Anyone Vegan or Raw Vegan? (dressing, animal, chicken, health)

[mbuszu]

Eating this way has got to be very good for you... why, because of the obviousness that everyone I've known to be a vegan has always been in fantastic shape, energetic, intelligent, and healthy. These could perhaps just be correlations and not causal, but I tend to believe diet has a lot to do with it.

The main reason the majority of the population doesn't eat this way is simply that they weren't raised to do it. A secondary reason is that at least I feel like very young children can benefit from a massively varied diet which includes meat - because they are growing and developing very fast - and I don't want to stunt any of that (I want my kids to reach their height potential and to have a good amount of muscle mass). Once they are just a bit older, and when they someday come home to tell their mother and I that they want to try being vegan because of something they learned in health class or in school - heck I'll be all for it. I've done it before, only briefly because my own family growing up wouldn't help support it, and I loved it - my body looked and felt great.

Raw vegan seems tough to do - but there's always a middle ground I'd be willing to accept between vegan and raw vegan that likely would be so much an improvement over eating meat that I'd see health benefits.

[CosmicWizard]

I've been 99% vegetarian since 1972. I would guess that I eat about 80% vegan. At least one meal a day is raw vegan. Like gnubler, I'm not a Vegan Nazi! My weakness is cheese. I'm more inclined to eat raw foods in the summer and I eat more grains in the winter. I do my best to eat locally grown fruit & produce, preferably organically grown.

blessing to all....Franco

[CosmicWizard]

lilypad

Spirulina is a great vegetarian source of B12. Try it...you'll like it.

regards...Franco

[Roma]

Originally Posted by NewAgeRedneck

lilypad

Spirulina is a great vegetarian source of B12. Try it...you'll like it.

regards...Franco

I take the Spirulina tablets each day.

[Iggle]

Ani Phyo came out with a book, "Ani's Raw Food Kitchen." Many of the recipes looked pretty good and didn't seem complicated to put together. I'm going to try a few tonight & see for myself.

A few of her recipes can be viewed on her website (through Youtube).
Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen

I found this recipe for her "Sun Burgers."
Chef re-creates textures, flavors for tasty raw-food diet

['M']

Mrdude...a very good source of vegan/vegetarian protein is greens...spinach, collard greens, kale, swiss chard, romaine lettuce, etc. Greens have as much protein, or amino acids of which protein is comprised, as steak, ounce for ounce. I found this out only recently. It was very surprising, but have checked a number of sources to verify it, and it is true. Combine greens with all of the other well-known vegetarian souces of protein, like beans, for example, and your diet is very healthy indeed!

[PackersfanNL]

I'm vegan and I'll eat anything raw, although I'm not a raw vegan. I'm also Celiac, so I don't eat any gluten.

I know what you mean about wishing you had more local support. Holland is not very vegan friendly, so I tend to cook at home 99.9% of the time. I even bring my lunch to work! Going vegan has actually saved me a ton of money

[sendmorecops]

Originally Posted by mbuszu

A secondary reason is that at least I feel like very young children can benefit from a massively varied diet which includes meat - because they are growing and developing very fast - and I don't want to stunt any of that (I want my kids to reach their height potential and to have a good amount of muscle mass).

The way you feel and the reality of vegan children are two entirely different things.

Articles : Vegan Children

[PackersfanNL]

Originally Posted by sendmorecops

The way you feel and the reality of vegan children are two entirely different things.

Articles : Vegan Children

What great articles! Thanks for the link

[angelbug]

Speaking of health, this morning I was listening to a report about the shortage of H1N1 vaccine, and it occurred to me that perhaps vegans cannot receive flu vaccines because they're produced in chicken eggs. Most of my vegan friends don't just avoid eating animal products, they shun leather shoes, won't take any supplements or prescription medicines that come in capsules (due to the gelatin), do not eat honey, etc. So what do they do about things like flu shots?

Along the same lines, I know there are some vegan dog foods, but how to vegetarians and vegans feed their cats, since unlike dogs, they're strict carnivores? I have a vegetarian friend who doesn't eat meat for ethical reasons (animal welfare issues), yet she has 4 cats chowing down on dead animal products left over from human meat consumption in IAMS cat food every day. I don't quite get it.