Veganism
 

Hi folks,

I've been doing a lot of reading about nutrition. I am not looking for opinions, but rather facts.

Do we have any vegans? Any nice recipes? Experiences? Advice?

Re: Veganism
 

Stenno is vegan. He doesn't come on here any more but he's on Facebook so if you wanted to chat to him I could put you in touch.

Re: Veganism
 

Jesus Dave, there's a challenge breakfast screaming your name too.

Vegan is a big life choice I know for sure that I couldn't do it...

Re: Veganism
 

Just let Stenno know you were asking and he'll be along in a bit.

Vegetarian I could probably manage, having lived in a meat free house with a former boyfriend for 4 years, but I'll freely admit I couldn't give up dairy.

Re: Veganism
 

Thanks LPH!

I'm a huge meat, fish and dairy lover, but as a bid of a nerd I've read a lot of the potential benefits of a vegan diet and willing to give it a go and see what happens.

Careless - that Challenge breakie defeated me and I'm not sure I'd get even close now, being a lot lighter and eating a lot less than I did then.

Who was it who demolished that like it was a sandwich? I remember that and was suitably impressed!

Re: Veganism
 

Terah, man's a blooming monster...

It's all this cycling in warm countries that's doing it... Don't loose too much weight

Re: Veganism
 

The way I look at it the vegans of the animal world (zebra, wildebeast, sheep, cows etc. etc.) have to spend most of the day (and sometime night) eating. Now look at the carnivores (lions, tigers cheetah etc.) they spend a bit of time (maybe an hour tops ) every couple of days catching a meal (9 times out of 10 a vegan) and then loll around and play / sleep for the other 47 hours, now let me think - what would I rather do ? The carnivores do come across as being a bit cleverer than grazers as well, they can just hang around and wait for their meal to come to them.

The clincher for me is that vegetarian animals have eyes in the side of their heads, and could never ride a motorbike even with a special helmet as they lack 3D depth perception.

Nothing against veganism but humans are omnivores by design - our intestines are not long enough to digest cellulose and we don't have a second or third stomach to churn it around for days to extract what little bit of nutrient value there is in it.

Re: Veganism
 

I think you'll get as many different answers as there are questions on this,don't forget that what suits one doesn't necessarily suit another.Good luck !!!

Re: Veganism
 

@SV650rules: Priceless!

Re: Veganism
 

I think cutting down on meat would be good for all of us. I get teased because my reasons for not eating pork are because pigs are cute and clever. I spent much of my childhood on my uncle's pig farm which had happy non intensively reared pigs, which I ate back then, but sadly welfare standards for most pigs are terrible. Many farm animals are pumped full of antibiotics to prevent illnesses caused by the cramped conditions they live in. They are fed GM crops.

I'm lucky that I earn enough to buy good quality free range meat, but for those on a budget I can see the appeal of cheap Danish bacon and Thai imported chicken. A vegetable risotto will probably always work out cheaper than a packet of chicken nuggets but takes time to prepare and cook, and that puts a lot of people off.

We also still have a culture of meat being the centre of the meal and veg being side dishes, which is a shame.

Maybe if everyone went meat free a couple of days a week, which I often do without even thinking about it, that would be a good start.

Waitrose magazine this month is full of delicious recipes, I didn't even spot they were all vegetarian or vegan until I read the editor's intro.