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[Gander]

No lecturing just share your thoughts and information on the subject. I'm not a Vegan but I have used a Vegan diet in the past for health benefits.

Helpful things I've learned:

- First things first if you are using Veganism for weight loss going on an all fruit diet might not be the best choice for you. It depends on what's making you fat. If you have Candidia which is basically yeast inside the body all that sugar is going to grow the yeast but sugar does not on it's own make you fat that is a misconception.

- Juicing although tasty should be kept at a minimum. When you juice your fruits and veggies you take out the fiber and you get a lot of benefit from keep the fiber in. It helps regulate blood sugar levels and helps with digestion.

- Savory things, a lot of people frown because they would have to give up things like steaks and burgers but there are a lot of alternatives appearing on the market. Besides the alternative consider nuts. Some mixed nuts and a beer are a pretty good treat. BTW pretty much all non dairy drinks are vegan.

 

[138]

My wife is vegetarian, not vegan, but I've embraced the veggie burgers and Quorn and TVP and other things that she uses to make tasty dishes for us.

 

[Catphish]

I tried it multiple times, experienced the health benefits from it, but I just can't sustain it. Mad respect for those who can.

 

[Catphish]

My wife is vegetarian, not vegan, but I've embraced the veggie burgers and Quorn and TVP and other things that she uses to make tasty dishes for us.

Have you heard of Beyond Burgers?

They are freaking phenomenal.

 

[138]

Have you heard of Beyond Burgers?

They are freaking phenomenal.

Are they the creepy bloody but not real bloody ones?

 

[Catphish]

Are they the creepy bloody but not real bloody ones?

Erm, I don't think so. I eat them all the time and never noticed any kind of blood. They're made primarily of pea protein. The flavor and texture they've achieved with these things are the closest to a real burger I've ever experienced. If you do it up like a regular burger, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference.

Honestly, I now prefer them to the real thing.

 

[Gander]

Have you heard of Beyond Burgers?

They are freaking phenomenal.

I have but I have not had the chance to try one yet, where did you get it?

 

[Straight Edge]

I was a vegetarian for quite a while but I could never give up cheese.

 

[Catphish]

I have but I have not had the chance to try one yet, where did you get it?

I'm in the south burbs of Chicago. The Whole Foods here has them all the time and Mariano's has them some of the time.

 

[Gander]

Oh yeah Whole Foods is a Vegan dream palace, so many options.

 

[138]

Erm, I don't think so. I eat them all the time and never noticed any kind of blood. They're made primarily of pea protein. The flavor and texture they've achieved with these things are the closest to a real burger I've ever experienced. If you do it up like a regular burger, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference.

Honestly, I now prefer them to the real thing.

I'll look for them in my local stores.

 

[TheShadowLord]

I have but I have not had the chance to try one yet, where did you get it?

you can buy them in target for example

Oh yeah Whole Foods is a Vegan dream palace, so many options.

yeah if you can afford it.

 

[mantidor]

I've learned of radical vegans raising their dogs without meat which appalled me. I was also surprised dogs can survive it, even though obviously it is not healthy for them, cats on the other hand absolutely need meat, even though some crazy people say there are supplements, but no, the cat will die, the whole thing is animal abuse, which is ironic and upsetting.

 

[5secondrulesucks]

i live in la so i got a lot of vegan options. with that said anyone who thinks it will make them thin is wrong because to make that shit taste good they need some sort of fat and fat they use. im not vegan but i try and stay away from the imitation stuff if i do eat it because it NEVER tastes as good. it just doesnt. ive had a some of those burgers that are supposed to taste like meat and they arent close. all in all i guess its admirable to try and do somethin better for animals and the planet but its not something thats realistic to sustain anything and i dont think things like milk or honey or whatever is inherently bad to eat in itself. like taking the products from animals

 

[ilfait]

I admire people who do it for ethical reasons, and if they're making sacrifices for innocent creatures I'm grateful to them, but I like being healthy and strong and haven't been convinced that it would be a good decision for my incredible omnivorous BODYYYYYYYYYY!

 

[Codes 208]

I admire people who do it for ethical reasons, and if they're making sacrifices for innocent creatures I'm grateful to them, but I like being healthy and strong and haven't been convinced that it would be a good decision for my incredible omnivorous BODYYYYYYYYYY!

Well from a health point of view, technicqlly qll youd be missing from meat products is protein, omega-3 and some calcium, but alternatives like lentil beans, nuts, soybeans and chia seeds give those benefits without the negatives of meat (bad cholesterol, saturated fats, fat calories)

Fish is also technically better for you as a meat but thats obviously not vegan.

Have you heard of Beyond Burgers?

They are freaking phenomenal.

But have you heard of Beyond KFC?

 

[Death Dealer]

I tried it multiple times, experienced the health benefits from it, but I just can't sustain it. Mad respect for those who can.

I had a friend many years ago that was vegan. He actually had to stop under the advice of a doctor because it was fucking up his health. Anemia plus other issues.
I can believe not eating meat could have health benefits. But going completely vegan makes it really hard to get all of the nutrients your body needs. I don't buy the moral arguments one bit. He would say, "I don't eat anything with a face". Guess what ? Animals eat other animals. And humans are animals, so you're battling mother nature when you put the well being of a fish or chicken with an IQ of 4 above your own welfare.

 

[LordPezix]

Vegan for almost 5 years now. I love it.

 

[Catphish]

But have you heard of Beyond KFC?

I have now.

I'll watch it later.

 

[MilkyJoe]

My missus is a vegematarian and talks about going vegan. I reminded here that if she's doing that she needs to go in 100% otherwise it's pointless. That means throwing out all her shoes and handbags, belts and biker jackets and she has to grow all her own food, so she knows no animals were killed during farming and harvest. She soon gave up on that idea. (i'd have left her)

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Did the vegan thing for 1 month to see if it could help me lose weight. It did. It's also hard on your system and your wallet if you don't go for raw food as well. People who "go vegan" and then eat freezer-packaged burgers and Frankentofu creations are like overweight people who eat "diet" soda and "low fat" chips all day. "Raw food" offers 90% of the benefits you'd get from vegan.

It's also very... bad for the environment. Say what you will about cruelty to animals, but the high variety and high volume of exotic out-of-state and out-of-country foods needed to sustain their lifestyle costs an incredible amount of fuel and resources, not to mention the food spoilage and deforestation to make room for the crops. If people ate vegan by eating local greens, cheap grains, cheap beans, home-fermented food for their B-group vitamins it wouldn't be a problem, but this isn't what most vegans do...

Edit: "raw food" doesn't necessarily mean uncooked food. Some people go that far, but at its core its about cutting out all the processed, refined, and "fake" food from your diet and then tuning your diet from there. Many people find that it wasn't meat or gluten causing the problem but a lack of probiotics and all the garbage chemicals and preservatives in their boxed mix dinners and fast-food lunches.

 

[Gander]

The freezer is definitely one thing that will help you for a couple reasons. First obviously your fresh food will keep longer so you don't have to eat it within 2 weeks. Second when you do freeze it making smoothies becomes super easy.

 

[BANGS]

I don't really understand going full vegan, but there are certainly lots of health benefits to a good chunk of that diet. I'll never be a vegetarian/vegan but I certainly do enjoy a good vegetarian/vegan meal often...

 

[Relativ9]

I don't really get vegans, but if I weren't so into meat I could see myself being a vegetarian. I think our culture has gotten away from itself when it comes to meat eating, in ancient (and not so ancient) times it used to be that we'd only eat meat 2-3 times a week max, now seemingly every meal has to have meat in it. There are more sources of protein than meat.

 

[jshackles]

Not a vegan but have been vegetarian for the past 6 months. I don't think I could give up eggs, cheese, or milk (or sour cream, cream cheese, etc). Before I went vegetarian, I had already inadvertently switched 2/3rds of my meals to vegetarian anyway so it wasn't that big of a switch honestly.

The most difficult situations I've faced have been restaurants in a social gathering: like a few days ago when my boss took everyone in our department to the local pizza parlor. They did have a salad bar that was nice, but the pizza was all you can eat buffet style. I talked to the owner and asked if he could make up a "veggie" pizza, and he was nice enough to bring out a wonderful pie with onions, peppers, olives, and mushrooms and it was amazing. Another one of my pre-veg vices was having a McDonalds breakfast sandwich maybe once every two weeks - but they all have meat on them. I found out that the McDonalds app is great for this, because you can customize each sandwich's individual components - now I can still pick up an egg and cheese mcgriddle when I get the craving. So I'm learning to find ways around the norm and in some cases had made me a bit less shy and introverted.

It's also very... bad for the environment. Say what you will about cruelty to animals, but the high variety and high volume of exotic out-of-state and out-of-country foods needed to sustain their lifestyle costs an incredible amount of fuel and resources, not to mention the food spoilage and deforestation to make room for the crops. If people ate vegan by eating local greens, cheap grains, cheap beans, home-fermented food for their B-group vitamins it wouldn't be a problem, but this isn't what most vegans do...

Are you saying that being vegan is bad for the environment? I'll grant you that, sure, people can reduce their carbon footprint more by eating local, but you know that the meat industry (in particular beef) is like one of the worst pollutants on the planet right now, right? Deforestation to make room for "extra crops for vegans" is laughable - you know that the majority of some plant-based agriculture (like soy) goes towards feeding animals, right? Even a Cornell study done in the late 90s showed that if people directly consumed the grains produced for cattle we could feed 800 million people without using any additional land.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Are you saying that being vegan is bad for the environment? I'll grant you that, sure, people can reduce their carbon footprint more by eating local, but you know that the meat industry (in particular beef) is like one of the worst pollutants on the planet right now, right? Deforestation to make room for "extra crops for vegans" is laughable - you know that the majority of some plant-based agriculture (like soy) goes towards feeding animals, right? Even a Cornell study done in the late 90s showed that if people directly consumed the grains produced for cattle we could feed 800 million people without using any additional land.

Well aware of the problems caused by factory-farmed meat but I consider that a separate issue. I don't think consuming so much grain is a good thing, but that's also a separate issue.

Lots of the staple vegan foods in the West are imported, stapled-together versions from other regions. They need to be shipped around, processed, packaged, and refrigerated. Fuel, fuel, and more fuel! Warehouses to store it. Wear-and-tear on the roads. Food spoilage. Plastics and waste-paper and toxic inks to print the labels. And let's not forget that many "premium foods" slap on the vegan label to add to the appeal: isn't it the case that some people are buying $6 bottles of kombucha and $10 pea-protein burgers? These things are not unique to vegan food, of course. Because "vegan" and "nutrient replacement" go hand-in-hand these days, you also have supplements, powders, and Frankenfood to make sure you're able to get all your vitamins and minerals**. It's not sustainable.

Soy is also really bad for you, likely as bad as grains. Traditionally, cultures that eat soy will first ferment it or process it to break down the antinutrients and phytoestrogens. We don't. Most of our stuff is GMO, which isn't itself bad except that it's GMO'd to be resistant to RoundUp.

If someone wants to go vegan, it's extremely easy and extremely inexpensive. You just have to "go raw" at the same time. As a test, I sustained myself for a full week (7 days) on about $4 of food: sprouted seeds and beans, home-grown veggies, and some home-fermented 'kraut. Going vegan while trying to maintain all the same foods and treats that you liked from before is expensive and bad for the environment. It's the Yoga-mom crystal-fueled fantasy that simply does not exist.

**As an aside, I've gone vegan and covered all my micros and macros without needing supplements or packaged foods. Fermentation is the answer. It's even better for vegetarians who are willing to use animal milk to make milk kefir.

 

[BANGS]

.

 

[manfestival]

Every vegan I have met is really freaking amazing at cooking. I imagine that they have to be in order to make their food so good. Every vegan restaurant I go to is pretty amazing too. Just wonder why they cost so much when normal restaurants charge less for the veggie options cause meat costs more.

 

[Dee Dah Dave]

Just eat loads of veggies, and meat. Problem solved!