Map of USA Details Endangered Species List

Originally posted by K T Ong: Be a vegetarian, Grimslade. Serious.

Blasphemy, pure blasphemy.

Thanks for the info Moni, interesting sight, lookslike it took lots of work to get all the info gathered.

ummm to be a "vegan" is to deny the design and truth of your body. Humans are designed to be omnivores not, carnivores or herbivores (being a vegan is just being an herbivore, I don't know why they needed to make up a new name for it) We work best with a variety of foods not all of one class.

[K T Ong]

Dunno. I've read that our teeth and digestive systems are closer to those of herbivorous than carnivorous animals. In any case some of the world's best athletes were supposed to have been vegetarians too -- allowing for reliability of resources. I'm already 95% vegetarian, taking occasionally a bit of fish.

Thought you'd disagree with me on this as well, MagiK -- as on basically everything under the sun...

[ 09-02-2002, 07:07 PM: Message edited by: K T Ong ]

I admire people who can sustain the discipline to be vegetarians. It is a much healthier way of living compared to the amounts of red meat I can put away (and a little fish is good for you!)
I personally could never do it though. I have this real problem with beans...can't stand the taste, the feel of them in my mouth, the fact that they have skins down't help any of it either lol but that is a whole new thread.

[K T Ong]

I think you might be surprised how tasty vegan cooking can be, Moni. (Well, I found it tasty.) Here in Singapore I came across many dishes and recipes containing 'imitations' of meat which taste almost just like the real thing. Being vegan need not necessarily involve a lot of discipline.

Well, I guess it's 'to each his/her own' when it comes to what we eat. But I do ask you animal lovers perhaps just to spare a thought for that poor cow or chicken being brought to the slaughter...

[ 09-02-2002, 08:00 PM: Message edited by: K T Ong ]

Originally posted by K T Ong: I think you might be surprised how tasty vegan cooking can be, Moni. Here in Singapore I came across many dishes and recipes containing 'imitations' of meat which taste almost just like the real thing. Being vegan need not necassarily involve a lot of discipline. Well, I guess it's 'to each his/her own' when it comes to what we eat. But I do ask you animal lovers perhaps just to spare a thought for that poor cow or chicken being brought to the slaughter...

I might just go off some day and try some (vegan cooking) just out of curiosity and to make sure I could or could not handle the diet as a permanent thing in my life. I'm sure, some day in the future, we'll all be eating soy burgers & soy cakes but for now, while there are still cows and chickens, I do give a thought for them...I thank God that we have them. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Originally posted by K T Ong: Dunno. I've read that our teeth and digestive systems are closer to those of herbivorous than carnivorous animals. In any case some of the world's best athletes were supposed to have been vegetarians too -- allowing for reliability of resources. I'm already 95% vegetarian, taking occasionally a bit of fish. Thought you'd disagree with me on this as well, MagiK -- as on basically everything under the sun...

K.T. [img]smile.gif[/img] My purpose is not to disagree with you, but to share my opinion on the subjects you may raise [img]smile.gif[/img] I don't read your post then say whatever disagrees with it.

Now to Disagree

From my biology classes of 20+ years ago and my more recent biology classes of 2 years ago, they still show incisors and canines in our head, we still have the ability to grow sharpened claws...looks to me like a body built to be flexable and use whats available. and not designed to be one or the other.

As for the worlds best athletes being vegans..I don't think so....Every body builder I have read about carboloads and talks about getting protiene in great gobs, usually the forms of red meat but some times from powdered forms. SOme athletes are more veggie oriented but others are not. You really can't nail it down to a single group...you cant say (because there has not been a significant statistical; study completed yet) that vegans live longer eaither...My great grandfather Engle lived to be 93,,,he smoked cigars like a chimney and ate "bacon greese" sandwiches every day he worked on the B&O Railroad (he did that for 40 years) (these were white bread a big gob of bacon greese and maybe once in a while some actual bacon) He also worked in the coal mines during the depression too.

All the neutritionists At Kaiser Permanente (company I now work for) tell me a balanced diet is best. A bit from each food group and you can foget the bogey stories about salt....the doofus that gave salt such a bad rap was found out years ago. He lied to make his statistics look good so he could get his grant renewed. Sodium Chloride will NOT give you high blood preasure if you are not already geneticly predisposed to it.

For my own personal diet, Im a pizzarian I would live on nothing but "Anthony's" Pizza's if I could still get on the base, since they locked down Ft. Meade on 9/11...*sigh* I miss those pizza's....I need to get some of my friends transfered to the fort [img]smile.gif[/img]

What matters though is the amount of protein you get in your diet, not the source of the nutrient.
Legumes and nuts contain as much protein as a good chunk of meat.
Vegatarians and vegans are not depriving themselves as long as they include protein-rich-non-meat-foods in their diet and there are plenty to choose from.

Originally posted by Moni: What matters though is the amount of protein you get in your diet, not the source of the nutrient. Legumes and nuts contain as much protein as a good chunk of meat. Vegatarians and vegans are not depriving themselves as long as they include protein-rich-non-meat-foods in their diet and there are plenty to choose from.

That may be true, but I vaguely remember hearing/reading/watching something that explained that protienes from plants is not identicle to animal protiene and that your body processes them differently.

I readily admit that Im not a dietician (my waist line is proof of that) All I really can say is that for me, nature makes me crave certain things one of them is meat, so Im gonna listen [img]smile.gif[/img]

In one of my psych classes they had a study done where babies were allowed to pick their own foods and that babies with deficiencies somehow picked out foods high in the things they were deficient in. I have sort of lived by this principle, I listen to my cravings...fortunatly for me..I don't seem to crave anything completely rotten for me [img]smile.gif[/img]

Originally posted by MagiK: That may be true, but I vaguely remember hearing/reading/watching something that explained that protienes from plants is not identicle to animal protiene and that your body processes them differently. I readily admit that Im not a dietician (my waist line is proof of that) All I really can say is that for me, nature makes me crave certain things one of them is meat, so Im gonna listen [img]smile.gif[/img] In one of my psych classes they had a study done where babies were allowed to pick their own foods and that babies with deficiencies somehow picked out foods high in the things they were deficient in. I have sort of lived by this principle, I listen to my cravings...fortunatly for me..I don't seem to crave anything completely rotten for me [img]smile.gif[/img]

I dunno about the first paragraph...I have long forgotten if I ever learned anything of the sort and we are not far enough along in my Biology/Nutrition class to have had a recent reminder.
I am certain though that proper nutrition can be had without meat in the diet as long as other foods that help extract the proteins from nuts, legumes, etc. are included (i.e. rice) Protein is protein, no matter what form it takes going in, your body has hundreds of uses for it on the inside.

I crave meat too...not a burger or a taco or whatever...just straight up meat lol.
Rex will do the grocery shopping and bring home loads of instant this and that and by the end of the week I am just miserable. He has heard me utter more than a dozen times "I need meat" [img]graemlins/eating.gif[/img]
I try to do the major portion of the shopping now and keep meats in the freezer so I don't have to feel deprived.
When we adjust our bodies to the intake of essential nutrients in this or that form that we will experience cravings without it in that particular form. Its not that the body is being deprived of the nutrients, but that it is accustomed to receiving them in a certain way. I used to crave peanut butter when I lived with my mother (who could ruin meat in any form and my dinners were usually replaced with peanut butter sandwiches). Since I have been cooking for myself, I rarely ever eat peanut butter and when I do it is because it is a fast form of sustinance, not because I am craving it.

That psych study sounds interesting enough. I was anemic for most of my childhood, if not all of it, actually. When I got pregnant with my son the Dr told me when he confirmed my pregnancy that I was severly anemic and handed me a list of iron-rich foods he wanted me to make a point to include in my diet.
On that list was everything I hated to eat, everything that had made me gag for as long as I can remember and dozens of things I still don't eat today.
I must have been one of those odd babies who would have picked chocolate no matter what my body needed lol.