Why vegans were right all along!
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If God hadn't intended you to eat animals he wouldn't have made them out out meat, or made them taste so good... Or am I posting in the wrong debate
Seriously - all things in moderation - by nature we are omnivores and so we eat 'everything' that's available...
ANy diet based solely on cows or fish or grains or apples or potatoes or beer etc IS NEVER going to be healthy. Eat a balanced ['natural'] diet -
@tig said:
If God hadn't intended you to eat animals he wouldn't have made them out out meat, or made them taste so good... Or am I posting in the wrong debate
...............true, sir. i agree.
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Mike,
I couldn't agree more about the pill popping etc and I come from a family of medicos, my mother a pharmacist, father a dentist, one brother a research scientist working mostly in pharmaceuticals another is a heart surgeon, I have several more but I'm sure you get the picture.
All of them are rational about the proper use of drugs and tend toward using as few as possible.
I personally think it's best to really shop around for a doctor, you are trusting them with your health and as such it's important to be happy that they really understand what's going on with you and are not just prescribing things for your immediate symptoms.
My doctor takes a very holistic approach, we spoke for over an hour at my first appointment with him going over all sorts of things, physical as well as psychological in a sense. He took the time to get to know me and my life, things that were weighing me down and things I wanted to do. He took the time to explain to me the various things that my body was doing and how they related to each other and how they could be resolved. My previous doctor simply said, here take these and these and you'll be on them the rest of your life etc etc
So shop around a bit if you can, ask questions and get a full understanding, if they don't seem to really care go elsewhere.Jeff,
certainly try the vegan option, as you put it, but it's better not to think of it that way. Better to "try this food I've not tried before" or try "hey that looks interesting........., oh bugga me it tastes damn good too.
We tend to eat what we are familiar with all the time, I know I had a habit of going to the supermarket and just walking the same path through the shelves picking up the same stuff I always did, quick and straightforward and done.
But now I really shop, made somewhat more difficult because I can barely read the labels, my German isn't too good, and buy things I've never had before and then go home and learn how to cook with them. I've had some disasters but I've had more delights.
And you are so right, you are in a wonderful city for experiencing all sorts of foods.Sepo,
I think I understand why you ask, I remember thinking, Vegetarian ME!? are you nucking futs what the hell am I going to eat!!!
And here I am in one of the most meat eating countries in the world where the vegetarian dish on the menu is roast pork, but it's vegetarian because the pig was grain fed.
It took me a few days to get my head round it but I gave it a try, I started with some boring basics, steamed or roasted veg, salads, fruit and so on but fairly quickly got adventurous and started looking for recipes on the net. Pretty soon I had started cooking for myself for the first time in more than a decade and it was fun and tasted bloody good. I've been traveling the world for work for the last 20+ years and have eaten some of the best and some of the worst, but pretty much I had become bored with food and it was only something to fill the tank, so frozen pizza and such were pretty common or a hotel breakfast of bad scrambled eggs, bacon and sausages then nothing for lunch and a giant steak for dinner. I think you get the picture, irregular crap fatty food.So what do I eat now.
What I don't eat, but I'm not strict on this, I will eat them happily if I'm out but choose not to at home, is really just most animal fats and sugar, so generally I don't eat meat or chicken or use butter or milk or cream etc in cooking.I do eat cheese, yoghurt and fish.
I mainly avoid additives, so most things I eat are fresh or prepared or packaged in a reasonable way, sundried tomatoes in olive oil, tuna in sunflower oil, tinned or bottled things that don't have masses of salt or sugar in them etc but again I'm not that strict on that, if I feel like it I will buy it.Anyway I have learnt to cook and I do love chillies and spicy food so I make a lot of curries now from scratch and they are pretty damn good, eating one as I type this, but I eat a huge variety of things.
A typical day now would start with 2 or 3 slices of toast (made from good bread from the bakery that makes it's own and uses none of the 19 or so additives that go into factory bread) topped with chopped tomatoes, chillies, spring onion or shallots drizzled with lemon juice and olive oil and a good dose of pepper and a light sprinkling of chunky sea salt. I can chop and mix all those bits in the time it takes to make the toast.
Lunch varies a lot depending on how busy I am, sometimes last nights curry, sometimes a quick tuna salad, sometimes grilled cheese on toast, sometimes a sandwich from the local shop.
Dinner is always different, I often cook salmon fillets, well cooked they can be better than an expensive steak. Sometimes I'll make a load of roast veggies and have a simple green salad with them other times steamed veg. Tonight as I said is a curry, made with loads of onions and spices with the main bulk being potatoes, zucchinis, chickpeas and mushrooms. I could have done it with fish or prawns or langoustine but tonight I was cooking with chickpeas for the first time.
I use lots of different fresh herbs and things, I like spicy but I often cook non spicy too. I snack quite often too, cashews and almonds, bananas and whatever other fruit I can get here, christmas cookies full of sugar (but I don't eat them all and nothing else).I guess I have succeeded because I am enjoying myself and not trying to "Diet" I still enjoy a good drink, unfortunately I still smoke, but that will go soon enough (nothing beats a Doc that says enjoy your smoke for now and we'll deal with that later) mainly it's a lifestyle change and not penance to suffer through. And I've managed to work my cooking in with my work and travel, but that's a whole other story
Sorry, didn't mean this diatribe to be so long but it's sort of hard to put a simple answer into words.
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..... I've had a long chat with my cook, she who must be obeyed! Pauline is healthy and has managed to maintain a correct weight (for her) for as long as I know her. She is of the same mind as many of you, a balanced diet with all kinds of food in moderation.
As far as the live long pills goes, I think I will do some research also for alternatives. There is the world of information on the Net as we all know.
Just an example! Its not human health related, its about my little buddy, Jock, a Westie. Jock broke out in a nasty rash on both his flanks (back side) last year one side was really nasty, raw and red. I could see it was causing him a lot of discomfort.
I brought him to an experienced vet and he gave him the usual shot and prescribed some medication (tablets). They really did no good. I then decided to do a bit of research and discovered that Westies are allergic to yeast! This is the site, http://www.westiemed.org/health/malassezia/ He was not any way near as bad as some of those Westies but was getting there.
I looked at his diet and cut out bread and other things with yeast and in no time at all it cleared up. He is now in tip top condition.
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You are right Mike, to do the research but be sure to do enough of it and not just take a few articles on faith.
I've heard that some people can read one book and then erroneously base their whole life on it. -
Good info to know, there are lots of books out there that describe the industrial food process. Fast Food Nation comes to mind, and it's information from these sources that has moved us toward vegetarianism. But, this information has moved is away from grocery store vegetables as well. The farming of vegetables entails a lot of chemicals, waste and pesticide overuse. And those chemicals don't just affect humans, but all animals and beneficial bugs that come into contact with it. Colony collapse disorder is thought to be attributable to the use of certain pesticides.
So simply switching to eating veg is not necessarily the best answer alone.
The answer is currently a trendy idea, but there are many benefits: go local. Join a local co-op, buy from local farms that grow organic, use integrated pest management (they only spray if they absolutely must), and don't dose their animals with drugs of every kind. Buy from a local farmer's market, you get to meet the people that produce the food and can ask questions about how it's grown.
Lots of benefits to this. Supporting local businesses and not some faraway mega corporation, good for your community. You get better food. You know who grew it and that the animals were treated fairly and not warehoused in terrible conditions. Joining the co-op can also be fun as there are often social events and volunteer work that can be done, you meet new people or might have the opportunity to do a little work at the very farm your food comes from. Make new friends and get outdoors!
We've reduced our meat intake to near zero for many reasons, including the above. You just feel better. And vegetarian doesn't mean bland, Mediterranean and Indian dishes are a great example.
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Also, see the movie "Food Inc." Support local farmers with your purchasing dollars/pounds/euros/ etc. who are doing appropriate-scaled sustainable agriculture. Give your money to them and not industrial scale agro-business.
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Yeah, Food Inc was an eye opener, encouraged me to use local co-ops instead of the convenient chains for my fruits and veggies.
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I must confess, today I was part of the problem. We went to a local restaurant on a layover for lunch. Don't know why, but I ordered a Reuben sandwich. I expected a rather normal sandwich, the price was just over $7, so one wouldn't expect anything unusual.
What I got was not what I expected. The sandwich you see is almost 12" from one end to the other. No joke. Not seen is the 8" long half-cucumber of a pickle hidden behind the sandwich There is no way in the world I could eat it, and took the rest with me. I'm going to have no wish for meat in the foreseeable future. No wonder there are so many fat Americans, so much food (and a drink) for $10 US. Unbelievable. This sandwich belongs on TV.
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@box said:
You are right Mike, to do the research but be sure to do enough of it and not just take a few articles on faith.
I've heard that some people can read one book and then erroneously base their whole life on it.Yeah Ben, I've heard that also
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Jeff, that sambo is like a doorstep. I'd bet there are at least 500+ cal in there!
Its very difficult to get the portions just right. Sometimes we could eat a horse and at others something light does the job. Maybe coffee shops / restaurants etc should add 'lite' meals to the list. They could even be more profitable for them! I imagine you would be happy enough paying $5 for half that sandwich? This would cut down a lot of food wastage also!
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A quick and easy way to adjust your portion sizes: Use smaller plates. We often use the 3/4 size plates that came with our set for meals. It makes whatever is in the plate look bigger. Works well.
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You re so right Jeff! I'm going to lock up all the large plates (12") and only have the smaller ones (8") in the kitchen.
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