• H&R Moderators: streaM Freak

Diets: Vegetarian, Vegan, Marcobiotic, raw foods, etc.

For sure Jam :)

what i meant about the vegetarian myth being pretty irrelevant to me is that -- the author seems to boil it down to - being a vegetarian is great but what about all the cows?!??!?! who will eat all the cows if we don't?! they'll over run us!

The point is that ruminants (such as cows) have the unique ability to convert grass into protein and fat that humans can digest. In fact, if they are cycled through a field properly with chickens following, one can build top soil and extract nutrition with no machinery, irrigation, or fertilizer. How it works is the cow eat the grass and shit everywhere. The rancher then waits a few days for the fly larva in the dung to grow then allows chickens into the field which eat all of the fly larva and spread the manure. If done in the proper environment, it is an extremely effective and non pollutive way to produce food. If your qualm is with killing in general, then I respect that. However, I would like to point to millions of years of evolution as evidence that meat and eggs are a natural part of the human diet.
 
dunno man, tofu is pretty good when it comes to food.

Soy is unhealthy. It isn't even a "food" in my opinion. But hey, people can eat whatever they want. I can only speak for me, but I know enough from my own research and from the reactions it causes in my body to never want to touch that toxic shit again.

However, I would like to point to millions of years of evolution as evidence that meat and eggs are a natural part of the human diet.

Yes.
 
The point is that ruminants (such as cows) have the unique ability to convert grass into protein and fat that humans can digest. In fact, if they are cycled through a field properly with chickens following, one can build top soil and extract nutrition with no machinery, irrigation, or fertilizer. How it works is the cow eat the grass and shit everywhere. The rancher then waits a few days for the fly larva in the dung to grow then allows chickens into the field which eat all of the fly larva and spread the manure. If done in the proper environment, it is an extremely effective and non pollutive way to produce food.

Permaculture is definitely the only reasonable and sustainable option as far as agriculture is concerned, for sure. A good friend of mine is getting involved in it whole-heartedly, and so far I am impressed.
 
Soy is unhealthy. It isn't even a "food" in my opinion. But hey, people can eat whatever they want. I can only speak for me, but I know enough from my own research and from the reactions it causes in my body to never want to touch that toxic shit again.

Seeing as how I jump at any chance to extol the benefits of live-culture foods: I've found that fermenting soy (miso) or culturing it (tempeh) makes it into a very healthy food indeed. On its own, yeah, soy is pretty much undigestible, but the lactobacilli present in miso or tempeh help to pre-digest it and make available a lot of the nutrients that we otherwise can't absorb from it in either raw or cooked form.
 
i'll start eating meat when i have to start hunting my own food.

until then, i'll eat food that doesn't contribute to the destruction of our planet and my body.

eta: you can buy meat & eggs from "grass fed organic cage free" people, but really when there are no standards for cage free (or organic really, for that matter) what good does it do? and it's not a sustainable practice, either. you either feed everyone or you don't feed enough. factory farming or vegetarianism, that's about all we got.
 
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what?

that's what i'm saying. if you want to eat nothing but organic vegetables and meat, you're either going to have to skyrocket the price of one or the other, which won't feed the world. and it seems that they'd rather increase the price of vegetables, which is sad, because vegetables > meat, really.
 
is parroting samadhi smiles' opinions the same as letting him post from your account? I wonder.

Parroting his opinions? Wtf? :\ I have my own brain and my own opinions, thanks, I don't need to fucking "parrot" anyone elses. My views come from my personal battle with my health which I've been dealing with and learning from long before meeting my boyfriend. That shit was uncalled for.

until then, i'll eat food that doesn't contribute to the destruction of our planet and my body.

I think that's great, as long as you are healthy. You are likely a metabolic type which can sustain itself on a vegetarian diet, which is very cool if the diet works for you! I wish it had worked for me.
 
i'll start eating meat when i have to start hunting my own food.

until then, i'll eat food that doesn't contribute to the destruction of our planet and my body.

eta: you can buy meat & eggs from "grass fed organic cage free" people, but really when there are no standards for cage free (or organic really, for that matter) what good does it do? and it's not a sustainable practice, either. you either feed everyone or you don't feed enough. factory farming or vegetarianism, that's about all we got.

this is not entirely correct. The meat that I rarely buy comes from cows that live on a range for their entire lives. I know this because I buy it from a co-op that buys it directly from the farmer and knows his practices. They don't water the range and the cows eat the naturally occurring grass. Yes we could let the range return to it natural grow and burn cycle, but from a food production viewpoint, this would be a waste of land that you can not grow anything but grass on.

The eggs that I buy are the same story. The chickens live in orchards and eat the bugs in the grass. They also eat grain which fertilizes the orchard. The only time they are locked up is at night in a coop (which they happily walk into) so that they aren't attacked by bobcats.

You're right that organic and especially "free range" doesn't mean much (they aren't raised in battery cages). But if you actually know the source of your animal products, it is possible to eat real, free range, ecologically sound animal products.
 
une 28, 2010 -- Giving animals antibiotics in order to increase food production is a threat to public health and should be stopped, the FDA said today.

The federal agency says it has the power to ban the practice, but it's starting by issuing "draft guidance" in hopes the food industry will make voluntary changes. After a 60-day public comment period, the guidance will become FDA policy.

The guidance is based on two principles:

* Antibiotics should be given to food animals only to protect their health.
* All animal use of antibiotics should be overseen by veterinarians.

"We are seeing the emergence of multidrug-resistant pathogens," FDA Deputy Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein, MD, said at a news conference. "FDA believes overall weight of evidence supports the conclusion that using medically important antimicrobial drugs for production purposes is not appropriate."

Sharfstein said it's a public health issue when antibiotics important for human health are given to animals on a massive scale. Such use encourages the growth of drug-resistant bacteria that can cause hard-to-treat human disease.

Like humans, animals sometimes need antibiotics to fight or prevent specific infections. The FDA says it has no problem with this.

But producers regularly give antibiotics to food animals because it makes them gain weight faster or makes them gain more weight from the food they eat. This is the practice the FDA wants to end.

Sharfstein hopes that by offering the carrot of voluntary guidelines, industry will avoid the stick of new regulations.

check check check it out out.

i really don't think that people can't live on a vegetarian diet. i think we are so far removed from our hunter gatherer prototype that it's really just destructive now. i mean look at America compared to other countries and their diets. Too much meat, really. You don't NEED all that shit. Too much protein, too many calories, too many saturated fats.
 
this is not entirely correct. The meat that I rarely buy comes from cows that live on a range for their entire lives. I know this because I buy it from a co-op that buys it directly from the farmer and knows his practices. They don't water the range and the cows eat the naturally occurring grass. Yes we could let the range return to it natural grow and burn cycle, but from a food production viewpoint, this would be a waste of land that you can not grow anything but grass on.

The eggs that I buy are the same story. The chickens live in orchards and eat the bugs in the grass. They also eat grain which fertilizes the orchard. The only time they are locked up is at night in a coop (which they happily walk into) so that they aren't attacked by bobcats.

You're right that organic and especially "free range" doesn't mean much (they aren't raised in battery cages). But if you actually know the source of your animal products, it is possible to eat real, free range, ecologically sound animal products.

how many people are like you? how many people even give a shit? for every Mehm, there are...30? 50? people who would just stare and blink at you and say, "but it says organic." also, correct me if i'm wrong, but aren't chickens NOT supposed to eat grain?

no, you don't have to increase the price of vegetable, just increase the amounts of genetically modified foods

and what about GMOs? i don't think there is enough research done on those things to make me feel okay about eating them.
 
You don't NEED all that shit.

It really isn't up to you to decide what other people need to have a healthy, functioning body. Like I said, my need for meat was proven. If you want respect for your dietary choices *which I do respect* you really need to respect others as well. It's the judgmental and ignorant (no offense, I mean that word in the politest way possible, but you are ignorant when it comes to my bodies needs) stuff that gives vegetarians a bad name...

I agree with you about GMOs. I just try to eat locally farmed organic stuff. Or get food/eggs from people you know who have chickens/fruit trees, etc, that's the best way! I'm doing some housesitting for a lady next month who has her own hens. Yummy fresh eggs every morning. It's going to be nice. :)
 
I can't watch the vid right now but I think I've seen it before, and I just had to comment on one of the comments on the bottom:

"organic food has no added nutritional value, its harder to produce meaning cost rises while output decreases and while in the US it only accounts for 1% of all food products it accounts for 8% of all e-coli cases. Penn and Teller are right for presenting the other side of the facts"

^^^The point of organic food is not that it somehow has more nutritional value. I don't know anyone who is arguing that. The point is, that it isn't sprayed with poison. And even "organic" food could have some sort of nasty stuff on it. You don't know unless you do your research about where your food actually comes from.
 
You can't "wash" the pesticides out of a soft skinned fruit that has completely absorbed it (example, strawberries). I am not always against eating non-organic food if it has a very hard outer shell that comes off, like an avacado or something. But berries... hell no.

And there isn't as much regulation as you think. The people in charge care about money, not our health. You are much more trusting than I ever would be. I wouldn't ever recommend simply trusting the "organic" label either. Sometimes it doesn't mean much. Know your food.
 
It really isn't up to you to decide what other people need to have a healthy, functioning body. Like I said, my need for meat was proven. If you want respect for your dietary choices *which I do respect* you really need to respect others as well. It's the judgmental and ignorant (no offense, I mean that word in the politest way possible, but you are ignorant when it comes to my bodies needs) stuff that gives vegetarians a bad name...

and was i trying to? i was making a general statement - you aren't the only one in this thread who said it was impossible for *them* to be vegetarian, so don't take it personally. i've been a veg*n since in utero, i don't know any other way and can't comprehend any other way. as for what bodies need, most need around 2,000 cals, 50-60 gs of protein, an assortment of grains, a mix of various vitamins, some good fats, some oils, and some sugars. its up to you, how you get there, of course. and i'm excluding the people who have real fucked up problems - blood disorders is what i think of, mainly, and high performance athletes that need upwards of 10,000 calories a day. and honestly, i don't care really what people eat, as long as they are aware there are alternatives that may be less negative in the long run - to their bodies, to the planet, and to other people & creatures, and that food can be way more exciting and creative than meat grain vegetable rinse repeat rinse repeat for every meal. & shit, if i was as biased as you think i am, i'd refuse to date meat eaters, which seem to be the only ones i do date ;)
 
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