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I was with a friend today who had been a vegan for over 20 years. Even had his kids be vegetarians while they were growing up. Now he eats milk, dairy, fish, and some poultry! He claims it's for "convenience." I just don't get it! He even lived on an ashram for a year and acknowledges that he never felt better (vegan diet was part of this, as well as daily yoga).
Another friend who was a vegetarian for years says he stopped when a doctor told him that he would become diabetic because the pancreas only has so much insulin that it can make over a lifetime and that a vegetarian diet would be high in carbs and use up all the insulin! Everything I've read says that veggie diets can help prevent/minimize diabetes. I've never heard that long-term veggies are diabetic! And this guy has a doctorate in psychology and is now a physician assistant.
Then there are the former vegetarian cookbook authors who are now eating meat.
I know people can change, but I just can't understand how eating meat can appeal to someone after they have made a conscious commitment to not eat it!
I don't understand it either. One of my biggest regrets in life is that I didn't stop eating meat years earlier.
I gave up meat for ethical reasons, but I felt so much better and had more energy after going meatless. I can't imagine ever wanting to eat meat again. I don't even like to walk near the meat department at the grocery store. It looks like roadkill to me.
I had to give up a veggie diet because of insulin resistance. As your friend said, they tend to be very carby, and I was getting headaches from meals with too many carbs, not enough protein. But I recently got a really good doctor who said some blood sugar issues are related to thyroid, and I had thyroid disease, so I'm only just noticing the last few weeks, that now that I've resolved the thyroid issue, my blood sugar is more stable! Still, I'm on a protein-based low carb diet now to lose weight. But it may mean that eventually, I'll be able to transition back to veggie. idk. Both are ok.
Oh, and whether or not a veggie diet (whole grains, legumes, nuts, etc.) balances blood sugar depends on the person's metabolism, and to a large extent, on what their nationality's traditional food was, what the body is used to dealing with. In Ayurvedic medicine, they usually teach that rice and lentils and the like, will help balance blood sugar. But that only works for Indians. Tibetans have always eaten a meat diet, so to balance their blood sugar they need animal protein or dairy-based diet with low carbs (they practice Ayurvedic medicine, too). Likewise, in the US, the Southwest tribes, who traditionally eat corn, beans and squash, with a little meat on the side if the hunting's good, balance their blood sugar by returning to a traditional diet. If they eat a meat-emphasis diet, their blood sugar gets even more out of balance. But the Plains tribes, who subsisted on buffalo traditionally, need a meat-based diet to balance their blood sugar.
I was with a friend today who had been a vegan for over 20 years. Even had his kids be vegetarians while they were growing up. Now he eats milk, dairy, fish, and some poultry! He claims it's for "convenience." I just don't get it! He even lived on an ashram for a year and acknowledges that he never felt better (vegan diet was part of this, as well as daily yoga).
Another friend who was a vegetarian for years says he stopped when a doctor told him that he would become diabetic because the pancreas only has so much insulin that it can make over a lifetime and that a vegetarian diet would be high in carbs and use up all the insulin! Everything I've read says that veggie diets can help prevent/minimize diabetes. I've never heard that long-term veggies are diabetic! And this guy has a doctorate in psychology and is now a physician assistant.
Then there are the former vegetarian cookbook authors who are now eating meat.
I know people can change, but I just can't understand how eating meat can appeal to someone after they have made a conscious commitment to not eat it!
Either your friend has a grossly incompetent doctor or your friend is full of caccapoopie, in plain English.
What you've read appears to be the "right" stuff. Vegetarian diets are only high in carbs if you don't do them right--that is, if you eat a "beige" diet centered on potatoes, pasta, and starches like corn and bananas.
Anyone seeking to become a vegetarian has to remember that the key word is "vegetables." That means the green, red, orange, and purple stuff in addition to legumes. Starches have their place, but you have to taste the rainbow, and I don't mean Skittles.
I returned to my natural omnivorous diet because it seemed a lot more natural to me. Also, I broke up with the guy who was a vegetarian, which was the reason I had become a vegetarian in the first place. I was okay doing vegetarian, didn't gain or lose weight, wasn't concerned about my weight. I was youngish, I enjoyed the vegetarian meals I made or that my mother made for me (when she wasn't whining about having to make extra meals just for me because I was the only vegetarian in the family and my dad insisted on meat in his dinners)...
But honestly, I just really missed eating meat and fish and chicken. And bacon, which is (as the entirety of the omnivorous world knows) its own essential nutrient.
I was with a friend today who had been a vegan for over 20 years. Even had his kids be vegetarians while they were growing up. Now he eats milk, dairy, fish, and some poultry! He claims it's for "convenience." I just don't get it! He even lived on an ashram for a year and acknowledges that he never felt better (vegan diet was part of this, as well as daily yoga).!
I totally get that. It's so much easier to ensure adequate protein intake if you eat meat. As someone who is exploring embracing a more vegetarian lifestyle, I have found that preparing non-meat proteins in a tasty manner is a challenge and truly...inconvenient.
AnonChick, I truly appreciate your honesty! I would much rather have people admit that they simply miss eating meat than to come up with other justifications. I don't understand it per se, especially wanting chicken, which as I remember didn't have much of a taste, but I do think it shows integrity to admit that you just want it and not to come up with the other reasons.
Stan, I guess it does take some time, energy, and imagination to prepare good veggie meals---but couldn't you also say the same about a good nonveggie meal? At this point, I've lost touch with how people cook nonveggie meals. What makes it simple? What was a typical meal for you with meat and why was it so much easier to prepare?
Yzette, love the rainbow reference and the disclaimer that it doesn't include Skittles!
Ruth, glad that you are feeling better. I don't claim to understand a lot about insulin resistance and diabetes. But some reputable studies and writing shows that a veggie diet helps control diabetes and insulin resistance. It noted that:
"The magnitude of A1C reduction in medication-stable vegan group participants, 1.23 percentage points, compares favorably with that observed in single-agent therapy with oral diabetes drugs." Cholesterol, weight, BMI, and other things were also reduced more by the vegan diet.
And yet another study that shows "The vegan subjects were found to have significantly lower triacylglycerol levels and fasting glucose concentrations when compared to omnivore controls and a trend towards a lower total cholesterol level....If we consider, in addition, the lower plasma triacylglycerols and fasting glucose concentrations that were found in the vegan cohort, it would suggest that veganism may be protective for the beta-cell and decrease the risk of diabetes. Such an hypothesis is supported by the data showing a lower incidence of type II diabetes in vegan subjects compared to meat-eaters."
interesting. The other day I tried quorn chicken cutlets. I was craving something salty and thought the craving was meat. The texture was so much like real chicken that it grossed me out. That was a strange experience.
But it also tells me I am still a vegetarian even though I have cravings now and then, I think the cravings are more for salt than meat. Reason is, most meat is prepared with so much salt and seasoning (the actual taste of meat/flesh is pretty gross without saturating it with seasoning).
I totally get that. It's so much easier to ensure adequate protein intake if you eat meat. As someone who is exploring embracing a more vegetarian lifestyle, I have found that preparing non-meat proteins in a tasty manner is a challenge and truly...inconvenient.
it gets easier with experience. Sometimes I'm craving tacos. I'll nuke the corn tortillas till hot. smear with hummus, lettuce, sometimes I'll put beans on it, stuff some lettuce, and put some chinese hot sauce, and there's a quick dinner.
I do a lot of mexican food without meat. Look up sweet potato enchiladas. Another staple is quinoa. I mixed some last night with leftover tomato based lentil soup. chopped up some spinach and onions. Bought a couple of green bell peppers. stuffed the quinoa mixture into the gutted peppers. covered and baked. That was the best stuffed peppers I've ever had. For people used to ground beef, I've found serving them quinoa mixed with seasonings seems to satisfy their meat craving. It's much cleaner for you and your kitchen too.
as for backyard grilling, I do all kinds of wonderful grilled portabellas, chickpea burgers, grilled veggies. I'd highly recommend the grilled veggie sandwich from Oprah Winrey's home chef's cookbook. If you like grilling, this is exquisite. Especially if you toast the bread on the grill too.
There's a whole world of recipes to explore. Some are a million times simpler than having to prep the meat.
So unless you're just having take out from the chinese or drive through, yes, I can see why cooking is more effort. It's really a personal choice of what you value.
I grew up on a farm int he Midwest - meat was the "center' of the meal. Veggies were the "side".
Stopped eating meat when I moved out on my own (didnt cook much and to save money more than anything). Moved to Texas - got back into eating meat..
Quit again when moved out of Texas but started again when I joined the military. It's very hard to exclude meat when you eat at the chow hall and get enough calories, protein to keep up.
Quit again (more or less) when I moved to Japan. Started again when we returned to the states.
My husband is former military/current DoD. He travels alot for work. I cook meat dishes when he's home but rarely for myself (and now daughter) when he's away.
I have found that if I go along time (like when he was gone 6 mos+) - that I was kinda grossed out by raw meat when I went shopping for it upon his return...
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