Thinking about being a vegetarian.. need advice?!
Thinking about being a vegetarian.. need advice?
I'm practically a vegetarian already, I only and barely eat chicken, and i was thinkning about becoming one. The diets convince me that it is healthier, and it just seems like a good life style. How tough is it? What are the benefits? Any tips or ideas would be appreciated. Thanks
Answers:
My husband is allergic to most meats (like a severe dairy allergy, he has food poisoning symptoms), so I became a vegetarian from convenience. We are ovo-lacto vegetarians, which means we eat eggs and dairy. I sometimes eat seafood (which really disqualifies me from official vegetarianism), but most of the time I eat tofu, gluten, seitan, and other protein replacements.
The Cons?
The diet can be as bad as a meat diet if you make the wrong food choices -- just like with meat. It's hard to find things to eat at restaurants, and I promise you that a lot of places will consider it funny when they slip meat in your food -- which has happened on occasion. After a few years, it doesn't become a choice, because you lose whatever it is that makes you able to digest land-based meats and even some seafood (this I know from experience . . . I now get food poisoning symptoms if I eat small amounts of meat). People act like you're insane and a rabid member of PETA. My favorite is, however, being asked if I eat chicken. Chicken isn't a plant, therefore no.
The Pros?
You start experimenting with foods and spices and become a lot more adventurous out, thinking about what you eat. There are a good amount of really extraordinary recipes for vegetarian food, and I actually like the non-greasy texture of meat substitutes. You start enjoying fruits and vegetables more, because you're relying on them more. You learn about nutrition because you're thinking about it; you leave the meat, starch, veggie mindset and start thinking in terms of how foods work in combination to make a flavorful and exciting meal.
I would suggest you phase out meat slowly (like I did), sampling the vegetarian alternatives. Thanksgiving to Christmas is a great time to try it out; Quorn and Tofurkeys are available in many normal grocery stores at this time, so it is a great chance to see what's out there.
Some quick-fix veggie substitutes are made by several companies -- from sausage to corn dogs (yes, vegetarian corn dogs) to chicken bites (like Chicken Nuggets) for you to look at:
http://www.morningstarfarms.com/...
http://www.gardenburger.com/
http://www.tofurky.com/
http://www.quorn.com/
http://www.kelloggs.com/brand/worthingto...
http://www.lightlife.com/index.html... (the hot dogs are so good even non-veggies prefer them over regular hot dogs!)
Lots of great convenience food (most of which use soy), which has the same basic proteins. They work to balance protein content.
Good luck with picking up a veggie lifestyle, and if you decide against, in the end, it's okay: humans are meant to be omnivores, anyway.
It sounds like it would be an easy transition for you to become a vegetarian, since you only and rarely eat chicken meat. You might get a craving once in a while, but that's probably normal. Being vegan is much, much harder though. Good luck!
My friend was a vegetarian and she could not eat meat can you believe that no meat for her whole life so might want to think it over!Good luck!
You're practically there already. it can be tough sometimes but I think it's worth it. Give it a try at least, if you can't manage then maybe give yourself a little more preparation time. Good luck!
the best advice anyone can give you is to try it for yourself.Try it for 30 days and continue it if you feel better.Don't live off of junkfood,try to eat only unprocessed or minimally processed foods.Don't let people think you aren't getting enough protein.
MYTH: "Vegetarians get little protein."
FACT: Plant foods offer abundant protein. Vegetables are around 23% protein on average, beans 28%, grains 13%, and even fruit has 5.5%. For comparison, human breast milk is only 5% (designed for the time in our lives when our protein needs are as high as they'll ever be). The US Recommended Daily Allowance is 8%, and the World Health Organization recommends 4.5%.
MYTH: "Beans are a good source of protein."
FACT: There is no such thing as a special "source of protein" because all foods -- even plants -- have plentiful protein. You might as well say "Food is a good source of protein". In any event, beans (28%) don't average much more protein per calorie than common vegetables (23%).
Increased stamina
At Yale, Professor Irving Fisher designed a series of tests to compare the stamina and strength of meat-eaters against that of vegetarians. He selected men from three groups: meat-eating athletes, vegetarian athletes, and vegetarian sedentary subjects. Fisher reported the results of his study in the Yale Medical Journal.25 His findings do not seem to lend a great deal of credibility to the popular prejudices that hold meat to be a builder of strength.
"Of the three groups compared, the...flesh-eaters showed far less endurance than the abstainers (vegetarians), even when the latter were leading a sedentary life."26
Overall, the average score of the vegetarians was over double the average score of the meat-eaters, even though half of the vegetarians were sedentary people, while all of the meat-eaters tested were athletes. After analyzing all the factors that might have been involved in the results, Fisher concluded that:
"...the difference in endurance between the flesh-eaters and the abstainers (was due) entirely to the difference in their diet.... There is strong evidence that a...non-flesh...diet is conducive to endurance."27
A comparable study was done by Dr. J. Ioteyko of the Academie de Medicine of Paris.28 Dr. Ioteyko compared the endurance of vegetarian and meat-eaters from all walks of life in a variety of tests. The vegetarians averaged two to three times more stamina than the meat-eaters. Even more remarkably, they took only one-fifth the time to recover from exhaustion compared to their meat-eating rivals.
In 1968, a Danish team of researchers tested a group of men on a variety of diets, using a stationary bicycle to measure their strength and endurance. The men were fed a mixed diet of meat and vegetables for a period of time, and then tested on the bicycle. The average time they could pedal before muscle failure was 114 minutes. These same men at a later date were fed a diet high in meat, milk and eggs for a similar period and then re-tested on the bicycles. On the high meat diet, their pedaling time before muscle failure dropped dramatically--to an average of only 57 minutes. Later, these same men were switched to a strictly vegetarian diet, composed of grains, vegetables and fruits, and then tested on the bicycles. The lack f animal products didn't seem to hurt their performance--they pedaled an average of 167 minutes.29
Wherever and whenever tests of this nature have been done, the results have been similar. This does not lend a lot of support to the supposed association of meat with strength and stamina.
Doctors in Belgium systematically compared the number of times vegetarians and meat-eaters could squeeze a grip-meter. The vegetarians won handily with an average of 69, whilst the meat-eaters averaged only 38. As in all other studies which have measured muscle recovery time, here, too, the vegetarians bounced back from fatigue far more rapidly than did the meat-eaters.30
I know of many other studies in the medical literature which report similar findings. But I know of not a single one that has arrived at different results. As a result, I confess, it has gotten rather difficult for me to listen seriously to the meat industry proudly proclaiming "meat gives strength" in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Vegetarianism means not eating meat and, for some, other animal products.
Two of the most common kinds of vegetarian diets are "lacto-ovo," which includes eggs and dairy but not meat, and "vegan," involving a more complete rejection of animal foods.
People become vegetarians for many reasons, including to avoid the pesticides and contaminants in meat; to support animal rights; to reduce the chance of heart disease and cancer; and to eat cheaply. There are also strong environmental arguments in favor of vegetarianism, because raising animals uses more natural resources than cultivating vegetables and grains.
There are an estimated 4.8 million vegetarian adults in the United States. Some studies show that it is even more prevalent among people under 18, especially girls.
Many cultures around the world have vegetarian or near-vegetarian diets. Some religions, such as Buddhism, explicitly encourage vegetarianism, and almost all religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam, have vegetarian sects. There are references to vegetarianism throughout history.
A vegetarian diet isn't necessarily more healthy. Someone who eats junk food yet avoids meat isn't getting good nutrition. Vegetarians are generally advised to seek out extra protein in such foods as beans and grains, and to make sure they get enough calcium, iron and B-complex vitamins. It may be helpful to take a supplement.
Among the online resources explicitly for vegetarian youth are The Vegetarian Youth Network and International Vegetarian Youth. Some of these sites have specific information on how to deal with parental concerns about vegetarianism.
Myths and facts about vegetarianism
Many laymen and professionals in Sri Lanka have various misconceptions about
vegetarianism and the proteins. One such misconception is that vegetarians don’t get sufficient
quantity of high quality proteins. Other misconception is that vegetable proteins are inferior in
quality when compared to animal proteins.
Whenever I tell my friends and relations that I am a vegetarian their first reaction is “how doyou get enough proteins?” Vegetarians need not worry about proteins and it is almost
impossible for a vegetarian to be protein deficient. It is common knowledge that protein is of
primary importance to good health as it plays a crucial role in every cell of our body. All
enzymes are proteins. Antibodies, many hormones and bones all contain proteins. Proteins are
capable of yielding some dietary energy (4 Kcal/gm), help to transport fats and vitamins and
help to control body’s self-regulatory system (homeostasis).
When calories are adequate protein deficiency is virtually non-existent. This is because goodquality proteins with all the essential amino-acids (EAA) are abundant in grains, vegetables, beans, nuts and seeds. It is true that in the under developed countries sometimes you come across protein calorie malnutrition. This is not due to vegetarianism but due to lack of adequate amount of food.
It is true that vegetarians consume less proteins than meat eaters. But they easily meet their protein needs and protein deficiency is extremely rare among vegetarians. Vegetarians shoudl take variety of plant foods and don’t need to consume carefully planned food combinations at every meal as was believed earlier.
Plant protein is healthier than animal protein and excess animal proteins are associated with increased heart diseases loss of calcium from bones and poor kidney function. In developing countries such as Sri Lanka, the rise in standard of living is often accompanied
by changes in lifestyle and dietary changes. It is frequently seen that the “new rich” and the
people who migrate to urban areas from villages and who have never taken beef, mutton, and
pork and eggs emulate the eating habits of the “urban rich” and consume more protein-rich
animal foods and this trend leads to chronic diseases such as heart attacks, cancer, kidney
diseases, hypertension diabetes and obesity.
Protein Chemistry
A protein molecule consists of long twisted strands of aminoacids the building blocks of
protein. Every aminoacid contains nitrogen. The food we consume contains about 20 different
aminoacids of which we can make 11 of them in our body an these are called non-essential
aminoacids. The other 9 are called essential aminoacids (EAA) and these we must get from
our food.
All proteins such as meat, milk, eggs, beans, nuts and grains contain all EAA Gelatin is theonly protein which is lacking in most of the EAA some of the plant proteins do not contain allthe EAA in sufficient quantities, but as vegetarians take a variety of foods they don’t get any deficiency of EAA. Protein quality also depends on how well i.e. how easily a particular
proteins is digested and broken down into its individual amino-acids. Plant proteins are about
85% digestible and those based on animal proteins are about 95% digestible and that is a small
difference.
How much proteins do we need ?
This depends on many factors such as age, body size, climate, activity level and overall
health. Number of calories in the diet also affect protein needs. When calories are low, body
burns proteins for energy and overall protein requirement goes up.
Protein needs depend on the nitrogen balance. Nitrogen balance studies tell us how much protein we must consume to meet our nitrogen needs. Nitrogen balance studies have been used to establish the protein RDA (recommended dietary allowance) RDA for protein is 63 grams for an adult male and 50 grams for an adult female. These are American figures and Sri Lankan figures should be very much less. Protein requirements depend not on the actual body weight but on the ideal body weight. The more specific RDA for proteins is 0.8 grams for
every kilogram of ideal body weight.
Vegetarians and proteins
Vegetarians usually have diets that are lower in proteins. As vegetable proteins contain less proteins than animal proteins and as they contain limiting aminoacids, vegetarians have to
consume more proteins. A better RDA for vegetarians (excluding lactovegetarians and
lacto-ovo-vegetarians whose protein needs are like that of omnivores) is 1.0 gram of protein
per kg of body weight compared to 0.8 grams recommended for non-vegetarians.Vegans
(pure vegetarians) get about 11-12% of their calories from protein whereas omnivores get
about 15-17% of calories from protein. Surveys show that vegans get plenty of proteins.
Vegetarians don’t have to do anything special to meet their protein requirements. Just eat
enough calories, maintain your ideal weight and include a variety of plant foods such as soya,
lentils (Dhal) other legumes such as beans, lima beans (mekaral) potatoes, spinach, tofu,
wheat bread, red rice and peas. Some of the vegetarian foods such as broccoli are superior to animal foods such as beef and are more protein dense.
According to American Dietetic Association it is not necessary that complementation of aminoacid profiles be precise and at exactly the same meal i.e. protein eaten at one meal can combine with protein eaten at next meal to improve the quality of the protein as our body has a storage pool of essential aminoacids.
Plant proteins prevent heart attacks and are better for your bone health. Excess protein is unhealthy for people with kidney disease. Vegetarians unlike non-vegetarians don’t get excess protein in their diet.
Vegetarianism
When I started this research, I actually set out to find positive unbiased evidence of vegetarianism to support some of my own family members vegetarian habits, but found very little actual proof to support none meat eaters. In my search to find nutritional facts, all truths lead to the indisputable findings of Weston Price, whose findings would be difficult, if not impossible, to duplicate today.
But before I go further, I would like to point out a few undisputable of facts:
(1) The findings of Weston Price have been proven and fortified since 1930 by other noted researchers and anthropological data, establishing that all our ancestors were meat eaters.
(2) Most of us in western societies will die of heart disease or cancer, while very few of our ancestors and people in other societies did not and will not suffer the same end.
(3) Heart disease and cancer in western societies have only run rampant in the last 40 years of the established modern nutritional guidelines of vegitable oils, margerine and carbohydrates at the expense of lard, butter and red meat.
Weston Price was a dentist who traveled to various parts of the world in the 1920s and 30s (his book was originally published in 1939) to try to determine why modern societies had so many health problems, especially of the gums, mouth and teeth. His findings went far beyond dentistry.
His method was to visit and study relatively primitive people in remote areas who had not yet been exposed, or were only partially exposed, to modern society. These people acted as his "controls" for scientific purposes. A sampling of the people/places he visited: Swiss in remote Switzerland mountain valleys, Gaelics on islands northwest of Scotland, Alaskan eskimos, North American indians in northern canada, Seminole indians in the southern Florida everglades, over 10 African tribes, Australian Aborigines, Peruvian indians, etc.
Price noted that nowhere were people doing entirely without som
These two beautiful girls were born to mothers whose nutrition had not been optimal during their growing years. However, they were able to reverse the trend of physical degeneration by eating a rich diet during pregnancy and by feeding their daughters whole, nutrient-dense foods including animal protein, whole milk products, butter, whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, and cod liver oil. This diet allowed these girls to reach their optimum genetic potential. Both mothers had crowded teeth, while these two girls have naturally straight teeth, needing no orthodontics.
e form of meat. Out of necessity, all of these people had been eating according to what they had available to them for centuries. Dr. Price noted (and photographed) many times the fine health that these folks enjoyed. Great bone structure and teeth , absence of chronic disorders, great physical prowess even at advanced ages, etc. With very few exceptions, Price was also able to confirm the healthy skeletal structures of their ancestors (several pictures here also).
Price found that when these people started consuming modern foods (refined flour, processed foods, sugar, etc.), their health started to deteriorate. This happened in EVERY location (dozens). Offspring in subsequent generations fared even worse. Some of the problems that started occurring were skyrocketing cavity rates, tuberculosis, lowered reproductive capability, birth deformities and INFLAMMATORY ARTHRITIS. Dr. Price provides photos of both healthy and diseased/deformed people to substantiate his findings.
Lest you think Dr. Price made all of this up, he was sure to take along with him one modern invention that would forever chronicle his research and startling conclusions: a camera. Dr. Price and his wife took pictures ― 18,000 of them. Many of the pictures are contained in Price's masterpiece Nutrition and Physical Degeneration (available from the PPNF website). The pictures show native peoples from all over the world smiling, their perfect teeth shining bright.( Centreforce Health Newsletter)
Nutrition writer and Price enthusiast Sally Fallon explains:
His photographs capture the suffering caused by these foodstuffs ― chiefly rampant tooth decay. Even more startling, they show the change in facial development that occurred with modernization. Parents who had changed their diets gave birth to children who no longer exhibited the tribal patterns. Their faces were more narrow, their teeth crowded, their nostrils pinched. These faces do not beam with optimism, like those of their healthy ancestors. The photographs of Dr. Weston Price demonstrate with great clarity that the ?displacing foods of modern commerce' do not provide sufficient nutrients to allow the body to reach its full genetic potential ― neither the complete development of the bones in the body and the head, nor the fullest expressions of the various systems that allow humankind to function at optimal levels ― immune system, nervous system, digestion, and reproduction (Nasty, Brutish, and Short? 8).
The "primitive" Seminole girl (left) has a wide, handsome face with plenty of room for the dental arches. The "modernized" Seminole girl (right) born to parents who had abandoned their traditional diets, has a narrowed face, crowded teeth, and a reduced immunity to disease.
And what were the offending foods that these unfortunate people consumed? Why everything we find on our grocer's shelves: sugar, white flour, jams, jellies, cookies, condensed milk, canned vegetables, pastries, refined grain products, margarine, and vegetable oils.Read the whole story her (Nasty, Brutish, and Short? 8).
For many decades, Price's work has been buried and forgotten. Due to the efforts of the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, however, and the republication of Price's book for the public, that is fortunately starting to change.
Price's conclusions and recommendations were shocking for his time. He advocated a return to breast feeding when such a practice was discouraged by Western medicine. He urged parents to give their children cod liver oil every day. He considered fresh butter to be the supreme health food. He warned against pesticides, herbicides, preservatives, colorings, refined sugars, vegetable oils, in short, all the things that modern nutrition and agriculture have embraced and promoted the last few decades. Price believed that margarine was a demonic creation. Let me tell you, with recommendations like these, he was REALLY unpopular! But the result of his research speaks for itself.
Several prominent nutritional doctors have traced their philosophical heritages back to Weston Price and his work. Abram Hoffer, founder and developer of orthomolecular psychiatry, Jonathan Wright, noted author, Alan Gaby, medical columnist, Melvyn Werbach, nutritional author, and other medical doctors all sing the praises of this ingenious dentist. Nutritional anthropologist H. Leon Abrams, associate professor emeritus at the University System of Georgia and author of over 200 papers and 8 books, points to Price as a giant, ahead of his time with a message relevant to us all. Read the whole story her(Politically Incorrect:).
Vegetarian, Vegan, and Raw Diets & Beyond
Assessing Claims and Credibility in the Realm of Raw and Alternative Diets: Who Should You Believe? How do you know who is being straight with you when there is little scientific evidence to be had, and the primary information sources are anecdotal and personal? This approach to analyzing the logic and psychology of those who promote dietary programs should give you a very good idea, along with numerous criteria by which to judge.
Six Common Vegetarian Problem Scenarios--Does One Fit You? Are you headed for trouble on your diet perhaps without even knowing it? These brief, humorous, but on-target profiles of typical predicaments should give you a pretty strong hint. Plus you'll find these two relevant follow-up discussions:
Why "Failure to Thrive" on Vegetarian Diets is Rarely Talked About. More than just a case of see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, the reasons include the self-selection effect in long-term successful vegetarians, large numbers of "social dropouts" who divert attention, and moral ostracism that makes it difficult for former vegetarians to be heard or believed.
What Happens if Vegetarian Diets Are Not Best for Everyone? The vegetarian movement in the U.S. is now maturing after the three decades since it began mushrooming in the 1960s/1970s. After years of experience, some are finding things haven't worked out for them in the long term as well as hoped. Evolutionary science is also confirming our ancestors were serious omnivores. Where does this leave those in the movement who offer the vegetarian prescription as the optimum nostrum for the ecological and health ills that beset society, and more importantly, where does it leave you? At the Beyond Veg site, of course. Here, we give you our take on the situation, and what the website is all about.
Idealism vs. Realism in Raw Foods. A call for more realism and honesty in the raw-foods movement so that raw-fooders themselves don't end up getting hurt, with the potential bonus result that outsiders might even start taking what truths and helpful ideas there are in the raw-foods movement seriously when the aura of offputting fanaticism is overcome. Get the message and get real--you have only the chains of illusion to lose, and the marginality of the raw-foods movement to forgo.
For a plain-English translation of the available data from evolutionary science on humanity's "original" diet, plus a look at how far back in time cooking goes, not to mention a sober appraisal of the results of predominantly raw-food vegetarianism in the real world, don't miss the 3-part Paleolithic Diet vs. Vegetarianism interviews:
Setting the Scientific Record Straight on Humanity's Evolutionary Prehistoric Diet and Ape Diets. With the ever-accumulating scientific data of recent years about human dietary evolution, the vegetarian picture of a prehistoric Garden of Eden has become hopelessly outdated. So has the "comparative anatomy" argument for vegetarianism, which is no longer supportable given the advent of modern field studies on apes. And the ape studies are themselves increasingly moot where human diet is concerned, given the availability of the direct evolutionary data now available on early human diet. In looking at these two areas of the scientific evidence, this thoroughly documented discussion also explores the differences between Natural Hygiene's essentially "subjective" model for dietary "naturalism" vs. the "functional" model of science based on evolutionary evidence.
Fire and Cooking in Human Evolution, Rates of Genetic Adaptation to Change, Hunter-Gatherers, and Diseases in the Wild. The issue of the potential value of cooked foods and how far back they go in human evolution is not as simple as most raw-foodists like to think. While the question remains somewhat ambiguous given the current state of the scientific evidence, this examination of the prehistoric picture of fire discovery and use--plus other assorted issues regarding diet and health in the wild--digs up many nuggets for consideration.
The Psychology of Idealistic Diets and Lessons Learned from the Natural Hygiene Many-to-Many about Successes and Failures of Vegetarian Diets. Real-world experience unsanitized by veggie officialdom confirms that--indeed--raw-food vegetarian diets can get real results and promote healing, as many of us already know: in the short-term, that is. However, in the long-term they can lead to real problems (including deficiencies) for some individuals, which shouldn't be surprising since such diets are a restriction of the evolutionary human diet--a restriction not everyone can handle. Also covered is the way in which efforts to restrict diets based on idealistic concepts of "purity" can lead not only to physical problems, but to a vicious cycle of self-perpetuating, circular mental logic. The end result for those prone to taking things too far can be psychological and behavioral imbalance and fanaticism, which the individual themselves often remains oblivious to, and can become trapped in indefinitely. A conclusion suggests pointers for avoiding such traps and maintaining your sanity and open-mindedness.
(Note to those who have seen the above interviews previously in Health & Beyond: The versions here on Beyond Veg contain significant updates and additional observations--there are links near the top of each of the title pages to take you directly to them.)
Troubleshooting: Avoiding and Overcoming Problems in Raw and Living-Foods Diets. Can't figure out what's gone wrong with your diet, and getting too many pat answers that don't work, or that don't honestly address your problem? If you're willing to dispense with the "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" attitude that keeps people from discussing the very real problems that often occur on raw-food diets (more often than most will admit), here's some straight-shooting advice and specific tips from a 25-year veteran who has been there himself.
The Calorie Paradox of Raw Veganism. Eating like a horse but still hungry all the time? Can't maintain your weight no matter what? Tempted by foods not allowed on your raw regime of choice? Can't help yourself from breaking down periodically and snarfing up everything in sight despite yourself? Or perhaps you may be skeptical--if you haven't been able to successfully maintain a totally raw regime yourself--about just how the raw-food "experts" can claim to maintain weight, energy, and muscle on modest daily volumes of raw food that would barely tide your skinny self over through your own bulging sack lunch.
Common questions all, and they all boil down to one common consideration: Calories are important, and in the end no one can avoid the need to get their daily quota over the long run. Total it all up and you may find some of the raw experts' claims about the sufficiency of their daily menus literally don't add up to anything resembling a credible answer. If any of these concerns have troubled you, this telling report takes a close look at exactly how many calories which classes of foods actually provide in a raw-food diet, and delivers the needed solutions to the paradox--possibly the very things you may have been avoiding all along.
Selected Myths of Raw Foods. Just what the title says, in spades. An abundance of common-sense observations about many commonly proffered "truths" of alternative dietland that simply ain't so--as application of even the most basic logic and knowledge of modern research will show. Much more than just a debunking piece, this article is a plea for honesty and integrity rather than myth-mongering in promoting alternative diets, and for putting practical results before dogma.
Beyond Denial: Coming to Grips with Reality in the Veg/Raw Movements. (SIZE--103K)
Note: This off-site article featuring an interview with one of our primary site contributors will eventually be reproduced in full on Beyond Veg itself.
With the advent of the Internet, people can now bypass traditional "party line" leaders and directly compare notes on a widespread basis. The result has been increasing evidence that behind previously closed doors, private reality is at considerable odds with the public face of veganism. Though rationalizations are prevalent, the long-term failure of 100% raw-food diets for most who try them is becoming more widely, if grudgingly, acknowledged. At the same time, the common practice of blaming people's efforts rather than the diet itself indicates dogma often takes unconscious precedence over health and compassion. Such denial is also a problem in the more conventional (non-raw-food) vegan community, if to a lesser extent.
In addition, overidealism has led to trafficking (sometimes unknowingly) in junk science for the sake of making converts, often the result of uncritically accepting or creatively interpreting "facts" with little due diligence. The psychology of denial has thus had a serious impact on the movement's credibility as well as how its ethics are perceived. This article's assessment of the challenges now facing the vegetarian world? "It is always better to live with reality, or without fail, reality will come to live with you."
Drawbacks to Relying Exclusively on Clinical Studies of Diet. Some opinion leaders in the scientific wing of the vegan community will permit little evidence for consideration other than that coming from clinical studies. But while such studies may be the ultimate way of verifying dietary hypotheses, you can only study what you think to look for. Find out why self-selection effects in long-term vegans, moral ostracism, and surreptitious dietary "exceptions" on vegetarian diets mean that such problems as "failure to thrive" and possible deficiencies can exist, yet fail to be picked up in actual clinical trials. (from Part 8 of Comparative Anatomy and Physiology Brought Up to Date)
Read the whole story here http://www.beyondveg.com
American Council on Science and Health
Eating by the Book?
SDA vegetarianism is rooted in the Bible, according to which for food God gave humans "all plants that bear seed everywhere on earth, and every tree bearing fruit that yields seed" (Genesis 1:29). Meat is said to have become a part of the human diet after the Flood, when all plant life had been destroyed: "Every creature that lives and moves shall be food for you" (Genesis 9:3). Adventists are taught that the introduction of meat into the human diet at that time decreased the human life span from the more than 900 years of the first humans to today's "three-score and ten."
However, the Bible warns against confusing dietary practices with moral behavior:
For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace. (Romans 14:17)
Let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink. (Colossians 2:16)
One believes he may eat anything, while the weak man eats only vegetables, let not him who eats despise him who abstains, and let not him who abstains pass judgment on him who eats. (Romans 14:2-4)
It also seems to condemn vegetarianism:
The Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some in the church will turn away from Christ and become eager followers of teachers with devil inspired ideas. These teachers will tell lies with straight faces and do it so often that their consciences won't even bother them. They will say that it is wrong to be married and wrong to eat meat, even though God gave these things to well-taught Christians to enjoy and be thankful for. For everything God made is good, and we may eat it gladly if we are thankful for it. ( I Timothy 4:1-4, Living Bible)
East of Eden
It is possible to provide all essential nutrients except vitamin B12 without using animal foods. On the other hand, it is possible to provide all essential nutrients with a diet composed only of meat. Personal dietary appropriateness ―including the value of a diet as a source of essential nutrients and its value as a preventative ―for oneself and one's significant others is the foremost dietary consideration of pragmatic vegetarians. In contrast, the overriding dietary consideration of ideologic vegetarians varies with the particular ideology. Typically, their motivation is a blend of physical, psychosocial, societal, and moral, often religious, concerns.
A continual problem for SDAs who espouse the "back to Eden" ideology is the absence of a non-animal food source of vitamin B12. A vegetarian Registered Dietitian who wrote a column for a church periodical asked me if I thought vegans could derive vitamin B12 from organic vegetables that were unwashed before ingestion. I opined that it would be better to eat animal foods than fecal residues. She agreed.
One Less "Ism"
I gave up vegetarianism because I found that commitment thereto meant surrendering the objectivity that is essential to the personal and professional integrity of a scientist. As a health educator, I feel I have an obligation to endeavor to stick to whatever unvarnished facts scientific research uncovers. I can support pragmatic vegetarianism, but I believe that crusading vegetarian ideologues are dangerous to themselves and to society.
Read the whole story here ACSH advisor William T. Jarvis, Ph.D
THE EVOLUTION OF A MYTH
Stephen Byrnes, PhD, RNCP
Along with the unjustified and unscientific saturated fat and cholesterol scares of the past several decades has come the notion that vegetarianism is a healthier dietary option for people. It seems as if every health expert and government health agency is urging people to eat fewer animal products and consume more vegetables, grains, fruits and legumes. Along with these exhortations have come assertions and studies supposedly proving that vegetarianism is healthier for people and that meat consumption is associated with sickness and death. Several authorities, however, have questioned these data, but their objections have been largely ignored.
As we shall see, many of the vegetarian claims cannot be substantiated and some are simply false and dangerous. There are benefits to vegetarian diets for certain health conditions, and some people function better on less fat and protein, but, as a practitioner who has dealt with several former vegetarians and vegans (total vegetarians), I know full well the dangerous effects of a diet devoid of healthful animal products. It is my hope that all readers will more carefully evaluate their position on vegetarianism after reading this paper.: http://www.powerhealth.net/selected_arti...
THE VALUE OF VEGETARIANISM
As a cleansing diet, vegetarianism is sometimes a good choice. Several health conditions (e.g., gout) can often be ameliorated by a temporary reduction in animal products with an increase of plant foods. But such measures must not be continuous throughout life: there are vital nutrients found only in animal foods that we must ingest for optimal health. Furthermore, there is no one diet that will work for every person. Some vegetarians and vegans, in their zeal to get converts, are blind to this biochemical fact.
Though it appears that some people do well on little or no meat and remain healthy as lacto-vegetarians or lacto-ovo-vegetarians, the reason for this is because these diets are healthier for those people, not because they're healthier in general. However, a total absence of animal products, whether meat, fish, insects, eggs, butter or dairy, is to be avoided. Though it may take years, problems will eventually ensue under such dietary regimes and they will certainly show in future generations. Dr. Price's seminal research unequivocally demonstrated this. The reason for this is simple evolution: humanity evolved eating animal foods and fats as part of its diet, and our bodies are suited and accustomed to them. One cannot change evolution in a few years.
Dr. Abrams said it well when he wrote:
Humans have always been meat-eaters. The fact that no human society is entirely vegetarian, and those that are almost entirely vegetarian suffer from debilitated conditions of health, seems unequivocally to prove that a plant diet must be supplemented with at least a minimum amount of animal protein to sustain health. Humans are meat-eaters and always have been. Humans are also vegetable eaters and always have been, but plant foods must be supplemented by an ample amount of animal protein to maintain optimal health.
Try to borrow or buy this book:
http://www.amazon.com/new-becoming-veget...
Why do you think Noah took two of every animal on the ark? To eat. Go red meat!
Once I opened up my mind to eating new types of foods, it was really easy. I used to not eat vey many types of vegetables, & I did not know how to cook very well. Now that I do it is awesome & I feel SO much healthier.
So yeah, my tips would be :
- be open to new foods
- learn to cook
- eat lots of veggies & friut
- read up on what vitamins you need
A lot of meat eaters harp on about how hard it is and how bad it is for you. It just is not so. It is much better for you health and I do not feel meat cravings. I used to, but I have absolutely no urge to eat meat now.
sorry but "I'm practically a vegetarian already" doesn't mean anything. You cannot use the word vegetarian if you ever eat chicken.
You are a "meateater who eats a small amount of chicken."
Please do all veggies a favour and only use the word vegetarian to describe a vegetarian diet. Using words like "Partly, demi, semi., almost, pratically" confuses the whole topic.
Its not tough being a veggie. I've been veggie for 26 years and have a completely healthy lifestyle. I take no suppliments and an not ill, pale faced or weak. I'm an arable farmer
my tip: ensure you have a balanced diet, using as many raw ingredients as you can to do your cooking. try to avoid the "meat-like" substitutes. They don't taste great and are not particularly good for you. This is because they are highly processed, not because they are veggie.
the first time i tried it lasted for about three days because i was convinced that i wasnt going to eat any fake meat. about a month later i tried again, this time with fake meats, and im still going strong!
if u like chicken try a chicken substitute like boca chick'n patties, yumm