Catholic Vegetarians/Vegans

[little2add]

 A steady diet of only  bread and wine  will nourish body and  the soul, completely 

 However there's nothing wrong with eating  a cheeseburger

 Once in a while 

Edited August 16, 2016 by little2add

[Selah]

Red meat is the worst. The only meat I couldn't give up was seafood. But chicken and beef makes me sick. 

[Guest]

Just now, little2add said:

 A steady diet of only  bread and wine  will nourish body and  the soul, completely 

 

What are you talking about? lol 

[little2add]

Eating

Same as you, josh

 

 

‘Man shall not live on bread alone,

but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’a”

16 minutes ago, Josh said:

What are you talking about? lol 

 Metaphorically speaking

[Gabriela]

20 hours ago, Not A Real Name said:

Just going to leave this here.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3466124/

[HisChildForever]

Vegetarian for 14 years now. Super easy for me. No longer wanted to eat animals.

[little2add]

Beer is typically made from barley malt, water, hopsand yeast and so is often suitable for vegans and vegetarians.

go vegan

[truthfinder]

34 minutes ago, little2add said:

Beer is typically made from barley malt, water, hopsand yeast and so is often suitable for vegans and vegetarians.

go vegan

Depends on the beer - many are made with isinglass which is fish byproduct (among possible other animal byproducts) - I believe to help with the clarity of the beer? So if you're super serious about your vegetarian or veganism, you'd have to do your research on beer. 

[little2add]

http://www.delish.com/food-news/g3522/the-highest-rated-burger-place-in-each-state/?

i will get right on it 

1 hour ago, truthfinder said:

Depends on the beer - many are made with isinglass which is fish byproduct (among possible other animal byproducts) - I believe to help with the clarity of the beer? So if you're super serious about your vegetarian or veganism, you'd have to do your research on beer. 

 

I <3 burgers and frys

[little2add]

Eat (more) eggs

https://m.youtube.com/watch?ebc=ANyPxKpDv_zzbdBtCHFzezsyvgSDmwFZ3AvS_FBSNFp9vQBjvdRTNUYfYBAhoaY9HM4wUByCz9AO&v=LjSoA2KbmHA&time_continue=119

 

Edited August 18, 2016 by little2add

[xTrishaxLynnx]

On 8/13/2016 at 11:50 AM, PhuturePriest said:

Who here is a vegetarian/vegan? What was your reason, and how difficult was the process for you?

I'm vegan, after a long process of about 9 years from the time I first considered it until I gave up animal products wherever possible, not just dietary. I think that, although I had seen firsthand and through documentaries the suffering of the animals, I wanted for a long time to believe that not all of the animals went through that same thing - that if I bought local or gave up meat and only ate dairy and eggs, I wouldn't be contributing to unnecessary suffering anymore. Then I saw the inside of a pork processing plant and a beef processing plant, where their throats were slit as they were conveyed on hooks and they were left to bleed to death hanging from their ankles and squealing/crying out and trying to fight for their lives, and I couldn't imagine ever contributing to anything like that again. I thought it was only the big factories that did it this way until I saw the same thing firsthand on a small pig farm and a tiny little family-run cattle "ranch" with only about 15-30 head of cattle at a time. I struggled to reconcile what I had been taught about food and had grown up eating with the new perspective I had on it, even though in reality I knew it was impossible to reconcile. I eventually realized this meant I had to change, as both ideas couldn't coexist without conflict in my mind and on my conscience. Some people are still fine with it, somehow, but I never could be unless I chose to ignore what I had seen with my own eyes and somehow make myself believe that the piece of meat or whatever animal product on my plate was not from an animal who suffered for that purpose.

As for the transition, as I said it was a long process. First I tried going fully vegan, but as with most people who try it, I didn't know much about nutrition or what my options were. I ended up giving up just meat and only eating fish very occasionally. Eventually, it was health factors (with reports from Dr. T. Collin Campbell, Dr. Neal Barnard, and many others - check out the movie Forks Over Knives) along with seeing how the dairy and egg industries don't treat their animals any better (they all eventually get killed the same way the other animals do once they are "used up," especially sadly the male calves who are killed for veal very early in their lives so we can take their mothers' milk) that was the deciding factor in my giving up the remainder of animal products. I also was equipped with much more nutritional knowledge by this time and, given that the vegetarian/vegan population is now much larger and better connected through things like social media, I figured out how to eat a balanced diet without involving any animals.

The fact that it's better for the environment is just a bonus. I'm skeptical about the whole global warming idea, but I do believe we ought to use our resources wisely, and being vegan has the added benefit of things like being responsible for 80-90% less water usage than a person on a typical American diet and not being partly responsible for the needless deforestation and killing off of entire packs/herds of wild and endangered animals involved in farming. I don't have all my sources handy, but I wrote several short essays, research papers, proposals, literature reviews, etc. on this over the last couple of years in which even I, in my skepticism about the whole environmentalist movement, was surprised by the potential impact of giving up animal products.

TL;DR - I gave up basically just a few things at a time - meats and milk (still ate other dairy products), then fish, then eggs and other dairy products, then packaged products that less obviously contained milk, eggs, and flavorings derived from animals (which are not always even clearly labeled, but may say something as vague as "natural" flavoring.) Trying to do it all at once was overwhelming and could be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. The first step is to do your research, which is MUCH easier now than it was years ago when I first started looking into it. If you're interested in discussing it more, message me on Facebook and I'd be happy to share some more info and resources.

[Quasar]

On August 14, 2016 at 5:56 PM, Not A Real Name said:

What I am saying is that the majority of Americans probably have issues with insulin resistance, so increasing insulin sensitivity through a low carb, adequate protein, and moderate fat diet along with intermittent fasting will help increase insulin sensitivity which will not only increase their health through weight loss but will also reverse their diabetes for type 2's. 

Agreed on insulin resistance being the culprit.  However, intermittent fasting has only been shown to have benefits for men.   For women, it causes the release of stress hormones. 

[Selah]

On 8/15/2016 at 4:19 PM, He is Risen! said:

Not sure about Twinkies but Oreos are, lol

Byzantine Christians live off of those during Lent.

[Gabriela]

23 hours ago, Quasar said:

intermittent fasting has only been shown to have benefits for men.   For women, it causes the release of stress hormones. 

Interesting. I did not know that.

[beatitude]

I became a vegan at twenty-four for ethical reasons, both stewardship of the environment, and compassion for animals. It's been five years now. I'm very moved by St Isaac the Syrian's definition of a merciful heart: "It is a heart on fire for the whole of creation, for the birds, for the animals...By the strong and vehement mercy that grips such a person's heart, and by such great compassion, the heart is humbled, and one cannot bear to hear or to see any slight sorrow in any in creation." This is the pattern of mercy I try to follow. I don't want to kill to eat or inflict suffering of any kind if I don't have to.

For this same reason, sometimes I do eat meat and dairy. When I lived in Palestine I was close to a Bedouin community who are well below the poverty line and live from their herd of sheep. Almost everything they eat seems to have sheep or sheep's milk in it. I know that if I told them I don't eat meat they would go to all sorts of lengths to provide something extra for me, because hospitality is a big thing in their culture, and they can't afford it. So with them I eat what I'm given and I have nothing but praise for whatever they put on my plate. It would be inconsistent for me to stop eating animals out of mercy and then expect people leading such a precarious life to make special meals for me with resources they don't have. Over the weekend I stayed with the Little Sisters of Jesus, whose poverty vow means that they eat whatever they can get, and when they cooked me ham and eggs for breakfast yesterday I tucked in. (I told Jesus that he should count this as my Friday penance in advance, because when you're well out of the habit of eating meat it can feel revolting.)

Other friends in the UK do know I'm vegan, and they accommodate me when I come round for meals. I don't feel bad about this, because I know they're happy and able to do it, just as I'm always happy to find out about their requirements and preferences before I invite them - I don't want them to experience penance at my table (it's enough that they've signed up to sample my cooking! ). One of my closest friends set the hospitality standard that I want to follow at his wedding a couple of years ago. Guests were asked to choose what they'd like to eat at the reception in advance, using an online form. There would be a meat dish and a vegetarian one (with dairy). Not wanting to give extra work to the caterers at such a busy event, I ordered the vegetarian option. When I got to the reception, I found that there was a vegan meal waiting for me - my favourite dish, no less! I was stunned. The caterer explained that my friend had got up early on the morning of his own wedding day and cooked it for me himself. I would never have expected him to do that, ever, but he'd remembered me and he'd wanted to give me a nice surprise. I want to be that kind of host. I tell this story to show that veganism doesn't have to get in the way the simple and very Christian act of sharing a meal together. In my case, it's actually been pretty useful: I have orthodox Jewish friends who can eat happily in my home only because they know that my pans and plates have never contained meat or dairy. A vegan kitchen is a handy thing to have when you know a lot of people who have different religious dietary requirements.

You will find a lot of hyperbolic claims online about how wonderfully healthy vegan diets are, and also how lethal they are. Take these with a pinch of salt. You could be a vegan who ate nothing but Oreos, and you obviously won't be the picture of health if that's the case. My health and fitness did improve after I became vegan, but not because of veganism itself. I realised that it would be more challenging to get adequate nutrients now, so I began to plan meals much more carefully than I had as an omnivore. From this I discovered that my omni eating habits hadn't been as healthy as I'd thought - just because you think you're eating a wide variety of things doesn't mean you actually are. I'd been overestimating my calcium intake, for example. I also had to cook a lot more from scratch, using fresh ingredients, as many short-cut convenience foods aren't vegan. It was a big change to make, which is why I transitioned gradually, moving through vegetarianism first. This gave me time to build up a nice lot of good recipes and to develop a better understanding of food and nutrition. Now I don't think twice about it.