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 Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 4:41 pm
M'kay, so I'm new. ^^;; Actually, I'm a bit new to everything that has to do with vegan/vegitarian ways of life.
My name is April; but you can call me whatever you'd like. Some friends have been calling me Kat, and I'm finding that I rather like that name after a few weeks of being called that. =33
I'm currently not anything that has to do with vegitarian. But I'd like to be/I've been thinking about it. x33
I'm sixteen years old, and perfectably able of buying my own food supplies, etc. I've never been a big fan of meat, honestly, and I own many animals and care about them so much. I got to thinking one day, and I realized that if my dogs/fishs/guiniea pigs/rabbits were chopped up on a platter, I couldn't stand to eat something like that. So recently, I've been thinking about a way to help out with animal rights. They have souls too, you know!
Only problem with this is; I love dairy products. I love eggs! I mean, if i had to pick a drink and a food to live on for a week; it'd probably be milk and eggs. Heh. xD
ANYWAYS...I've ranted/explained a lot, and I guess I was just trying to say hello and sort of get your opinions on what I should do...go vegitarian or stay the way I am now, not eating a lot of meat and still eating my eggs. =33
Also, I guess I'm just not sure what all is aviliable for the lifestyle choices of vegitarians. Could someone explain it to me? owo
Thanks, and nice meeting you! ^^;;
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 5:35 pm
Welcome. Every little bit helps. Going vegan is best, but going vegetarian is certainly better than nothing! Don't think you have to make the switch all in one day either. It's ok to take baby steps. You can start by cutting down on meat, then cutting it out altogether. There are a wide variety of meatless sausages, chicken patties, burgers, and more. Try Boca, Morningstar Farm, and Tofurky brand products. Some products are better than others, so don't be afraid to experiment. After that, work on cutting down on dairy and eggs if you want. Try soy milks and cheeses until you find something you like. Some taste great, others are a bit off, so don't be afraid to experiment there either. Some of the meatless sausages and burgers are vegan too, so check the labels. This guild has a lot of good information, so keep browsing it. You can also find some help at http://www.goveg.com/order.asp And http://www.cok.net/ is another good one with tips and recipes. I also started a website at www.peachdough.com that I'm slowly filling with veg/animal welfare/environmental articles and links, so feel free to browse there too.
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 6:07 pm
Thank-you very much! =]
Honestly, I think I'd want to go vegan if I did it. I just talked to my boyfriend of seven months about it, and honestly, he's very opposed to my wanting to do that. ^^; Says it's not healthy and that I couldn't live properly without meat.
And honestly, cold turkey is better for myself than quitting gradually. If I do that, I'll most likely not quit. Heh. ^^;
I'll go to my local grocery store to look for some of those brands, though, and thanks! That helps more than you know, considering I don't even know where to start when it comes to going vegan cold turkey.
I think I may work on cutting down the eggs more than the milk. I don't really drink a lot of milk anyway, although I enjoy it very much.
I've been browsing the guild a lot, actually! The people here seem really nice and open about things.
Thanks for the links, though, those will help out a lot.
Anyway, nice meeting you! =] Thanks for replying! ^^
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 6:31 pm
A lot of people think vegetarians and vegans can't possible get all the nutrients they need. And a vegan diet can be unhealthy if you just eat potato chips and soda! But if done right, it's actually far healthier than the average meat eater's diet. That's because the number one killer in America right now is heart disease. And the things that clog your arteries the most are found in animal products. So vegans and vegetarians who have a healthy diet usually live about five to ten years longer than meat eaters!
Check these links out for more information and feel free to share them with your partner:
http://www.goveg.com/healthConcerns.asp
http://www.goveg.com/heartdisease.asp
http://www.tryveg.com/cfi/toc/?v=03experts
http://vegetarian.about.com/od/healthnutrition/f/Vegnutrition.htm
http://www.vegetarian-nutrition.info/updates/vegetarian_diets_health_benefits.php
http://kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/nutrition/vegetarian.html#
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 8:16 pm
Aww, thanks so much. I shared them with Randall; and he still wasn't to happy about it. And, I'm finding it really hard to go cold turkey on milk and eggs, so I'm just going to wean myself off of them slowly. ^^;; But the meat isn't a problem. >.<
But thanks so much! =3 I hope to stay active in this guild and learn some more information!
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Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 2:23 pm
The basis of a healthy vegan diet is:
1. Starchy seeds - grains, buckwheat, quinoa, chestnuts, acorns
2. Protein seeds - legumes, including beans, peas, lentils
3. Oil seeds - nuts, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds
4. Fruits
5. Vegetables
A vegan will also need a source of vitamin B12, which is made by bacteria, but B12 is easy to come by, with cereals, soymilks, energy bars, and more having it added.
Actually, any healthy diet should include those 5 food groups on a daily basis. And as you learn how to use and prepare them in various ways, the more you have the option to just totally rely on them for your nourishment.
If you go the ovo lacto vegetarian route, which means you will eat eggs and dairy with your vegetarian foods, it's important that you don't increase your dairy intake for the protein you need, but instead find ways to increase your intake of whole seeds. Protein is easy to get, but the main pitfalls are in not getting enough minerals, and over reliance on dairy can mean you don't get enough iron. Whole seeds have plenty of iron. 100 grams of naked pumpkin seeds, for example, have about 80% of your daily need of iron.
If you're marginally anemic on a meat-centered diet, then it is probably better to avoid going the ovo lacto vegetarian route and go completely vegan. It's a common story in vegan circles that a person will say they were borderline anemic on a meat-centered diet, the situation got worse on an ovo lacto vegetarian diet, but the anemia totally went away on a vegan diet. And it's more often girls who have that story.
John Robbins in his book Diet for a New America talked about this phenomenon. Apparently animal proteins somehow make the menses thicker in some women, thus they require more iron each cycle. Dairy proteins will continue to make the menses thicker in those women, but dairy doesn't provide hardly anything in the way of iron. Going vegan will both stop making the menses thicker and provide plenty of iron from whole seeds and dark greens....
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