10 REASONS TO BE VEGAN: Why people make the change

[DeDukshyn]

This is pretty good ... Daniel Schmachtenberger on "The Ethics Behind Animal Rights & Veganism" -- he intelligently touches on most of the points raised from both sides of the argument from the perspective of a vegan.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=qwILqzrvncQ

[Constance]

Here is something that helps with the growth and health of fruit and vegetables.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=pVPo1GylfG8

[Patient]

Posted by DeDukshyn (here)

Posted by Constance (here)

Posted by DeDukshyn (here)
 
 
Meat is nutritious, in fact contains a much broader range of nutrients than any plant.

Tell that to the strongest and biggest herbivores who inhabit this planet and to the millions of species of plants worldwide offering us a plethora of micro and macro nutrients.
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I don't want to turn this into a debate on your pertinent and important topic - we agree on some points, but just on this point: by saying that animals have nutrients, I was not implying that plants do not. I know some people try to argue that but of course its not true, just like its not true to say that animals don't have nutrients.


Also keep in mind Canada is a big country - BC alone has six entirely separate climate zones. For example the south west coast is a temperate rain-forest and stays fairly green year round; stuff there is pretty easy to grow year round with a basic greenhouse - its a tiny part of BC, but is usually what even more eastern Canadians think of "BC weather", but the vast majority of BC isn't like that. Once you move away from the Pacific ocean, things get a lot colder in the winters (but hotter in the summers).

In the northern interior, one is dealing with a rather large shortage of sunlight during winter months and temps down to -35C are not abnormal - if one has to provide their own light and vast amounts of heat for their garden, Food growing becomes an exercise for those who have vast amounts of cash to pump into it, not necessarily limited technically.

I'm not saying its impossible, just generally impractical for most of the areas in BC on most people's budget, with the exception of the very south and very west portions of the province. I currently have a vegetable greenhouse where I'm at, and it works well for the summer months for many edible vegetables (carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes), the trick is trying to growing enough and having enough freezer space to make it last until next harvest season.

Summer months aren't an issue - it gets hot, its just the long cold dark winters - winter can easily last 6 months where I currently live. I'm just waiting for the pole shift that supposedly will move Canada to a warmer region, lol

Speaking about variety in B.C. , there is even a desert area - although I have never been there.

I miss B.C., the climate, the mountains, and everywhere you look you always see green trees!!!

I know some people that were born there and have never left, never travelled. They have it so good they do not know how good.

I remember one person saying, "what? No mountains in the other provinces?"

No, I said, not like this.

Vegen - I am almost completely vegen. It was a slow process. I just followed how my body felt. Of course I love animals, but that was not the main reason. I am healthier and going to live longer. I still have a full head of hair and not many wrinkles and I am almost 60 years old.
I figure I have another 25-30 active years to go!

[Constance]

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[DeDukshyn]

Posted by Patient (here)
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Speaking about variety in B.C. , there is even a desert area - although I have never been there.

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The areas around Wallachin and Ashcroft (near Kamloops) are pretty much desert. I remember going to a track meet in Ashcroft when I was in high school - you had watch out for little cacti growing amongst the grass ... and the occasional rattlesnake.

[palehorse]

I do not know if I can, I like smoked meat more than anything. Sometimes I go for vegan food, I really enjoy it, but the damn smoked meat is something I grew up eating and seeing the folks preparing, it is like a tradition buried deep inside me that I can't get rid. I share the same feelings as Ernie when he said "I was brought up on meat. Meat at every meal. I was so well conditioned that.."

[Patient]

Posted by palehorse (here)
I do not know if I can, I like smoked meat more than anything. Sometimes I go for vegan food, I really enjoy it, but the damn smoked meat is something I grew up eating and seeing the folks preparing, it is like a tradition buried deep inside me that I can't get rid. I share the same feelings as Ernie when he said "I was brought up on meat. Meat at every meal. I was so well conditioned that.."

I was the same...and salmon was the last meat I left behind. At the time it was easy because it had changed and was not the same anymore. Maybe it was farmed? I don't know.

[Constance]

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[Snoweagle]

Number 11

My stroke "taught" me to heal by Veganism. Fruit, veg, nuts and berries. I detailed this in one of my posts.

The high and mighty here at Project Avalon used this to mock me. Go see for yourselves. You being researchers 'n all. roflmao

[prc]

I respect your diet but I eat everything, vegetebles, fruits, meat grains (an omnivorous diet), I was raised this way and I do not plan to change my diet because meat contains vitamins of B complex that you cannot find anywhere in plants. I will not change natural food for pills from Farmaceutical Industry. Another thing that is important for Vegans to Know that a diet rich in Soy Beans for prolonged lenth of time can cause osteoporosis, anemia and malnutrition. This was said by Brazilian Doctor Dr. Lair Ribeiro a famous nutrology here.

And to finish my post, my grandmother, mother of my father died at 105 years old and my grandmother mother of my mother died at 98 years old, both ate meat and everything else. They must have done the right thing because they both lead a long and healthy life.

[Hughe]

Posted by prc (here)
I respect your diet but I eat everything, vegetebles, fruits, meat grains (an omnivorous diet), I was raised this way and I do not plan to change my diet because meat contains vitamins of B complex that you cannot find anywhere in plants. I will not change natural food for pills from Farmaceutical Industry. Another thing that is important for Vegans to Know that a diet rich in Soy Beans for prolonged lenth of time can cause osteoporosis, anemia and malnutrition. This was said by Brazilian Doctor Dr. Lair Ribeiro a famous nutrology here.

And to finish my post, my grandmother, mother of my father died at 105 years old and my grandmother mother of my mother died at 98 years old, both ate meat and everything else. They must have done the right thing because they both lead a long and healthy life.

Same here. I eat meat for protein and essential nutrition intake. I don't understand why some people go so extreme. In animal kingdom, all animals eat live food or be eaten alive!

My father died in early 30s. I almost lived for half century. One hundred years ago the average life span was around 30s. To find old human who is 60 years old was rare in the village. So when man or woman had 60th birthday, all the villagers gathered celebrated, held the party for the exceptional elder.

Honestly except natural farming that utilities anything in local environment, organic farming, technological agriculture that handle mono crop damages the ecosystem. Look at the waste land after harvesting wheat or basic crops in the world every year. To grow crops, farmers destroy biosphere.

I became a seasonal farmer. I produces five to seven tons of rice each year on the rice field.

[Constance]

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[Constance]

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[Constance]

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[delfine]

The positive results from going vegan, seems to occur only in the beginning. After some time you begin to encounter all kinds of adverse effects. I recommend watching the video-series " vegans, the epitome of malnourishment" (sorry I can't link) where you'll see loads of emaciated and sickly vegans looking like they are at the brink of death.

[Strat]

Someone should start a Vegan vs Omnivore thread to avoid derailing this one. These forums have danced around this issue but never really dived in (that I'm aware of), I assume because it's very polarizing which leads to tempers inevitably flaring. I've got my 2 cents regarding this topic but I think it would further derail this thread.

[Constance]

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[Hym]

Maybe this will help:

I always tell people that when they change their eating habits and begin searching for a healthier input into their bodies, that it is best to find the tastiest foods and food combinations that are vegan or vegetarian, BEFORE they discontinue eating meat and fish. Besides that, suddenly changing to some vegan-only eating habits may detox your system too quickly.

Why does anyone think that going vegan or veggie is a chore or a sacrifice? That is some imposition from somewhere else and it certainly is not the experience of those of us who have chosen another way to feed our bodies, calm our souls, and gain further control of our health....... all dogma, poetic and SJW environmental constructs aside. After all, Hitler was a vegetarian. It's not as if going veg imparts some great spiritual reward.

It's best to leave that self-righteous crap, out of your journey, not to say that is a knock on anyone here or anywhere. It isn't. This is about you and your choices. All we can do is share some and be true to the heart of the proposition in this thread. Amidst my responses here are the reasons I have, all borne out of experience.

If you choose to deprive yourself and not explore your cravings, many of which can be understood, and even necessary, as your body needing certain nutrients, you will miss the treasure of healthy eating.

I have never traded a good tasting meat or fish dish for some tasteless "health" food. A good point on this is I rarely ate much tofu without adding Braggs amino acids, miso, seaweed garnish and a ton of spices to cooking it, so I rarely ate it. The over promotion of tofu in society was ignorant, to say the least. I do know of a few who were raised on it who have had serious thyroid problems from their parents using it as a base, without serving a much more varied and inclusive diversity of eating options in their lives. If you eat a vegan or vegetarian dish side by side with a carnivores dish, it's not an exterior judgement. It's your experience, with no self-defeating mind games going on. Like Constance says, it will fit you. You won't get any judgement from me.

Unlike some other vegetarians, I enjoyed every bit of well cooked meat and fish I ever had. I say that because my mother would eat raw meat, which convinced me at age seven to cook my own or recook it after she cooked. In contrast, one of my grandmothers would cook a pot roast for 4 days, constantly adding water. I don't know what it was that I ate at the end of her cooking. I think I may have gotten most of the nutrients from the air, while they wasted away those long days.

I can think of a dish, any one in the past, meat or not, to this day and I can smell it. I don't equate the smell of raw meat or fish with anything but my great sense of smell telling me if I'd like it or not. It's expected that since being a vegetarian I haven't liked it for all this time.

In the same vein, if I have to eat meat in some survival situation, I'll say a prayer in thanks to the soul of the animal for the gift. In good turn, if some animal is forced to eat me or starve, or have it's children starve, enjoy, I should be tasty...

If it dies, I'll find someone who eats meat and bring it to them. I do like what the high mountain monks do with their friend's body after death, cutting up the body parts to feed the animals in the area. If you're still there with your body after death, you weren't a very successful monk anyway.

I never purposely tried to find or veggie imitate any meat dish I ate, as I wondered why anyone would do that. The thought of making a fake meat dish is as lame as drinking a near beer....the taste without the spirit. WTF is that all about? I always went for the taste and the energy the food gave me, all the while reading as much as I can, still, about real nutrition and finding tasty foods to combine, to cook, to ENJOY.

I haven't eaten meat or fish in 48 years, but that's me. I haven't been deprived of any great tasting meal since then. Quite the opposite. I now eat a much wider variety of foods than I think I would have eaten if I'd have had some of my basic dietary needs met by eating meat and fish, even with all of the, also, endless dishes that can be made. Part of that is out of necessity and the other part is developing a more inquisitive palate and a necessarily more advanced sense of finding those nutrients that my body craves.

I initially cut out meat because I was so active, working and exercising daily, from the time of my early childhood, but especially working after college. Going without meat I had already felt and factually proved to myself that I recovered quicker and had more energy, more endurance. At the end of that meatless month, a girlfriend's mom made a great, super tasty 3 cheese, 3 meat lasagna dish for us. I was drained for 3 days while my system dealt with removing the excess uric acid the meat put into my system.

The deeper change in recovery from the dinner beyond that physicality, and I didn't eat more than normal, was an insight into my consciousness that was easier to connect with, a new and effortless access I was surprised to have gained. After all it was just a meat dish I had.

It was then that I read a quote from the inspirational poet Kahlil Gibran, who wondered how, after having a deeply profound experience of consciousness, anyone could eat meat. (No matter that he died early of cirrhosis of the liver from his drinking. I'd suggest he'd want us to be inspired by his insights. Just because some addictions are hard to shake, doesn't mean the other gifts we have and develop cannot be enjoyed and shared. I have some good friends like this.)

If you haven't found a comparably energizing and fulfilling dish or foods to do what meat and fish do, our experience is that you haven't looked enough or experimented enough to find the endless dishes that will fulfill the natural and needed cravings you should have all of your life. However, if you love eating meat, I'd suggest that you go without for a while, even go on a short fast, then get back and eat a tasty meat dish you've loved before. It's only up to you and what your body tells you.

The added bonus I've found, as well as have others, and one I can tell you, without being too graphic, is that intimacy is different with a vegetarian than it is with a meat eater.....very different. It just may go from Hmmm? to Yummm!, tho this is just a man talking about women. My avatar should reveal something about my experience, if you just use your imagination.


Now that I think about taste:

I saute mushrooms in a lot of water and drink the juice, later eating the mushrooms in a dish with other ingredients. It is satiating, very nourishing and contains the natural glutamates that provide the nutrients that are felt immediately.

These are not the adulterated, altered glutamates used in cooking that pass the blood brain barrier and cause harm, like monosodium glutamate that was often used in cooking in many restaurants in the past.

[Constance]

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[Ernie Nemeth]

I have been detoxing for over a month now (using yoga techniques I learnt long ago - abdominal lifts + forceful deep breathing in extreme poses) and eating more vegetables and fruit. The problem is, that since I started this regimen my digestive system is not happy at all. My body calls for food that has more life force in it, but my gut is asking if we could just go back to normal food. I've been bloated ever since starting back on veggies and fruit. It is very uncomfortable. I am hoping that it will settle down once the detoxing is finished or at least progresses further along. I just don't know how much longer I can take it...

I've always had a problem digesting raw foods so I finally realized it is best not to eat them. Just days after stopping the raw foods my stomach was fine at last, after so many years of bloating and painful digestion (because I love fruit and salads). But yoga demands healthy food, so I've started back on them and the pain has returned on cue.