Meat Eating v Plant-Based (video, balanced spiritual take in my opinion)

[Dtris]

There is one thing that should not be underestimated when going vegan. You have to properly inform yourself. There are important things to be aware of beyond stuff like B12. If that is done with intent, you can spend your whole life healthily on veganism.

I know you mean well Patrick  but this idea comes off as rather a scare tactic in my opinion. And the following comments are not aimed at you, but are general.

Firstly, let me make a distinction between vegan and plant-based. Plant-based just means the diet consists of plants only, with no animals (including fish) or animal by-products. Vegan means your diet is plant-based, but in addition to that, you endeavor to not support the use of animals for any purpose such as leather products and entertainment (rodeos, circuses, etc.).

The truth is that our societal notions of what is healthy are twisted and skewed for so many reasons. The biggest is the meat and dairy industry, which has been driving the information for many decades for profit. I could go on with this idea of driving information but we get into "conspiracies" of which there are many in this case, and I will avoid that for now. But I will say that the advertising campaign of meat and dairy being good for humans has been brainwashing people for a very long time.

B-12 is in soil, and if we didn't wash our vegetables, we would get it. We wash our vegetables, so we take supplements. That's about it. Other than that I can absolutely assure everyone here that a plant-based diet is very healthy. Of course, in any diet, to be healthy, one needs to eat whole foods, not processed junk. It is illogical to think that vegans must be extra careful, while omnivores do not. Do omnivores carefully plan out their meals to make sure they get everything they need? Does it make sense that because one eats meat (dead carcasses) that they are good to go with all the minerals and nutrients the body needs? It is proven over and over again that meat and dairy contribute to disease. No one ever proved that eating vegetables contributes to disease.

I am living proof that eating a plant-based diet is healthy. I am not the only one however. There are countless examples to be found on the Internet. And when looking at the (US at least) population, and seeing the amount of overweight unhealthy people (including children) who eat meat and dairy, it is worth considering that a plant-based diet is a wise choice. I will also say that children who are fed non-organic meat are consuming the growth hormones in the meat, and therefore grow bigger, fatter, and mature earlier sexually; and in addition consume the hormones produced from fear and terror, in the form of protein chains.

This is to say nothing of the health of this planet, and compassion for other life forms, namely animals, who have a central nervous system and feel pain, terror, resist being slaughtered, scream and mourn when their offspring are taken from them (cows and pigs), and more atrocities no one wants to think about. The very lame excuse that plants have feelings too, seems to be a popular justification for these atrocities. Plants do not have a central nervous system, and while they may have an instinct for survival, they offer themselves for food to us (along with a list of other reasons why they are are a good and compassionate choice for food).

It is true that factory-farmed plants are not ideal either. But to say factory-farmed plant crops is equal to factory-farmed animals, without going into the horror of it, just seems blind to me. If you don't think so, visit a slaughterhouse.

I know there are those who feel they must consume animal food. I don't agree, but I don't decide things for others. On the other hand, I will advocate for our brothers and sisters of the animal kingdom because they have no voice with which to do so.

You act like the lobby for plant based foods is any less powerful. There is a reason that grain was considered the base of the food pyramid and it has nothing to do with health. Agribusiness is a huge lobby, Cargill and Monsanto have enormous influence in the FDA and USDA. The institutions and people who push veganism and vegetarianism are also well funded and perform loads of biased research. This research is good enough to convince most people but is full of mistakes.

My experience is the opposite. Dairy and meat are healthy, so are traditionally prepared grains and fruits and vegetables, and nuts and legumes. The processes we use to make food are what are unhealthy. This is as true for meat and dairy as it is for grain and other foods. Eating a diet devoid of all animal products is not a wise choice for children. It has harmed many children and kills several each year. https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=vegan+c...ths&ia=web

Do you know why B12 is in soil? It is because animals poop. All B12 comes from bacteria which is found in the lower intestine of animals. This is why before we could synthesize B12 vegans with pernicious anemia were treated with making a liquid preparation of their own stool. The only traditional vegetarian cultures used their own waste as fertilizer and as you say, weren't good at washing the food.

Animals eating a diet that is what they evolved to eat are able to not carefully plan their meals. Animals which do not have access to their natural diets must have carefully planned meals. This extends to pets and farm animals as well as animals in zoos and nature preserves.

The need to carefully plan vegetarian meals mainly stems from requiring all the different essential amino acids. Only a handful of plant sources contain complete protein with all the essential amino acids. While they do not necessarily need to be consumed all at once an adequate amount of each type must be consumed. There are also some foods which must be prepared in certain ways or eaten in combination with others to get the nutrition from those foods. If you only eat black beans for example you would be deficient in lysine. The danger of getting inadequate protein is usually overstated though as long as you eat a variety of foods.

I have tried vegetarianism and I was not well on that diet. I have also eaten only meat and was able to sustain that much longer and felt much better. Ultimately though for myself a diet which is a combination of the two works best as long as the food is minimally processed. Eating processed garbage of either variety results in weight gain and sickness.

I also never equated eating plants with animals. I simply pointed out that both use factory methods and that plants and animals are of the same density. You can make a moral argument about the pain which animals experience and you can choose whether to contribute or not. Buying fake meat, soy products, corn, wheat and other factory farmed plant products kills animals too, how many is uncertain https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/201...riculture/. I will say the whole CNS thing is a cop out IMO. We do not know the nature of plant consciousness or how much they are capable of feeling.

I have spent the last 15 years reading about diet and nutrition and looking at the science. It is clear to me that humans are evolved to eat meat but capable of eating very little to thrive depending on the exact diet. How each person decides to provide for their own nutrition is a personal choice, but for most people that includes eating animals. I won't begrudge a person for eating as nature intended. I have also accepted that other animals will die so I can continue to live. What comes along with death is part of that, it is part of being alive. I , like most people, do not like seeing animals suffer either, which is why there is a trend away from factory farming and to organic and traditional farming, especially for meat sources.