now?
if you want to eat meat, eat it

It's certainly not going to hurt my feelings no matter what you're doing.
For me, however... it seems rather silly.
Kind of like protesting clear cutting (or something) without ever leaving your house.

Like I said.
That's just me.

Vegan eh??. look a little harder before you leap.

You know how many products contain some kind of animal..... Around 80 to 90%. Hell, most bread has some kind of animal product in it.

Vegan also means not wearing any fur, leather, felt etc etc.... What are you shoes made of by the way?

Oh, I hope you like soy products and tofu, because you need to eat shite loads of it even get close to the kind of vitamins you need in your day to day diet. Vitamin B12 is a problem for just ya plain old vegetarians. Vegans have a lot of other things to worry about too. Not eating any eggs, cheese, milk, yogurt or any other kind of dairy product you have to worry about calcium insufficiencies and a shite load of other things.

Most vegans I know (all four of them) have a whole cabinet full of pills that help fill the void but if you ask me that's so not a fun way to live, nor is it very natural.

And the worst one.... Soy coffee tastes like poo!

It?s a hard road to walk down but it is rewarding if your into that kind of thing. Although your reasons seem well founded I doubt they?ll be enough to make you carry through with the whole vegan thing.

My advice would be to start as a vegetarian first and see how it goes...

Soy coffee... ~shudder~ ...should be a crime I tell ya!

I've been a vegetarian for about 8 years. During that time I was vegan for about 3 years.
It was a little tougher at first to find stuff at the supermarket. It wasn't so much the eggs, cheese or milk -- it's the whey; they put it in everything.

After a while, though, it becomes easier. Your desire for fat (and you will desire fat) will go away in about 2-4 weeks. I recommend you eat about 6 meals / day instead of the typical 3. Also, drink lots of water and fruit juice. Actually, let me ammend that. Drink lots of water at first. Then, once your digestive system has itself straightened out, commence with the lots of fruit juice. Lots of fruit juice plays havoc on you digestive tract and let's just say your bowels will have enough trouble with the change to a vegan diet...don't complicate matters with lots of fruit juice.

Also, before you do it, do some research. I applaud your passion, but you also have to take care of your body. If you take 3 weeks to do nutritional research, that may mean 3 more weeks of eating animal products, but the results will last a lifetime. If you just jump in, you'll get ill or just fed up with the whole idea. The experiment will fail in 2 months. Do your research, go the library, look on the internet for good nutritional resources. (BTW, a product known as nutritional yeast is high in B-12. It is sold at most health food stores, not very expensive either.)

...and pay close attention to what your body is telling you. If you get a craving, figure out why. My first craving was for chicken livers. In my meat eating life I hated chicken livers. Why did I desire them? They are high in iron and my blood wasn't . Ate a lot of spinach and peas, craving went away.

Good luck.
I've some kickin' recipes for you if you want them. E-mail me or just ask. I'll post 'em up here.

mobrul

Hi!

I decided to become a vegetarian when I was 16. I'm 20 now and I'm still a vegetarian. I did try being a vegan for a month once, but it was too hard for me and I lost a little weight which wasn't necessary at all. So I went back to being a Lakto-ovo-vegetarian. The people around me are slowly turning vegetarians too because they've seen what it has done to me. I'm never sick, my body looks great, my skin looks great, my hair looks great and it grows really fast. It wasn't long ago there was an illness going around here. Both my brothers got it, their girlfriends and one of the girlfriend's sister. They got really sick and were vomiting 5-6 times a day. They all said I was the next to get it, but I didn't, lol!
I do take B12 supplement, but I know there are some in milk products, seaweed and cabbage. So I prefer to just take supplements.
If you decide to go total vegan, be careful and make sure you get everything your body needs. But it looks like you already know what it's all about and you seem quite interested in this. I'd do it if I were you. I might even try it again when I get my own place.

Edit: Oh yeah, just want to say that there are calcium in sunflower seeds, green vegetables and beans.



[This message has been edited by fenja (edited 08-28-2002).]

I was a vegan for about 3 years (my shoes were made of canvas and rubber, thank you very much).

It is tough for a while - shopping in regualr grocery store takes a lot longer.....most of you rtime spent reading labels.

But, there are so many things out there designed for vegans, and so many various ways of getting the nutrition you need that there really is not a problem unless you don't know what you are doing. Don't just load up on the soy "meat imitation" products, or you will be sorely disappointed. That said, however, the first thing to understand is that Tofu can be made to taste and behave like *just about anything*.

Listen to Mobrul closely, he has a lot of good solid advice.

Wow guys! Thanks for all the info and advice.
Especially yours Mobrul. Post some of those recipes!

Hmm, after reading this, I have a real urge to go get a big, juicy steak for lunch
Like everyone said so far, it's a real commitment. I know a couple who tired it... They lasted about 3 weeks before I saw then at a McDonalds. Then the next couple days I didn't see them because they were at home incredibly sick from throwing their digestive track around so much.

It's just not for me

passes the pile of cooked dead cow parts around

*Takes the dead cow parts from Lord Fukutoku*

I applaud your passion, and I've thought of going vegetarian myself (see WebShaman's link), but I just got back from a very large meal of tuna sashimi, and I have to say that I don't think I could ever give up eating animals (let alone eating them raw). That's my weakness, I guess. I understand where you're coming from, but I just don't think I could ever bring myself to do it.

[This message has been edited by Suho1004 (edited 08-28-2002).]

I hear Jerky is a nutritional requirment for vegans...


Code - CGI - links - DHTML - Javascript - Perl - programming - Magic - http://www.twistedport.com
ICQ: 67751342

For starters -- my favorite meal
When ever I feel motivated, I'll put more stuff there too.

Very nice, mobrul!

As for veganism itself, the only problem I have with it is some of the philosophy behind it. As far as the food goes, there is more than enough goodness and tastiness there. It's just much harder to find vegan meals when you go out.

Since my wife is a filipina, she has modified several traditional foods to vegetarian. Kriek, I don't know if you have ever had or would like to try any of those but I might be able to get Wella to write some of those recipes down. Personally, I love them but I think my tastes might be a bit different than mobruls in the sense that I like very strong flavors. For instance, I drink very strong coffee, I like dishes that have lots of salt, vinegar, lime juice and such.

. . : slicePuzzle

oooga bit need red meat... bit LOOOOVE red meat.

But I applaud your decision any lifestyle change such as this for morality reasons is only bound to make you a better person whether it works out for you or not.

And just to inspire you I present VeganErotica! for all your non animal byproduct needs.



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

Izzy, you really scare me sometimes.

Wow, I didn't know we had so many vegaterians here.

Another thing I thought I'd mention. Being a vegaterian is a LOT cheaper. Well, at least it is down here cause the meat's so darn expensive. That and our climate produces lots of yummy vegies all year round. Although if your also trying to do this on a budjet then you'll aslo need to watch how many of those special "Vegan" products you buy. They can get a little expensive.

DL's comments about tofu are right on. It's quite amazing stuff if you can learn how to cook it well... alas, I have a big thing about texture when it comes to food and that's about the one thing you can't change about tofu so I've never really liked it that much. Although I'm no longer a vegertarian (I never really was, but all of my house mates were and we were doing the whole communial food buying things so... no meat for me) I still eat a lot of vegetarian based dished. Red kidney beans and chickpeas are some of my favourite foods.

There are other sides to this as well. It will affect your social life if your not careful. It's up to you if you want to openly voice your opinions about using animal products to those around you. I've never met a vegan who's expressed open distain about people eating meat but I've met plenty of normal vegaterians who get up in arms about people eating meat around them. personally, the latter types shit me to tears.

How you want to play that side of things is ultimatly your descision but I urge you to think of how you made your descion and how you changed. If they wanted to change they'd make the choice by themselves, just like you, not by someone shoving it in their face.

LOL when you said you were going to become a Vegan I immediately thought of the movie Contact with Jodie Foster where she supposedly made contact with the Vegans....an alien lifeform

quote:

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Since my wife is a filipina, she has modified several traditional foods to vegetarian. Kriek, I don't know if you have ever had or would like to try any of those but I might be able to get Wella to write some of those recipes down. Personally, I love them but I think my tastes might be a bit different than mobruls in the sense that I like very strong flavors. For instance, I drink very strong coffee, I like dishes that have lots of salt, vinegar, lime juice and such.

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Right on man. I'm the type of guy that will drown French fries in vinegar and drink triple shot espressos until it actually reverses the effects and makes me tried as crap. Note: That's another reason why I chose the Vegan route. So I could treat my body a little better, but I love strong dishes.

Post them up here chief, hehe

....I don't really have anything to add to the veggie recipes talk but I did just watch that under-cover video shot in the pig farm. I couldn't finish watching it, I have never been so disturbed in my life. I cannot believe that someone could stand over a screaming, helpless animal knowing that they purposely caused the poor creatures pain and not be disgusted with themselves.

I love meat; I eat it every day. I know that I couldn't give it up, but how can I know about what goes on in this industry and still support it. I feel like such a hyporcite.

EG

Being cynical as anything (and having not watched the video in question), it wouldn't surprise me if the whole thing was a set-up and that the "farmer" was either a PETA member, or the situation was not what it seemed. I'm not saying that it couldn't have happened they way they claim; I'm just saying that it wouldn't be the first time that a group felt the need to manufacture evidence in order to make their case, and that it required the sacrifice of one they're supposed to be protecting, for the "greater good".

BeeKay posted this link to a short story in the Philosophy and Silliness section and I just had to share it here, I don't think he would mind: http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0206/oldmac.shtml

I wonder how Butterball tastes....you can even eat the bones...

~please don't eat me~ Did you hear something?

Don't worry, I'm going to take you to heaven....

Man, that short story was great...

haven't watched the video yet either, but I've got a suspiscion that it's staged, or someone from PETA cut out the part where the pig nearly hurt someone, or did something incredibly stupid. Nuts to those guys, trying to outlaw recreational fishing. FISHING! AMERICAN PAST-TIME! OUTLAW IT? NO!!

Ad don't get me started on that summit in south africa...

Cool sig, Izzy.

I need a steak. 12 ounces of hot, juicy, red meat. Protien is our friend.


It could always be more fantastic...

*crying*
I can't believe I watched that entire thing.
And I get teased about being vegetarian...
I can't not express my disgust.
Really.

Of course, this isn't a 'vegetarian vs. carnavore' thing. It's a 'human' thing. And maybe a 'wolverine' thing. I've heard they're the only other animal that kills for pleasure. Again, assuming that video depicts what it claims to.

However, it is something of a reminder that some people really do come in last in the human race...

There is no nobility in the animal world... quite the opposite. But that is precisely the point, we should be above cruelty. When animals do it, there is no moral angle whatsoever.

"He thinks he?s going to see his mother, too"

oh my gawd... bravo!

I love a good salad but eating nothing relating to animals?

Lol that's nuts IMO, but if you can by some miracle pull it off, then more power to you I suppose

Now if you'll excuse me there is a dead cow waiting for me

i know.. this may sound ignorant .. and i may open up a massive can of worms but
whats the motivation behind being a Vegan? vegetarin? granted i eat meat because i like meat.. so my logic would be you only dont meat unless you like it
it's got to be a lot of effort to be a vegeterain and a hell of alot to be a vegan.. so why bother?
mabye this is just coming from a meat eating lazy ignorant 15 year old.. but still i ask agian.. why?

It's because they hate plants *that* much.

Trigger-what Dan said and I um I'd rather not kill animals unneccesarily.
As much as I do like how they taste, I respect them more as fellow creatures on this planet.
Eat meat if you want. My husband does, and I cook it for him.
But my conscious won't let me do it. At least not right now. After watching that video, I'm not sure I ever will again. It's not that hard being vegetarian these days. 20 years ago was a whole other story. For crying out loud, Denny's serves veggie burgers.
That's just my opinion.

There are a lot of reasons.

Moral reasons (that is, don't want to kill/harm/abuse animals) seem to top a lot of people's list.

There are also environmental reasons. It takes far more water and resources to raise a cow to slaughter than it does to raise an equal number of wheat/corn/rice calories, not to mention how much rainforest gets chopped down every year for pastures. Also, factory hog and cattle 'farms' produce insane amounts of waste. Many of them are so huge they simply destroy the surrounding environment.

There are economic reasons. One acre of land for crops produces some 35 times more calories than 1 acre of land for animal production. That's 35 times more people fed. I find that number staggering when you consider how many people in this country (not to mention the world) are malnourished.

There are financial reasons. As Drac said above, in many places vegetables and grains are much cheaper than meat, milk, eggs. I grow a lot of my own food in my garden. I don't have a farm, or anything like that. I live on a regular suburban lot, but I've dedicated a quarter or so of it to vegetables and corn. We still go the supermarket like most families...but our bill, no doubt, is lower, and for minimal work. Try raising a cow, pig, chicken or goat on a suburban lot...

Health reasons are often cited. As a simple example, heart disease is the number one killer in America today. Vegetarians suffer heart disease at a far lower rate than meat eaters, and vegans have an even lower chance (all other factors aside -- smoking, family history, excercise) of dying from heart disease.

There are 'personal' reasons. Many people claim that eating animal products (especially meat) makes one more aggressive, hostile, violent.

[edit: stupid typos]

[This message has been edited by mobrul (edited 08-31-2002).]

Well fuck you mobrul!

I had a big fat hamburger for lunch yesterday and I'm happy as a pig in slop!

You stupid ass!

WARNING!!!! Vegans should not read this! no one else for that matter...


I really like MAX's hamburgers... *yummy* They are so much better than McDonalds!

I think that vegans are confusing. If they pack in a bunch of cows in a small truck than surely when they get out they will be nice and tender. It will save you alot of work in the kitchen you don't have to beat he hell out of steak to get it tender. Why object to this convenient method. I think that maybe would fill the trucks with some spice's and bbq sauce. Then if you have a big barbeque party you can buy a whole cow and put it next to the grill and slice small stakes of it. And if there is any leftovers just put it on your'e stairmaster with a pile of hay on a shelf so high so it just can't reach it. Wait a couple of weeks and watch the steak's grow. Before the next barbeque it will have gained some weight then your'e ready for the next barbeque party. Don't forget to paint some bbq sauce on it once an hour the last 48 hours. Want some recipies?

EDIT: Mooooo!

[This message has been edited by OlssonE (edited 08-31-2002).]

Jeni,Morbul .. thanks for the enlighenment it's appreciated

I turned vegetarian when i was 16, I gave it up over the summer because I went to Asia and I didn't want to miss out on a lot of culture in food. Though it would have been quite easy to be vegie in China and Taiwan due to the Bhuddists. Any who, during the time I was veggie, I love it. Sometimes I wanted meat the first few weeks, and I figured that was okay. I still ate fish, and most other seafoods. Still hate softsheel crab though! lol Good luck. You can to the right place to ask. I don' t know why, but the Asylum seems to stick very well to topics such as vegetarianism/veaganism and religion.

Shine and shine.

Although I respect Vegans and Vegertarians alike (and although I dislike the taste of most meats) I can't be separated from my slim jims!

Bmud, maybe that's because we have a bunch of religious vegans?

Tofu anyone?
mmm....

[This message has been edited by OlssonE (edited 08-31-2002).]