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Plant Based Living

Flower of Life

Flower of Life

Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 23, 2015
Messages
84
I have reached a point in life where eating plant based, basically just adopting a lifestyle of veganism (the term plant based sounds more cutting edge somehow haha), has become the pinnacle of health for myself.


I have been a vegetarian for over 10 years and vegan on and off throughout that time. I transitioned to a vegetarian diet for health reasons not ethical, after reading The China Study.

My decision for going vegan is both ethical and for supreme health. I have been a vegan for some years in the past but I am at a point where animal products are not conducive in any way, shape, or form to my current lifestyle.

Also vegans (whom eat healthy, there is such a thing as 'junk food vegans' lol) are the most vibrant and radiant of creatures despite what you may or may not believe.

I realize there probably are not many vegans on this forum, I mean there aren't many of us in any one given location that isn't somehow directly related to being vegan hahah, so I would like to simply introduce logical arguments here for eating solely plant-based vs. being an omnivore.

Maybe you will walk away with some new insight if nothing else.

If you are vegetarian or vegan I also look forward to some friendly camaradarie!

A couple intro videos by my friend Ralph Smart,





Actually he has quite a few veggie related videos I'm gonna post them all, also other vegan videos just to spark some ideas for the off chance any readers of this thread are truly curious about veganism.

And of course to reinforce my decision to go fully plant based =D

:) And on an off note, yet another actor has recently gone vegan, Liam Hemsworth. Quite fond of him actually, something about the Hemsworths, perhaps a man crush of sorts hehe:

http://vegnews.com/articles/page.do?pageId=7118&catId=1
http://www.mensfitness.com/life/entertainment/liam-hemsworth-force-nature






​

 
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Well since I can't seem to create a blog yet I may as well just post it here, as being vegan is not only beneficial to oneself but also to the planet.

http://www.collective-evolution.com...ometrical-pattern-what-is-the-flower-of-life/



All life is indeed connected.

The universe, and multiverse if you will, are truly quite something. The mysteries of the infinite cosmos are indeed waiting inside us all to be discovered and awakened to.

Ah ok, well then subjective experiences aside I will leave the rest for my blog when I somehow can start one :D

flower_of_life_a6_dark_600_by_lilyas-d77qhi2.jpg
 


This song is dedicated to Need4speed. Btw bro I bet you can't tweak on speed harder than me, no arrogance meant ;)



I USE TO BE A SPEED FIEND. NOW I RIDE BIKES AND RUN SPRINTS FOR MY SPEED FIX 8(
 
For anyone thinking what the heck do vegans eat, allow me to point you in the direction of two of the best vegan chefs in the world, Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero :)

http://www.amazon.com/Veganomicon-The-Ultimate-Vegan-Cookbook/dp/156924264X

Delightful photos of vegan dishes: https://instagram.com/isachandra/

Terry Romero's site:
http://veganlatina.com/

Other great sites for recipes (vegetarian and vegan, after all this thread is for discussing vegetarian things too as I am not some militant vegan dude who criticizes vegetarians hahah vegetarians you are doing good for the planet in my books!) :) and more delightful info:

www.onegreenworld.org
www.vegweb.com
www.vegnews.com

And some fun youtube channels:

https://www.youtube.com/user/ZombieGate


https://www.youtube.com/user/VeganBlackMetalChef
 
Veganism is simply logically unavoidable. First, ethics. Look, animals don't deserve human rights because they don't have the capacity for responsibility, but I implore you to learn about the conditions in even first world countries. Either way, if one can live off plants, surely it's simply better to do that and avoid killing anything?
Second is the environment. Agriculture could account for up to 51% of greenhouse gas emissions, but that's only the start. Water use, food use (if we ate grain rather than giving it to cows, America alone could feed 800,000,000 more people), land use (this is the main reason for deforestation).
Then there's the health reasons. These can be tricky, but the biggest and best studies do show things like lower cancer rates and all-cause mortality for vegans. Sure, it's only a few percent and a few years, but there are many finer points which will surprise you and show you why I'm vegan.
Then it's just more practical. Want to lose weight? Barely any vegan foods are high-kcal, and you'll be eating so many micronutrients you'll be feeling great too. Want to gain weight? Well I'm an amateur powerbuilder, I could never gain weight until I went vegan. A lot of the high-cal foods you do eat are so well balanced macronutritionally, it's just incredibly easy and cheap. Cheap??? Yes, with lentils I can buy 150g of protein for less than £1
I haven't given citations here because I'm lazy, but if you check out Unnatural Vegan and Vegan Gains on Youtube, they always cite academic sources and they also don't completely fit the vegan stereotype.
I hate the vegan community. I hate hippies. But on this one, they're right (probably just because they think wittle piggies are cute though), and just switching to veganism is the single most positively impactful thing most people can do in their lives. I might be full of shit, if so just check out the channels and debunk me, but this is something very serious which you have to consider. I hope I don't sound preachy, I'm interested in changing vegan advocacy as nobody takes it seriously and they never tell people their best arguments
 
I am a whole food plant based eater...healthy vegan...I do not adopt the ethical vegan mindset...mostly because I think that the term vegan is scary to a lot of people. I adopted this lifestyle after watching Forks Over Knives and follow the McDougall plan. What I do know is that it's been a super easy dietary change that has cured my type II diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol...I'm off all meds :) My osteoarthritis pain is gone. My husband and I have been written up in a veg. magazine success stories segment. I'm eating more than I ever have, potatoes, rice, corn and starch are my friend...I'm no longer bloated and lost 65 lbs easily without starving, counting calories, or worrying about portion control. Everyone said I needed protein but heck....oatmeal has 5 grams a serving, pinto beans have 9 grams, 2/3 cup of peas has 4 grams, peanut butter has 8 grams, brown rice has 3 grams. There's plenty of protein in plants and my lab work is great....there has never been a case of protein deficiency that I can find documented in people who are able to consume enough calories on a plant based diet.

image hosting site
 
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I naturally vacillate between periods of increased meat consumption and increased vegetarianism. I don't need a book or media to tell me what to do, I listen to my own body.
 
I just watched the latest video by Raymond cool on protein, thought I would dump it here [video]https://youtu.be/Ny6DkyY6zY8[/video]
 
I'd eat meat if I was able to hunt and kill it. However IMO you can't call yourself a compassionate person and eat factory tortured animals. I like meat as a food and I like the way it gives a rock solid energy boost when eaten in moderation. But like I said I've had to forgo it for the most part due to the ethical dilemma.
 
I find that the way meat is produced in the US and many other countries is terrible at best. Very cruel. I would love to see a resurgence of smaller farms raising heirloom types of animals in stress free conditions.

The human animal is an omnivore. I eat both meat and vegetables, but I lean more towards vegetables (my girlfriend eats lots of vegetables). I find that a balanced diet is probably the best thing you can do for your body, however, it takes all kinds so I do not knock anyone's lifestyle choice when it comes to diet...well other than people that eat fast food constantly.
 
^ sadly, it's not possible to feed such a big population with meat grown at classical farms. The way meat is produced nowadays is the way it is not because humans are cruel, but because it's efficient. Few people would want to make animals suffer the way they do for no reason (yes, I know, sadly there are people who do). I know that you know this, but for some reason it seems that a lot of people don't think about it and come off as thinking that one of the main goals of the meat industry is to torture animals.

I agree that a balanced diet is probably the easiest best thing, as in it's not hard to stay healthy and get everything you need from a mixed diet. As opposed to plant-only, in which case you have to be careful to get everything you need.

I have nothing against eating meat, but I do find myself eating meat less and less frequently for some reason.
 
I tried a vegetarian diet for a couple of months last autumn, and it was surprisingly easy to replace meat with mushrooms, soy crumbles and beans.
 
^ I'm not sure... There wasn't really any strong ethical conviction behind that experiment in the first place.
 
There is nothing inherently unhealthy about a vegan diet. I completely agree with you that vegan diets CAN be unhealthy (the OP acknowledges this in their post) but nothing in this thread indicates that anyone is restricting their diet too much or missing out on vital nutrients.

I personally moved from a near-vegan diet to a pescetarian diet (mostly vegetarian, small amounts of seafood) because I found it impossible to get enough iron and was dangerously anemic, so I'm with you on veganism not always being the healthiest choice for everyone. But it is demonstrably untrue that all vegan diets are objectively "unhealthy".
 
If people ate less meat we could adopt a more ethical approach to animals. I would say I only eat 4-6oz of meat a day. That is enough for me.

It is not hard to participate in animal husbandry in a much better way for the animals. You just have to care and put profits second. Yes it is not the american way which is that profit trumps everything, but it can be effectively changed little by little.
 
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