I dont eat soy other than sometimes I have sustainably grown organic miso that is unpasturized because it is loaded with probiotics..that is fermented soy but in general I do not buy soy products. Unfermented soy is not readily digestable anyway and I dont like tofu or soy milk at all. Soy, palm oil, canola oil(I think), corn oil etc..the effects of all of these are all things that have to be concidered if you want to eat am eivironmentally sustainable diet. Reading lables is especially important. I dont really buy anything prepared because I eat a raw diet so everything I buy is basically produce and I literally prepare every meal I eat myself unless I just eat a bananna etc, but I am often spp surprised when I see canned goods at the store etc or "vegan" foods that are not really vegan at all since the production of them is soo devestating to the environment.

"Vegan cheese" is a good example of this. Most of it contains large ammounts of unsustainably grown soy and palm oil. Palm oil production in asia is desroying large ammounts of tropical rainforest every year and there is nothing that is vegan about it. It all comes down to being educated about the foods you consume and always always reading lables. you can make your own vegan cheese at home so easily anyway by just fermenting sprouted nut paste and salting it and spicing it. It is real easy.

Even organic foods, I read the lables on like organic salsa and stuff out of curiousity and half of them still have all sorts of preservatives.

If you can get into sustainable wildcrafting and gardening that is really good I think. Permaculture gardens. Monoculture we all know is not good. This year I will live close enough to my parents place where I can use space in their backyard so that minxx and I can experiment there with a small plot for a permaculture food garden. Last year I was in an apartment in the middle of the city so all I could grow was entheogens and then cooking herbs and flowers due to lack of sunlight and space. For 2 years before that I had a nice food garden in the summer and I really missed it.

In the spring we pick lots of wild berries and freeze them. Sure the freezer uses some energy but nothign compared to shipping fruit. This year I hope to freeze and store enough wild berries for last us for 3 or 4 months for breakfast. Of course, I have a 25sq mile area of rainforest preserve down the street with lots of different berries so it makes it easier for me to do so. Last year I had to just sort of guerilla collect city berries and herbs in little empty plots of land etc.

]Jamie, you misunderstand me. I stated that I used baking soda as an alternative to many cleaning products. Tooth paste was one of them.....but then my g/f came home with some store bought natural toothpaste and, well, there it is. It just taste better than plain ol baking soda--though really, the baking soda is not bad. To my perspective, using baking soda is more conscious of a descision than buying any vegan tooth paste. Reducing ones foot print means making your own stuff, from simple ingredients as much as possible.



I buy the huge thing of baking soda, comes in cardboard, and replaces many many products that otherwise come in plastic, usually contain harsh detergents and other petro chems, ect ect, are usually tested on animals, ect ect. Lasts forever and saves bit of money.


http://www.marksdailyapple.com/...-poo-less/#axzz1iuQoBsV6



Endlessness, about the raw meat for the cats. I bought a manual meat grinder from a guy on craigslist for ten dollars. The meat, unfortunately is (currently) commercially produced pultry. I buy give them a good mix of thighs, wings, the occassional knecks and backs, lives, hearts ect--costs about 10 dollars a week to feed two cats. I spend about an hour grinding it all up once a week, put two containers in the freezer, one in the fridge and go from there.




The big fat one definately lost some wieght and gained some energy after the switch.

ya i just brush my teeth with baking soda. they are fine, and it feels waaaaay better than using some nasty stuff like colgate

I used to brush with baking soda as well. I talked to my dentist one day 3 years ago when I got my wisdom teeth pulled and he told me not to use baking soda though. It wont harm you and will certainly clean your teeth but it is also abrasive and can wear down tooth enamel faster than your teeth can rebuild the enamel, at leat according to him but it seems to make sense. He told me I can use essential oils and after looking into alot of people use them so that is what I did. Now I just buy toothpaste from essential oils cus minx uses it and then I rinse with water and some oils. It will definatily kill the bacteria.

Baking soda is WAY better than colgate though.

makes sense. I am lazy and need to get some glycerin and hydrogen peroxide so i can make my own.

cinnamon oil with peppermint oil in some water works well to kill bacteria and will give you nice breath too.

..btw..sorry if this thread has gone off in a sort of unrelated direcction.

I eat some meat every two weeks or so. Meat consumption in most developed nations is incredibly higher than it should be.

I was veg for several years and then began eating healthy meat after working with [sustainably raised, grass fed] livestock and noticed a definite increase in energy and mental wellbeing.
Most people transitioning from a less conscious diet to vegetarianism or veganism will report incredible health improvements, as I did, but much of this comes from the fact that you are no longer eating trash food.
Eat healthy foods, plant or animal based...humans are quite clearly omnivores.

I personally consider eating LOCAL/organic foods to be much more conscious than restricting my diet.
I would rather not have superfoods and supplements shipped halfway across the continent to complete my nutrient intake.

yea man, and lots of it. I have the metabolism to support it.

Nope. I switched to a vegetarian lifestyle about 3 months ago. I currently still eat eggs and dairy products, but I'm not ruling out the possibility of transitioning to a vegan lifestyle in the future.

Peace and Happy Journeys

Yes most days

Mid 30s. 5'9 close to 160 lbs.

I eat a lot of chicken and fish, and sometimes red meat. I only get my meat at a supermarket, so I don't worry about killing anything.
But seriously, I even gave up fishing because I hate to kill creatures. Once I started scuba diving a gained a new appreciation for the life and habitat of fish.
I just think that the many, many, many generations of humans that I am descended from all ate meat. I know that doesn't make it the right thing to do, but I also don't think that my continuing is wrong. I think humane farming needs to be monitored, but I'm not a politician who can forward that goal.
I very much respect vegetarians, and someday I might take that step.

Many organic vegetable farms use blood meal as a nitrogen source.

As for me, I understand that life sustains life. Eating meat is not a moral issue to me. I'm more concerned about a local organic diet. I was vegetarian for over a year and my body didn't feel as healthy as I am a meat eater.

I like veal.

^ ditto. calf liver has a little bit of a high to it, for me at least. has a ton of amino acids and minerals in it. the liver of a full-grown cows not quite as appetizing though haha. i'm not sure if it's just delusional justification but i'm adverse to any diet that is too pure. it's impossible to escape harmful additives and environmental toxins anymore, so i feel like one should keep the body as adaptable as possible. specialists rarely last long in nature

Politics is a game of lobbyists and special interests...no change will occur on that level.
Your most valuable say in what occurs in this world is unfortunately what you buy, so buy humanely raised livestock if you eat meat!

Pets:
The fat dog gets a lot of my leftovers and thus gets a decent amount of good clean organic vegan food. Also when it's my turn to buy the food and I notice the "natural" stuff on sale at the health food store I get it for him. Usually he gets regular factory farmed kibble and whatever factory farmed meat and junk the roommates are eating.

Lifestyle:
I do my best to leave a smaller footprint but I'll admit I've still got a long ways to go as well. I do vote with my dollars and try my best to purchase ethical products as much as possible, I buy a lot things second hand and try to choose local sustainable and ethical when I have the choice. I support my local farmers and buy the moar exotic food items from the small independent health food stores. I try to remember the seven generations idea and buy mindfully. I believe in simplicity and other than my exotic botanicals and superfoods I don't buy a lot of needless things. I compost, sprout, and grow herbs and vegetables. I prepare pretty much all my food from scratch and do my best to avoid all prepackaged, processed, and monoculture food items.

Hygiene Products:
I use mostly baking soda, Dr. Bronners, and hydrogen peroxide for both bodily and household cleaning. When I do buy other products like toothpaste and shampoo and dish soap and such I buy them from the health food store and look for products that are simple in composition and don't contain a bunch of needless chemicals (you might be surprised how unnatural most of the "organic" products out there are). I'm attaching a document a friend gave me many years back with safe simple sustainable recipes to replace many toxic household cleaners.

Transportation:
I have a car now after spending the last 4+ years riding a bike and public transit. I carpool to most of the events I go to and try to use as little gas as possible.

Clothing:
As said before I buy pretty much all of it second hand and the rest I receive as gifts, most people know I prefer ethical products so I end up receiving a lot of products that are organic and vegan.

Medicine:
I don't use pharmaceuticals at all and haven't for many years. I use vitamins and supplements and superfoods mostly purchased online and this is a big part of my footprint but I believe if I maintain good health for myself and the people around me it's worth the extra carbon footprint. I buy in bulk and share with everyone I possibly can to help offset the impact.

Technology:
I'm on my third cell phone ever, the first two lasted me approx 5 and 3 years respectively. I'm on my second computer, the first one lasted me about 6 years. Those are really the only two electronics I own anymoar. I don't own a tv or a stereo, no video game consoles or iPod. I've been using the same electric juicers and rice cooker for 5+ years and that's about the gist of my electronic usage. The roomies have the video games and the tv's and the ipods and all that if I ever feel the inclination to play with such things, which isn't very often.

I try to remain mindful of my impact on the planet and the people around me and balance it with doing what I have to do to make it through day to day life in our society.

I can see even the cambridge paper has not everything correct
Quote:

Compared with non-vegetarians, Western vegetarians have a lower mean BMI (by about 1 kg/m2), a lower mean plasma total cholesterol concentration (by about 0.5 mmol/l), and a lower mortality from IHD (by about 25 %). They may also have a lower risk for some other diseases such as constipation, diverticular disease, gallstones and appendicitis. No differences in mortality from common cancers have been established. There is no evidence of adverse effects on mortality. Much more information is needed, particularly on other causes of death, other morbidity including osteoporosis, and long-term health in vegans. The evidence available suggests that widespread adoption of a vegetarian diet could prevent approximately 40 000 deaths from IHD in Britain each year.

I got this off of one of the little battles on this thread.....uh...since WHEN is CONSTIPATION a disease????hmmm???
I get it from my pills...its not a disease though...true intelligence

Coastal Shaman: I'm not trying to be ignorant- please allow me to clarify. I am not talking about any specific individual here- just that humans, on the whole, are omnivores and can thrive off a wide variety of different diets. There can be no respectable medical consensus saying that, "You are human, therefore you are meant to eat/ not eat meat."

Individually, of course, it's a different story. We are each such incredibly specific things, you just can't make many across-the board generalizations about what we all need. Each of us has a unique biology and history. For me, two decades without meat has been enjoyable, no sacrifice at all. For others, it could be pure hell. I don't want anyone in hell over food!

Humans are nature's ultimate Swiss army knife- endlessly adaptable, capable of occupying most niches on Earth. And we can not only specialize to very deep levels, but we can visit vast extremes- we can be Jesus or Satan to varying degrees... So each of us finds a diet that fits our life path, and acts not only as nourishment but also a means of personal enjoyment, expression, balance with our environment, etc. And as you mentioned, health can come into play.

IBS is a sunovabitch. My wife dealt with it for a couple years and would try almost anything to get rid of that endless burning sensation. Eliminating wheat gluten (which killed off a chronic systemic yeast infection, often associated with IBS) ultimately made the biggest difference. She also gave up smoking weed (ouch). Now she has it totally under control and eats a healthy vegetarian diet, plenty of animal protein via organic cheese and eggs, but no milk (she drinks coconut milk). Some whole grain bread, but too much and the symptoms creep back. At any rate, in her case she was able to find balance with her condition through a personalized diet. Good luck with your situation, it doesn't have to always be like that.

In all seriousness though, the basis i see where vegitarians getting huffy about how we are not made to eat meat is...PRIMATES...last I knew there is NO proof we came from apes...some racists will say some come from apes but that is still THEORY. the "missing link" has YET to be found. So basing arguement on whether or not we are meant to eat meat by using primate habits is to say that evolution is the only answer to our beginning. We do know that cavemen hunted game and that is as far back as we can go with true reason, the rest is speculation.

Everyone has thier choice on what to eat. A balanced diet is essential. Protein is vital. If we were absolutely not meant to eat meat, not only would we not find it appetizing, but we would not be able to digest it like say cows.

"What we eat really is a choice, based on our personalities and philosophies. Let's stop pretending we have a medical "need" for one type of diet or another- that's a ridiculous argument which flies in the face of thousands of years of experience. The meat-free diet is not some new experimental fad!"

I could just as easily be in the hospital as sitting here right now if I was still eating meat. IBS was just one of my many symptoms I had that were so bad I could not even work anymore and I left college. My stomach lining had holes in it..my colon was inflamed. I was on the edge of anemic..mineral deficinet.. Cutting out wheat helped as I cant tolerate gluten..cutting out dairy helped..I was on a diet free of dairy and wheat as reccomended by my doctor for a good while, and that same doctor told me I had to eat meat for my blood type

..I listened to that advice for a while..until finally I got sick and tired of being sick and went 100% raw vegan. No meat at all..no dairy, no grains at all..no cooked food. Surprisingly I started to feel better and better every week and been eating that way for nearly 14 months now and still feel better and better each month.

I am sorry but "thousands of years of experience" is NOTHING. We evolved the complex neural systems that we have millions of years ago and thousands of years has nothing on that. Some people eat fast food, potatoe chips and drink beer all night..just becasue people still do that in 2 thousands years doesnt mean that it would be the best thing for peopel to continue on that way just because they had done it for thousands of years.