(January 8, 2014 at 5:24 am)bennyboy Wrote:(January 8, 2014 at 2:53 am)rexbeccarox Wrote: Huh. La ban, are you going to answer my post?
I will.
There are two problems with a vegetarian (especially vegan) diet. Getting all your nutrients is not one of them: it is that some nutrients require a lot of extra work to get, and possibly extra money as well. Protein can be completely covered in a civilized country with dairy, soy products, beans, nutritional yeast, and gluten. Getting certain nutrients is hard, and may involve eating yucky stuff (like flax or hemp seed for Omega-3).
The other problem is that it's hard to know whether vegetarian foods actually lead to a net reduction in animal suffering or death. (This came up in a similar thread a few months ago). Massive ploughing and harvesting machines are likely to cause very many injuries or death to field mice and voles, to birds, etc. So to really walk the walk, I'd say a self-sufficient commune is really only the way to go, since it's really the only way you can have control over how your food is grown and processed.
As for anecdotes about people "trying" to be vegetarian: any attempt to suddenly alter your health regimen, from diet to running a lot or to lifting weights, is likely to end disastrously. Unless you are allergic to beans and vegetables, it should be a matter of motivation and education, and added discipline. I recommend anybody who's interested in what goes into their body at least study vegetarian options-- the knowledge will give you one more level of control over what you take in, or what you are putting into your family members' bodies.
And how does this answer my post? Are you trying to tell me to spend more time thinking about food? That's not happening. if you read my original reply, you would know food is a HUGE stressor for me, maybe my biggest. I refuse to allow it to be more of one. My psychologist agrees.
