[mattduke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')any of you know that I have recently been struggling for the first time in my life with health problems. When I discovered that my problems were a direct result of my vegan diet I was devastated. 2 months ago, after learning the hard way that not everyone is capable of maintaining their health as a vegan, I made one of the most difficult decisions of my life and gave up veganism and returned to eating an omnivorous diet. My health immediately returned. This experience has been humbling, eye-opening, and profoundly transformative. To hear the whole story just keep reading…

[Sixstrings]

Way too much *DRAMA* in the first half. Became a more useful article towards the middle, then ran very long and got into the "drama of it all" again.

Here's the main problem I have with most vegans. They're just being obsessive, in their case food happens to be the object of all their obsession. It's really a flat out eating disorder to obsess that much, in such an esoteric way, about the food you eat.

Food isn't a great cause or political statement or a big drama, it's just food. I respect Buddhists who have religious objections to eating meat, but you know what they don't make a massive drama about it. You can tell the sort of person the article's author is, she's just swung from obsessing over food to now obsessing over her health and back to food again (this time the massive drama of eating meat, and all her vegan friends rejecting her, blah blah).

The fact that vegans have to make such a big damn deal about their food just goes to show they REALLY WANT TO EAT SOME MEAT. If they were happy with their diet they wouldn't have to talk about it all the time.

Back to Buddhists.. the Dalai Llama wrote in one of his books that he has to eat meat for health reasons. But most Buddhists are vegetarian, and I do respect that choice but with vegans there's just so much drama and judgement of meat eaters that it's clear their issues have to do with something other than food.

Lastly, strict veganism makes no sense to me.. you're not hurting a chicken by eating eggs, nor a cow by consuming milk or cheese. Bottom line.. physiologically we're omnivores. That's why our species was successful, since it's an obvious advantage to not be limited to just plant or animal matter.

If vegans had their way, we'd have gone extinct a hundred thousand years ago.

EDIT: I realize I sound pretty judgmental myself, but it's time someone started calling out militant veganism for what it is -- an obsessive eating disorder.

[SeaGypsy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', '
')Lastly, strict veganism makes no sense to me.. you're not hurting a chicken by eating eggs, nor a cow by consuming milk or cheese. Bottom line.. physiologically we're omnivores..

[Serial_Worrier]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'N')ot true unless you are completely unaware of factory farming methods.
Egg laying chickenslivewhatahuman would see as a hell on earth existence. Males are extricated as soon as the eggs hatch and promptly burned, usually alive. When the layer slows down production about 1 year to 18 months old, she is made into stock cubes.

[Ludi]

I think the important point is that everyone's physiology is slightly different. Some people can be healthy on a vegan diet, other people will become ill. Some people can eat a grain-based diet and be fine, others will get extremely sick and possibly die on such a diet (Celiac disease).

Everyone should try to work out the diet that best suits their physiology and ethics. There's no "one size fits all" diet for people.

Personally I'm now on a Paleo diet - no grain - because this is a diet I am most likely to be able to raise for myself. It's very different from what I used to eat being mostly vegetarian and, for a short time, vegan.

http://www.nerdheaven.dk/~jevk/paleo_intro.php#menus

[Ibon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', '
')
Food isn't a great cause or political statement or a big drama, it's just food. .

[efarmer]

Dang Pstarr. Your post has me staring at the remaining unit from my Twinkie twin pack and feeling just too guilty to consume it. It may have to go as a burnt offering to Gaia now. Thanks alot pal...

EF

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ibon', 'R')ight on. Quiet humble vegans would always be welcome at my dinner table. Obsessed self indulgent drama "holier than though" vegans can kiss my meaty ass.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'N')ot true unless you are completely unaware of factory farming methods.
Egg laying chickenslivewhatahuman would see as a hell on earth existence. Males are extricated as soon as the eggs hatch and promptly burned, usually alive. When the layer slows down production about 1 year to 18 months old, she is made into stock cubes.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'I') know many vegetarians and a lot of vegans. Most are just kids, nice, well-intentioned liberals. Annoying, but they don't really hurt anyone.

[mos6507]

I agree with pstarr. Food is a political act, to some extent. Read Michael Pollan if you want the scoop on that. We look at the type of car we drive (if we do drive) as much more of an environmental litmus test when food is also a huge part of how we endorse a self-destructive system or not. I don't claim purity on this front, but I'm at least up-front about admitting my failings, and setting strategic goals on dietary changes (think local, seasonal) no different from transitioning away from direct fossil fuel use.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', 'I') agree with pstarr. Food is a political act, to some extent.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', ' ')all this morality and political statements you're talking about are a first worlder yuppie indulgence.

[americandream]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', 'I') agree with pstarr. Food is a political act, to some extent. Read Michael Pollan if you want the scoop on that. We look at the type of car we drive (if we do drive) as much more of an environmental litmus test when food is also a huge part of how we endorse a self-destructive system or not. I don't claim purity on this front, but I'm at least up-front about admitting my failings, and setting strategic goals on dietary changes (think local, seasonal) no different from transitioning away from direct fossil fuel use.

[Ludi]

Why it matters what you eat:

Vandana Shiva: Why We Face Both Food and Water Crises

http://www.alternet.org/story/85433/