Becoming a vegetarian

[kazuya]

hey i was wondering (good thing i found this section of the forum) about becoming vegetarian. ive heard different pros and cons about the diet, weird stuff like 'it lessens natural b.o.' and the like. anyway, i was wondering if i could get some good sound advice from people i can trust.

 

[VickiY]

Well, carnivores DO smell different....armies have known this for years, and made use of it....

 

[RippledDreams]

I was a vegitarian for years but I struggled with getting all the nutrition I needed. Mostly because I had no control over the menu, I depended on my parents to provide it for me and they didn't understand it like i did. It can be an expensive way to live, organic and natural foods are more expensive then processed foods lol. However, its well worth it. I lost wieght and maintained it well, I looked and felt healthier. I do plan on going back to being vegitarian when I can support myself better. Until then I mostly stray more from red meat heh. Its just important to take vitamins and get your protien

 

[Beastt]

The vitamins and protein are suggestions of concern and long-held myths. If you're not eating a diet of total junk food and you're getting enough calories; then you're getting enough protein. Need for protein can vary rather dramatically from one person to the next. But even if you're at the far end of the scale, you only need about 8% of your calories from protein. With any reasonable diet, it's almost impossible to get less than that. As for vitamins, there really isn't anything in a meat diet you won't get in a vegetarian diet. What you will be less likely to get with a vegetarian diet is heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, kidney stones, hypoglycemia, peptic ulcers, constipation, hiatal hernias, diverticulosis, gallstones, hypertension, salmonellosis, trichinosis, hemorrhoids, obesity, asthma, and irritable colon syndrome.

All in all, there are worse things you can do for yourself.

 

[Trillian]

The vitamins and protein are suggestions of concern and long-held myths. If you're not eating a diet of total junk food and you're getting enough calories; then you're getting enough protein. Need for protein can vary rather dramatically from one person to the next. But even if you're at the far end of the scale, you only need about 8% of your calories from protein. With any reasonable diet, it's almost impossible to get less than that. As for vitamins, there really isn't anything in a meat diet you won't get in a vegetarian diet. What you will be less likely to get with a vegetarian diet is heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, kidney stones, hypoglycemia, peptic ulcers, constipation, hiatal hernias, diverticulosis, gallstones, hypertension, salmonellosis, trichinosis, hemorrhoids, obesity, asthma, and irritable colon syndrome.

All in all, there are worse things you can do for yourself.

Beastt is my diet guru. He's been telling me that I should try a vegetarian diet for months in order to control a chronic illness that I have. So, a few weeks ago (has it been that long??) I decided to listen and I have been 100% symptom free ever since. If there is anyone in the world to listen to about diet, it's him!! Of course, I may be biased. I saw a few nutritionalists who said aweful things about this diet and essentially kept me sicker, longer as a result.

 

[Pointman7]

The vitamins and protein are suggestions of concern and long-held myths. If you're not eating a diet of total junk food and you're getting enough calories; then you're getting enough protein. Need for protein can vary rather dramatically from one person to the next. But even if you're at the far end of the scale, you only need about 8% of your calories from protein. With any reasonable diet, it's almost impossible to get less than that. As for vitamins, there really isn't anything in a meat diet you won't get in a vegetarian diet. What you will be less likely to get with a vegetarian diet is heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, kidney stones, hypoglycemia, peptic ulcers, constipation, hiatal hernias, diverticulosis, gallstones, hypertension, salmonellosis, trichinosis, hemorrhoids, obesity, asthma, and irritable colon syndrome.

All in all, there are worse things you can do for yourself.

What about fish?

 

[Pointman7]

Eating meat is not a sin but if go to a slaughter house and see what they put in sausage or see them kill the livestock may change your view on this. Similar to rebellious teen taking a tour of a prison changes their behavoir.
Is it possible Vegetarinism being the next step in spiritual growth for us? or do we love meat too much? Church condemns alcohol and smoking. Maybe someday meat will be on this list. I serious doubt it. But, we don't have to eat meat like the pioneers to survive and we "have the technology" to make it out of soybeans.

 

[Beastt]

What about fish?

Fish is touted by many to be healthy for humans because it contains omega-3 fatty acids which are scarce in other foods. However, this sort of recommendation strikes me as somewhat short-sighted. In determining the healthfulness of any food item, it's necessary not only to look for that which is beneficial, but also that which is harmful. And when it comes to the toxins found in the world's waters, the highest concentrations will always be found within the fatty tissues of the organisms living in that water. Chemicals such as organo-halogens, chloronated-hydrocarbons, (pesticides) and PCBs, tend not to be water soluable. Being water soluble would render them far less effective for their intended purposes so they are instead, fat soluble. When they enter a water way, they don't dissolve but remain clumped up in tiny blobs until they encounter a fatty matter. In most cases, this fatty matter is either a plant, insect or aquatic microorganism. Once contact is made, the chemicals dissolve into the fatty tissues of the organism. Most of us are familiar enough with the food chain to know that from there, larger and larger organisms will become the consumers of the already concentrated levels of toxins contained in their food.

So effective is this method of concentrating toxins that shellfish often contain concentrations of the pollutants found in the water in which they live, which is 70,000 to 90,000 times higher than that in the water. In the case of PCBs, these chemicals are so dangerous that if fish are found to have more than 5 parts per million, they cannot legally be sold as food in the U.S. At 50 ppm and above, they must be sent to special processing facilities to be treated before disposal. Yet despite this threat, very few fish are ever tests. (The FDA reports for 1989 show it tested a total of 1604 fish that year.) Researchers routinely find levels above 50 ppm in fish they test. In fact, when it comes to the largest aquatic animals, PCB levels of 400, 600 and even 1100 parts per million are not unusual.

So I can't in good conscious recommend the eating of fish. They unwillingly act as filters in their aquatic world, soaking up the worst of the pollutants, (including heavy metals), in their environment. To then eat a fish is not unlike consuming the sponge which soaks up the pollutants. And when it comes to restricting flesh to livestock, one must keep in mind that half of the fish catch in the United States is turned into fish meal and fed to livestock.

 

[VegetarianKitty]

I've been a vegetarian for more than 4 years, and when I started I just cut out different types of meat until finally I was meat free. I remebered trying to just stop eating meat over night but it left me frustrated and so I figured out that I had to take it slow. My biggest need of something is Iron which I did not get enough of when I first started being a vegetarian, now I eat dried fruit for that.

 

[Pointman7]

There’s an old wives tale that Japanese women punish their straying husbands by feeding them a lot of tofu! Does soy lower levels of testosterone?

 

[Beastt]

There’s an old wives tale that Japanese women punish their straying husbands by feeding them a lot of tofu! Does soy lower levels of testosterone?

I'm sure it won't surprise you to find that there is no conclusive answer to this. Some claim that it does and others claim that it doesn't. The kind of processed soy proteins found in many artificial meats do contain excitotoxins, however, and there isn't any good news about these. They can potentially damage and kill brain cells but aren't found only in processed soy products. In fact, most people consume them through products containing MSG and aspartame rather than the textured vegetable proteins.

But if one wishes to avoid killing brain cells, eating meat instead of the soy substitutes is likely to do more damage to the brain rather than less. To understand why, one needs to have a grasp of the mechanism of heart attack, (myocardial infarction or "MI"), and strokes, (cerebrovascular accidents or "CVA"). In both of these common medical emergencies, the problem is loss of circulation to key body tissues. The blockage of blood flow is almost always due to plaques which build up in the arteries and this condition is known as "atherosclerosis". Eventually these plaques build to the point where the affected arteries are blocked or so near complete occlusion that even a tiny blood clot can completely close off circulation to body tissues.

If this occurs in a coronary artery, (an artery that feeds the heart muscle itself), it's known as a heart attack. If this occurs in an artery that feeds the brain, a stroke will result. And in every case, the tissues deprived of circulation die. But you needn't have a stroke to have killed brain tissue in this manner. During the Korean war it was found that 77% of American soldiers already had substantial levels of atherosclerotic plaque in their arteries. Since most of these soldiers were very young men, this was a very surprising find. Since that time meat consumption has continued to increase and atherosclerosis has been found in younger and younger people. Surgeries in 7 and 8 year olds have shown the beginning stages of atherosclerosis.

When one considers that the smallest blood vessels in the body, (capillaries), are sometimes so small that red blood cells must pass through in single file, it becomes readily apparent that it takes very little atherosclerotic build-up to completely occlude these circulatory passage ways. Once circulation is lost to brain tissues, death of those tissues occurs in a matter of 4 to 6 minutes. Brain cells which die are not replaced by the body.

In nearly every study of this problem, it has been found that the more saturated fat and cholesterol present in the diet, the more prominent is the prevalence of atherosclerosis, heart attack and stroke. Since meat is the primary source of saturated fat and cholesterol for most people, it becomes very obvious that by ingesting these foods, especially in the quantities common in many western diets today, one substantially increases the amount of brain tissue lost to atherosclerotic build-up in the smaller vessels in the brain.

As far as lowering testosterone levels goes, if the wives tale about Japanese women is true, it might surprise them to know that lowering testosterone levels helps to inhibit prostate cancers. And if the alternative is meat, the saturated fats and cholesterol which cause heart attacks and strokes don't exclude themselves to affecting the arteries of the heart and brain. They affect arteries all over the body, including those responsible for filling erectile tissues with blood. It has been well known for years that those who consume less meat show a marked reduction in erectile disfunction. So I guess it's a matter of opinion who gets punished, how much, and by what foods.

 

[Pointman7]

During the Korean war it was found that 77% of American soldiers already had substantial levels of atherosclerotic plaque in their arteries. Since most of these soldiers were very young men, this was a very surprising find. Since that time meat consumption has continued to increase and atherosclerosis has been found in younger and younger people. Surgeries in 7 and 8 year olds have shown the beginning stages of atherosclerosis.

This is interesting. Years ago when I sold excercise equipment we would give free body-fat tests using a device that measured body-fat on the bicep. A mother with her son came in and I measure both and the results was amazing. The mother who was overweight measured about 30% and her son age 19 measured about the same who was skinny. He refused to believe the results saying he on leave from the Marines. My quess is they feed the men a high fat diet to bulk them up.

 

[Pointman7]

I love Boca burgers!

 

[Beastt]

This is interesting. Years ago when I sold excercise equipment we would give free body-fat tests using a device that measured body-fat on the bicep. A mother with her son came in and I measure both and the results was amazing. The mother who was overweight measured about 30% and her son age 19 measured about the same who was skinny. He refused to believe the results saying he on leave from the Marines. My quess is they feed the men a high fat diet to bulk them up.

The standard diet of the American miliary is high, not only in fat, but in almost everything. They have to provide the soldiers enough calories to burn and enough carbohydrates for energy. Protein is also essential, though few people can utilize anywhere near the amount of protein most Americans eat. Fat is also an essential nutrient, but like the others, should be consumed in the proper proportions. A single MRE often contains the calories a standard adult should consume for an entire day. The biggest problem is that Americans have grown accustom to having meat as the basis of every meal and meat is very high in both saturated fat and cholesterol, both of which are major factors in the development of atherosclerosis.

 

[FlatpickingJD]

I've been a vegetarian for a little over 13 years now, and the health benefits are phenomenal. My folks both have high cholesterol, mine normally is in the 140 range (though it tested way higher recently). I've lost a lot of weight and, more importantly, kept it off for these 13 years. When I cut dairy out of the diet, I felt lighter, though no weight came off.

Two problems come up though: the acceptance by others of your choice to be vegetarian, including respecting your diet if you eat at their home (and, yes, I do think respect should work both ways w/regard to people's eating choices) and dealing w/the nagging of people who don't understand the science behind vegetarian nutrition. Like Beastt said, lack of protein is a myth, and any reasonably balanced vegetarian diet will more than meet the requirements.

My question though has to do w/the claim about it getting rid of asthma, as I was recently diagnosed w/asthma and I'd never heard the claim that a vegetarian diet prevents it. Can anyone provide any enlightenment on that account?

 

[HeyHomie]

The more people that become vegetarians, the better. More meat for the rest of us meat-eaters!

 

[FlatpickingJD]

The more people that become vegetarians, the better. More meat for the rest of us meat-eaters!

great avi, though.

 

[Beastt]

The more people that become vegetarians, the better. More meat for the rest of us meat-eaters!

More meat, more cholesterol, more saturated fats, more heart attacks and strokes. More cancers, higher health costs and a preventable death rate higher than the non-preventable death rate. The odds are already 1 in 2 that you'll die of a heart attack. I wouldn't consider raising the odds anymore to be a benefit. But it's your health and your life so I'll leave that to you.

 

[HeyHomie]

But it's your health and your life so I'll leave that to you.

Thank you.

 

[LiberatedChick]

I've been thinking about becoming veggie for a while now...currently the only meat I eat is chicken, it's the only one I like. Though lately I find myself going off that too.