Veganism

[Ugly Bastard]

Last week, I started experimenting with veganism and thought the experience might interest some of you. It started after I watched the documentary Food, Inc. It's not that I saw that film and freaked out and made some impulsive decision to become vegan, it's more than I saw it, was pretty grossed out and decided I'd like to try to steer clear of processed foods and commercially-produced meat as much as possible moving forward.

Since I was already going to alter my diet, I figured I'd see what it's like to be vegan for a few days more for fun and just to try something different than anything else. For the record, I don't have much of a moral dilemma with eating animals and any dilemma I have mostly deals with animals that have been treated inhumanely on their way to your dinner plate (think: veal). So the veganism thing is like 99% for health/curiosity purposes and 1% for animal rights or whatever. I only say that because I know some of you might be thinking, "veganism? That's something that only animal-loving hippies do!" and I don't want to be lumped in with that crowd as much as I can help it since my reasoning for doing this has almost nothing to do with compassion for animals.

Alright, with that said, a few observations:

1. It's fucking easy. Before trying veganism, I always viewed it as something that must be a complete pain in the ass and that your dining options are next to none. Trying it for a few days has dissolved this myth for me. There's really a ton of different stuff you can eat while on a vegan diet. For instance, today I made guacemole (ate with chips, obv) and a fruit smoothie (just put a bunch of berries in a blender with a splash of soy milk). For dinner, I went to this vegetarian Indian restaurant and ordered one of the vegan items on their menu which was a vegetable curry dish made with coconut milk. It was absolutely amazing. Like, I would eat that semi-regularly vegan or not.

2. Shitting is awesome. My bowels... my god my bowels. They are just delighted as a pig in shit right now. I used to only shit once a day like clockwork. About an hour after waking up, I'll take a shit, and that will be that. If I drank heavily the night before, I'll probably shit once or twice more throughout the day. On a vegan diet, I have been shitting no less than 3 times a day and each time it's just downright blissful. Big, loose, floating shits that just fly out of you and feel great on the way out. We all know what kind of shit I'm talking about because they're one of our most favorite kind of shits to have. I've been enjoying them 3-5 times a day since going vegan. Today, I woke up at noon and had shit, I kid you not, four times by 4:00 pm. I can think of two reasons why this is probably the case, a.) meat is hard on your digestive system and b.) vegetables are loaded with fiber. Being that I've cut out meat entirely and have been eating 10x the amount of fruit and vegetables as I typically do, it's pretty clear why I'm shitting my brains out.

3. Most alcohol is vegan so, you know, it doesn't get in the way of being an alcoholic.

4. I feel amazing. It's hard for me not to think that a lot of it is just in my head, but I feel really energetic and that my mood is heightened while on this vegan diet. I think it would be silly to attribute all of this to the diet, but I think you can attribute some of it to the diet. I also feel leaner and can tell I've droppped some weight. This weight loss is probably on account of just avoiding processed foods and doesn't necessarily have a lot to do with the veganism, but I'll take it.

I enjoy meat, cheese and eggs too much to ever do this full time which is why I'm only practicing a vegan diet on Mondays through Thursday lunch (basically half the week and then relax the standard on the weekends). I hope some of you found this interesting enough to give it a shot yourselves. I'd recommend just trying it for 3-4 days. That's all the longer you should need to do it to start reaping the benefits of point #2 which is obviously the best part.

If any of you are serious about trying this and are interesting in meal ideas, let me know and I can expand upon some of the things I've been eating.

[f3lix]

I've been doing something similar since watching Food, Inc. i've been eating much better and dropped drinking out of my diet to 1 day a week. I'm down 17 pounds this month. Shitting has been GREAT.

[Mr. Mistoffelees]

I saw food, inc. Didn't care.

[Orgazmo]

I watched it too based on your recommendations. It did open my eyes quite a bit, but moreso into the bullshit regulation/big company control than anything else. The whole genetic soybean seed patent shit + the strongarming that goes on irked me more than anything regarding the food itself. It definitely did make me want to lean toward small farms than the big companies.

All of this said, I don't see me making any changes. Sure, next time I'm at Burger Bar, I'll get the organic beef instead of the kobe, but it's just too god damned easy to continue letting Tits (who seemingly doesn't give a fuck) take care of all grocery shopping than to change my life.

[DJ FC]

I dated a vegan on and off for 3 years (which pretty much made me a vegan) and I followed a strict vegetarian diet for 9 months. I have mixed feelings.

It certainly is healthy: at first. But severly cutting your dietary options over the long run takes some careful planning and dedication. It's very easy to eat far too many McDonald's french fries and Taco Bell 7-layer burritos.

Being a vegan depends (to an incredible degree) on your geographical location. Avoiding meat, dairy, eggs, honey, and gelatin in London is a piece of cake but damn near impossible in Chicago.

UB, if you or anybody else on here has any questions about it, I'm somewhat knowledegable at this point.

[Mr. Blonde]

Originally Posted by DJ FC

Being a vegan depends (to an incredible degree) on your geographical location. Avoiding meat, dairy, eggs, honey, and gelatin in London is a piece of cake but damn near impossible in Chicago.

This, defo mostly impossible in Korea. Not that it matters, I could never be vegan with a wheat allergy. I could, but it would cause significantly large amount of (undue) hassle in my life.

Also, i'm not a fatass like all you guys.

[DDTempest]

Originally Posted by Ugly Bastard

2. Shitting is awesome. My bowels... my god my bowels. They are just delighted as a pig in shit right now. I used to only shit once a day like clockwork. About an hour after waking up, I'll take a shit, and that will be that. If I drank heavily the night before, I'll probably shit once or twice more throughout the day. On a vegan diet, I have been shitting no less than 3 times a day and each time it's just downright blissful. Big, loose, floating shits that just fly out of you and feel great on the way out. We all know what kind of shit I'm talking about because they're one of our most favorite kind of shits to have. I've been enjoying them 3-5 times a day since going vegan. Today, I woke up at noon and had shit, I kid you not, four times by 4:00 pm. I can think of two reasons why this is probably the case, a.) meat is hard on your digestive system and b.) vegetables are loaded with fiber. Being that I've cut out meat entirely and have been eating 10x the amount of fruit and vegetables as I typically do, it's pretty clear why I'm shitting my brains out.

Your body also shits alot when there are things your digestive tract can't digest, like cellulose in most vegetables or even something like Uranium. What kind of toilet paper are you using? I would not want to shit away from home more than once ... maybe twice a day because public toilet paper is rough on the asshole.

[Mr. Blonde]

Ding Ding on DDTempest here. Meat isn't that hard on your digestive system, and when it comes to food value is much more valuable than vegetables.

[DJ FC]

Originally Posted by Mr. Blonde

Ding Ding on DDTempest here. Meat isn't that hard on your digestive system, and when it comes to food value is much more valuable than vegetables.

Please define "food value"

[Mr. Blonde]

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcom.../hg72_2002.pdf

[DDTempest]

All things are fine in moderation, if you eat pure beef for every meal, shits going to get backed up.

You might notice other things that burn through you are indigestible ... like most hot sauces, your body just can't break down the oil easily so it pushes it out. This is a product of our evolution (along with vomiting) that gave us an extreme advantage over other animals in eating the diverse diet that we eat today.

Smaller portions of meat will have the same effect, we are just conditioned to eat "slab o' beef" with "mess o' taters" on the side.

[Ugly Bastard]

I only use the best toilet paper: Charmin Ultra Soft.

[Ugly Bastard]

Also, still unclear on Blonde's "meat has higher 'food value' than vegetables" comment and don't see how linking to some lenghty USDA PDF file clears that up. Can you provide a specific page number(s) in that file that might be useful?

[Ugly Bastard]

Sorry for three straight posts, but I have a really hard time being able to agree with you here:

Originally Posted by DJ FC

Being a vegan depends (to an incredible degree) on your geographical location. Avoiding meat, dairy, eggs, honey, and gelatin in London is a piece of cake but damn near impossible in Chicago.

I live in one of the fattest, least health-conscious cities in the world and have had no problem following a vegan diet. I would say it's substantially easier to be vegan in Chicago than in a place like, say, Middlebury. There probably aren't more than a roomful of people in all of Middlebury that are vegan whereas in Chicago it's thousands upon thousands of people which is certainly a market worth catering towards.

[Der Fuhrer]

I'm doing a little diet experiment myself. I eat 2-3 microwavable dinners a day. God I love processed meat, so easy and delicious, like Blonde's sister.

[Mr. Blonde]

Are we going to argue over semantics, you hippie fags? Nutritional value. "Food (from whence nutrition comes from) value" is a term I picked up in a reprinting of a US Survival Manual. Go fuck yourselves.





HQDA agencies

At age 22 I found out, as many of you know, that I cannot consume wheat, for if I do my body doesn't absorb food properly and I eventually die a long, painful, confused death caused by malnutrition. For the past 4+ years i've read more nutritional facts than probably all of you put together. So this retarded ass inquisition by FC and UB is pretty fucking annoying.

As DD said, everything is fine in moderation, but our bodies have evolved to digest meat perfectly fine. Meat simply has more nutrition (LET ME CLARIFY: IN THE FORM OF OVERALL CALORIES [most important], PROTEIN, AND ESSENTIAL FATS) than the same amount of a vegetable. Obviously they both have different things that are essential: Meat has the above, and plants and fruits have more in the way of carbohydrates, fiber, sugars...but if I was in a survival situation and was given a choice of an island full of animals and an island full of fruit and veggie trees, i'd definitely choose the former.

beef nutrition facts and information

carrots nutrition facts and information

potatoes nutrition facts and information

bread nutrition facts and information

[Dent]

Blonde I don't know if i'm following this right but I don't think UB is pretending he's a vegan (faggot) for the week because he's in any survival situation.
Meat tastes good, I eat it.

[Ugly Bastard]

I think we'd all agree that we'd rather have an ounce of meat than an ounce of celery if we were abandoned on an island, so yes, you're right that meat has higher "food value" to that extent, but when did this become the survivalist thread? I also don't think any of us are having a hard time getting together enough money to nourish ourselves, so I really don't see how your "meat has higher food value than vegetables" comment has any relevance in this thread.

[Mr. Blonde]

I guess it doesn't, since Dent is probably right. Sorry for bringing my negative energy into this thread. I'll try to re-focus my chi and push only positive thoughts your way from here on out. Best of luck!

(For the record, it's relevant because what I said is correct, even though you guys were trying to infer it wasn't by using a straw man.)

EDITED FOR FAGS:

Originally Posted by Mr. Blonde

Ding Ding on DDTempest here. Meat isn't that hard on your digestive system, and when it comes to NUTRITIONAL VALUE is much more valuable than vegetables.

[Mr. Mistoffelees]

You're scrambling blonde. That dirty 90 year old military guide actually praises the value of plants.

It must have taken you hours to find something that uses the term "food value."

[zebrazebrazebraSHAFT]

Originally Posted by Ugly Bastard

For the record, I don't have much of a moral dilemma with eating animals and any dilemma I have mostly deals with animals that have been treated inhumanely on their way to your dinner plate (think: veal). So the veganism thing is like 99% for health/curiosity purposes and 1% for animal rights or whatever. I only say that because I know some of you might be thinking, "veganism? That's something that only animal-loving hippies do!" and I don't want to be lumped in with that crowd as much as I can help it since my reasoning for doing this has almost nothing to do with compassion for animals.

I took an ethics class a few years back and it dealt heavily with animal rights, since that class I've not been able to justify killing animals. So I'm basically a non-practicing vegan, I'd love to try it out but meat is just too damn tasty and convenient. If anyone has any solid arguments justifying the killing of animals I'd love to discuss it.

[SittinOnDubsWGW]

Originally Posted by zebrazebrazebraSHAFT

If anyone has any solid arguments justifying the killing of animals I'd love to discuss it.

I think, "because they're delicious" is a pretty reasonable answer.

[Beebs]

Well if you enjoy it, go for it.

I suspect after a while some of your enthusiasm for it will wane, but some of the foods that you learned about while doing it will be a great addition to your diet if you ever go back to being an omnivore.

[Der Fuhrer]

The vast majority of commercial meat sold today stems directly from the domestication of animals such as cows, pigs, and other livestock. Which, if I'm not mistaken, was what this Food, Inc bullshit was about, domesticated farm animals. These animals made an evolutionary "choice" to become domesticated because it is a mutually beneficial arrangement, as are all types of domestication and co-evolution. For example, the domestic cow is guaranteed a well-fed life, and, most importantly, the assurance of its specie's continuation. In return they allow us to hit them over the head with the shotgun hammer and eat them. I would venture to say that there are close to a billion, give or take a few hundred million, domesticated cattle in existence today. On the other hand, the wild cow, whose name escapes me at this moment, is virtually extinct. I'd say cattle made a good choice. That is my argument for the killing of animals. Nature is a cruel bitch. Not all domesticated animals have it as good as the dog and cat, which, if you look at how their facial features have evolved over time, you will see they have become more and more puppy- and kitten-like. I wonder why that is.

[zebrazebrazebraSHAFT]

Originally Posted by SittinOnDubsWGW

I think, "because they're delicious" is a pretty reasonable answer.

I think you're delicious.

I'm gonna assume that you don't actually consider that a reasonable answer.

@Der Fuhrer

Your argument is basically "killing animals is okay because we keep them alive so we can kill them". Helping an animal survive doesn't give you the right to then cause that animal harm. If your reason for helping a species survive is that you can later kill it, then your reason is self defeating. Anyway, is there any evidence to suggest that the animals we eat today were ever in danger of going extinct? We no longer need to eat meat to survive so your argument is currently irrelevant.

The question remains: What gives you the right to domesticate an animal so that you can eventually cause it harm?