Any Vegetarians/Vegans out there?

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LeeJUk

Puritan Board Junior
So I've been considering lately becoming a vegetarian and I'm thinking of making the leap considering it's the new year and all that.
If being vegetarian goes well then maybe ill take it further to being vegan.

So I was wondering if theres any pb'ers who are one of the above and if so I'd like your advice.

Regards

Lee
 
So I've been considering lately becoming a vegetarian and I'm thinking of making the leap considering it's the new year and all that.
If being vegetarian goes well then maybe ill take it further to being vegan.

So I was wondering if theres any pb'ers who are one of the above and if so I'd like your advice.

Regards

Lee

Hmmm...I don't know of any, but I'd be interested in hearing how your experience progresses.
 
Where's Josh when we need him? "I'm sure that someone somewhere out there is a vegetarian/vegan."
 
I never understood why someone would want to be a vegetarian in the first place.
 
So I've been considering lately becoming a vegetarian and I'm thinking of making the leap considering it's the new year and all that.
If being vegetarian goes well then maybe ill take it further to being vegan.

So I was wondering if theres any pb'ers who are one of the above and if so I'd like your advice.

Regards

Lee

You have to be very careful cutting out meat -- I have had to be a vegetarian several times throughout my life (when I was little we lived on cornmeal mush and meatless spaghetti for some time, as undersupported missionaries, and several times throughout my life I have done without meat for extended periods of time for economic reasons or health conditions) -- and it can have a very negative impact on you physically not to be getting the nutrition that you get from meat. You would need to research and make sure that you are supplementing or getting everything from other foods somehow. All kinds of claims are made for the healthfulness of the vegan lifestyle, but I've never seen the results personally, and must be very careful to eat meat now for basic things like healthy cholesterol levels (there is such a thing as 'dangerously low' cholesterol) etc. I would strongly dis-advise (if that is a word) cutting out meat 'cold turkey' without doing some research and making sure you know what you are doing nutritionally.
 
So I've been considering lately becoming a vegetarian and I'm thinking of making the leap considering it's the new year and all that.
If being vegetarian goes well then maybe ill take it further to being vegan.

So I was wondering if theres any pb'ers who are one of the above and if so I'd like your advice.

Regards

Lee
I was raised vegetarian, Lee. It's definitely not for most people and if you go forward with it you should prepare yourself for being in some compromising situations. Your choices are going to go way down whenever you are out and about. It certainly helps if you enjoy cooking because you can take care of a good deal at home. One of the main things, of course, is making sure that you get your protein. This becomes even more difficult if you go as far as vegan--since you won't have the aid of cheese. Do your homework and see what you think.

I don't want to sound entirely negative about it though. There are a lot of benefits to a vegetarian diet. If we are being honest with ourselves here, the human body was originally made for it. If you eat well, you will likely have great bowels :) and have a little extra pep in your step too. Plus, after a year of no meat I think you get something like a pair of Birkenstocks in the mail. :lol:
 
There are a lot of benefits to a vegetarian diet. If we are being honest with ourselves here, the human body was originally made for it.

So was a lion's, but that would kill one now.
 
are you sure you don't want to change your mind?

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I have known several vegetarians in my life. They have all be intelligent, careful with their diet, making sure to get the proper proteins, lipids, and all of that, and they have all had serious, really serious health issues related to their lack of animal proteins in their diet. I know this is anecdotal evidence. I also recently read a study that showed that the lack of animal protein in the human diet can have serious effect upon reasoning skills. But, what about Scripture? God changed things after the fall and the flood. Please don't forget that in making a choice that can have serious implications upon your health.
 
Nope, I like to use my canines (and thanks, Andrew, now I'm really hungry).

I have no problem with people who make that choice, I'm just not going to do it.

I think a lot problems people have from a vegetarian diet is more from lack of fat than protein. There's a lot of good stuff recently on how much we need healthy fats - it's the trans or polyunsaturated stuff that's killing us, that and the insane amount of sugar/simple carbs in the American diet. Lots of nuts, avacado, healthy oils like olive oil, coconut oil, or almond oil, will also probably help a lot with the transition to a vegetarian/vegan diet. And I think you should read up a little about soy before loading up on the tofu. Personally, I'd rather stick with meat and give up grains and sugars.

This is a book that came out in 2009, written by someone who was a vegan for 20 years. I haven't read it yet, but the reveiws were interesting:

Amazon.com: The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability (9781604860801): Lierre Keith: Books
 
There are a lot of benefits to a vegetarian diet. If we are being honest with ourselves here, the human body was originally made for it.

So was a lion's, but that would kill one now.

I've often wondered about Christ eating fish in His glorified body, and what that means about animal death etc. in the new creation, but that is probably a different thread.
 
I don't think it's a different thread, Heidi. Look at how many sacrifices were ordered by God to be meat and to be eaten. Not just Passover. Veganism is really another religion rather than a reasonable choice of diet.
 
All vegeterian diets are not vegetarianISM or veganISM. This doesn't need to be an ISM at all - but a health choice.

Many Americans are sloppy fat. A vegetarian diet is often asociated with lower BP and weight loss. Cutting out the excess of red meat might just be more in line with Christian stewardship.
 
Lee,

If this is for reasons of being a good steward of the body that God gave you, that's wonderful! :D

The American diet (and from what I've seen, though correct me if I'm wrong, the UK diet as well) consists of WAY too much meat. We should be a lot closer to the Mediterranean diet in this respect; that is, we only may need meat 1-2 times a week or less, or somewhere in that range, perhaps substitute a lot of the meat for eggs, and certainly eat MUCH less red meat. On top of that, if you do even a small amount of research about the way meat is processed, no matter what type, you will find that the way livestock is being fed, killed, packaged, whatever is disgusting and has very negative effects on our bodies. Really, we should only be consuming organic meat, and in an ideal world the government would not be subsidizing the disgusting food, therefore making organic food more affordable (that's the situation in the US anyway; I don't know about the UK).

However, even though the meat most of us consume is disgusting and damaging, and we consume far too much of it, our bodies DO need it - in smaller portions, on less occasions and only the kind that doesn't harm our bodies and in fact nourishes them.

To put it simply, the kind of veganism that most vegans espouse is harmful to your body. The dairy substitutes are fake food. They are just bags of chemicals that virtually only damage your body. DO NOT eat them.

The best "diet" (or eating lifestyle is a better term) I've heard of is the Rosedale or Krohn's (sp?) diet. Forget that it has a name though, unless you want to read about it, and just remember the general idea of it. Here's the premise of this lifestyle: nutrient-dense. Eat as many food as you possibly can that have the highest amount of nutrients, and eat a variety of them so that you can encompass as many nutrients as possible. Throw away all caloric-dense (high calorie), nutrient-deficient foods. Why? Because what's the point of eating them because they don't give you nutrients, which is what your body needs, and only harm your body?

What does this lifestyle end up looking like then? No processed food, only natural, whole, organic when possible foods. Mostly vegetables (raw vegetables, and then cooked), then fruits, then occasionally meats, less occasionally dairy and virtually no grain (when you eat it make sure it's whole grain). That's in order from nutrient rich food to nutrient deficient food, to the best of my knowledge.

Obviously, God created some food that happens to be terrible for you that we can enjoy like candy and cake and stuff, but only sparingly and with thanks. Personally, I don't think making a lifestyle out of eating damaging foods on a regular basis is what God wants. I've had to repent of it many a time... actually, quite often. But, that might be legalistic of me, so I beg someone to correct me lovingly if I'm wrong.

That may be more than you wanted to know. My advice: Don't do either, but do it almost. Eat mostly vegetables, try to make a lot of them raw, and then meat a few times a week, dairy not so much and grains try to avoid as much as possible (which is really hard, I know, and I haven't quite figured out how to make a lifestyle of it yet. Right now I just make sure I eat whole grains but only a few times a week).
 
I am a vegetarian. Just not a very strict one, i eat fish, chicken. beef, and a small amount of lamb. Plus a bit of wild game (depends on what is in season & how good I shoot).
 
I went vegetarian for a while and loved it. It was rough at first, but well worth it. My reason at first was that I quickly learned that military mystery meat was gross and all the good MRE's were vegetarian. Not the best reasons, but that is the reason. I tell people if I can go vegetarian while in Basic Training, anyone can.

I lost alot of weight (but who doesn't in Basic),and my mental capacity was still fine (I graduated Warrior of the Cycle, Student Platoon SGT, and Distinguished Honor Grad at AIT). One of the interesting side effects of being vegetarian was after a week or so my appetite basically disappeared. It wouldn't take much and I would feel stuffed. A typical meal for me at lunch time would be butter noodles, mashed potatoes with shredded cheese, lettuce, raisins, and mixed nuts. I might add an apple sometimes, but that was about it.

I never really looked into any long term side effects or anything like that so I can't comment. I can only comment on my experience.

The only reason why I am not a vegetarian now is because I don't buy the groceries.
 
I went vegetarian for a while and loved it. It was rough at first, but well worth it. My reason at first was that I quickly learned that military mystery meat was gross and all the good MRE's were vegetarian. Not the best reasons, but that is the reason.

Those are excellent reasons. I probably would have done the same thing.
 
I'd be quite suspicious of advice to avoid grains. After all, it seems that in many societies grain in some form, often turned into a species of bread, is basically the staff of life, the fundament of all meals. And many grains are quite high in nutritional value, like amaranth, not to mention the essential fiber content.
 
Megan,
Why the recommendation against grain, assuming we're talking whole grain? I agree with Ruben; the fiber is important, especially since I have a sensitivity to citrus and lose one way to get fiber there.
 
Lee, if you're looking into this for health reasons, you might consider eating fish rather than red meat and chicken. My roommate does this (and is also very careful about eating a balanced diet) and has not suffered any kind of malnutrition from giving up beef, pork, and chicken. If fish wasn't so expensive here, I would probably do the same. She's not really strict about it and does eat other types of meat when she's visiting others or as a treat, but in her day to day cooking, she has fish.
 
I'd be quite suspicious of advice to avoid grains. After all, it seems that in many societies grain in some form, often turned into a species of bread, is basically the staff of life, the fundament of all meals. And many grains are quite high in nutritional value, like amaranth, not to mention the essential fiber content.

The reason to avoid grains is mostly that they are processed and contain chemicals and stuff that gunk up our bodies and ruin them. Now if they are organic, then I can see what you're saying. But I am of the persuasion that we should eat mostly foods that are as highly nutrient dense as possible, (meaning mostly vegetables, and not very many grains because even though they do have some nutrients they don't have enough to warrant us eating them so much. They also raise your blood-glucose level a lot, and I've even heard that whole grain breads do that more than white breads!). So, so much easier said than done however, and I am just in the beginning stage of this.

The other stigma that "no grains" has is that it reminds people of the Atkins, which is a diet I do not recommend. The reason that diet is bad however is not because it's without grains, but because you eat a ton of meat and fool your body into thinking it's in ketosis mode, which is really really bad.
 
Megan,the fiber is important, especially since I have a sensitivity to citrus and lose one way to get fiber there.

Get it from lots o' veggies, I would venture to recommend but I'm not a doctor and I don't know your situation. My husband knows this stuff better than I do too - it was his obsession before he became a Christian.
 
The reason to avoid grains is mostly that they are processed and contain chemicals and stuff that gunk up our bodies and ruin them. Now if they are organic, then I can see what you're saying. But I am of the persuasion that we should eat mostly foods that are as highly nutrient dense as possible, (meaning mostly vegetables, and not very many grains because even though they do have some nutrients they don't have enough to warrant us eating them so much. They also raise your blood-glucose level a lot, and I've even heard that whole grain breads do that more than white breads!). So, so much easier said than done however, and I am just in the beginning stage of this.

The other stigma that "no grains" has is that it reminds people of the Atkins, which is a diet I do not recommend. The reason that diet is bad however is not because it's without grains, but because you eat a ton of meat and fool your body into thinking it's in ketosis mode, which is really really bad.

I understand the feelings, Megan, but it is as well to be aware that there is a lot of conflicting information out there, and there are a lot of food-related heresies. In some ways, in our society, it is obvious that we are as confused about food as we are about sex. But if you look first at the Bible, and then at history, you will see that grains have been an indispensable part of human existence. Famine is thought of as breaking the whole staff of bread (Psalm 105:16), and it is specifically bread (not arugula or avocados or almonds) which strengthens man's heart (Psalm 104:15). And while I am not a sheepish follower of conventional medicine, and don't like chemicals and processing methods which introduce foreign substances, if it is true that the average life expectancy is increasing, then it's obvious that questions of hygiene have a greater overall impact than the consumption of processed foods. I would be very leery of any health claims that are supported by reference to a past golden age of health: if there was one, it was before the flood, and that antediluvian world is quite inaccessible to us.
 
The reason to avoid grains is mostly that they are processed and contain chemicals and stuff that gunk up our bodies and ruin them. Now if they are organic, then I can see what you're saying. But I am of the persuasion that we should eat mostly foods that are as highly nutrient dense as possible, (meaning mostly vegetables, and not very many grains because even though they do have some nutrients they don't have enough to warrant us eating them so much. They also raise your blood-glucose level a lot, and I've even heard that whole grain breads do that more than white breads!). So, so much easier said than done however, and I am just in the beginning stage of this.

The other stigma that "no grains" has is that it reminds people of the Atkins, which is a diet I do not recommend. The reason that diet is bad however is not because it's without grains, but because you eat a ton of meat and fool your body into thinking it's in ketosis mode, which is really really bad.

I understand the feelings, Megan, but it is as well to be aware that there is a lot of conflicting information out there, and there are a lot of food-related heresies. In some ways, in our society, it is obvious that we are as confused about food as we are about sex. But if you look first at the Bible, and then at history, you will see that grains have been an indispensable part of human existence. Famine is thought of as breaking the whole staff of bread (Psalm 105:16), and it is specifically bread (not arugula or avocados or almonds) which strengthens man's heart (Psalm 104:15). And while I am not a sheepish follower of conventional medicine, and don't like chemicals and processing methods which introduce foreign substances, if it is true that the average life expectancy is increasing, then it's obvious that questions of hygiene have a greater overall impact than the consumption of processed foods. I would be very leery of any health claims that are supported by reference to a past golden age of health: if there was one, it was before the flood, and that antediluvian world is quite inaccessible to us.

I was just thinking about this more, about why throughout civilization has had grains as a staple.

Was it because they promote longevity and health? I don't think so.

I think this is why.

1. they make you feel full
2. they're easy to grow and to store

I'll think more about the other things you said and maybe go back to some of my old references.
 
I don't know that I accept the presupposition that you eat to promote longevity and health: the difference may be slight but I would see eating as being to sustain life and to enjoy your sense of taste. The quest for longevity and health easily turns into an idolatry (compare Holt Fasner in Donaldson's shattering Gap sequence). So I should eat to have strength to perform my work (Ecclesiastes 10:17), rather than to grasp at an extended life upon this plane.
 
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