Vegan/Plant Based Do you ever wonder about the animals you eat eat.

I’ve been vegetarian for 40 years (since I was 11) with the occasional fish lapse.

It was purely because I didn’t want to eat ‘dead animals’.

I’d love to be vegan, but don’t have the will power.
I also don’t enjoy cooking, and I think that to be a healthy vegan you need to really enjoy cooking.

My husband eats meat sometimes, but he usually eats what I do.

I’m not evangelical about it at all.
I think that all the information is out there now, I don’t think that people need ‘educating’.
It’s an organic thing.

A vgan diet isn't a healthy diet. It lacks too many nutrients especially B12.

I did try being Vegan for 2 yers in the midst if 30 years as a veggie but my already damaged health grew much worse.
I believe now this may have been down to the lack of B12.

Years later I had tests showing a deficiency. At that time though I was mislead by being told I would be able to obtain B12 from seaweed. This just wasn't true.

I don't think a Vegan diet is safe for growing children.

I wanted to be Vegan for the sake of the animals.

Now I only eat organic meat mostly from local farms. My way has been to eat less meat though. I don't eat animals every day my portions are not very big.

I don't believe a Vegan diet will save the planet. I believe that careful conscious animal husbandry will.

It is greed (money) that is causing the big problems.

I was never interested in meat.
I liked fish and shellfish but was vegetarian from the the early 70s and then vegan (post Chernobyl).
When I discovered about soya farming in the 80s I stopped wanting to use so much of that and went back to organic goat's milk and now I am reasonably happy with organic dairy.

We all make choices based on animal husbandry. I have friends with a smallholding and they are very particular with their animals. I just wish all meat was more "ethical". Nobody who loves meat will want to eat as I do (lots of beans, nuts, seeds etc and limited dairy) and really I'm not confident that "manufacturing" meat is currently an option.

I know at least three vegans who eat a lot of processed foods too...

pinkquartz I think it IS possible to eat healthily as a vegan.
You certainly don't need to eat meat.

We are rather like you FannyC, I am vegetarian, absolutely d0 not eat any meat, but do eat fish; occasionally at home, but often when eating out as the vegetarian options in most restaurants are too carb loaded for my taste. DH eats what I do, but does have ham in the fridge, and when eating out, will take the opportunity to have meat, but has remarked that his taste for it is certainly reducing. I try to reduce my dairy intake; no butter, milk or cream, but I do eat a little cheese and do eat eggs. I find the final step to go vegan is quite hard, especially as like FannyC, I dislike cooking.

Nan99
Could you give it a rest with your preachy plant based advice
We are all adults here and very aware of how our food is produced. We can make up our own minds.

MerylStreep

Nan99
Could you give it a rest with your preachy plant based advice
We are all adults here and very aware of how our food is produced. We can make up our own minds.

Well said! How do you know someone is a vegan? Oh, don't worry - they'll soon tell you (again, and again, and again!)

We’re not vegan, though we certainly eat a lot less meat than we used to, and I’m very particular as to where it comes from. U.K. raised and higher welfare only, so definitely no EU pork or bacon.

No, I’m not vegan or vegetarian.
Yes I’m aware of animal welfare.
I don’t have any pets.
Next?

MerylStreep

Nan99
Could you give it a rest with your preachy plant based advice
We are all adults here and very aware of how our food is produced. We can make up our own minds.

That's a bit unneccesarily rude don't you think? This is a discussion forum, and Nan99 was just detailing her reasons for choosing to eat as she does.

My daughter is a vegan for the same reasons as you Nan99. She is vegan because of the cruelty involved in milk and egg production.
She doesn't preach to people or even mention it unless it is relevant and we respect her decision.

Nan99 could you please provide the research behind this statement? Eating plant-based can help your health by reversing heart disease and diabetes and some cancers

I have a particular reason to learn about reversing cancer.

I know of people (on here) who have reversed diabetes - but cancer?
I also knew someone who ate the most copious amount of broccoli in a fruitless attempt to do so

I have never heard of any diet reversing cancer. Can you provide evidence of this OP?

Germanshepherdsmum

I have never heard of any diet reversing cancer. Can you provide evidence of this OP?

Yes, I'd be interested to know this too. As FC has said, in some cases, certain diets can reverse diabetes, but cancer?

Peoples food choices are created by how they were brought up and what is available to them . Most people don’t think about animal suffering - male chicks being ground up alive or cows forcibly separated from their calves, male calves shot at birth in some cases, as for how they are treated in slaughterhouses, pigs gassed, animals kicked and punched to stay in the kill line and so on - plenty of video evidence but no prosecutions ever. I could go on. Or if they know about it they don’t equate the slab on their plate as once being a living breathing creature. It was personal exposure to animal cruelty at the age of about 10 that made me give up eating meat - much to the puzzlement of my mother who was a roast meat and stew type cook. Fortunately I wasn’t forcibly made to eat it. School dinners they just gave me the mash and veg with maybe some grated cheese if I was lucky. I’ve been vegan for years now, it is definitely possible to have a healthy diet - last blood test show no anaemia or lack of any vitamins. I agree it’s not that easy initially but it’s much easier now than back in the day. Research has shown that overall, vegans are just as healthy as meat eaters, the main difference being that vegans tend to be slimmer which has health implications in itself.

Vitamin B12 is produced by bacteria, not animals or plants. As such, animals, including humans, must obtain it directly or indirectly from bacteria. It can be found in bacteria-laden manure and unsanitized water, though we obviously should not be consuming either of those things.

I'm not vegan but have been vegetarian for over 30 years with occasional lapses by eating fish.
Reasons are mainly to do with animal welfare though now I dislike the smell of meat cooking let alone eating it.
I'm sad that people think I'm difficult to feed. I don't think I am I love food and
I'm healthy enough .

Vegans can be healthy and if you look up vegans in sport you find plenty of successful Olympians so that argument doesn't hold water

Many people the world over don't eat animals. Ok in countries where plants don't readily grow such as Arctic regions, it's understandable, but we should be able to live splendidly on a plant based diet.
I wish I could

Yes, Blondiescot diet can certainly control type 2 diabetes. I don’t know about heart disease but I guess a healthy diet could help. Cancer though - that’s a bold claim.

I must admit I’m getting a bit tired of the “ vegan alternatives “
We used to go to A play, a pie and a pint. You were offered the choice of a mutton pie or a vegetarian flan. Now it’s the meat pie or a fake meat, ultra processed “vegan sausage roll” So if you dislike the taste, texture or very thought of dead animal your options are real or virtually identical dead animal….or nothing!
There is nothing wrong with making the decision not to eat animals, but it is the insistence on meat identical products always available that is making life hell for vegetarians.

My dad was a keen hunter of game. He taught me and my sibling to target shoot as young children. At the age of about 10, he tried to get me to start aiming at animals. At that point, I'd happily been eating duck, pheasant, rabbit. But that was the point that the light bulb clicked on for me.

I was veggie for 15 years and due to dietary deficiencies, suffered the most terrible depression. I eat meat again now, but not every day. My DD went vegetarian at 8 and has never wavered in over 30 years.

I DO equate the meat on my plate with animals, which is why I don't eat much of it. A lump of meat is too obviously flesh and it gives me the ick.

I'm not vegan, or even vegetarian. I don't eat huge amounts of meat and often choose a vegetarian option when out or cook vegetarian meals, just because I like the dish. I am aware of animal welfare and buy only fully accredited meat.

I do wonder how vegetarians and vegans manage to have pet dogs and cats. Dogs I believe can live on a vegetarian diet but cats are obligate carnivores. Surely nobody believes animals should be farmed solely to feed their cat or dog?

MerylStreep

Nan99
Could you give it a rest with your preachy plant based advice
We are all adults here and very aware of how our food is produced. We can make up our own minds.

Agree.

Other threads are available
Meryl and Nan