Vegans, what do you think about vegetarians?!
Vegans, what do you think about vegetarians?
I'm a vegetarian in the process of going vegan, and I hold some serious animosity toward meat-eaters. Do some (especially AR motivated) vegans feel the same way about vegetarians? Are we - in a way- even bigger hypocrites than they if we claim to respect animals and yet still exploit them for dairy or eggs? Tell me what you think. NOTE- I'm not trying to breed dissention here or start a squabble, I just want to know how you feel/what you think. It might help me with my newfangled veganism.
Oh, and - any tips on going vegan? I'm thinking about going "cold-tofu" starting today, but is that too big of a jump from lacto-veg? What do you think?
Answers:
I know lots of people from around the world and they all tell me that in their homeland that either you are 100% or you are not. There is no such thing as a vegetarian that drinks milk, eats cheese and eggs etc. in most of the world. The whole reason the word 'vegan' was invented in N. America is because there were too many "wanna be" vegetarians out there creating a big mess with such statements as: I'm vegetarian but I still eat fish, chicken, cheese, dairy, milk, yogurt, red meat, only white meat... etc. So, in N. America, vegetarians are actually "wanna be" vegetarians. They want to join the group without actually having a membership -- that sort of deal. Other countries are laughing at us N. Americans when they hear vegetarians say they still eat eggs, dairy, etc. I would never go around saying that I'm vegetarian if I still eat animal products... that would just be embarrassing. I can't help but shake my head at these wanna be vegetarians and think how pathetic they are with all of their feeble excuses as to why they just can't resist or give up this or that but still want to call themselves vegetarian. It's just a pet-peeve of mine I guess. Most of the time I really don't care what people say or do, that's their own business.
As a Vegan for the last 3 years, I was a vegetarian for 20 years before that. It is hard to make the transition. Never really liked eggs, but would buy free range. It is sort of hypocritical, but anyone that makes an attempt to help animals in any way is OK in my book. I do not view a vegetarian any worse.
whats the point of animosity towards meat eaters? Didnt you used to be one? I did, until I educated myself on the matter and went vegetarian. I doubt vegans hold us in any lesser regards. We each have our own dietary needs, and no one should have to fit into a neat little label. I live a vegan lifestyle with the exception of consuming milk from my happy cow, and feeding my vegetarian daughter eggs from well cared for chickens. To each his own. I assume that people who still eat meat are just not aware of the animal cruelty issues, the impact factory farming has on the environment, and how unsanitary meat really is. It took me 40 years to learn about it-once I knew, I made a personal choice.
I have no problem with vegetarians even though I am
vegan. It's extremely hard to be vegan in certain areas
of the country. Also I've noticed that most people who
are serious about being vegetarian come closer
and closer to being vegan,( i.e. many stop wearing
animal skins, eating eggs or and dairy, etc.)
Try not to hate meat eaters. We need them to become
vegetarians. Unless we are affable towards them most
won't consider it. My advice on being vegan:
Get a b-vitamin- animal free, maybe get b- amino acid
fortified protein shake mix.
Eat a variety of recipes so that you won't get bored.
Don't become a soy-a terian as Lyllian once coined.
Eat lots of beans, lentils and mix them with grains
in order to get complete protein. Also eat lots of green
leafy vegetables in order to get calcium and keep
your bones healthy. Good luck
if you want people to become vegeatrians/vegans then stop being aggressive to them, otherwise they would think that if they switch their diets they're also gonna be agressive and that is not what you want, is it?
not at all =) especially if you are trying to help animals
some people have it alot harded than others, and change is good! =)
I don't particularly hate meat-eaters either (my husband is one), if they try to eat humanily raised and killed animals, its different than those ones that hate us and make fun of us, etc.
I think well of them.Even if animals are treated just as badly for milk and eggs,I still respect the fact that they shun meat.And I figure that most vegetarians will someday strive towards veganism.You have to crawl before you can walk.I see it the same way with veganism.I had stopped eating all animal products at once and it was a huge change for me.Some people can do that but others may not,people have to go at their own pace.I think vegetarians should not wear leather or buy products tested on animals though,but I will not bash on them for eating eggs and drinking milk.Plus,they are one step closer to veganism and have the will power to stop eating meat.
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I can tell you,the hardest thing to give up will be cheese.you ahve to just cut that out all at once.Cheese is addicting,the protein casein in cheese breaks down and creates some pleasure or something.Most people don't think cheese is good,but that feeling makes it seem good.
from pcrm:
In 1981, Eli Hazum and his colleagues at Wellcome Research Laboratories in Research Triangle Park, N.C., reported a remarkable discovery. Analyzing samples of cow’s milk, they found traces of a chemical that looked very much like morphine. They put it to one chemical test after another. And, finally, they arrived at the conclusion that, in fact, it is morphine. There is not a lot of it, and not every sample had detectable levels. But there is indeed some morphine in both cow’s milk and human milk.
Morphine, of course, is an opiate and is highly addictive. So how did it get into milk? At first, the researchers theorized that it must have come from the cows’ diets. After all, morphine used in hospitals comes from poppies and is also produced naturally by a few other plants that the cows might have been eating. But it turns out that cows actually produce it within their bodies, just as poppies do. Traces of morphine, along with codeine and other opiates, are apparently produced in cows’ livers and can end up in their milk.
But that was only the beginning, as other researchers soon found. Cow’s milk―or the milk of any other species, for that matter―contains a protein called casein that breaks apart during digestion to release a whole host of opiates called casomorphins. A cup of cow’s milk contains about six grams of casein. Skim milk contains a bit more, and casein is concentrated in the production of cheese.
If you examined a casein molecule under a powerful microscope, it would look like a long chain of beads (the “beads” are amino acids―simple building blocks that combine to make up all the proteins in your body). When you drink a glass of milk or eat a slice of cheese, stomach acid and intestinal bacteria snip the casein molecular chains into casomorphins of various lengths. One of them, a short string made up of just five amino acids, has about one-tenth the pain-killing potency of morphine.
What are these opiates doing there, hidden in milk proteins? It appears that the opiates from mother’s milk produce a calming effect on the infant and, in fact, may be responsible for a good measure of the mother-infant bond. No, it’s not all lullabies and cooing. Psychological bonds always have a physical underpinning. Like it or not, mother’s milk has a drug-like effect on the baby’s brain that ensures that the baby will bond with Mom and continue to nurse and get the nutrients all babies need. Like heroin or codeine, casomorphins slow intestinal movements and have a decided antidiarrheal effect. The opiate effect may be why adults often find that cheese can be constipating, just as opiate painkillers are.
It is an open question to what extent dairy opiates enter the adult circulation. Until the 1990s, researchers thought that these protein fragments were too large to pass through the intestinal wall into the blood, except in infants, whose immature digestive tracts are not very selective about what passes through. They theorized that milk opiates mainly acted within the digestive tract and that they signaled comfort or relief to the brain indirectly, through the hormones traveling from the intestinal tract to the brain.
But French researchers fed skim milk and yogurt to volunteers and found that, sure enough, at least some casein fragments do pass into the bloodstream. They reach their peak about 40 minutes after eating. Cheese contains far more casein than other dairy products do. As milk is turned into cheese, most of its water, whey proteins, and lactose sugar are removed, leaving behind concentrated casein and fat.
Cheese holds other drug-like compounds as well. It contains an amphetamine-like chemical called phenylethylamine, or PEA, which is also found in chocolate and sausage. And there are many hormones and other compounds in cheese and other dairy products whose functions are not yet understood. In naloxone tests, the opiate-blocking drugeliminates some of cheese’s appeal, just as it does for chocolate.
(http://www.pcrm.org/magazine/gm03summer/... Look around their site for the new four food groups
Eat a variety of "whole foods," with plenty of beans, nuts, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Avoid unhealthy foods like trans fats, which are usually listed as partially hydrogenated oils. Deep-fried foods often contain trans fats. Choose margarines that use nonhydrogenated oil, like Earth Balance or Smart Balance. Although a diet consisting of Coke and French fries is technically vegan, you can't be healthy if you eat nothing but junk food. Vitamin B12: Vitamin B12 is produced by bacteria, and some experts believe that vegetarians used to get plenty of this vitamin from bacteria in drinking water. Since drinking water is now treated with chemicals that kill the bacteria, it's important to make sure that you get enough vitamin B12 from fortified foods (like most brands of soy or rice milks, some breakfast cereals, and many brands of nutritional yeast) on a daily basis or by taking a sublingual B12 tablet of 10 mcg per day
Iron-beans, dark green leafy vegetables (like spinach),whole grain breads, Also eat something with vitamin c when you eat something with iron, it increases absorption
Calcium-dark green leafy vegetables (spinach, broccoli, soymilk)
Protein-Isn't really hard to get, just eat a variety of foods, good sources are beans, brown rice, nuts, whole grain breads, soy foods
Omega-3 fatty acids-flax seeds/oil,walnuts,canola oil
Zinc-pumpkin seeds (best source), beans and lentils, yeast, nuts, seeds and whole grain cereals
Selenium-Brazil nuts are a particularly good source of selenium, so try to eat a couple every day. Eating a small bag of mixed unsalted nuts can be a convenient way to get your daily selenium intake, but make sure it contains Brazils. Bread and eggs also provide some selenium.
Vitamin D- Vitamin D, often called the sunshine vitamin, is another common deficiency in those not drinking vitamin D fortified milk. Synthetic vitamin D is added to both cow’s milk and most brands of soy milk today.
Vitamins A (beta carotene),C, K, E and Folate-variety of fruits and veggies
Iodine-Iodine is a trace mineral that's important for healthy thyroid function. Table salt is the most common and reliable source of iodine in Americans' diets. (However, sodium in processed foods usually does not contain iodine.) If you don't consume table salt, you can get iodine from a multivitamin or from kelp tablets.
I'm not a vegan since I still (on occasion) use products that contain some dairy and/or egg but since we've got a piscivore that likes to post about being vegan what the heck
A few good tips to help you along are that Lightlife analogs (fake meats) are vegan along with most of the GardenBurger, many of the Yves and a few of the M.S.Farms products.
At Subway the Italian bread (and ONLY the Italian bread) is accidentally vegan so if you skip the cheese and make them use a clean knife you can eat there
BTW; check out this link! Since Kellogg's just added a bunch of egg based junk to their line (while recently nuking a BUNCH of the older, kinder products) it's time to start slamming them here at YA
http://www.morningstar-egg-facts.com/...
Thats how i started, by going vegetarian and then vegan 1) because that is a big leap to just stop and 2) because i was young and i needed my "nutrition" of course and vegan products can be expensive.
I think that vegetarians are good because the dont eat meat. But i dont like the fact that they only focus on the meat when its any animal product that is bad (the way i see it)
I love animals and if thats the way you have to do it by takin it slow then i think thats better than no vegans.
Also did you know only about 0.2% Americans are considered vegan. I think thats sad:( well i m glad you are going to become apart of the Vegan Society! good luck.
I wish you would not go out to eat at non veg-restaurants and complain that there is too much meat on the menu.
Reported!!!