No Red Meat or Chicken for Weight Loss

13

Replies

  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
    it wont help weight loss, but if animal slaughter bothers you then going vegetarian/vegan is perfectly acceptable. I was a 250lb vegetarian and never lost a pound, but I didn't do it for weight loss I did it for ethics. I still think about going back one day.
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member


    FWIW, I still eat eggs, and I've been to production facilities (and slaughterhouses, and dairy farms and pig production facilities).

    I remember walking through an egg factory for a school field trip. I think it was years before I could touch an egg again. The smell is what threw me off, and to this day if I happen to smell an egg shell I go instantly back to that field trip and cant eat the poor egg.
  • mikej1978
    mikej1978 Posts: 362 Member
    I have had chicken literally every single day the last 10 weeks and lost almost 30 pounds. Dont listen to these fad diets. Find what works for you and roll with it.
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
    I don't think there are magic weight loss properties to being vegetarian, but if it makes you more aware of your food choices and gets you eating more veggies, whole grains, etc., it is one way to go about it.

    It really is down to calories and the quality of nutrition you are getting. Replace the meat with cheese and cream sauces, you'll get fat. Replace it with high fiber legumes and vegetables and you'll lose.

    I am a vegetarian for ethical reasons, so I applaud your choice. Just don't fall into the trap of thinking you can ignore your calories and trust that you will continue to lose just because you don't eat meat.

    Congrats on your loss so far, best of luck with it.

    Exactly my meal of choice as a vegetarian was Mac & Cheese, Pepsi, and nerds. It's not a magic wand.
  • callie006
    callie006 Posts: 151 Member


    FWIW, I still eat eggs, and I've been to production facilities (and slaughterhouses, and dairy farms and pig production facilities).

    I remember walking through an egg factory for a school field trip. I think it was years before I could touch an egg again. The smell is what threw me off, and to this day if I happen to smell an egg shell I go instantly back to that field trip and cant eat the poor egg.

    The smell is awful, but at the time, I had finished 3 years of vet school, so most smells had ceased to have a very lasting impact on my appetite.
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
    If animal slaughter and animal food production bother you I would think a paleo diet would go completely against your beliefs. Seems contradictory to me because you will have to eat more animals and more animal products.

    Just my thought the ethics and paleo are an oxymoron to me.
  • Gkfrkv
    Gkfrkv Posts: 120
    If the reason why you want to go vegetarian is ethics you should keep away from soy as well, since the industry is big money and entirely profit driven.

    http://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/2009/11/19/soy-is-not-a-health-food/

    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/core_march_9.htm
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member


    The smell is awful, but at the time, I had finished 3 years of vet school, so most smells had ceased to have a very lasting impact on my appetite.

    true im sure a necropsy or two and a little egg smell is nothing
  • AmerH
    AmerH Posts: 40 Member
    I just want to put it out there that I never intended my post to infer that anyone else should just give up meat and chicken. I just thought I'd try this experiment and see where it led me. It's been six days since I started and I have lost exactly five pounds.

    For more background info on my eating and exercise habits: Before I started this experiment I had already lost five pounds. I have been an MFP member for three years, more off than on. I come back when I have enough weight to lose where I need motivation like this time when I wanted to lose 22 pounds. I am coming out of a period in my life where my family members and I have struggled with depression and financial problems as a result of a job loss. So I have yo-yo'd a bit for the last three years when it comes to my eating habits. Before I had my son six years ago (after which I suffered extreme post-partum depression and had to be hospitalized twice), I had no problems with my weight. I have always had a fast metabolism (inherited from my dad) and have exercised since I was 18 years old (I'm now 53). It was only after my post-partum depression leveled out and I could function fairly normally that I started having problems with increasing weight. I'm sure other factors have played a part like being older and entering into that menopausal time of life. (I mean besides my poor diet at times.)

    So I play basketball twice a week (something I've done for the last 10 years) and am usually fairly active doing things like power walking with hand weights, running occasionally, and doing workout tapes, anything from Tae Bo to Insanity to The Firm Tapes (I'm showing my age here by referring to them as "tapes"!) Before I started this most recent weight loss, I was struggling with depression more than usual, perhaps due to the fact we lost our medical insurance and thus I had to stop taking my anti-depressants (I was taking a very low dose). I just couldn't get myself to work out like I have always done; I didn't seem to have the energy.

    I knew I had to do something, so I went to a health food store and talked to one of the consultants. She recommended a peri-menopausal maca supplement called Femmenessence MacaLife. I tried it out and it helped me with my energy level and evened out my emotions to a great degree. So I was able to start in with my eating and exercise habits that I have done for the majority of my life. I came back to MFP and started counting my calories because that's the best way for me to lose weight (the accountability thing). I don't always keep a good journal but have done this calorie counting long enough to know how many calories I'm eating when I pay attention. If I'm in doubt of exactly how many calories I've eaten like before dinnertime, I will come to MFP and add them up. Most of the time I am extremely close to where I thought I was.

    So I lost five pounds when I started about a month ago and felt pretty good about my progress. Then over like a three-day period I gained a few pounds back and became discouraged. It seems with my age and perhaps my depression, I gain weight back so quickly even if I don't do any serious binging. It was getting a bit discouraging. So I was reading the book I mentioned in the first post ("The Food Revolution" by John Robbins, son of Robbins as in Baskin-Robbins. Yes, the yummy ice cream). So I thought I'd try this experiment and see where it would get me.

    I was amazed by the results. I don't know if the weight will continue to come off this quickly and I know I shouldn't be losing weight this quickly. (I'll only do it full blown for another week.) But I'm eating the calories MFP says I should and 99 percent of the time I eat back all my exercise calories. My typical diet this past week has been 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of Post Cranberry Almond Crunch and 1/2 cup of nonfat milk for breakfast (when I had just a half cup of cereal, I would also eat six ounces of lowfat yogurt); lunch would be a burrito (or 2 small tostadas) made of canned refried beans, a small amount of cheddar cheese, with lots of onions, lettuce, olives, tomato, and salsa (hmmmmm!), followed by dinner of maybe pasta with tomato sauce and a salad with spinach, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, onions, bits of carrot, cucumbers, mushrooms with a bit of parmesan cheese (freshly grated). Friday night (last night) is McDonald's night for our family (much to the kids' joy) and I ate a large fry and a Filet-O-Fish. I had lost half a pound when I woke up this morning. (I know we're advised to weigh ourselves like once a week, but I can't do it that way. It keeps me motivated when I can see myself either maintaining or losing the weight.) And this past week I only exercised one time (basketball game for 50 minutes with a couple five-minute breaks). I usually play basketball twice a week, Tuesdays and Fridays, and do my exercise routine once or twice Monday through Friday and one time on Saturday. Today I am planning on doing my usual power walk with weights. So thus far this week I've only played basketball once, kept to my recommended calorie intake by MFP, and just stopped eating meat and chicken. And I lost five pounds. This probably isn't typical for most people, perhaps? Maybe I still have some of my dad's fast metabolism left in me after all! I know every body is different so different methods will bring about different results.

    I hope this makes it more clear exactly what I've been doing besides just not eating chicken and meat. And, again, I am not advocating the absence of chicken and meat from anyone's diet. I just wondered if anyone else any similar experiences in this area. (I guess I should have stated that in my first post :ohwell: )

    Thank you for all of your feedback :)
  • Ophidion
    Ophidion Posts: 2,065 Member
    If the reason why you want to go vegetarian is ethics you should keep away from soy as well, since the industry is big money and entirely profit driven.

    http://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/2009/11/19/soy-is-not-a-health-food/

    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/core_march_9.htm
    Very debatable, there is no clear answer in the scientific community on this.
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
    If the reason why you want to go vegetarian is ethics you should keep away from soy as well, since the industry is big money and entirely profit driven.

    http://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/2009/11/19/soy-is-not-a-health-food/

    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/core_march_9.htm

    O.M.G!!! A profit driven industry! Evil. Bad. Money. Burn it all!!!!!











    Or just send it to me. I promise to dispose of it properly . . .
  • ujjz
    ujjz Posts: 24 Member
    Whatever

    If you're all broken up about it, then don't eat it.

    I'll keep eating beef and chicken, drinking beer, and enjoying my ice cream.

    I live dangerously.
    Edgy! Barney, pls.
  • Ophidion
    Ophidion Posts: 2,065 Member
    If the reason why you want to go vegetarian is ethics you should keep away from soy as well, since the industry is big money and entirely profit driven.

    http://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/2009/11/19/soy-is-not-a-health-food/

    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/core_march_9.htm

    O.M.G!!! A profit driven industry! Evil. Bad. Money. Burn it all!!!!!











    Or just send it to me. I promise to dispose of it properly . . .
    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    I am reading a book that (among other topics) describes how cattle, pigs, and chickens are mass produced for big food companies in big warehouses instead of free-range style. The descriptions made me want to give up meat and chicken, something I never thought I would do.

    You realize that, left to their own "natural" outcome, chickens and cows would pretty much always be eaten alive, right? Literally.

    Have you ever seen a cat catch, and then eat a rabbit? While the rabbit is still twitching? It's ugly out there...
  • 2horsestoride
    2horsestoride Posts: 37 Member
    A little off-topic, but related to some of the posts that have been made re: raising of animals for meat. Has anyone read The
    Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollen? http://www.amazon.com/The-Omnivores-Dilemma-Natural-History/dp/1594132054
    It made me start thinking about where my food was coming from and has made me put more thought into my choices. It's an interesting read.
  • Alliwan
    Alliwan Posts: 1,245 Member
    There's an MFP group of vegans, vegetarians, and other people interested in that lifestyle called Happy Herbivores. You can find it in the forum search feature. I agree with you about the cruelty and gross-out issues. I quit eating eggs this year even though I love omelets when I found out what the egg industry does with baby roosters, which they have no use for - they throw millions of them, alive, into a grinding machine every year (true - Google it). That was it for me and eggs. I refuse to support that with my money.

    Major logic FAIL > What is the egg industry doing producing baby roosters??? The eggs are sold as eggs prior to the hatching to produce baby roosters. Duh!!!!!

    Hey, sweetie.

    Here's one item, below. There are many, many more sources of information about this. It was recently in the mainstream news.
    .

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_culling

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Chick culling is the process of killing newly hatched poultry for which breeders have no use. In an industrial egg-producing facility, about half of the newly hatched chicks will be male and would grow up to be roosters, which do not lay eggs and therefore provide no incentive for the breeder to preserve. In the egg production industry most of the male chicks are usually killed shortly after hatching.

    Prior to the development of modern meat breeds, most male chickens (cockerels) would usually be slaughtered for meat, while females (pullets) would be kept for egg production. However, once farmers bred separate meat and egg breeds, it became apparent that there was no reason to keep males of the egg breed alive. As a result the males of every 'batch' of egg-laying chickens would be killed as soon as possible to reduce losses incurred by the breeder through the feeding and sheltering of them. Special techniques were developed to accurately determine the sex of chicks at as young an age as possible.

    The culling of unwanted chicks

    In industrial factory farms, chicks that are not intended for rearing are culled shortly after their sex is determined, usually before they are 72 hours old. About 200 million male chicks are killed each year in the United States


    **********************

    The missing bit of info here is the hens that lay the eggs don't live very long. They have deformed bodies, bred to make as much meat as possible, often can't walk, etc. That's undoubtedly why the egg industry produces chicks every year as replacements -- the old chickens are killed. There is plenty of info online about this -- just Google it.

    Sweetie, thanks for the info. That new knowledge made me swear off eggs forever. NOT.

    this is why we have our own chickens, we eat their eggs, slaughter the roosters when they are big enough to eat and slaughter the hens when their egg laying production goes down so we can get new chicks to keep up our daily egg count. but then we eat the birds we slaughter. We also raise our own pigs and use almost everything we get from them. We have family that raise cows that are grass fed and we use almost all we get from them too.
  • Ophidion
    Ophidion Posts: 2,065 Member
    I am reading a book that (among other topics) describes how cattle, pigs, and chickens are mass produced for big food companies in big warehouses instead of free-range style. The descriptions made me want to give up meat and chicken, something I never thought I would do.

    You realize that, left to their own "natural" outcome, chickens and cows would pretty much always be eaten alive, right? Literally.

    Have you ever seen a cat catch, and then eat a rabbit? While the rabbit is still twitching? It's ugly out there...
    You realize that, left to their own "natural" outcome, humans die! maybe we should cull them.

    Logic of your statement is well ridiculous, comparing animal behavior in nature to factory farming is flawed.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    You realize that, left to their own "natural" outcome, humans die!

    No, they don't. Left to their own natural outcome, humans invent farming and become the planet's dominant species.
    Logic of your statement is well ridiculous, comparing animal behavior in nature to factory farming is flawed.

    I didn't make a single comment regarding, about or related to "factory farming". Which "logic" are you referring to, specifically?
  • vanillabeans001
    vanillabeans001 Posts: 28
    edit: nvmd. don't want to get involved.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    I only buy cage free eggs.

    A principle reason hens were initially put in cages is because, left to their own devices, hens will literally peck each other to death.

    They are nasty creatures.
  • vanillabeans001
    vanillabeans001 Posts: 28
    I only buy cage free eggs, because I think it's cruel to keep them caged their whole lives. they are living creatures.
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
    I only buy cage free eggs, because I think it's cruel to keep them caged their whole lives. they are living creatures.

    I literally cry every time I see an egg in a carton. It's like this little foam cage, and I know that those eggs would be happier cracked open into my frying pan and cooked every so gently to over easy. It's my way of saying "I love you eggs."
  • Ophidion
    Ophidion Posts: 2,065 Member
    You realize that, left to their own "natural" outcome, humans die!

    No, they don't. Left to their own natural outcome, humans invent farming and become the planet's dominant species.
    Logic of your statement is well ridiculous, comparing animal behavior in nature to factory farming is flawed.

    I didn't make a single comment regarding, about or related to "factory farming". Which "logic" are you referring to, specifically?
    Can't believe I need to dignify this with a response but oh well.

    You realize that, left to their own "natural" outcome, humans die!
    [/quote]
    No, they don't. Left to their own natural outcome, humans invent farming and become the planet's dominant species
    Um yes humans die, if you are aware of a method to stop this eventual "natural" outcome you sir will be very rich and please PM me the secret you possess for immortality.
    I didn't make a single comment regarding, about or related to "factory farming". Which "logic" are you referring to, specifically?
    OP's thread besides talking about weight loss (which is obviously caused by a calorie deficit no matter what her dietary preference) had made several references to cruel conditions within the "meat" industry so pardon me if I observed you comparing animals in the wild to factory farming as your reply was directly in response to her talking about humans raising livestock and cattle.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    I only buy cage free eggs, because I think it's cruel to keep them caged their whole lives. they are living creatures.

    But it's ok to take their offspring and eat them....?
  • vanillabeans001
    vanillabeans001 Posts: 28
    I love eggs too. I eat eggs like they're going out of style. I also eat beef, pork, and fish. My bf is a tuna fisherman, so I love me some sashimi, literally straight out of the ocean. :)
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    ...so pardon me if I observed you comparing animals in the wild to factory farming...

    No, I will not, as you cannot have made any such observation as I never made any such comparison.

    But if you like me to pardon you for jumping to an unwarranted assumption or conclusion - that I could do! :smile:
  • sinistras
    sinistras Posts: 244 Member
    Yes, this is absolutely correct. Except when living animals are mass-produced in a small, confining area, horrible things tend to happen. Like pigs eating other pigs, chicken feet actually growing into the cages and they simply cut the toes off, and some cattle being skinned and slaughtered while still alive. There were also other descriptions that turned me off to these particular mass-producing industries. I have looked into free-range meat and chicken, but they are very expensive.

    Free-range or mass produced, all end up slaughtered, so there are no "happy cows" even on the free range farms.
    I know that is not what this discussion is about, just pointing it out. Free range still means a life is being taken so you can fill your plate.
  • vanillabeans001
    vanillabeans001 Posts: 28
    I only buy cage free eggs, because I think it's cruel to keep them caged their whole lives. they are living creatures.

    But it's ok to take their offspring and eat them....?

    yeah. animals eat other animals. it's the circle of life. I try to find a balance in my life, I can only afford to worry a certain amount. Leaving now, have a nice day.
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
    I love eggs too. I eat eggs like they're going out of style. I also eat beef, pork, and fish. My bf is a tuna fisherman, so I love me some sashimi, literally straight out of the ocean. :)

    So over-fishing a species to near extinction is okay, but caging chickens is just mean. Got it.
  • ginnyd13
    ginnyd13 Posts: 1 Member
    there are plenty of small farms which can sell you grain fed pork and beef and free range chickens without trying to pay the price from retail stores. The word organic is over rated/ we all need to go back to basics Venison is great and good for you and those deer know what to eat/ fishihing is good family time and good for everyone

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