Why do so many people think meat is essential? (NOT DEBATE)

NeverGivesUp

I get a B12 shot in my butt every 3 months. I eat fish and eggs, no other meat (I am a pescetarian). I made this choice when I was 10 years old so there is no going back for me. Fruits and veggies are the bulk of my diet and I love the way I feel when I eat them. I do not feel great when I eat processed food and load up on protein. Everyone is so individual but I do believe the protein pushers have it wrong. Some protein is necessary but not much, and getting blood work will reveal what you need. I believe you can get most everything from your food if you choose to eat the right things. Vitamin B12 and iron have been issues for me. I do not absorb iron through my food unfortunately so once or twice a year I have to get an infusion. But I would rather get an infusion once a year and a B12 shot once every 3 months than remembering to take a vitamin pill every day. So it works fine for me and I am being monitored. Believe it or not, if you eat the wrong kinds of protein, you still can be defficient in protein. My blood revealed that my protein levels are perfect. It is all our jobs to be proactive about our health and to eat the foods that give us the proper nutrition. If you really want to know you are healthy, get your blood tested, it can tell you a lot.

SwimFan1981

Animal products provide vitamin B12 which plant foods don't have unless they are fortify. Vitamin B12 helps to keep the blood cells healthy and it's needed to make DNA. And it also helps prevent anemia. if you a woman and are not eating meat and not taking the vitamin, then it's bad when you are to become pregnant. However, if you are taking vitamins, meat is not essential.

Bread contains B12

You must have missed the part where he said 'unless they are fortified', which most bread is.

Algae isn't. Yeast isn't.

Can you link me a reliable source saying those come naturally with vitamin B12?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16267554

An excerpt which is leaning towards the suggestion that algae does.

Are we really debating on Eating Algae?





NO THANKS ILL STICK TO BEING A MEAT EATER.

GOOD FOR YOU

Hardly a hater...

Bronx_Montgomery

Animal products provide vitamin B12 which plant foods don't have unless they are fortify. Vitamin B12 helps to keep the blood cells healthy and it's needed to make DNA. And it also helps prevent anemia. if you a woman and are not eating meat and not taking the vitamin, then it's bad when you are to become pregnant. However, if you are taking vitamins, meat is not essential.

Bread contains B12

You must have missed the part where he said 'unless they are fortified', which most bread is.

Algae isn't. Yeast isn't.

Can you link me a reliable source saying those come naturally with vitamin B12?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16267554

An excerpt which is leaning towards the suggestion that algae does.

Are we really debating on Eating Algae?





NO THANKS ILL STICK TO BEING A MEAT EATER.

GOOD FOR YOU

Hardly a hater...

SwimFan1981

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Dafuq is that?? :laugh:

Bronx_Montgomery

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Dafuq is that?? :laugh:
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I HAVE NO CLUE BUT I COULDN'T STOP LAUGHING AND HAD TO SHARE

robbieheslop

I was vegetarian and suffered epilepsy from 17 (still have it now at 21). My neurologist told me to start eating meat again so that I was getting nutrients without supplementary medication and also that she promised 1 year from the date we set, I would be shocked why she really requested it… and I was - one year after the date we set, my seizures had dropped dramatically by a huge 98% and now I have only 1 seizure every 2 months, I used to have at some points 10 seizures a day

dbkrantz

In my opinion, you need to separate the idea of ethics and nutrition here. I completely understand and appreciate the ethics of becoming vegetarian or vegan.

Now, in terms of nutrition, I think the healthiest way is about balance. If you don't want to eat meat, you can get amazing sources of proteins in beans and lentils and tones of good stuff. As long as you have a balanced diet being vegetarian or vegan, that's perfect!

What I don't love is the fact that meat-eaters and vegans/vegetarian criticising each other on matters of health, protein, diet and so on. At the end of the day, of meat-eaters or vegans/vegs found their balance, it's great - whatever works for you.

But please stop fighting about which one has better nutrition or better health benefits.

panicintheattic

Like people have said, that are a few nutrients that are hard to find in non-meat sources unless they're fortified, but honestly if you're smart enough and willing to do some research on what you're eating, most people don't have a problem getting the right stuff on a vegetarian diet. I've been a vegetarian for about 7 years, so at this point the thought of eating meat just grosses me out, but I don't have a problem with people that do. I think when you get into vegan diets is where things get a little trickier, especially because so many vegan dairy alternatives are based so heavily in oil. Just because you eliminate meat and dairy doesn't mean you can be eating right- I spent about a year as a vegan and my diet was mainly vegan ice cream XD But, people also definitely can do it right. They just need to take time to monitor what they're eating and how it's affecting their bodies.

sunsnstatheart

Why is this such a common astigmatism? What are your thoughts (WITHOUT BEING RUDE OR DEBATING) on a no-meat lifestyle?

so how am i going to express my point without debating?

^^ This. So the OP starts a thread with an insult and then says don't be rude. Thanks for making it easy to completely discount your opinions.

ThePersnicketyOtter

Because a lot of people associate vegetarianism/veganism with those crazy "lol chickens are cute so I won't eat them!" teenage vegetarians who are uneducated and don't know how to properly take care of their bodies. Read: think eating french fries or chips for every meal is acceptable because they're a vegetarian.

It took me a while to realise not every vegetarian is like that. Once I did, I stopped pushing "eat meat, it's healthier" because I found that an educated vegetarian will still be healthy without meat.

Brewster1215

*looks confused* How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?

_SABOTEUR_

I am always of the opinion of 'why restrict yourself'?

If it is because you don't like meat or for ethical reasons then fine. But people who that become a vegetarian purely because they think they are being healthy annoy me. As with anything there are health benefits to both approaches.

I have a vegetarian friend who eats chips, cheese and bags of crisps. Not healthy.

If I just ate KFC chicken, battered sausage and no fruit and veg I would also be unhealthy.

AlsDonkBoxSquat

Why is this such a common astigmatism? What are your thoughts (WITHOUT BEING RUDE OR DEBATING) on a no-meat lifestyle?

so how am i going to express my point without debating?

^^ This. So the OP starts a thread with an insult and then says don't be rude. Thanks for making it easy to completely discount your opinions.

I have an opinion and don't want to hear yours, sun. I'm the only one here allowed to have an opinion on this matter, why do you have to be so damn rude?

*more on point* I'm allergic to most vegetarian sources of protein that isn't additionally packed with carbs or high in fat. I personally don't view many quoted vegetarian protein sources as "protein" but instead as sources of healthy fats or complex carbs.

Also, OP, I think you may want to look up "astigmatism" for future reference (it's an optical term, but not in the sense of "we just don't see eye to eye) . . . I believe you may wanted to use a word like "stigma."

Dauntlessness

Why is this such a common astigmatism? What are your thoughts (WITHOUT BEING RUDE OR DEBATING) on a no-meat lifestyle? If you are vegetarian/vegan, do you find yourself to be healthy?

The purpose of forums is for people to offer their opinions and that includes debates. Basically your asking for everyone to agree with you....That's just not right. If anything, by saying that people are going to be more defensive. If you don't like what you "friends" have to say, get rid of them. Simple

I don't think most educated people on here view vegetarianism that way. I get that you are talking about the people who don't do any research and then they BS the "facts" to fit their arguments. They usually don't have real substance to their opinion or legitimacy to their case and you can usually see right through them. So why bring this up?

darkguardian419

Just replying so I can mock this thread safely on my wall.

jamers3111

To each his own. My husband is a personal trainer and has had vegetarian clients who didn't understand why they couldn't lose weight. Once they incorporated meat into their diets and minimized starches/grains the weight fell off. HOWEVER, I don't know what exactly these women were eating before hand... whether it was beans/lentils/tempeh OR pasta/breads. If you get a good balance of your macros on a vegan/vegetarian diet and have no health problems then more power to you! I love meat so this wouldn't work for me.

BflSaberfan

My daughter is a natural vegetarian. She is 11. (Her father and I are not) Ever since she was a baby she literally gagged and puked whenever I tried introducing meat. WHen she was about 5 I gave up trying completely. She will get curious every once in a while and try a nibble but same result. Must be the texture or something. Anyways. Her doctor is not concerned. She has grown at a steady pace and is actually quite tall for her age but at a healthy weight for her age. She eats lots of protein from other sources and I make sure she gets a multivitamin everyday. She is perfectly healthy and normal yet has never swallowed a piece of meat in her life.

Ophidion

The answer to this question is usually based on the person conveying it. Sometimes it will be born out of concern(based on Ignorance) that you are not getting the right nutrition to remain healthy and other times it will said in a derogatory way(once again based on ignorance). Basically this idea is based upon an antiquated nutritional system that believes meat and dairy are the only ways to obtain certain dietary needs e.g. protein, calcium, iron etc. There is a abundance of evidence that not only supports the concept of an adequate non-meat diet, but also evidence that shows that not eating meat or animal products is much healthier for you if done properly. As meat consumption is seen as the norm you will encounter a lot of ignorance manifesting in displays of both concern and other times down right insulting arguments .People are usually are frightened by new concepts

here is an example of some data collected.

The China Study (2005) is a book by T. Colin Campbell, Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University, and his son Thomas M. Campbell II, a physician. It examines the relationship between the consumption of animal products and a variety of chronic illnesses, such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, and cancers of the breast, prostate and bowel.[2] The book had sold 750,000 copies as of January 2013.[3] It is one of America's best-selling books about nutrition.[4]

The China Study of the title is taken from the China-Cornell-Oxford Project, a 20-year study that began in 1983 and was conducted jointly by the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, Cornell University, and the University of Oxford.[5] T. Colin Campbell was one of the directors of the project, described by The New York Times in 1990 as "the Grand Prix of epidemiology".[6]

The study examined mortality rates from 48 forms of cancer and other chronic diseases from 1973 to 75 in 65 counties in China, and correlated them with 1983–84 dietary surveys and blood-work from 6,500 people, 100 from each county. It concluded that counties with a high consumption of animal-based foods in 1983–84 were more likely to have had higher death rates from "Western" diseases as of 1973–75, while the opposite was true for counties that ate more plant foods in 1983–84. The study was conducted in those counties because they had genetically similar populations that tended, over generations, to live in the same way in the same place, and eat diets specific to those regions.[7]

The authors conclude that people who eat a plant-based/vegan diet—avoiding animal products such as beef, pork, poultry, fish, eggs, cheese, and milk, and reducing their intake of processed foods and refined carbohydrates—will escape, reduce or reverse the development of chronic diseases. They also recommend adequate amounts of sunshine to maintain sufficient levels of vitamin D, and supplements of vitamin B12 in case of complete avoidance of animal products. etc,etc

Good luck making your own mind up,its your life to live so don't let anyone tell you how to live it. enjoy

exile40

Hiya,

I get a lot from friends, and no so close friends, that I should eat meat and a strict vegetarian diet is unhealthy, and meat is essential in a healthy diet blah blah.

Why is this such a common astigmatism? What are your thoughts (WITHOUT BEING RUDE OR DEBATING) on a no-meat lifestyle? If you are vegetarian/vegan, do you find yourself to be healthy?

Meat tends to be a more concentrated source of protein than plant-based foods. It also contains complete proteins, which are a source of all essential amino acids. Plant-based proteins generally have a lower protein content and most do not contain complete proteins. In order to make a complete protein with vegetables, you need to combine complementary proteins, such as beans and rice or peanut butter and whole-wheat bread.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/276890-meat-vs-vegetable-protein/#ixzz2M0gC7D8p

AlsDonkBoxSquat

Just replying so I can mock this thread safely on my wall.

How is it that we're not friends?