Hey all you animal lovers
Great to hear about you all, truly inspirational! Myself, I have been back and forth for about three years from vegetarian to raw vegan. I am a homegrown nutritionist and registered trainer who confirmed most of what I learned in my life with a little bit of schooling, though most of what I learnt in school stayed at school, as it seemed to be education for monetary marketing rather than education for ideal health. Sad....
Personally, I have had a close bond with animals my whole life, and had it not have been for my parents raising me on meat I'm sure I would never have considered it growing up, I was also one of those strange children who enjoyed brussel sprouts, cabbage and broccoli, but only if it was raw...cooked veg just didn't feel right nor taste right...I have since acquired a taste for some steamed veg.
It took a while for me to make the switch, gave up all meat but fish about 5 years ago, and than gave up fish 2 years after that. My moral issues lie mainly in the production of meats and the industry practices based around it, and that was the reason I made the switch, until I learned about nutrition and began to experiment with what felt good in my body, and that was the last straw for me.
I must be completely honest though, every so often (usually once a year thus far) I will allow myself a reward and have some trout, but even those rewards are beginning to fade away as I replace what I thought was a delicious trout with a delicious peach, spoon full of hemp seeds, or raw broccoli....mmmmmmm, alas fish was the only thing I ever missed. It's amazing how the palette accepts raw foods so easily, and how much energy you gain from uncooked foods, literally I felt super human compared to my old cooking self.
The best I have ever felt through all of my phases of learning how to eat without meat was when I was completely raw vegan for a year, and if it hadn't been for everyday influences from friends and family and the the killer influence of convenience I would still be to this day. That is the one great thing I look forwards to about getting back to the land after this winter, is to start growing all my own foods and eating with the seasons, getting away from the influences of society, so that I can keep my will up and make the right choices for my health, which apparently; as my body had shown, is raw foods. To this day I have never felt so good, and you would think that feeling would be enough to keep me steady with my choices, but I am human after all, and can be influenced like any other.
Definitely a work in progress.
Interesting story, and good friend of the family, a vegetarian for 20 years decided to give it a shot just for the hell of it, and ate some roast. Half hour later he was being rushed to the hospital, because his body literally could not digest it and had no idea what to do with it. I can't for the life of me remember what the exact cause was, but one thing I did take with me was learning that the doctor had said if he had not come in as timely as he did, he would have most likely died from his ailment. Yes, there could be a lot more sides to the story, but interesting none the less.
I would warn anyone who wants to get into the no meat lifestyle, to start small, 1 week, 2 weeks at a time and give yourself little rewards here and there for your progress...or not ;-P..., and furthermore and most importantly learn about the nutrition that your body "needed" from meat and find the vegetables that will give you the same amount of nutrition. For instance, through out the day if you can eat a cup of hemp hearts or a cup of quinoa (sprouted or cooked), a fist of broccoli, a fibrous plant such as celery, your selection of nuts, a cup of beans, a handful of mushrooms, and some fruit of your choice as snacks in between meals, you can rest assured that you will get all and much more of your "recommended" daily nutritional values are for amino acids, sugars, and fatty acids (protein, carbs, fat)...not to mention your antioxidants and essential minerals. If through researching all of this you find that you ask yourself...well what about B12, no worries, go find a garden and eat something fresh, but don't you dare clean that soil off, that is where the precious bacteria which produce cyanocobalamin(B12) comes from. How do you think the cow gets enough of it to store in its body without having to result in cannibalism? Soil is good for your health
The above is an important point that I would like to re iterate, all herbivores and omnivores can get optimal health from everything they eat, and wouldn't you know it, we all have the same nutritional requirements, and very often even the omnivore only eats meat because it is available, not because it needs it for good health and in true wild survival any animal will take what it can get to support it's life (which is one reason why I can't say I wont ever eat meat again, a time may arise where I have no other choice, as I do a lot of out backing). Humans are not a whole lot different, and the only reason why a carnivore eats 95% meat (yes they do eat some available vegetables, ever watch a cat eat grass and other herbs?) is because they do not have the jaw structure to grind and chew fibrous foods, they can only rip and tear. Please don't bring up the canine tooth argument to justify the 'evolutionary need' to eat meat either, they are a weak comparison to the true carnivores canines, ours are justified only by the need to rip and tear tough fibrous foods of many plants and roots.
Food for thought, a lions stomach produces 10x's the amount that humans do of hydrochloric acids to break down meats in their easiest to digest raw form. It must be this way because their intestinal tract is also a lot shorter than a humans, and needs to break down all the amino bonds and potential bacteria so that they do not plague their short intestines. The human digestive tract has a heck of a time digesting cooked meats; fish is not as bad and is far easier to digest, but still none the less difficult for your body. Because of the weaker content of hydrochloric acid, these undigested meats will plague your long intestines, and clog up and stick to their walls, causing even poorer digestion for the rest of the foods that need to pass through and be absorbed. As well, there are many digestive enzymes in your body which are signalled when food passes through your system, and wouldn't you know it, a carrot uses different enzymes than a steak to break down its components, but these digestive enzymes do not like to work together...you will end up not fully digesting either of the foods because each enzyme becomes diluted by the other, leaving your body to struggle to pass food through your body, and not getting the maximum potential of nutrition released. So at very least, if you are to eat meat, eat it by itself and give your body a fighting chance to get all the valuable nutrition from it....oh and one more thing, don't drink during your meal, this dilutes your stomach acid and the enzymes working in your mouth, resulting in less than ideal digestion. Save the fluids for shortly after.......yeah this one may be hard for you to do, as we have all most likely been raised with a glass of something during your meal, and you think you need it to wash the food down your throat....but you don't.
I may also state that much of what I say is only me presenting my own perspectives and my own truths, I am sure there is much many disagree with, and frankly I hope that you do. Never take someone else's word as truth to yourself, always search for your own within yourself, but be careful not to lie to yourself in order to justify foolish desires. I know just how easy this is, and if I am human enough to do such things, so are you. Become aware of your own thoughts and your own body, not of someone else's.....well unless you are providing aid or a non judgmental ear
Much love to all and whatever path your lives takes you, it is all such great lessons to learn from.
Scott
Ps. If you are avid about eating meat, do the right thing, get connected to the earth and take the life yourself, don't expect someone else to do the dirty work, not to mention some run of the mill production line which pumps animals full of chemicals, and keeps them in such horrible conditions it could make even a hunter cry. If you can't do it, well, time to start weighing options, because your hearts inability to take a life is telling you something. There is a wide world of amazing foods that don't involve meat, many of which put the taste of meat to shame, intact make it taste like putrid garbage.
