Catholic Vegetarians/Vegans

[Not A Real Name]

On August 30, 2016 at 6:29 PM, Quasar said:

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. 

This is a half truth. This happens to some women not all women. I'm part of a Facebook group for intermittent fasting and the women in the group are having great results, so the benefits are not only for men.  Obviously there isn't a strict one size fits all nutritional method that will work for everyone. For some people IF works great and for some it doesn't. This is true for women and men. 

http://burnfatnotsugar.com/intermittent-fasting.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4516560/

 

[OnlySunshine]

For reasons which are difficult to remember now, I decided to become a vegetarian at 22.  It was at a difficult time in my life when I was having a lot of depression and my brain seems to keep a lot of stuff locked up so I have blank spots in my memory.  Anyway, I remember that I was what you call a "lacto-ovo vegetarian" because I wanted to keep eating dairy and eggs for protein.  However, after about a year, I remember getting heavily into literature from PETA and other sources promoting vegan lifestyles and became a hardcore vegan.  I threw away all the leather items in my closet and bought all man-made accessories, I stayed away from all animal products (including honey), and would only buy beauty/health items that were cruelty-free.  I started proselytizing to my family members and friends about why veganism is the lifestyle I chose and why it was so much healthier.  I remember taking my veggie-friendly grandmother to a little vegan cafe in a trendy area in town to sample some cuisine, but we soon left because no one came to serve us and the "restaurant" (if you can call it that) was filthy - there were stains all over the ceiling tiles, dust on the pipes running across the ceiling, remnants of food dried on the tables, etc.  The veganism lasted for approximately a year and then I went back to being a vegetarian again because I could not live without animal protein - I craved it.  My body did not appreciate the plant sources of B12 and I was constantly tired all the time and moody.  I got tired of the tofu, veggie burgers, and Tofurkey and decided veganism/vegetarianism was not for me.  I started eating meat again - I started with chicken - and it was ROUGH.  I had all these guilty feelings but, mostly, I was feeling nauseous because I hadn't had meat in so long that my body was low on digestive enzymes and it was a shock to my system.  After about a month, everything felt better - I wasn't as tired as I was and my moods balanced out.  I'm not meant to be a vegetarian or vegan.  I look back now and realize it was a fad and I wasn't really serious - kind of like the teenage crushes you have on celebrities but you look back and think, "Why did I like that person?"

I remember, when I was discerning religious life, I was uncomfortable with the idea of no longer being able to eat meat if I entered cloistered/mendicant orders (most of them) because I was worried about what would happen to my health if I stopped eating meat.  Carmelites and Poor Clares, for instance, abstain from meat all year long to try to unite themselves to the poor who cannot afford such luxuries.  I realized, however, for other reasons that cloistered/mendicant life was not for me anyway because of my chronic health conditions.  I visited the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal (an active/mendicant order based in New York) in 2010 and they were different because they live off all donations - including meat - so they eat what they are given.  They explained it as ridding themselves of convenience and their own personal preferences, which is how they live the vow of poverty.  Of course, if a Sister has a medical condition, they allow for dietary requirements.  I remember one Sister when I was there who ate differently from everyone else.  A meal was made for all the guests of the retreat that consisted of bread, meat, and vegetables.  She did not partake of the meal and instead ate something that appeared to be tuna and rice.  Now, it makes me wonder if she had Celiac disease because I don't remember her taking the host at Communion.  I've since discerned that I am not called to religious life, but it was refreshing to experience it for that period in my life.

Anyway, I found out that Primal dieting was much better for me in terms of being healthy.  Whenever I can, I eat meat/eggs/dairy from humane sources.  Primal/Paleo diets encourage promoting good farming practices and I shop at health food stores for pasture-raised eggs/meat as well as dairy.  My favorite source is Organic Valley.  Their milk and cheese has so much healthy fatty acids such as Omega-3 which are naturally in dairy but are often removed during the homogenization process.  Their process preserves the healthy fats.  I love their Grassmilk since it is not homogenized and has little bits of butter fat which makes the milk taste even better.  Pasture-raised eggs are healthier because the hens are allowed to forage for insects instead of subsisting on grains (grass and insects are their natural diet) so they are much happier/healthier birds.  It could be my imagination, but they taste better compared to conventional eggs.  The common thought is that cage-free or free-range are the healthiest choice, but cage-free birds still live in big metal buildings and are fed commercial feed and free-range often live in the same conditions most of the time but are given time outside in a fenced area filled with dirt.

http://www.livinghomegrown.com/decoding-the-terms-cage-free-free-range-pasture-raised-eggs/

[Spem in alium]

On ‎3‎/‎09‎/‎2016 at 2:10 AM, beatitude said:

 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.

This beautiful story about your friend reminded me of something my mother did for me when I went for my home visit this year (not on exactly the same level, but it touched me and I still remember it). My sister and I had gone away together for a few days, and when we got home my mother was preparing dinner. It was Friday, so I was fasting from meat (my family don't keep the meat fast; it's not a requirement in my country). I saw that she was cooking meat, and thought I would just have what they were having as I didn't want anyone to go to any trouble. It turns out my mother, remembering my fast, had cooked me my own meal in addition to the family dinner. I was so touched.
And similarly, last year one of my sisters invited a friend of ours for lunch before they went overseas. It was a Wednesday and we were fasting from meat (a community practice). She asked him before the lunch what he would prefer (meat or fish) so that she could meet his wishes rather than simply making him the same as we were having. I want to be hospitable in that way.

My aunt was a vegetarian for a long time and was a vegan for a couple of years also. I think she then started eating free-range meat, but I'm not sure what her practice is now.

I eat much less meat than I used to. Wednesday and Friday we fast from meat, and Saturday no one is rostered on to cook so we can potentially make that meat-free too. When I cook for myself or am making my own meal, I prefer to have fish or vegetables rather than meat. If someone is cooking for me, I eat what they have prepared even if it means breaking my fast.