junk food

[tregoatx2]

Planning on becoming a vegetarian?? is it good or bad? wat r something that i need to step away from.. like what kind of junk food

[mw3230]

If you're planning on becoming a vegetarian surely you have some guiding principle which will direct what you should and shouldn't eat. To have to ask the question suggests that you don't, that you haven't thought through or researched the decision, or that you're doing it for a fancy.

Don't wish to be dismissive but to ask the question that you originally posed begs the response "why". If you can answer that, then I feel that you'll know what foods to avoid.

Good luck

[MattyDeez]

Vegetarians are over-rated.

I bet even veggies eat sweets/tuna and food with pork gelatine in and the likes of "meat".

Plus, why would you want to be one?

[reohn2]

Vegetarians are over-rated.

Did he say he wanted to be "rated" and rated by whom,for what reason,in a scale of what?

I bet even veggies eat sweets/tuna and food with pork gelatine in and the likes of "meat".

Then they wouldn't be vegaterian would they?

Plus, why would you want to be one?

Why not?

[reohn2]

Planning on becoming a vegetarian?? is it good or bad? wat r something that i need to step away from.. like what kind of junk food

Mrs R2 and I stopped eating red meat some 15years ago after watching a program about mad cow disease.
We didn't miss meat at all.
After a short while and due to looking into what was fed to animals we both stopped eating chicken and fish.
At the time I was working as a self employed joiner in the building trade and cycling regularly 150 to 250 miles a week,I mention this as someone was quite shocked when I told them I was vegaterian,remarking that I couldn't possibly be getting enough protein,which of course is rubbish.
As someone riddled with osteoathritis I noticed after less than a month of being vegetarian that all my athritic pains had ceased,it was sometime later whilst chatting with a woman similiarly afflicted who was on a monitoring scheme at the local hospital during which she'd read red meat was bad for the condition,she remarked that the doctor had told her she was the only one who was vegetarian and that she was also the only one who's condition had improved.

I can't say that during the last 15years I haven't eaten an animal releted foodstuff but it would have been without knowing.
If I were to eat meat I'd want to know its origin,and similarly so with vegetables,food has the potential to make us very ill or very well,a Chinese saying is "disease comes in through the mouth".

As for junk food,it speaks for itself.

[kwackers]

Plus, why would you want to be one?

Because killing things just because you like the way they taste is selfish?

And that's long before you get onto how our supposedly moral species actually rears and then kills them...

[Mick F]

Ah but ....
If the animals were cared for properly, and treated well, and then mercifully slaughtered, wouldn't it be ok to eat them?

It seems to me that vegetarians' objections are all about animal welfare and cruelty.

We have friends that did "The Good Life" thing in the 1960s and reared sheep, goats, pigs, even a cow. They had chickens and ducks too. They grew all their own veg and bartered for stuff at the shops just like Tom and Barbara!

The ate their animals too.

The animals were tame and lovingly looked after. They had a good life (pun) and were slaughtered peacefully. The family appreciated the meat all the more because they knew who they were eating.

[kwackers]

Ah but ....
If the animals were cared for properly, and treated well, and then mercifully slaughtered, wouldn't it be ok to eat them?

It seems to me that vegetarians' objections are all about animal welfare and cruelty.

We have friends that did "The Good Life" thing in the 1960s and reared sheep, goats, pigs, even a cow. They had chickens and ducks too. They grew all their own veg and bartered for stuff at the shops just like Tom and Barbara!

The ate their animals too.

The animals were tame and lovingly looked after. They had a good life (pun) and were slaughtered peacefully. The family appreciated the meat all the more because they knew who they were eating.

Regardless of how well they're looked after you can't get away from the fact you're simply killing things because you like the way they taste.

Plus, such an idealistic approach is by no means the norm, the reality of rearing and killing animals before packaging them for a consumer that doesn't give a fig into a plastic bag is probably more like the following than people would like to think.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1242503/Think-going-organic-lets-eat-meat-clear-conscience-This-shocking-investigation-humane-slaughterhouse-make-think-again.html

We're a consumer society we simply consume without any conscience whether it's animals, or clothes made in appalling conditions. It suits us to do so and we're happy to turn a blind eye to avoid the nasty effects of having stuff on our conscience.

[Mick F]

Regardless of how well they're looked after you can't get away from the fact you're simply killing things because you like the way they taste.

Whilst I agree with you completely, is it so bad? Would you feel the same way about insects or worms? Is it just because the animals are warm-blooded? What about fish or sea food?

Don't get me wrong, I agree with your sentiments and I'm not arguing. I like meat, and I don't turn a blind eye to the cruelty. We buy our meat locally from a good butcher who is supplied by a local abattoir - never from supermarkets where you have no idea where (or what) the meat is.

Have you read that Roald Dahl story about the chap that invented a machine that could listen to plants and trees? He put his machine next to plant and pulled off a leaf - and heard the plant scream. He did the same with trees and an axe.

The screaming drove him insane.

[eileithyia]

I guess ultimately it comes down to why you are (or are becoming) vegetarian.
If it is for health reasons then the moral issues are not necessarily part of the equation.
If it is for moral reasons then clearly all aspects of food production need to be considered, ie can you be a morally objecting vegetarian and yet still drink cow's milk/products ( remember the calf has been taken from it's mother so you may have the benefit of the milk).
yes ok I am playing devil's advocate again.

[whoops]

Planning on becoming a vegetarian?? is it good or bad? wat r something that i need to step away from.. like what kind of junk food

Can someone please define "junk food"
Is it food not prepared at home from the raw ingredients?
Is it food that's sold from shops on a vast scale to lots of customers that is served and wrapped, then passed over the counter to you?
Or is it added colouring and flavourings.
It seems to me all prepared, frozen, tinned, factory prepared food, cakes, pies, and any food that is sold cheaper to the masses cheaply, to encourage volume sales and maximum profits, can be classified as "Junk Food"

[meic]

A good diet has the same features whether it is vegetarian or not.
Also a bad diet has the same features whether vegetarian or not.

If you look into it your bodies need certain foodstuffs to survive and not to eat other foodstuffs that are harmfull.

We get confused because a lot of dietery advice is based on THE AVERAGE DIET. So you get told fat is bad for you. Fat is not bad for you and you need a certain amount of it, however the advice is valid to over 90% of the population because they have too much.

For most of the population they would improve their diet by changing to a SENSIBLE vegetarian diet.
They would also improve their diet by changing to any SENSIBLE diet.

Junk food is junk food, Linda Mcartney's veggie burgers are just as bad as MacDonalds.
Just look at the ingredients on the back, if it is half a page long and leaves a Chemistry student confused then it probably isnt fit to eat.

A major argument against vegetarianism is lack of protein, which is a possibility but only if you have a very restricted monotonous diet. A restricted monotonous diet is a BAD thing (with or without meat).
There is plenty of protein in the vegetarian favourites like lentils and beans but I think only the Soya bean has them all in at the same time. Most people eat a combination of these and the grains like wheat which ends up covering all of the proteins that you need.

The same argument runs for Calcium, B vitamins etc etc and each time it is adequately covered by a good spread of foods.

On the other hand look at one of the real deficencies of the standard diet.

Folic Acid, this is so bad that children are born defective through the lack of it, pregnant women are prescribed it as soon as possible (but that is too late). However in France, Germany and all the other well fed countries it isnt even heard of!!!
Not a problem if you eat plenty of leafy green veg like cabbage or just eat wholemeal bread not "Sunblest" white.

As a golden rule, the less your food has been "improved" (I say mucked around with) the better it will be.
Fresh fruit and veg, whole grains, beans, lentils, brown rice etc. are the things to live off.

Absolutely no need for fancy expensive foods, they are mostly a gimmick. Good standard common foods are fine.
Ignore any of the latest fads because they change every week, eat most things in moderation.

[meic]

I cant exactly define junk foods but the principle is clear.

You manufacture something which is very cheap and has a good shelf life, you do it as a chemist not a cook.
The ingredients have to be produced to a uniform standard on a mass industrial scale.
Then you simulate people's normal foods using these ingredients.

Giveaway features are

A very long ingredients list with plenty of chemicals (although there are tricks to get around showing them).
Hydrogenated vegetable oils and fats.
Reclaimed meat.
Processed sugar.
Refined foods (as in not wholegrain)
Excessive salt content to improve shelf life and "flavour".

[meic]

There is a food with a foot in each camp.

Heinz Baked Beans.

Basically a good food but could be lowered into junk food quite easily by adding more salt, sugar, flavourings, colour, preservatives, thickeners etc.

[eileithyia]

Oi don't knock the baked beans that's the production line fylbiker keeps maintained and running!

Well I think everyone else has covered it; if it has ingredients that look like a chemistry set, loads of added salt and sugar it's junk. I would also add any form of sweetener in that. I never understand why "natural" yoghurt with fruit has to have sweeteners in it, yet if you buy plain natural yoghurt it has no sweetener then you can add your own fruit mix!