Can One Survive Off Plants Alone?!


Question: I mean can one truly survive with out meat products. I mean all meat fish, birds, dairy? Can one live without without eating soy or other items, can one exist off plants alone, just plants no supplements or anything. Just plants.


Answers: I mean can one truly survive with out meat products. I mean all meat fish, birds, dairy? Can one live without without eating soy or other items, can one exist off plants alone, just plants no supplements or anything. Just plants.

Soy is made from plants, it's made from fermented soy milk, which is made from soy beans. However, it's sort of a processed plant food.

If you mean a raw vegan diet (where everything is eaten raw - nothing is cooked - just fresh veggies, fruits, nuts, seaweed, sprouted beans and grains, etc)... yes you can still survive and do well on that diet. There is a huge raw food movement, in fact. The model Carol Alt swears by a raw food diet, she's in her forties but looks like she's twenty-five.

Almost every vitamin and nutrient can be acquired in a plant form - even B12 can be found in nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast is a natural fungus, the one that I buy and eat is grown on nutrient-rich sugar beets. Vitamin D3 is naturally produced by our skin if we have access to sunlight, so you don't necessarily need animal products for it - that's the reason why it's in animal products, in fact. It's just something that all animals, us included, can make thanks to sunlight, especially ultraviolet radiation.

I don't think I'd enjoy being on a raw vegan diet, however, because I do enjoy cooked food and some processed food. Fermented products like tempeh (which is just a fermented soy bean product) or tofu (fermented soy milk) are still plant food, tofu's been documented as being made and eaten as much as 2000 years ago in China.

But if you mean a non-raw diet, where things can be cooked or fermented or otherwise not raw and yet everything is plant-sourced, not only is it possible it's pretty easy.

Well, if soybeans aren't considered a plant food, then I have no idea what you consider a plant.

The only vitamin you might have difficulty obtaining is B-12, but you can always eat seaweed to get it from that.

I have been a vegetarian all my life, 31 years. and now I am vegan.

I have run 3 marathons. and I am one hot chick. Well atleast me husband thinks so! lol.

I see so many people at my work getting sick, etc,, and I have not even had a cold since 1997. My body rewards me for treating it well, and with kindness.

I am a web business analyst, and hopefully next year I will start my MBA in International Business and Marketing.

I am no different to other people, I just do not involve myself with the violent animal abuse.

So yeah, I think so, unless of course I am already dead and writing from the grave lol!

Defiantly...I did that for about 3 years.
It didn't hurt or effect me at all. When you first
start doing it you do get a little weaker then you
normally would be and you want to
sleep alot more. But after about a week
your back to your old self. Although
there are some meat products that you
do tend to miss a little bit of.

Yes. A balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, grains, and nuts will give you all the nutrition you could possibly need. I don't know why you'd want to exclude soy, since it's a plant food, but that's your call. :)

You will not become protein-deficient. That seems to be the biggest and most persistent myth about a plant-based diet. Just the opposite, in fact ... most meat-eaters get too much protein, and an excess can be just as bad as a deficiency.

The only thing strict vegans need to monitor is that they get enough Vitamin D and Vitamin B12. The first, you can get by exposure to sunlight (no, I'm not kidding), and the second can be obtained either through supplements, spirulina, or nutritional yeast ... the latter of which has the benefit of having a slightly cheesy flavor, so it's great sprinkled on your popcorn ... which, of course, is also vegan. :)

that depends on where and what situation you're in
if you mean in todays urban and suburban setting, of course, why not?
if you mean in the frozen tundra or say in alaska, it woul be quite difficult if not impossible (of course survival in those places is difficult enough)
if you mean in a forest or jungle, again it would be difficult but doable.
if you mean for dietary concerns (getting the right nutrients etc), of course. the vegetarians in this section alone is proof of that.
Remember this, people also make food choices based on what is available. If all they had to eat was meat to survie, then most vegetarians, at least the reasonable ones, probably would. If any omni had to survive on veggies alone, then of course they will (well they'd better). Many people all over the world don't make moral choices about their food because they really don't have much of a choice. They eat what is available. If that happens to be meat or veggies or a combination of both, then so be it.

You are confusing you say without soy, but soybean is a plant. And yes one can, many animals live off plants alone. That is basically what a vegan diet is, a plant based diet and there are millions of vegans around the world surviving....

Soy is a plant. Why would you exclude soy products from a plant based diet? I eat a 100% plant based diet which includes soy. The only thing I need to supplement is vitamin B12, which is synthesized by bacteria so is not an animal product. So, yes people can survive and thrive without meat, fish, fowl, dairy, eggs, etc. We do it all the time - it's called veganism and there are millions of us.

soy is a plant. and yes they can, and plenty of people do.

yes

Nope. Well, not in the wild anyways. If you were stranded on an island with bears, hippos, lions and crocodiles, you wouldn't be able to fend for yourself if one attacked you, whereas a meateater would.

(Note: They get stranded on the island having being used to their diet for 5 years)

Yep. That's what I've been doing for the last 14 years....and I've heard of muscular people eating less variety and no vitamins(Brenden Braizer is a famous one). And most animals do it.

-"in a forest or jungle" ....it would be easy: the freshest fruit, beans, nuts, veggies.

lolanda - Why do you think eating meat gives someone a better defense? There are vegans who are professional fighters and runners.

Absolutely. In fact, as a populace, we evolved to do so, hence the appendix.

Sure, I'm doing it, for a long time. Since 1990. So pills, vitamins, etc. Just all whole foods. Soybeans are just beans. I also eat all kind of other beans too. Grains. Legumes, nuts, seeds... whatever. Anything that is tasty, I'll eat it. I know others that have been life long vegans... from many different countries. No probs. In fact, they thrive. So... I guess they are surviving. Vegetarianism is an ancient practise. Really, it's nothing new a all.





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