Food issues

[trophy33]

I understand everything you’re saying & do appreciate the suggestions from everyone. I don’t have any say in what is bought concerning food. I’m just going have to keep doing what I’m doing. I don’t really even care anymore.

You are in a feedback loop.

You continue eating/drinking what makes you both mentally and physically ill. And because you are ill, you do not have energy to change your diet.

The only solution is to stop overthinking it (which is exhausting) and simply change it from the next meal/drink. Exit the loop.

 

[FireDragon76]

Raw food diets are pretty extreme and difficult to justify from a scientific standpoint. They can be acceptable for short term weight loss, but long term most people that try this dietary pattern tend to end up with health problems. It's completely unacceptable for children to be fed a raw food diet, as it can result in a failure to thrive and death.

You don't have to eat meaty or dairy but you need to make sure you are eating enough protein. You need at least 0.36 grams of protein per pound of body weight at a minimum, with protein requirements going up with more physical activity from there, roughly proportional to the total calories you consume. If your diet has alot of refined grains, you could be lacking protein, as most of the protein in grain is removed during refining.

The best sources of plant-based protein are legumes: beans, peas, and lentils. Lentils in particular are inexpensive and cook fast (about twenty minutes or so on the stove, even faster in a microwave). You need to be eating about 3-4 servings of legumes every day if you don't eat meat or dairy. Not only do legumes have protein, but they also are a source of important vitamins and minerals like folate (which is important in alot of body processes), and they contain substantial amounts of iron, calcium, and other minerals.

You also need to be sure you are getting B-12 in your diet. Either through fortified foods (breakfast cereal, plant milks), or as supplement, or eating substantial amounts of chlorella (a single-celled plant, more readily available than something like mankai or duckweed). B-12 deficiency can be a serious problem as people age, not just in vegetarians but also in a substantial number of meat eaters. Deficiency an result in symptoms such as fatigue, depression, and symptoms of anemia, but sometimes it is a silent condition until it's too late, and you end up with nerve damage. Fortunately, B-12 supplements are very inexpensive.

 

[timewerx]

Raw food diets are pretty extreme and difficult to justify from a scientific standpoint. They can be acceptable for short term weight loss, but long term most people that try this dietary pattern tend to end up with health problems. It's completely unacceptable for children to be fed a raw food diet, as it can result in a failure to thrive and death.

You don't have to eat meaty or dairy but you need to make sure you are eating enough protein. You need at least 0.36 grams of protein per pound of body weight at a minimum, with protein requirements going up with more physical activity from there, roughly proportional to the total calories you consume. If your diet has alot of refined grains, you could be lacking protein, as most of the protein in grain is removed during refining.

The best sources of plant-based protein are legumes: beans, peas, and lentils. Lentils in particular are inexpensive and cook fast (about twenty minutes or so on the stove, even faster in a microwave). You need to be eating about 3-4 servings of legumes every day if you don't eat meat or dairy. Not only do legumes have protein, but they also are a source of important vitamins and minerals like folate (which is important in alot of body processes), and they contain substantial amounts of iron, calcium, and other minerals.

You also need to be sure you are getting B-12 in your diet. Either through fortified foods (breakfast cereal, plant milks), or as supplement, or eating substantial amounts of chlorella (a single-celled plant, more readily available than something like mankai or duckweed). B-12 deficiency can be a serious problem as people age, not just in vegetarians but also in a substantial number of meat eaters. Deficiency an result in symptoms such as fatigue, depression, and symptoms of anemia, but sometimes it is a silent condition until it's too late, and you end up with nerve damage. Fortunately, B-12 supplements are very inexpensive.

I don't get why vegans would also avoid dairy. It's not like you're killing animals to have milk.

I do have lots of whole grains and beans in my diet. I get enough B12 as well from fortified milk.

 

[FireDragon76]

I don't get why vegans would also avoid dairy. It's not like you're killing animals to have milk.

Vegans seek to avoid using animals for food, clothing, or labor, as much as is practical. In modern industrialized farming, as we have in the United States or much of Europe, dairy does indeed involving killing animals to make milk profitable. It also involves alot of potential large environmental externalities or costs.

Now days we tend to use the term "vegan diet" to refer to diets that exclude animal products, but Veganism itself as an ideology or philosophy is an ethical movement that started in England in the early 20th century.

I do have lots of whole grains and beans in my diet. I get enough B12 as well from fortified milk.

There are actually some vegan dairy products out there now, at least in the US. They are made from whey protein produced by genetically modified yeasts, similar to fermentation. However, making vegan or non-animal whey can be done alot more cheaply than so-called "lab grown meat", and it's a far simpler process. Some Vegans consume non-animal whey here in the US, but others don't. I have tried a few, out of curiosity. Some taste decent, others just taste too much like dairy and are very greasy or fatty, like whole milk (usually they are made with some kind of vegetable oil to keep saturated fat lower than actual dairy milk). I no longer have much of a taste for dairy in general, and some of these products are quite high in fat.

Most of these products are being sold in health food stores or upscale groceries, and are marketted towards environmentally conscious consumers and vegans who are drinking them as protein supplements to support athletic goals.

And if you are interested in health, there might be reasons to avoid or restrict whey consumption, regardless, as it tends to have more branch chain amino acids. While these are hypothesized to have a more anabolic (tissue-building) effect, and are widely consumed by body builders as a result, excessive consumption might also contribute to cancer cell proliferation. Non-animal or vegan whey also isn't really a "whole food", and has to be part of a heavily processed product, which again, some people don't like based on the particular dietary philosophy they adhere to.

On a side note, another reason I prefer plant milk over dairy is because I have found plant milk stays fresh in the fridge alot longer. I never have the experience of picking up a carton of soymilk and getting a whiff of something rancid, something that happened too often with the kind of cow milk we have in the US.

 

[timewerx]

Vegans seek to avoid using animals for food, clothing, or labor, as much as is practical. In modern industrialized farming, as we have in the United States or much of Europe, dairy does indeed involving killing animals to make milk profitable. It also involves alot of potential large environmental externalities or costs.

Now days we tend to use the term "vegan diet" to refer to diets that exclude animal products, but Veganism itself as an ideology or philosophy is an ethical movement that started in England in the early 20th century.



There are actually some vegan dairy products out there now, at least in the US. They are made from whey protein produced by genetically modified yeasts, similar to fermentation. However, making vegan or non-animal whey can be done alot more cheaply than so-called "lab grown meat", and it's a far simpler process. Some Vegans consume non-animal whey here in the US, but others don't. I have tried a few, out of curiosity. Some taste decent, others just taste too much like dairy and are very greasy or fatty, like whole milk (usually they are made with some kind of vegetable oil to keep saturated fat lower than actual dairy milk). I no longer have much of a taste for dairy in general, and some of these products are quite high in fat.

Most of these products are being sold in health food stores or upscale groceries, and are marketted towards environmentally conscious consumers and vegans who are drinking them as protein supplements to support athletic goals.

And if you are interested in health, there might be reasons to avoid or restrict whey consumption, regardless, as it tends to have more branch chain amino acids. While these are hypothesized to have a more anabolic (tissue-building) effect, and are widely consumed by body builders as a result, excessive consumption might also contribute to cancer cell proliferation. Non-animal or vegan whey also isn't really a "whole food", and has to be part of a heavily processed product, which again, some people don't like based on the particular dietary philosophy they adhere to.

On a side note, another reason I prefer plant milk over dairy is because I have found plant milk stays fresh in the fridge alot longer. I never have the experience of picking up a carton of soymilk and getting a whiff of something rancid, something that happened too often with the kind of cow milk we have in the US.

Here we have powdered milk. It's our most economical source of dairy and solves the problem of keeping things fresh for long periods and allows rationing of supplies.

Vegan milk is more expensive here. Anything considered health product or contributing to weight loss is more expensive in this country.

The carnivore diet has not began to trend here and I pray it never does because I still eat red meat (pork) for simple and cheap source of "protein-complete" food. The carnivore diet will spike red meat prices and going vegetarian is more complicated and more expensive to source all the proteins needed. Milk is not protein-complete unfortunately.

 

[FireDragon76]

Here we have powdered milk. It's our most economical source of dairy and solves the problem of keeping things fresh for long periods and allows rationing of supplies.

Vegan milk is more expensive here. Anything considered health product or contributing to weight loss is more expensive in this country.

Here in the US, plant milk varies in price, but usually costs somewhat more. Dairy gets alot of subsidies in the US so that cheap dairy can be sold to consumers. Americans don't drink as much milk as they used to, though, so alot of the dairy gets shipped overseas in the form of dry milk powder (this started after WWII, after the rise of industrial farming in the US, there was a glut of dairy and the US started sending powdered milk overseas in large amounts).

Not everybody that consumes plant milk in the US is Vegan, in fact, most are not. Some are just lactose intolerant and don't like what dairy does to their digestion (this is particularly common with Black people here in the US; a lady at church drinks almond milk because of that, but she's not a Vegan). Almond milk even had a fad for a while among people with no health problems at all, and I know alot of people that like oat milk in their coffee.