Post No.: 0848
Furrywisepuppy says:
Many people across the world eschew meat while they chew more fruit and vegetables because they’re vegetarian (they don’t eat any kind of animal flesh like beef or fish) or vegan (on top of the above, they also avoid any other ingredients derived from animals like milk or eggs).
This could be for religious, ethical, health and/or environmental reasons. (Post No.: 0696 focused directly on the ethical issues surrounding eating meat.) These kinds of reasons are better reasons to refuse something edible than because one thinks something edible is ‘eugh’ I’d say. Indeed most of us, at least in ‘the West’, need to eat less meat for environmental and food sustainability reasons. The rising affluent classes in other parts of the world need a different lifestyle aspiration than consuming more meat too, for the same reasons. Woof.
There are several variations of ‘vegetarianism’ or ‘veganism’. Whichever variation one adopts – a plant-based, vegetarian or vegan diet isn’t a crash or fad diet because various cultures or religions have promoted the abstinence or the low consumption of meat for centuries e.g. some forms of Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism and Jainism. People can stay healthily on these diets for life rather than only for a few months or years… as long as they are well planned.
So watch out because a vegan, vegetarian or pescatarian (someone who does eat seafood but not other animal flesh) diet can still be full of processed ingredients with a high fat, sugar and/or salt content. The details matter e.g. fried chips and most fizzy drinks are vegan. Therefore ‘vegan’ doesn’t automatically mean ‘healthier’.
Globally overall, there’s no pattern that shows that vegans are more healthy than omnivores; although there are the other reasons to choose to be a vegan. Within countries where being a vegan is correlated with being healthier, it could be down to differences in socio-economic status i.e. middle-class people are more likely to choose to become vegan than working-class people and it could be this difference in wealth that primarily causes the pattern?
Perhaps a benefit of being a vegetarian or vegan though is that one will more likely be quite mindful of what one eats. Veganism, as a restrictive diet, is sometimes used to hide an eating disorder however, thus we do need to watch out for this in others.
It can be difficult being vegan though because a lot of foods surprisingly contain products derived from animals, like some pastas, or use them during their production, like some wines or beers. Well in the circle of life, all nutrients are recycled, and plants utilise the nutrients of dead animals or the waste products of them, thus there’s no completely escaping products that are indirectly derived from animals. Or from another perspective, we’re all ultimately made from stars so what’s the difference? But vegans intend not to consume – or for some even use for clothing, entertainment or science – products that are directly derived from animals.
One must also make sure one intakes enough micronutrients like vitamin B12 (through fortified foods or supplements), vitamin D, iron, zinc, calcium, iodine and long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. And not assume ‘straight swaps’ like almond milk for cow’s milk. The bioavailability (how much of a nutrient that’s actually accessible through digestion) of protein from vegan sources of protein must also be considered, although it absolutely is possible to fulfil one’s protein requirements through vegan sources alone if one combines enough different sources throughout the day. One just needs to do some homework.
There are 9 essential amino acids that your body cannot synthesise hence must be consumed from your diet. ‘Complete’ protein sources are those that are considered to have enough of all of these amino acids, and these include meat, fish, milk and eggs. But if you’re vegan then you must eat a variety of protein sources per day, like legumes, quinoa, tofu, spirulina, peanuts and mycoproteins. How many grams per day you’ll need depends on your bodyweight, physical activity types and physical activity levels. It will fall roughly between 1 to 2 grams per kilogram of bodyweight. Try to spread this intake evenly throughout the day instead of having meals that contain little protein then other meals that contain a lot.
Most people in ‘the West’, even if they exercise – unless their goal is to pack on muscle mass and they’re doing the right kind of exercises to achieve this – don’t require protein supplements though. Excess protein counts as excess energy consumption when carbohydrate sources of energy are cheaper, easier for the body to process into glucose and are generally better for the environment compared to consuming meat for the energy rather than for bodily repair and growth.
Can a bodybuilder be a vegetarian or vegan? Yes absolutely! Okay then, can someone be a bodybuilder and still be kind for the environment? Well a bodybuilder consumes far more than an average person does so it could be like driving a hybrid automobile but driving 20,000 miles per year. A vegetarian who eats 5,000 calories per day still has a large carbon footprint – possibly larger than the average omnivore person who consumes 2,500 calories per day. So you’ve got to calculate the figures rather than make assumptions. Being larger – whether due to muscle or fat – uses more resources than being smaller in general e.g. it requires more food, and being heavier means it needs more fuel to transport your basic mass like when flying on a plane.
In any case, a high consumption isn’t just a health issue but an environmental one. When buying the same clothing products, larger sizes require more materials and labour than smaller sizes to manufacture, thus obese people, all else being equal, use more resources and are worse for the environment than non-obese people; even though larger-sized clothes aren’t typically priced proportionately higher because the pricing of a clothing item is determined by the average cost to manufacture and transport it across all sizes, which is probably unfair for those who wear smaller sizes. The same is currently true with aeroplane ticket prices for both heavy and light passengers. This highly controversial issue concerns what counts as a legitimate form of discrimination?
About meat substitutes – they’re usually more expensive compared to their equivalents in terms of their core ingredients. So why not just eat the fruit or vegetables they’re based on more directly, as they are, rather than them needing to masquerade as burgers, sausages, nuggets or steaks?!
I’m more about the nutritional value of dishes primarily rather than how things look. I don’t mind if something served to me looks like a dog’s dinner(!) Taste and texture are very important to me too, but that’s down to the skill of one’s cooking, and perhaps expectations based on one’s upbringing like regarding bones in fish.
Vegan foodstuffs can often be ultra-processed when they don’t need to be. And a ‘vegan burger’ could mean e.g. one made from jackfruit (which is low in protein) or from beans (which is higher in protein). Meanwhile, highlighting the vegetables as the main heroes of a dish in their own more honest state isn’t an original idea – it’s one that many non-western cultures have been doing for years.
In ‘the West’, it’s often seen as ‘bulking out’ the meat by adding a decent amount of vegetables, like in a cottage pie – but in other cultures, adding lots of vegetables is simply adding different nutrients, textures, flavours and colours; and vegetables can be the stars of a dish in their own right rather than needing meat to be the main component or to be present at all.
So just cook and eat the vegetables as they more honestly are I say. Imagine if it were the other way around and people demanded pork chops to be fashioned into banana shapes before they would eat them(!) Perhaps the aim is to convince hardcore meat-eaters that they can have meat substitutes that give them a similar taste, aroma, texture and mouth-feel? But are hardcore meat-eaters such wusses that they cannot handle a mushroom as a mushroom?! (I do eat meat as a growing puppy but I’m not hardcore.) Food that’s less processed is generally healthier, less energy-intensive to make and therefore should cost less to buy when comparing valued nutrient-for-nutrient too.
Being flexitarian (having some meat-free days per week) has also been the normal way for many cultures for centuries. (Note that avoiding meat for at least a cumulative 23 hours per 24 hours of each day doesn’t count because no one normally munches – meat or else – during every discrete minute of the day(!)) Behavioural progress sometimes means going back to old ways because we’re collectively living unsustainably today. Several decades ago before meals in ‘the West’ (and increasingly the rest of the world) became relatively meat heavy – meat was considered a luxury, with roast meats on Sundays rather than something daily.
Some cultures around the world today still don’t expect meat on the menu every single day, and they don’t regard it as anything to pat themselves on the back for or virtue signal about on social media either e.g. people regularly eating meals that just contain tofu or lentils as the protein source without even regarding themselves as vegetarian or flexitarian.
If you’re middle-class then you call yourself a vegan. If you’re too poor to afford meat though then you’ll simply call vegetables what you eat! (It’s like if you’re middle-class then you call it a ‘side hustle’, but if you’re poor and absolutely need the money then you simply call it a second or third job!) In a way, even though the poorest globally eat relatively little meat because it’s generally more expensive or harder to obtain than fruit or vegetables, they cannot consider voluntarily choosing to avoid all meat and becoming a vegan because they cannot afford to be fussy – they’ll eat whatever is edible that they can get hold of.
When people can choose, we find that when Oriental people adopt a more Western diet – with more red meat – they do grow appreciably taller. For example, within just a generation and a half, the average height has shot right up in Japan by about 4” for men and about 3” for women. Given identical diets from birth, Japanese 20-year olds are on average about the same height as European 20-year olds nowadays. First-generation migrants from East to West may still raise their children with traditional diets from their home countries, but second-generation parents will usually raise their children with a more mixed influence diet. Increasingly over the decades though, people in those home countries have adopted more Western influences themselves e.g. western fast food chains. However, obesity rates, as well as heights, are increasing in these places too. Obese children tend to be taller than their peers, but overfeeding to create a tall child does not outweigh the risk of heart disease or diabetes.
There are concerns about a rebound effect after events like ‘Veganuary’ (or ‘Dry January’ for alcohol), where people gorge on meat once the month is over. But the evidence suggests that this doesn’t happen to such an extent that it totally undoes or reverses the net health benefits of participating in such events. However, continuing the abstinence into February and beyond after such events is rare too. (This can reflect ‘awareness days’ or weeks in general – awareness of particular issues increases during these times but then people will soon focus on other things, and most will return to their old habits again once they’re over. Notwithstanding, the net result suggests that they’re better than nothing and a few people might continue supporting a mission for the long-term.)
All in all, there are many benefits and cautions when adopting a vegetarian or vegan diet. By replying to the tweet linked to the Twitter comment button below, you can share your views on the subject too.
Woof!
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