Vege, Vegan or Carnivore

[Cyril Haearn]

On the porridge thread a couple of people mentioned that they were vegans, this inspired me..

[Cyril Haearn]

I have been a vegetarian for several years

For a long time I tried to eat *less* meat, but I kept getting an appetite for it.. don't know exactly when I last ate some

I do love boiled eggs and cheese and yoghurt.. and lentil soup and rice pudding and plums
and porridge

[fossala]

Vegan here, not vocal about it really. Was born into a veggie family but decided 5/6 years ago when I was 25ish I didn't want to eat any animal products any more.

Edit: In the last 2 years my meat eating Wife and Son have both decided to become veggie, I'm not pushy about it at all so it was their choice. I hope they both decided to choose to eat a vegan diet at some point but that is also their choice.

[Cyril Haearn]

Vegan here, not vocal about it really. Was born into a veggie family but decided 5/6 years ago when I was 25ish I didn't want to eat any animal products any more.

Edit: In the last 2 years my meat eating Wife and Son have both decided to become veggie, I'm not pushy about it at all so it was their choice. I hope they both decided to choose to eat a vegan diet at some point but that is also their choice.

Do you take anything to provide vitamin B12?

Being Vege/Vegan is a bit like cycling, some people want to promote certain diets or promote cycling, others are indifferent (I suspect I am indifferent)

[Phileas]

I ticked flexitarian, but I prefer the term reducitarian - it seems more descriptive.

I'm very gradually moving in the direction of vegetarian for environmental and animal welfare reasons.

[fossala]

Vegan here, not vocal about it really. Was born into a veggie family but decided 5/6 years ago when I was 25ish I didn't want to eat any animal products any more.

Edit: In the last 2 years my meat eating Wife and Son have both decided to become veggie, I'm not pushy about it at all so it was their choice. I hope they both decided to choose to eat a vegan diet at some point but that is also their choice.

Do you take anything to provide vitamin B12?

Being Vege/Vegan is a bit like cycling, some people want to promote certain diets or promote cycling, others are indifferent (I suspect I am indifferent)

I take vegan multivit but b12 is in quite a few "vegan" things like oat/soya milk. You have to be careful with b12 intake as it is a deficiency that takes years to take effect. I run and cycle so I think I'm quite fit but I'm also a chef so find it easier than most to find a healthy variety of things to cook. Finally people need to stop worrying about vegans health, most vegan I know are quite involved in the diet so end up eating a way more balanced and health diet than most people that eat meat.

[david7591]

I see omnivore is a choice, that would seem to rule out carnivore as a possible choice, because surely no human being would eat nothing but flesh of other animals on a permanent long term basis. Apparently the traditional Inuit diet is the closest any humans get to a pure carnivore diet. Here is an extract from a description of their diet.

What Would Happen If I Ate Nothing But Meat?
Good ol' meat and potatoes. Without the potatoes.

You might get scurvy, like a pirate. Cooked meat contains very little vitamin C, notes Donald Beitz, a nutritional biochemist at Iowa State University. Without the vitamin, scurvy would bring on rashes and gum disease, not to mention very bad breath. Moreover, meat lacks fiber, so you'd probably be constipated. All in all, you wouldn't be healthy or comfortable.

That said, some groups of people have survived—even thrived—on an animal-only diet. Research suggests that traditionally the Inuit ate any number of meats, including seal, whale, caribou and fish. But they rarely, if ever, ate plant fiber. The key to their success, says Harriet Kuhnlein, the founding director of the Centre for Indigenous Peoples' Nutrition and Environment at McGill University in Montreal, was eating every part of the animal, "and you have to eat some of it raw." Raw meat contains vitamin C (which is lost when cooked), and the skin, hooves and bones contain fiber. For greens, Kuhnlein adds, traditional Inuit "ate the stomach contents of caribou and deer."

[david7591]

And whilst I’m at it, vegetarian with milk eggs and fish isn’t vegetarian, it’s omnivore.

[david7591]

I’m on a roll, flexitarian is just an unnecessary alternative name for omnivore.

[fossala]

To be honest David I have no problems with inuits eating seals/bears/deer it is all they have available. My main objection to eating animal produce is the way it is farmed and farming in general (enslavement of animals).

[david7591]

And.... Stone Age is yet another unnecessary name for omnivore. Plus Stone Age covered around 7,000 years of human history, from early nomadics through the development of agriculture.

[david7591]

And most scandalous of all, the poll excludes my diet the world famous ‘junk’ diet. Right I’m now off to lie down in a darkened room.

[david7591]

To be honest David I have no problems with inuits eating seals/bears/deer it is all they have available. My main objection to eating animal produce is the way it is farmed and farming in general (enslavement of animals).

Neither do I. I was more intrigued by the comment about eating the stomach contents of caribou and deer. Yum, yum.

[flat tyre]

I have been vegetarian for at least 5 days a week, however after a recent medical check up my doctor has told me that I need to eat more protein and I'm finding it difficult to get the recommended daily protein consumption with a mainly vegetarian diet.

[Annoying Twit]

I do love... lentil soup

Have you tried the Aldi vine tomato and lentil soup? In the 'fresh soup' plastic containers in the fridge.