Vegetarianism

I was wondering why some people think it's wrong to eat meat.
Human beings are omnivores, meaning that they eat everything, and need a bit of everything to be completely healthy.
Also, vegetarianism is some unnatural way of eating, since we have always eaten meat since we came to existance, like many other animals.
My cousin is a vegetarian and we were talking today and he was telling me that, as inteligent beings, we must do everything to protect the other animals. I think we should first care about us humans, and waste the money that goes for vegetarianism campaigns in helping the poor people that don't even have money to buy bread.

 

There are two types of vegetarians. Vegans and Vegetarians.
There is a big difference between Vegetarian and Vegan.

"vegetarians are those individuals that do not eat any meat products, they will however, eat dairy products and eggs. Vegans on the other hand, do not consume any animal products at all! Or derivitives or such."
http://www.associatedcontent.com/articl ... arian.html
Also it's a short read.

I have met some vegetarians that would eat chicken sometimes.
And I have met a vegan who is a freaken radical on what people eat.

I like my steak medium well done. ^_^
No idea why they don't like meat. And I dislike soy milk.

 

I am a meat eater but have many friends who are Vegans, wont touch anything , They seem balanced and healthy to me, so that is thier choice, I do however keep vegan things in my frig. for them as I like to respect thier wishes as they do the same for me. Soo I really dont see being Vegan or Vegatarian is wrong. They just wont eat meat or certian kinds.

 

I'm not really against it, and not really for it.

But more against it. It's just not healthy.

 

I hear that some vegetarians are healthy but run out of energy quickly so they must have some source of protein on hand at all times like nuts. Same as vegans.

Being as we're the top of the food chain and we have access to all different types of foods, I don't think we "should" or "shouldn't" be eating certain things.

Some people's bodies can't live without meat, but some people's body's literally reject meat. So it's really a person to person basis.

A lot of vegans/vegetarians are the way they are because of the way animals are killed in factories. Just watching one of those PETA videos will turn anyone into a vegetarian for a short while. I did, but then I was like "need... burger.. with.. cheese.." haha

I don't think it's wrong people eat meat, but just like anything else, they should have portion control because meat is a factor in a lot of health risks..

 

I don't understand why Vegans do what they do. I'm all for making your own decisions, including what you will and won't eat, but they're mostly all radical. They think that by somehow not eating meat or animal products, they will stop the farmers from producing these products. Sorry, not going to happen.

I don't get it. Maybe that's just because I'm a kickboxer and bodybuilder, so I obviously need my meat

 

When I was little I wanted to be veggie. Then my mom took me to McDonalds.. lol.

 

I'm vegan, and I'm certainly not unhealthy...or radical.

I don't eat meat because I don't like how animals are treated, or rather mistreated, before they're slaughtered for their meat. Sure, there are some "humane" farms or whatever, but these animals are still being held captive, which I do not agree with.

There are a lot of meat substitutes and supplements that make vegans and vegetarians able to be just as healthy. And actually, eating meat (esp. red meat) in excess can cause a lot of health risks. Red meat is very high in cholesterol, and I'd rather not have heart disease, thank you. I, for one, do not get tired easily. My stamina is greater than a lot of people I know, so maybe that's just the case for some people you know, noncheater?

Anyway, I don't think that if I stop eating meat, everyone will follow in suit. I'm not one to try and shove my beliefs down others' throats. It's a personal choice, just as it's a a meat eater's choice to do so.

 

Haha, I was just wondering when someone would actually represent the vegans and vegetarians, and then I saw lbadmus' post.

I'm also a vegan, and I'm as healthy as I can be.
At first I became a vegetarian when I was 14, to impress a girl (yes it worked) but after that I just saw how easy it was for me not to eat meat. And then I came to think about what milk really is. It's a liquid that comes from cow boobies. And you drink it. I was just freaked out when I actually realised it. As well with eggs, I'm not gonna eat anything that comes out of something else's butt.
Well that as well as many of the reasons lbadmus posted.
I'm one of those people that belive that the animal liberation is the third to come. First we had slavery, then women's right and now the animal liberation. To me it's just natural that it will follow.

Philosophy has made many attempts on this subject, and what they often come up to is that the valid reason to eat animals (and thereby declaring humans better than animals) is that they can't make decisions based on ethics and moral. This however, can be defended by stating that the same person who came up with this theory, claims that all decisions made by humans are egoistic, as the only reason we chose them is to protect our own values.

I don't see any reason to eat meat, it's not very efficent compared to getting the energy straight out of the plants. But that doesn't give me the right to change everyone elses views just because I don't like them, I can only contribute to a healthy discussion and hope that those people realise some new things. And that's pretty much the same thing that I expect back. =)

 

You're right, your chance of getting heart diseases by being Vegan is not as high as a meat eater. Though, unlike you said, you can't be AS healthy as people who eat both meat and vegetables, 'cause there are certain kinds of proteins which you can only find in meat and can't be replaced with any other vegetable, which leaves you open to another kind of diseases that may be as serious as heart diseases.

If you look at the wheel of food, you'll see that meat and dairy products represent almost of 25% it, which means that your body will still need stuff that it can't get, by being vegan.

While people who eat meat and all the other food may not be healthy, that's because they eat the wrong portion of what they should.
And while vegan people don't eat meat and dairy products, they also don't eat the right portion of what they should eat, and therefore are vulnerable to another kind of health problems.
It might not be unhealthy being vegan, but certainly isn't better.

 

The reason dairy is on the food wheel is because of the nutrients we need from them. That doesn't mean that we HAVE to eat them. If we can find something to replace them with the same nutrients, you're telling me that we're not just as healthy, or even healthier than meat eaters? I beg to differ. Humans aren't even supposed to drink milk after the age of 5 because the production of the lactase enzyme, which is essential to digest lactose in milk, slows greatly. That's because your body only needs it to digest mother's milk during nursing. Wonder why so many people are lactose intolerant? They need commercially produced lactase to even DIGEST this stuff that everyone's insisting we need so badly. I can pick up some tofu or wholemeal bread and get the same amount of calcium without having to take some dumb pill. It's unnatural.

Also, Humans do not NEED to eat meat. We can get all amino acids necessary from plants. There's no magic combination of meat and vegetables that's going to prolong your life. Just get the nutrients you need for your body to function, and you're good.

And please, list the diseases that I'm more susceptible to get by being vegan. Don't say osteoporosis because the likelihood of osteoporosis is no greater than for omnivores.

I get the right portions of what I'm supposed to eat without including animal products that cause heart disease. How am I NOT better off? And it's not even about which is better because I don't care what you people do, but don't sit there and say that being vegan has a lot of health risks. It doesn't if you know what you're doing.

 

I think they did a study saying that with some people, lactose intolerance is just a phase in life and it goes away with some people, but that's not always the case. Just thought I'd throw that useless tidbit out there..

Maybe I misunderstood but I don't think goncalo said that vegans have a lot of health risks but instead he said that they have "other" health risks (which may or may not be interpreted as "a lot").



I still stick with the person by person basis. The "humans don't need meat" statement isn't true but "Not ALL humans need meat", on the other hand, IS true, imho.

Maybe there should be a study out there with four groups of people. One group would be mainly meat eaters, the next would be vegans, then vegetarians, and then people who have portion control with both meat and vegetables. I think that would be a step closer to what's healthier or not.

 

That's not true. I've had lots of people telling me that vegetable food does lack certain kind of nutrients, reason why most of vegan people I know suffer from malnutrition. Some vitamins like B12 are widely found in meat products, and are rarely, really rarely found in vegetables and even if they're there, you'd still need to eat loads of that food to get the right dose, which may get you consuming more than you're supposed to eat other nutrients which that kind of food has.

About diseases, I've heard that Ashtma is more likely to appear in this type of diet.

Like I said, vegan is not unhealthy and is not the reason for ' a lot ' of diseases, but most of people don't realize that you have to be more careful than by following a meat/vegetable diet. Unless you're pretty well informed, it's easier to get health diseases since you have to eat a bit of everything in that type of diet.

EDIT: Don't take me wrong or anything, I'm just trying to state why I don't follow a vegan diet.

 

I have no trouble getting my B12, and I get it from soymilk. As a vegan, you don't just eat vegtables, you often eat pieces of mixed vegtables that are cooked and which has been added with some healthy vitamins and minreals. My soymilk contains B12 and kalcium, along with many other things that has been added. It's not just soy that has been dyed, the reason they call it soymilk is because it's a substitute for regular milk. And yes, it works just as good. =)
And if you're noticing that you're becoming tired, there are tons of nutritional increments (not entirely sure if that's the right word) that you can buy. Most people, vegan or meat eaters, should probably eat nutritional increments each day, in order to get a more healthy diet.
The fact is that the only thing that you can't get from vegtables/beans/etc. that is commonly used in food containing 'stuff' from animals, is taurine. And taurine isn't a necessity for the human body.
It is, however, a necessity for cats diets, and that is why we can never turn killer cats into vegan cats. Unless they evolve of course

The truth is that being vegan is (often) both healthier and more economic than eating meat.

 

Soymilk does indeed contain B12 (though it has only 2% of the DRD and you'd need to spend your day drinking soymilk), and can(?) substitute milk, but as you said, other substances are added to it, and to synthetize them all into one liquid, they use other substances for the effect. Also, nutritional increments are synthetized too, which is not natural, and won't benefit your body.

To be honest, I wouldn't risk following a vegan diet since it's more difficult to follow, and wow, I'm impressed you said it's more economic, have you looked at the price of vegan natural stuff? It's like the double of the price and in less quantities!

I think the ideal diet is not one rich in meat or rich in vegetables/vegan stuff, but one that you eat propriate doses of everything and can reduce the chances of all the diseases to the lowest level possible, and not reducing almost totally ones and raising anothers (lacking B12 for a long period can cause pancreas cancer which is bad, like the other cancers the vegan diet prevents).

 

That's not true. Of coruse they benefit your body, as long as you don't take them separatly, but with a meal.
Also, the soymilk where I live contains about 15% of the DRD per 100ml, so you can easily get your daily dose by having one glass of soy milk in the morning and one in the evening.

It's not hard to follow a vegan diet, it takes about 30 minutes of reading at a few separate times. Other than that, it's just about turning the package and have a look at the ingredients.
And if you compare the price of a steak to the price of the lenses or soy beans to make a

That might be, at least regarding health. But there's still several other benefits with eating vegan food. This is a pretty old argument, but it still works; if you include what it takes to grow one steak and compare it to grow the same amount of vegtables, you'll see that you get ten more times the energy by chosing the vegtables.
That sounded a bit cloudy, but I'm guessing you know what I mean. It's harder to discuss when your native tongue isn't english, haha.

 

It's supplements, not increments. I don't know what kind of soy milk labels you're reading, but the soy milk I drink has a higher DRD percentage than 2. And are you saying because nutritional supplements are made in a chem lab, they won't benefit you? That's absurd, you're still getting the vitamins you need, and supplements are proven to work so...that's completely false. They're vitamins. They work. The end.

Anyway, it's really not up to you to decide what's healthy or unhealthy. Intelligent individuals consult their doctors before they make a drastic change in their diet, anyway. If my doctor's okay with, I don't see why anyone else should have a problem with my diet. It's healthy, and I'll probably live longer.

 

I think vegetarians are awesome. I don't think it's wrong to eat meat or anything, but I totally respect their choices... as long as they respect mine B)