b00moscone said:
That's definitely a very interesting story, and one i'm glad you shared with me! I would say i'm likely more picky than others, though I do still eat some foods that others may not want to, likely due to my parents being from different countries and therefore introducting me to different dishes etc. From that, it's definitely clear that focusing your diet more on certain foods does introduce you to other new flavours and such, and is something I never really realized until now.
As for meat, it is definitely proven to be fairly important. It allows for amino acids to be made which are very important for your body to be developed, and a lack of that could lead to fairly serious conditions. However, obviously it is up to the person to simply eat things to make up for it, so it can be due to the stupidity of someone. That being said, I do still think that meat is probably the easiest way to attain them, and does have other benefits such as muscle-building and a good source of energy.
As for my last comment, I was sort of refering to people's reaction to things like animal cruelty and such, or even other things. For example, my mum grew up on a farm, and can't eat lamb because she always pictures the lambs she had on that farm. Things like that are evidently a lot of the reason why people go vegetarian, however because of that it's not to experience new tastes and flavours, but only to get away from meat, and as a result forget the nutrients that come with it and possibly not make up for it. From that I question if going vegetarian in that aspect is worth it, as in that case it can be more of a detriment to your health than anything.
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You're lucky to have grown up in a multicultural household and exposed to a wider variety of things. I grew up in a non-diverse household, eating the typical western diet, going to "family restaurants", etc. My awakening began in my early '20s when I discovered Japanese, traditional Chinese, Indian, Thai, etc., and continues to this day. I had roommates and it was either try ethnic food, cook separatey for myself, or starve. ;)
Meat is not at all necessary, or even really important. When you say it allows for amino acids to be made, that is partly true, and partly a misunderstanding. "Protein" isn't a thing, per se. Proteins are collections of amino acids. All the same amino acids that are in animal protein are also available in plant protein. They're no different at all. We used to believe that eating a "complete protein" was important, which just means that each of the amino acids are present. Animals products contain complete proteins. So do many plants, such as buckwheat (my personal fave of the plants that have complete proteins). If you ate plants that didn't have all the amino acids, they recommended "food combining", meaning eating two or more plant-based foods that together have all the amino acids. Rice and beans is a classic example of two combined foods that are commonly eaten together that create a complete protein. The thing is, we now know the body separates the amino acids and can hold on to them for a long time, possibly days, so you have a long window of time to eat something else that will give you the other amino acids you need. There's also new evidence that always eating a complete protein at every meal is bad, and that periodically eating some meals that are heavy in a small number of amino acids can have a cleansing effect on the body (think of it attaching to and cleaning out the residue of all the other amino acids).
There are some insanely ripped and muscular vegan body builders. Meat is not necessarily preferrable for muscle growth. In fact, there is some evidence that switching to plant based diet can actually reduce your recovery time after a workout, and let you work out more frequently. Keep in mind that the body can only process so much protein, and having too much is a negative as it can interfere with the absorption of other nutrients.
As for a source of energy, nothing is a better source of energy than healthy starches, and vegetables have them in spades.
Ultimately, most peole believe it's really important to eat meat. And these same people usually can't list any reasons why that are in agreement with a lot of the recent health and nutrition science.
With regard to your last point. When I ate animal products I had a terribly narrow diet. if I had kept the same diet, but just axed animal products from it, I would have become terribly unhealthy. Well, in truth, I *was* terriby unhealthy as an omnivore. Becoming vegan introduced me to eating seeds, lentils, nut butters, nutritional yeast, and a tonne of other ridiculously healthy things that (in the right combinations) I find absolutely delicious. Yes, if someone goes vegan for some reason other than health, then I'd recommend looking at the health benefits in guiding the evolution of their diet!