| curl-6 said: In today's world, it's almost impossible to completely separate one's self from the killing of animals. Even if you're vegan, you're likely still using countless products derived from animals; plastics, dyes, shampoo/conditioner, cosmetics, vitamin supplements, textiles, rubber, shaving cream, deodorant, perfume, paint... Also, in order to grow plant crops, natural habitat is destroyed and pest animals are shot and poisoned.[...] |
With research, it's relatively easy to avoid all of those animal-infused products. Product labelling is getting better all the time, too.
And the fact that growing plant crops destroys natural habitat, etc., is one of the strongest arguments in favour of going vegan. Do you think the majority of the animals people eat are roaming free? Nope, they're eating farmed food. Wheat, corn, soy, you name it. 60-80% of deforestation of the Amazon rainforest is because of animal agriculture. 45% of ice-free land is devoted to animal agriculture. A third of the world's grain goes to feeding livestock. I could go on. 70 billion land-based food animals are killed every year (and that doesn't even include seafood). So, yeah, your concerns are a strong argument for people going vegan. Thank you for sharing them! :)
| LipeJJ said: I don't think so. There are healthier options to lose weight/be healthy... the best one is to have a balanced diet - one that includes all kind of food: vegetables, nuts, meat, even some sugar... that's the most natural way to be healthy; at least that's what most nutritionists recommend. |
Every nutrient one can get from eating animals, you can also get from a vegan diet. There's no health benefit exclusive to eating animal products. There are however a raft of diseases that are strongly connected to an omnivorous diet. Eating a balanced diet doesn't mean eating meat (there's no recommended daily amount for meat), eating a balanced diet means eating a wide variety of nutrients. You can eat a balanced diet as a vegan, and doing so is more healthful than doing so as an omnivore. As for what most nutrionists recommend, the preponderence of recent health research is suggesting animal products aren't nearly as important or healthful as previously believed, and nutritionists are starting to take note. Consider also that many nutrionists make recommendations tempered in part based on what they think their clients will be likely to choose to follow, not necessarily what is optimal for health. Better to recommend a B-grade option the client may actually have success with, than a grade-A option that they may not follow (sadly).
| Farsala said: I could never go Vegetarian or Vegan as it is simply too expensive. I have always been a scrawny dude but I eat a lot of food and barely gain any weight. Here in cow land meat is quality and cheap, while some fruit is seasonal and often expensive. I also love almost all food equally, so giving up meat would be the same as giving up all vegetables or all fruit etc. Animal carnivores would eat me or a cow so I see no problem in eating them or a cow. Eventually I will die and be eaten by some organism. (Likely bacteria) |
Too expensive? When I hear this from people, they're usually comparing non-organic meat against organic produce. Or, worse yet, fast food vs. produce. I don't believe there's a long-term scenario where being a whole food vegan is more expensive, given how much disease (and therefore how many health dollars) it can save. I'm a whole food vegan, and I rarely eat fruit. My go-to breakfast is pre-soaked chia and flax paired with raw coconut and cocoa, for example. It's pennies a bowl, it's filling, it takes a long time to digest (I'm like you, I eat a lot and am thin), it's wildly nutritious, and to me it's delicious. There probably are some vegan diets that might be more expensive in the short-term, but that doesn't mean you need to follow those vegan diets. I did some research and was creative in coming up with something that was nutriotionally broad and inexpensive. And, like I say, the long-term health benefits are likely a long-term savings for almost everyone.
As for a carnivorous animal eating us if they had a chance... I'm curious, are you eating lion, or wolf? Or are you eating nearly defenseless herbivores like cows. If so, the argument sounds self-defeating.
| Rab said: If Humans were being looked after in some alien Zoo on some distant solar system they would use the the Paleo diet for maximum health and compatibility [...] |
Maximum compatibility with what? Certainly not maximum health, though. People on the paleo diet typically don't have ideal cholesterol levels. Populations on the paleo diet don't average in the ideal BMI range. And the paleo diet isn't even very paleo, as analysis of fossilized human stool from the period suggests that most people's diets from that era were 99% vegan. They favoured the food that didn't run away, didn't fight back, and didn't spoil. Go figure.
