I read on an anti-animal-testing website that there's just one essential amino acid which can't be got from vegetables and must be taken in supplement form for a healthy diet in vegetarians. (They may have been talking about veganism actually ... can't remember). What is it? And how do you ensure you're getting all the essential proteins and fatty acids your body requires to stay healthy? If you don't eat meat at all it seems you would have to be very careful to get an adequately balanced diet. Then there are things like the omega complex fatty acids found in fish, which are not essential since they can be synthesised in the body. But it's generally agreed that they can't be produced in levels high enough for our needs. These are required for proper brain development in children, for instance. That for one thing seems a real danger with a strictly vegetarian diet, especially for growing children. I'm not making a case for meat-eating, just raising a layman's concern...
Today is day one. I actually managed it for 6 months once, so I know it can be done. I'm not anti-meat eating, I still feel that it is natural for us to eat meat to a small extent. I'm more anti-exploitation within the meat industry. There are many parts of the world where meat is farmed or hunted naturally and I have no problem with that, especially in places where there are few other choices. The food chain is a fact of life and nature isn't all cute and fluffy, how we as humans abuse nature though is a different issue. Generally though, I feel like a hypocrite eating burgers and hotdogs, especially when I am so moralistic with other causes and also i value my health and want clean arteries. My problem is with self-discipline down to lack of patience and convenience, there are about 10 fast food places within 5 minutes of here, I am a victim to the smell. Anyway by starting this thread I've sort of commited myself to have a go at it and see how I get on. -
You'll probably know yourself that a lot of burger and hot-dog meat comes strait from the scrap department of many a slaughterhouse. So everytime that smell gets you, just remember that you're smelling some pig's trotter frying away in a tonne of fat. Try to remember just how disgusting many fast food places are. Or just think of every horror story you've heard about meat in the UK. I'm not a vegetarian myself and what little I know about it all keeps me well away.
Just to let you know you are being made fun of on the Veggie board. http://hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22782
Uhhh, I think you'll find most veggies are very well aware of what goes into most meat products, which is kinda why they're veggies in the first place. It's usually meat-eaters that think steak and such is grown on trees Fucking hell, the retards are all crawling out of the woodwork today, huh? We were talking about Canfordcliffs, numbnuts.
Yeah I should have said omnivorous, I was in a rush to go out and eat some parsnip. Like I said though, I still feel that eating meat is a natural thing when taken within the context of the food chain, nature can be pretty cruel but the environment always wins in the end, it's part of the cycle of life. ~ However when man exploits the environment the environment inevitibly loses out. Yes we do have a choice, but we are designed for both ... and it is that choice that is what I'm trying to exercise here.
You know what people? I really didn't want this thread to be an argument. I was just after a few suggestions that's all ... and now it's turned into an argument spanning 2 topics at once.
Best thing I can think of is to eat as ethically as possible... I've been an ignorant eater for twelve years, a vegetarian for three, and as ethical an eater as possible for two . I found that vegetarianism wasn't doing much for me or for the animals I want to help... How was avoiding the problem helping it? I mean, not everybody is going to turn vegetarian, and personally i don't think that it'd be good if they did! What would be best would be if people only ate meat on rare occasions (if you were hunting for your own food, you wouldn't come across meat every day anyway) and if they ate meat from their own animals along with vegetables from their own gardens. Sounds cushey, but weighed up against the state of the world and against factory farming and everything, I meself are going to aim as close to that dreamy image as possible. Things I try hard, as flawed and sinful a human being as I am, to stick to telling myself: - Sunny, don't go near cows milk - while you're too weak to reach that goal immediately, please would you at least show some curtesy and buy the stuff for organic and free range farms. - Miss Lily, you stick that lump of factory waste into your mouth and you're gonna retch. Have some morals and either get yourself some veggie sausages or dig out some money to get some meat that hasn't lived hell, has at least come from pigs with healthy lives. - Bloody hell, why would you want to eat eggs from birds who have never seen the sun. Especially when you've got two feathered friends who leap around in the sun all day and lay delicious eggs! - Oooh my god! Is that leather on your feet? Why why why did you ever exercise compassion towards animals in the meat industry, when quite clearly you don't understand that leather is from cows that have lived shit too. Look mate, in London there are some wicked alternative shoe shops where you can get leather substitues. - Ehem, excuse me Sunshine, I know that yorkie bar looks tasty in its colourful packaging and eluring print, but think goddammit! Think about the blood and labor that went into making it! Fancy supporting that? Nahhh... - Right, why are you even buying new clothes anyway? You've got the equivalent of four wardrobes worth of clothes at home.... If you've got to soak yourself in the thought of new clothes, at least go to a charity shop. Jeesus... - Hahahahaha! You're smoking weed and tobacco, and you've got the cheek to say that you think about world issues, the environment, your own health, poverty. Lily, you do make me laugh - Do you know where that dye came from? Do you care? Are you going to question whether it is ethical, or are you going to close your eyes once again, let them paste that poison over your eyelashes? Doing that Missy, you're going to be closing your eyes to your own morals. - I know you're drunk dear, but don't give in to McDonalds. Eat it and die!!!! Err, right, I got a bit carried away because i've been in fantasy land of books and stuff... Now i'm listening to the Beach Boys . That's just some of the things that i say to myself, but i'm not one to always listen... I do listen to most of them, but not the weed one most of the time.. *tum te dum...* Love, Sunshine Lily xxx
Sorry it turned out that way Paul. This is the sort of shit veggies face all the time though. It's like even if we don't preach, meat eaters seem to take us being veggie as a personal attack, and then have to start making all kinds of smart ass comments and generally acting like 6 yr olds. But then if we say anything to explain why we believe eating meat ain't great, we're accused of being opinionated and telling people how to live there lives.
I've noticed a few "smart alecs" popping up in the UK forum... where the hell did they come from? I also have a big issue with people coming on here and lashing out wild accusations when they clearly don't know who they are talking to and what a struggle its been to get this community as chilled and close as it is. This is a free-speech site for sure.... but no where in the guidelines does it say "Free to be a dick and wind people up" The UK forum IS NOT the Random Thoughts forum, people flaming for the hell of it could quite legitimately be banned (just to make the situation clear) I blame the heat or something... making people crazy Respect Clairexxx
