Vegan/vegetarians

I'd love to be able to go vegetarian, I'm a huge believer in animal right's.. But, uh, I can't. :shifty I like my steak, dammit.

Dirty.LittleRockstar:

Frazzle Dazzle:

Lovesick.:

Fallen From Grace:

Lovesick.:

I've been vegetarian for about a month/month and a half and then gave up because I realized that you need to eat an equilibrating diet. You need meat too. About animal cruelty, dunno, in the EU there are pretty strict rules about that and most -if not all- animals are killed in such way they don't feel pain.
Just don't eat meat every day.

You really don't need meat. Seriously. I was a vegetarian for years, and I am trying to be veggie again. My mum's a vegetarian and a doctor. There are other ways of gaining what you get from meat. I don't want to be vegan myself, because I think that's too restricted and it draws out too much of your diet, but you really don't have to have meat. You can do fine without it.

Actually I've just read an article on how bad is it for kids not to eat meat or dairy products, especially milk when they are still young.
Also we actually do need meat. Meat is brainfood and our ancestors used to eat it and we still have the same genes as they did.
As a matter of fact my mum's a doctor too, and she's not a vegetarian and she was actually the one who stopped me from becoming one.

I would rather eat a stake than take a pill.

You do not need meat. That is the biggest lie I have ever heard.
What is in meat that isn't in anything else? Why would you choose to eat a slaughtered animal before a pill? That's just cruel to me.

I have been vegetarian since the age of 12. And vegan since February '07. The meat industry is disgusting

I do need meat. You don't know the health of everyone in the world so don't say that everyone doesn't need meat. If you want to be vegetarian go for it but don't push other people and tell them how they eat is cruel. Pills aren't natural and I refuse to run my life based on pills. If you want to have fifty different vitamin pills go for it, I think it's stupid. You don't know what is in the pill.

But nobody needs meat. I might not know exactly what's in the pill, but do you know what's in the steak? Hormones, unhealthy hormones. I never said how you eat is cruel, I said the meat industry is cruel. There are places where animals are not killed in an inhumane way, eating that isn't cruel. Pills aren't natural, but are those hormones in that burger natural? No. And what about the milk and cheese? It isn't either. Those are also packed with hormones that were originally made for the cow to keep producing milk, to make it think it is still feeding a calf. So, now milk, and meat, is causing girls to begin maturing far before they naturally are.

You think that's natural?

I hardly ever take vitamins, everything that I need to live comes from the earth, without killing anything. Although, some people do need pills, they haven't necessarily found the right things to eat. I'm not preaching, I'm just stating what I believe to be true.

Frazzle Dazzle:

You do not need meat. That is the biggest lie I have ever heard.
What is in meat that isn't in anything else? Why would you choose to eat a slaughtered animal before a pill? That's just cruel to me.

I have been vegetarian since the age of 12. And vegan since February '07. The meat industry is disgusting

...Have you ever heard of iron deficiency?
A large percentage of women have iron deficiency problems. Now, I personally don't, I may actually have too much iron, but that is neither here nor there.
Iron is present in meat and rare in almost everything else.
I agree with Kristan (Dirty.LittleRockstar) - I would rather eat meat than live off pills for the rest of my life.
Meat is essential to many people's diets. Don't generalize and say that no one needs it.

It isn't essential. You can live without it. Actually, I used to have an iron deficiency, so, yes I do know what you're talking about. I have learned to take care of myself since then, so I am still vegan, and healthier than I have ever been.
Just because someone is vegan/vegetarian doesn't mean that they will have an insufficient amount of iron or that they will live off of pills.

There are beans, legumes, spinach, all sorts of stuff that isn't made with an animal or animal product. It saddens me that so many people deny the things that are done to animals.

But, seriously, have you seen the way the industry treats animals?
If you haven't, then look at this video, and give it a chance.
Rise Against - Ready to Fall

You do realize you kill the environment when you take plants :shifty

I have Iron Defiency (Anemia). I do take pills for it, but my red blood cell count is so low and uneven that I'm not allowed to be vegetarian even if I wanted to. You can find Iron is vegetables but it's incredibly low. My entire diet consists of looking for food that has a high percentage of iron. (I pretty much live for Cashews o.o) If I cut out meat my health would be in danger. It doesn't help that I'm a picky eater. It's not so much my fault, my tastebud develops strangely and things taste slightly different to me and I pretty much hate everything.

Plus..I have a family history of dairy farms. No, they were not injected with hormones or cruelly treated. My grandfather purchased extra land just so they would have more room to wander..even though they rarely wandered anywhere. Did you know if a cow isn't milked it will die? Isn't that cruel? Killing an animal because you think it's cruel to help it. Please don't generalize farming industries until you've been to all of them as well as saying no one needs meat. Because I, and many other people do need it.

Maybe it's because I'm from a hunting/fishing community that I really don't care.

Just to clarify: I'm lactose intolerant, processed meat disgusts me, and I hate burgers.

I don't think I denied anything of the sort, actually...:shifty
Somehow I just think that it may be worth it to see both sides of this; I for one will not eat spinach. That's the way it is. And I'm not going to give up meat, because it's very possible to buy free range or humanely treated meat. Which I do.
Don't automatically assume that people are trying to close their eyes to how animals are being treated.

You also kill bugs with pesticides from the plants you eat :D

Your grandfather has a dairy farm? That is so cool. It's great that they aren't being treated like many other cows. Actually, I did know that if you don't milk a cow, it would die. But that's for the baby cow to do; at least, that's what I think.
But it also isn't fair to say that all vegetarians/vegans live off pills all of their life. Like I said before, I hardly ever take pills.

Dirty.LittleRockstar:

You also kill bugs with pesticides from the plants you eat :D

Unless it's organic. :cute:

That is true, but how many "vegans" actually get organic food?
My uncle has the farm now, there was other stuff before but it's mostly a wheat / dairy farm now. My great-grandparents had a farm too, I think it was dairy but I'm not sure. It's been awhile since I went to that one.

I have no idea how many vegans get organic food. I always get organic when I can.
There are times that I can't, but usually I am able to.
Considering the discipline it takes to be vegan, and how hard it is to do in today's society, I would assume most buy as much organic as they can, if they can afford it.

Another thing about the meat industry is that it uses up a lot of needed fresh water. It's soon going to become a much-needed thing, and although I don't know the exact number or anything, it isn't helping. Fastfood companies, such as Burger King and McDonalds, and processed meat [I know you said you hate it, but listen.] facilities are also cutting down the trees of the rainforest. The rainforest is one of the main components to our oxygen, followed by algae, and cutting it down to herd cattle isn't the best way to do whatever they are trying to do.

Actually, another reason is because most people don't buy organic food because it's EXPENSIVE. It is, actually.

My friend's mom, she's really not doing anything good for herself. She adapted her family to a vegan diet, and well, she pays a whole lot of $$$ because everything is organic,but that's not it, I mean, what she's NOT eating. She doesn't let her kids eat tomatos [which are REALLY good, I don't know if necessary in anyway], a lot of fruits [wtf], uhm she doesn't allow them to eat anything whole-wheat or wheat. I mean, I'm wondering what they eat eventually! Water and lettuce?! God. And it's a drastic change, since they were all meat-eaters and they're teenagers, it's hard. They don't eat it at school because their homeschooled like me. Oh, and they ate POTATOES for breakfast. Don't ask, I was shocked when he told me what he can/cannot eat. x_X

I hate fastfood. I'm a health freak, and McDonald and Burgerking and others simply make me sick...

Fast food is nasty. blehh. : P

That's crazy, though.

Cutting out all of that?!

That's too drastic...

I'm more or less considered a Pollotarian in the respect that I will only consume poultry. Been so since the latter half of 2004, however it isn't just for the fact that the way animals get treated is cruel. It's also a personal choice for the fact that I do not enjoy consuming red meat. It is not tasty, it does nothing for me. I don't need it. I'll get my iron and protein elsewhere, thank you very much.
Yes, it's cruel what gets done to animals. Things live and die. You cannot have life without death, there cannot be day without light but I'm straying a little. Back to the point; such is the way of life and the food chain. Kill to survive. Don't get me wrong, I am in no way supporting what they do, I'm not. It's just the way life is. Plants are living things too, we kill them for our fruits, veggies and whatnot for the most part.

In my opinion though, I do kinda feel like meat wasn't supposed to be consumable for the fact that it has to be cooked. Now I'm tracing back to before existence of fire and such, but what I'm saying is for the most part, you can't pick a piece of meat up and just eat it like you can a piece of fruit or a veggie. Not without getting sick from it. You have to cook it, which isn't what nature intended.
So I probably sound like a tree hugger and a hypocrite both for the fact that I eat chicken, but man I am not giving up bird. It was just something worth noting.
Times change, things change.

Yeah, meat grosses me out.
Every rare once in a while I'm just like "Chiiiiiiiicckkkeennnnnnnnn... must have..." and that's all I think about. But then the next day I'm back to normal. But the reason people crave certain foods is because the body knows that when "insert food here" is eaten, you get "insert vitamin or mineral here," which means the body is low on "insert vitamin or mineral here." Did that make sense? :shifty
I think humans were meant to be herbavores[sp?]. It just make more sense to me.

Yeah i know what you mean. But I think everyone is entitled to their own opinion =/ so im not saying that anyone is telling anyone what to do, it's just that i think we should all, like, respect what people are saying tbh.

My town is ran by a forestry company.

They cut down trees for the paper, desk, pencils, furniture etc., you use. Are you going to stop using all those mentione because trees get cut down?

But we replant our trees and we don't clear cut.

Unhealthy hormones. -Actually hormones are substances found in your blood that regulate the function of certain cells, your body actually produces then but let's say you meant substances- What unhealthy substances are there in meat ?
The main problem is that we overeat in general not just meat. And carbohydrates and fat in excess are stored as fat. Animal fat itself is a normal aliment for human and it has been for generations. Let alone and in normal portions is not dangerous. But again we usually over eat.
Apart from that I can't think of ''supposingly'' unhealthy or toxic substances in meat.

Don't associate meat with an unhealthy lifestyle.

I'm not denying that the food industry like any other industry has connections to the global warming and could do more to solve it but not eating meat to solve climate change is a bit of a stretch.

I'm not even going to go into why people weren't meant to be herbivores right now because it's such a vast subject and I don't have the time. Just take the fact that apes aren't vegetarian as a proof for now. But if you think that's not enough pm me or anything and I'll go into all the details.
You know I'm not trying to be mean or anything just an unhealthy diet can cause unbalance and you can get sick, however sorry if I'm a bit harsh. :shifty

Lovesick.:

Actually I've just read an article on how bad is it for kids not to eat meat or dairy products, especially milk when they are still young.
Also we actually do need meat. Meat is brainfood and our ancestors used to eat it and we still have the same genes as they did.
As a matter of fact my mum's a doctor too, and she's not a vegetarian and she was actually the one who stopped me from becoming one.

I would rather eat a stake than take a pill.

Well I think that is bullshit.
I've never eaten meat. I've been vegetarian since the day I was born as my parents were vegetarian and I'm perfectly healthy and manage to achieve good grades in school. So 'meat is brainfood' is rubbish, as I seem to get along just fine without it. You can make up for lost protein in pulses and lentils.

I was vegan for a few months but grew ill, so I will admit that as a young child, dairy foods are important for health, but meat isn't.

I accept that other people have different opinions, and I am willing to listen to them. I do not agree with eating meat, but it does not mean that I will not hear other people's point of view. But, no offense, but I think it is a little narrow minded to say that meat is 'brainfood'.

Rowan InkDemocracy:

Lovesick.:

Actually I've just read an article on how bad is it for kids not to eat meat or dairy products, especially milk when they are still young.
Also we actually do need meat. Meat is brainfood and our ancestors used to eat it and we still have the same genes as they did.
As a matter of fact my mum's a doctor too, and she's not a vegetarian and she was actually the one who stopped me from becoming one.

I would rather eat a stake than take a pill.

Well I think that is bullshit.
I've never eaten meat. I've been vegetarian since the day I was born as my parents were vegetarian and I'm perfectly healthy and manage to achieve good grades in school. So 'meat is brainfood' is rubbish, as I seem to get along just fine without it. You can make up for lost protein in pulses and lentils.

I was vegan for a few months but grew ill, so I will admit that as a young child, dairy foods are important for health, but meat isn't.

I accept that other people have different opinions, and I am willing to listen to them. I do not agree with eating meat, but it does not mean that I will not hear other people's point of view. But, no offense, but I think it is a little narrow minded to say that meat is 'brainfood'.

I'm not vegan but I agree.
Plus why does everyone go on about pills? I've never ever had any type of pill, and I rarely eat meat. You do not need stupid amounts of pills if you do not want to eat meat, unless you have a deficiency of some kind which requires you to get extra iron.

Dirty Mouth:

Rowan InkDemocracy:

Lovesick.:

Actually I've just read an article on how bad is it for kids not to eat meat or dairy products, especially milk when they are still young.
Also we actually do need meat. Meat is brainfood and our ancestors used to eat it and we still have the same genes as they did.
As a matter of fact my mum's a doctor too, and she's not a vegetarian and she was actually the one who stopped me from becoming one.

I would rather eat a stake than take a pill.

Well I think that is bullshit.
I've never eaten meat. I've been vegetarian since the day I was born as my parents were vegetarian and I'm perfectly healthy and manage to achieve good grades in school. So 'meat is brainfood' is rubbish, as I seem to get along just fine without it. You can make up for lost protein in pulses and lentils.

I was vegan for a few months but grew ill, so I will admit that as a young child, dairy foods are important for health, but meat isn't.

I accept that other people have different opinions, and I am willing to listen to them. I do not agree with eating meat, but it does not mean that I will not hear other people's point of view. But, no offense, but I think it is a little narrow minded to say that meat is 'brainfood'.

I'm not vegan but I agree.
Plus why does everyone go on about pills? I've never ever had any type of pill, and I rarely eat meat. You do not need stupid amounts of pills if you do not want to eat meat, unless you have a deficiency of some kind which requires you to get extra iron.

It depends on your diet. Meat provides protein, iron, zinc, B vitamins, selenium, vitamin D, and long chain omega-3s. (just red meat alone). It also depends on your body type, age and other factors on how much of each vitamin and mineral you need. If you can get them without meat or pills good for you.
fish has been proven to be brainfood :shifty
Just not the fish that have mercury, that makes you sick.