Going Vegetarian.

[D.P.]

The plain B&W facts are:

Humans have evolved to REQUIRE a mixture of MEAT and Vegetiables (and carbs, etc). This is a fact, our bodies have to have the nutrients (proteins, vitmains, minerals) from meat.

However, it is possible to get by without meat by adjusting ones diet and taking lots of supplements. It is however very difficult, most vegetarians do not achieve a healthy diet. Possible, but mostly not. Even the most healthy vegeterian diets still are not as healthy as a balance omnivorous diet. Certain vitamens do not occur in plants and only in animal products. Raw vitmain supplemts are not the cure. This doesn't stop you being a prett healthy vegy though, but it takes a lot of effort.

Eating meat does not make you fat or unhealthy. Bad diet and lack of exercise makes you fat. and unhealthy

Becoming a vegetarian will not make you loose weight, prevent you getting fat, or make you any healthier. Possibly quite the oposite since you will likely end up wiht an unblanced diet.

Everyone has a responsibility to prevent or miminise animal cruelty, vegy or not. But, in this country animal cruelty is fairly minimal. Most people should be perfectly happy buying a steak and knowing that no animal needlesly suffered, or indeed suffered at all. Animal behavioural studies show that your average cow in a field is a happy cow and is not subjected to stress.

 

[Pinkeyes]

(....Veggies are boring to cook for)


you well might have,
but I can't be bothered to analyse whatever I feel like cooking, just to see if it fits in with a veggie/vegans sensibilities.

and I'm not about to eat "nut roast surprise" just because I have a picky eater coming

.

Fair enough. My point was being a vegetarian does not mean eating boring food.

Also - Analysing food is part of eating a healthy diet, being a meat eater or not.

 

[-westy-]

i see it as, eating meat is really fatty, which it is, stopping this will help my health big time.

You're buying your meat from the wrong place if its got fat on it.

 

[squiffy]

You're buying your meat from the wrong place if its got fat on it.

You want fat in your meat as it stops it drying out during cooking. Anyway you need fats in your diet, unless you want to look like The Machinist.

 

[growse]

Just to throw the cat amongst the pigeons, there can be health benefits to avoiding mass-farmed meat in certain circumstances. People who have or are recovering from cancer can, in some cases, benefit from avoiding meat that has been fed/injected with growth hormone as this tends to stay in the meat even after cooking. Growth hormone again, in some cases, has been shown to prevent remission of certain types of cancer.

I wish I had the source for the above - I'll try dig it out.

 

[Conscript]

Clicky

 

[Pinkeyes]

This is a fact, our bodies have to have the nutrients (proteins, vitmains, minerals) from meat.
However, it is possible to get by without meat by adjusting ones diet and taking lots of supplements.

The fact is our bodies need proteins, vitamins and nutrients. That does not mean you have to eat meat.

Becoming a vegetarian means replacing meat in your diet. More specifically, replacing what you get out of eating meat. For example - the protein is gained from eating dry beans and lentils. Not by taking supplements.

If becoming a vegetarian means removing meat from your diet and nothing else, you will end up with an unhealthy diet.

most vegetarians do not achieve a healthy diet

To be honest, I would say most people do not achieve a healthy diet. Meat eaters included. Just look around the next time you are in a shopping centre.

 

[Blackstar]

er.,.. ok... as the bf will tell you, i can know a bit too much bout food n stuff n what not to eat... and you should DEFINITELY eat meat... there is virtually no other food that gives you nearly as much protein.. so if your going to not eat meat, forget about shaping up, and accept that'll you just be scrawny and probably suffer from illness a lot more than usual.
just cut down a bit. a piece of meat the size of your palm is a portion... red meat about once or twice a week, oncw/twice/three times a week, lean white meat such as chicken, and the rest of the time, fish...
even if you just lived off chicken and fish, would be far healthier for you. and you could EVEN just live off fish and not do too badly...

jeez vegetarians wind me up for all the wrong reasons...

i dnt agree with animal cruelty... but until lions stop chasing antelope because they think its 'cruel', i will continue living a healthy life and eating meet.

thanks

People seem to have missed this, i think gem is right a healthy and varied diet is the best way.

 

[norm]

People should learn to have more of a conscience when they eat meat. Think about the possible suffering the animal went through to reach your plate and in most mass-farming practices this is going to be rife.

That and most meat eaters would object to killing the animal itself. So it's all and act of cowardliness and self-indulgence.

 

[Pinkeyes]

Theres a guy at work whos been a vegetarian for 13 years now.

My god he looks ill

His eyes are all sunken in and shallow.

and on the point of being thin enough to be worrying really, he assures everyone that he eats more than enough to get what nutrition his body needs.

Body needs meat imo, considering the first humans on this earth could eat pretty much anything raw and we are still here today tells me something.

They might have only lived till they were 25 though

This is quite an interesting read - http://www.vegetarian-nutrition.info/updates/vegetarian_diets_health_benefits.php

Although please bear in mind, I am not pushing this diet. It is my choice.
I think it is just as possible to achieve a perfectly healthy diet which includes eating meat. I just choose not too.

The above link may just give people who think it is unhealthy to be a vegetarian some information to suggest otherwise.

 

[Clark Nova]

Lol at the veggies who eat fish.

Also meat rocks.

They aren't vegetarians, they're pescetarians.

I used to be a vegetarian for about 5 years, never felt so healthy. I slipped into eating meat again when I got married a couple of years ago and I'm thinking about changing back. Just to tick off the wife

 

[iCraig]

People should learn to have more of a conscience when they eat meat. Think about the possible suffering the animal went through to reach your plate and in most mass-farming practices this is going to be rife.

That and most meat eaters would object to killing the animal itself. So it's all and act of cowardliness and self-indulgence.

I totally agree. *bites into succulent beef sandwich*

I've got no problem killing an animal for food. I'm an animal that eats other animals.

 

[Posty]

I have almost cut out red meat from my diet, i eat chicken and fish in my main meals
Although i will have spag bol or lasagna sometimes and even a steak but not often at all

 

[squiffy]

That and most meat eaters would object to killing the animal itself. So it's all and act of cowardliness and self-indulgence.

I have no qualms that cows are killed to produce steaks. That's fairly obvious, meat comes from animals.

 

[norm]

My bad, 'itself' is supposed to read 'themselves'.

 

[Posty]

People should learn to have more of a conscience when they eat meat. Think about the possible suffering the animal went through to reach your plate and in most mass-farming practices this is going to be rife.

That and most meat eaters would object to killing the animal itself. So it's all and act of cowardliness and self-indulgence.

I have been fishing and eaten what i have caught, i have also killed a chicken before i don't have a problem with it

 

[Pinkeyes]

... and you should DEFINITELY eat meat... there is virtually no other food that gives you nearly as much protein.. so if your going to not eat meat, forget about shaping up, and accept that'll you just be scrawny and probably suffer from illness a lot more than usual.

That is not true at all. I have never been healthier since I became a vegetarian. It just needs to be done right.

Please tell me what you get out of meat that you cannot get out of other foods ?

If you want to be a vegetarian - you need to replace the meat - simple as that. Not just remove it from your diet.

 

[D.P.]

People should learn to have more of a conscience when they eat meat. Think about the possible suffering the animal went through to reach your plate and in most mass-farming practices this is going to be rife.

That and most meat eaters would object to killing the animal itself. So it's all and act of cowardliness and self-indulgence.

You are mistaken. Scientific, objective, verigiable studies have shown that in the most case, animals in the UK do not suffer at all in any conventional sense. Lambs, cows, most pigs do not suffer or under go stress in their lives in this country. Some intenive pig farming is not great but such practices are increaingly being limited. Free rnage pugs lives quite happily. Caged chickens and barn chickens are the main exception, however the important point is that their cognitive functionality is extremely limited and they are certainly not self-aware. Free-range chickens are definitely a much better bet but the term is very loose. Cognitively speaking, chickens are somewhat equaivalent to fish, yet many vegies eat fish freely.

The converse argument is that just eating arable crops and vegetables will still lead to the death of many animals. Indeed, these animals die needlesly as they are not providing a foodsource to humans. e.g. many field mice die when farming wheat. When harvesting many crops rats are a problem and get into grain stores. So many rats are poisoned and killed at this time. Rats are extrmely intelligent animals, much more so than your average chicken. Rats are nornmally considered to sit along side pigs and dolphins.

As to your last point. I think most people wouldn't mind killing an animal for food purposes. Shotgun to the head, jobs done. E.g. pigs, cows, lambs are humanley killed instantly with a bolt fired through the brain leading to instant catastrophic neurological breakdown, with concisousness lost instantly.

 

[Pinkeyes]

Caged chickens and barn chickens are the main exception, however the important point is that their cognitive functionality is extremely limited and they are certainly not self-aware. Free-range chickens are definitely a much better bet but the term is very loose. Cognitively speaking, chickens are somewhat equaivalent to fish, yet many vegies eat fish freely.

Firstly let me say my choice of being a vegetarian is not because of animal cruelty. Although, it does play some part.

Eight-hundred and sixty million chickens are reared for their meat in the UK each year.
We are campaigning to improve the lives of these chickens, the majority of which are reared to standards that the RSPCA believes are unacceptably low.

Source

Can I just also say - if you eat fish, you are NOT a vegetarian.

It's like saying. "I am a vegetarian, but I eat meat"

 

[AJUK]

D.P.

Two points, vegetarians do not eat fish.

Farm animals are bred to be eaten so if everyone went veggie overnight they wouldn't be bred.

Carry on.