Any Vegetarians/Vegans here?

[Aractus]

That "evidence" you show is not controlled enough to tell me anything. It doesn't say exactly what they ate.

That's exactly what I said!

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Synthesized, possibly; healthy, no. All the vegan cat foods have too much fiber for a carnivore. Also most have corn, which my cat is allergic to(cheap cat foods use corn as a filler). My cats are on grain free food(no corn,wheat,or soy), same for my dogs.

Agreed - just because you can in principle synthesize the required proteins as an artificial supplement doesn't mean that a domestic cat should consume vegetable based foods which they lack the ability to properly digest.

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As to animal testing, I am ambivalent on the matter because we don't know how science would progress without it, and what the effect would be of diverting funding to science that does not use animals. Certainly though a lot of medical science is of very poor statistical quality and is no benefit to anyone. Nor is it done with the ethical principle of the three Rs that many animal research advocates would claim. All these things make it almost impossible to judge if the suffering caused to animals is greater or less than the suffering to humans if we did not.

With meat though there is no such ambiguity. It is wrong and cruel. Cruel not just to the animals, but cruel to the people who think that meat is healthy but is in fact increasing their risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes, resulting in years being taken off their life.

Well you say that much of medical science is junk, yet the studies you produced to defend the health benefits of vegan diets - as I pointed out to you - are total junk.

What about wool? Without wool what would you use for upholstery? Cotton or Synthetic fabric? Not hard-wearing, fails rub tests. Synthetic fibers are bad for the environment. Leather? Yes it works - but it does get hot if in the sun (car seats, etc). Vinyl? Vinyl is hard-wearing, but uncomfortable because the material doesn't fold and conform to body shapes, as such you could use it but it would certainly NOT be ergonomic or comfortable. You could use silk - it'd be expensive, and for some reason neo-veganists view it as cruel as well...

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Well the difficulty with that question concerns the link between things that make us unhealthy and ethics. For me as I don't find eating meat palatable, it would be wrong to eat it. For some one who enjoys meat, they would have balance that enjoyment against the increased chance of cardiovascular disease etc and negative effects on society of that increased burden of ill health. A difficult balance. Its similar to asking if it is wrong to smoke. Its a difficult one, but I would lean on the side of it being marginally wrong, but perhaps the best of all likely outcomes.

Your reasoning sounds a lot like that of somebody suffering from an eating disorder and makes me wonder if vegans can develop ED's from following their lifestyle?

A person with an ED may actually vomit involuntarily when fed a normal meal, and eating "normal" also causes anxiety, stress, fear/dread and depression. All of these things are negative, and is therefore a circle of logic going back to to comfort of the ED.

Re smoking: It's not morally wrong to smoke in moderation. It's also not negative for your health to do so - there are no studies that show somebody who smokes socially/occasionally has a different risk level for cancer than a non-smoker. Think about cholesterol - cholesterol is good for you, but too much of it in your diet can be very bad and have serious consequences on your health.