| Veknoid_Outcast said: [...]But you have to be extra careful about your diet. You're losing a lot of essential protein, iron, etc. when you remove meat from your diet. So you need to replace those things wisely. |
That's correct, or incorrect, depending on your diet. Animals get essential proteins, iron, etc., from eating plants (or eating animals that eat plants). Plants are the source of almost every nutrient on the planet. The exceptions are things that are synthesized from bacteria that we can produce in our own bodies so long as we have the right flora. When I went vegan, my protein, calcium, and iron counts during my physicals went up as I was eating lots of buckwheat and hemp. The majority of people on the "western" diet consume too much protein (more than their bodies can even absorb), but consume far, far, far too little fibre (which comes only from plants).
| AZWification said: I've thinking about trying the paleo diet. I think it's better than a vegan diet because you're not really losing anything of substance. |
The paleo diet isn't very paleo. When we were hunter gatherers, most humans had diets that were about 99% vegan. We gathered way more than we hunted, which makes sense as plants didn't run away or fight back, and nor did they spoil as quickly. They've analyzed fossilized human stool and found it to contain almost entirely plant matter (despite the fact that plants are more readily absorbed by the body, and meat less so, meaning a greater proportion of the meat you eat leaves as waste).
| d21lewis said: It's unnatural. [...] |
| Stefan.De.Machtige said: I have no plans to try vegan or vegetarian. Meat is just too natural. Your brain itself is even mostly fat.[...] |
There's nothing natural about eating meat. There's strong evidence that we are descended from herbivores. Carnivores and omnivores have sharper teeth, stronger nails/claws, the ability to eat raw meat on a regular basis without getting sick, shorter intestines so that they can absorb proteins without absorbing all the cholesterol, throats that are larger in relation to their mouths than ours so that they can swallow meat with minimal chewing (if any), jaws that are offset so that they can clamp down on bone and break it, etc. We are biologically poorly suited to eating meat, which is why so many diseases only come from eating meat. In one study, only 0.06% of people on whole food vegan diets got heart disease, but it's the #1 killer of omnivores. There's no nutrient you can't get from a plant-based diet. There are recommended daily values for calcium, iron, vitamin C, and a hundred other things, but there's no recommended daily value for meat. So not eating meat is *extremly* natural for humans.
| Fei-Hung said: If you are worried about your health, better than being a vegetarian is having a good balanced diet and some fitness in your daily schedule. [...] |
I'm curious why you believe this. It seems to me that a good, balanced vegan diet is healthier than a balanced ominvorous diet. Omnivorous diets are associated with heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimers, Parkinson's, Multiple Sclerosis, and many other diseases (some there appears to be a causal link, others a correlated link). People on plant-based diets tend not to get any of those diseases, and that list is far from comprehensive. People with those diseases can typically reduce their symptoms if they switch to whole food, plant-based diets (but tend to have symptoms continue to advance if they stay on an omnivorous diet).
| Chevinator123 said: I'm no expert or anything and i got nothing against vegans/vegetarians that dont want to eat animals anymore but doing it for diet purposes seems strange to me. Although not a necessity im pretty sure meat is good for you. You can still have a healthy diet that involves meat. |
See above. There are no diseases associated with whole food, plant-based diets where you eat known to be safe plants (ie. not just going into the woods and eating mushrooms you aren't familiar with! :P ). However, there are many diseases that are caused by, or at least strongly correlated with, eating animal products.
Please note with all of the above that I'm not talking about ethics, or environmental concerns. There were many posts I disagreed with, but didn't reply to because they were opinion. However, there is strong evidence that all of the things I did reply to are factually incorrect.
