So a fair while back I hit the pipe square in the mouthpiece and ended up feeling a feeling that can only be described right Now as 'more profound than temporary earthly/human pleasures' and it has left me trying to integrate with a healthier lifestyle. I've been vegetarian-ing for a little while, no problem. Attempting to cut down on sweets, slightly harder than the meats, but manageable to a degree. Then last night after eating a bunch of sweets and petes-uh...what am I doing, time to become vegan on the natch and appease the elf troupe and my self by success, not these, 'temporary human pleasures' like pizza and cookies...woke up today and saw some bagels that had appeared 'pon me kitchen counter, and I remembered that vegan = no cheese. Caved and succumbed to the temporary human pleasures. But at least I'm aware of it...

Anybody have advice on how to stop being a pussy and appease these health-nut elves?

Food is my number one vice, even moreso than pot. Feel somewhat obligated to fulfill this prophecy, at least for a little while to experience what its like to not eat like a trash bin. I feel it burning uncleanly in my engine.

It may not even be entirely necessary to do this, but I'm told that there is great spiritual benefit to be reaped by adhering to a stricter, more wholesome food regimen. My mind knows this, but my heart and body are like MORE DELICIOUS FOOD

I've begun learning to cook Indian as well as it is typically forgivingly delicious in the realm of vegetarian and veganism.

There seems to be a clear psychological hurdle between the consumption of food and morale, with me. It's not like I'm overweight or sluggish by any means, I'm rather thin and my metabolism is fast enough to eat anything and maintain a relatively high-operational immune system et cetera.

Anybody have a take on this?

when i toured it wrecked my teeth from road food.........

listen to the elves.

Listen to Anne, listen to the elves.



This is GOOD!

The true demand that vegetarianism makes of you is learning how to cook. With meat, it's easy: a good steak, 3 mins each side, voila! Now try that with a turnip...Hint: the oven is your friend, roast veggies well, then combine with whichever sauce you just made on the hob. There is never any excuse to eat/serve a watery pasta friggin bake, because nothing will get you dreaming of meatballs again, faster...

The "deliciousness" will come back, with practice, I promise you.

Now here's the thing: the vegan/carnivore dichotomy is yet another arbitrary, unhelpful distinction to make you feel crap about yourself. As someone who has travelled this road a few times, and has now settled at the vegetarian end, I invite you to consider someone who:

1. Eats whatever appeals, usually mass-produced, and meat-based.
2. Eats whatever appeals, but prefers dishes where meat is used as a flavouring. Ham on pizza, for example.
3. Eats whatever appeals, but tries to avoid meat, unless raised locally/non-industrially.
4. Eats whatever appeals, but mostly vegetarian now.
5. Eats whatever appeals, but tries to avoid dairy.
6. Eats whatever appeals, but avoids dairy, unless raised locally/non-industrially.
7. Eats whatever appeals, but not dairy of any kind, and has become a vegan.

Now, I am not a vegan anymore, and do not know if I would become one again, so please do not assume I am implying that veganism is the goal. It is not, unless you reach that conclusion yourself, independently.

What I am trying to show, is how diet can exist on a continuum. Each step on the ladder is preferable (for a host of reasons, not just about you) to the one before it. If you can, and want to, see how far you can progress... You can go stepwise, and it will still be a big improvement all round. Your cooking skills will improve too. And, if you slip back one (drunken) night or whatever, just remember it's no biggy, people slip up all the time. Just resume when you are ready.

Gradual steps are easier, and more sustainable in the long-term, than "faddism". "Hey everyone, I'm a vegan from today!" are the least convincing words, ever. IME, a lot of people find themselves basically trapped at 1. because the only diet-based dialogue they ever encounter is the hate-filled ranting of the people at 7. But I contend that all the steps are valid, each is an improvement, and each can be made by anyone, easily.

I have a feeling the elves would be happy with this compromise too...they're all about the long-term results.

Why does everyone seem to equate being vegan with health? It's not like animal products are bad per se. If you are doing it for spritual or ethical reasons - ok. I'm a vegetarian myself but i do realize that meat has certain advantags and so does butter for instance..or eggs. They are nutritious and good for you!

I'd try to cut out everything that isnt necessary. You don't need carbs AT ALL. Not only sugar is totally superflous but of course highly addictive.

There is plenty of delicious nutritionally dense food availöable. The problem is carb addiction.

I gave up meat 3 years ago, cold turkey (no pun intended).

Perhaps I should tell my story.

My family is Islamic, I am not. During one of the Eids, there is a sacrifice of livestock called Qurbani. When I go to my home country during Qurbani, the streets are flooded with blood. The roads are literally red all over.

3 years ago, my family got a shipment of meat from a butcher for Eid. An animal was sacrificed in our family's name, and the butcher did all the work. I should say that this is in Australia, so no gratuitous violence on the streets. We received the shipment in a mango box.



It was overfilled with meat. For some reason when I looked at it, I felt disgusted. It was strange, because before that day, I would eat meat every day. I would eat 1kg steaks at restaurants, eat BBQ ribs all the time. When I was 18, I worked at a city KFC. I would eat 4 Zinger burgers for my lunch every shift (not because I wanted to, working at a city store is tough and I needed nourishment). And yet I was revolted by the sight of that meat. Then I started to remember what Qurbani was like in my home country. When I was a child, I almost murdered someone. There was a dude who was killing a cow, but had a sadistic look on his face. He was enjoying the act of killing. I was enraged, I had the red mist in my eyes. I grabbed a knife and was about to end him the same way he was ending the cow. My father stopped me and took me away. That's when I asked myself, "if I killed him, who's the monster?" All these thoughts came rushing back when I looked at that mango box.

I decided then and there, no more meat for me. Ever. Was it hard? No. This was during a time when I was starting my path to enlightenment, a path which has no end. I smoked a lot of ganja during this time, which made me think even deeper about my new life choice. It only validated it. I relinquished my sense of taste, I was no longer subservient to my tongue. To this day, I only eat food for sustenance. If it's good for me, I'll eat it. I don't care about taste. I can still appreciate tasty food, but it's not my driving force.


So there's my little story. We're all different, so only you can decide what to do with your life.




Another hint: the steamer is also your friend.

My take on this, is that everybody gets a different message from psychedelics:

Mushrooms showed me how vile and disgusting eating meat is by showing me a happy cow chilling with her calf on the meadows. The mushrooms or my dosed brain said: why on earth do you want to destroy this peace? Just discard meat, you can do without.

Aya made stop smoking cigarettes, because it's on of the most stupid drugs on earth. Addicting without any positive (health) effect. Still the shamans smoke Mapacho, so they somehow get a different message - I never communicated with spirits on drugs.

But these were my messages, if you follow the Nexus for a while it's clear that not everybody gets the same message. The psychedelics so far haven't told me to stop engaging in the economy. I won't buy stocks of banks or defense technology, but the companies in the NASDAQ100 are okay for me. Even though I dislike Apple & Facebook. But they don't force their customers to buy their products. Nor are Chinese workers obligated to work for Foxconn/Apple, they choose freely and get a decent salary for Chinese standards, even though the work is mostly shit for our standards. But everybody craves smartphones and Facebook, so why blame me? I still own an old 40€ Nokia, but when it's time, I'll upgrade. Until then I save my money for technology shares.

Long story short: thanks for not eating meat and for those who still do: watch your food in the wild/alive while being high - maybe you'll understand then.

"Long story short: thanks for not eating meat and for those who still do: watch your food in the wild/alive while being high - maybe you'll understand then."

No wild chickens or cows here for me to observe sorry ...but I do raise my own meat to eat it. Watch your food grow for years, care for it and its eventual quick slaughter then maybe 'you' will understand

Like I said, everybody gets a different message.

Here comes dreamoar to trample vegan ideals once again.

Has anyone ever considered the fact that even vegetables are usually not vegan in this day and age? Even if you step outside the agricultural-industrial-complex and buy your veggies from a local farmer, can you ensure those farmers aren't using fish/bone/blood meal? That they are not using fish poop or bird poop or bat poop? These animal based additives are extremely common in gardening/agriculture and you'd be hard pressed to find an organic fertilizer that doesn't contain at least some of these animal derived ingredients. So even eating a diet of all local organic vegetables is not necessarily within the impossible criteria of the technical definition of "vegan".

Just some food for thought.

Let's drop the silly labels and judgements already and just do our best to support sustainable practices for our own health, the health of our families, and the health of our communities.

Thank you! Been having this internal feeling of trying to jump into devotion and my inability to do so promptly with zeal has been discouraging internally, but it makes sense to acclimate based on one's own individual needs and create goals that revolve around the individual rather than some sort of colloquialism

I've been "vegan" for about a year. Lately I've been incorporating a little bit of other stuff into my diet- a friend, for example keeps geese, and they're happy geese, and they lay tasty eggs. I don't really have a problem with eating these. On two occasions I've eaten pieces of fish that were going to be thrown away if I didn't.

I'm trying not to be dogmatic about it. For me it's more about waste and where my money goes than diet. The health benefits are just an added bonus- absolutely I have much more energy now and my palate is also expanded. I was forced to learn to cook and appreciate all this tasty veg.

I did get that message as well. I was strictly non-meat for quite some time, but due to living a very active sport-filled lifestyle and being caught up in a 9-5 grind there simply was no practicality to it. I wasnt going to eat some garbage soy based crap from local restaurants or eateries, I cant make my lunches daily simply because Im an awful planner hahah, so I eat chicken and fish/seafood in small portions. Id still like to avoid meat all together, maybe if I can get myself together one day and manage my time better Ill be able to.

I dont touch pork or red meat though at all and will not, one of the messages that came to me was my health was suffering from my meat intake. Acne, lethargy, etc were from my red meat intake. Upon going vegetable based I have had none of these issues return. Meat does disgust me as well and from an ethical stand point thats the biggest reason I wish I could become a dedicated vegetarian. I wont say it was only meat that was affecting my health, my diet was the typical American diet even though I had no major health complications and was never overweight from being as athletic as I am. Since my diet now is 70% non-meat based, my acne has been cleared for years, I have no bad breath or lingering odd mouth tastes, body odor is nearly non-existent and not fowl even if I dont shower for a day. It's worked for me.

Watching the movie Cowspiracy can also help people change their perspective. It's not about health or personal ethics, it's also about the environment.

The elves are just mad they don't have ice cream sandwiches!

Nom Nom Nom

Or bodies to inhale them into.

Funny how things with no corporeal state of being are so concerned with the way we treat our sacks of meat. I get it, it kind of defines a certain type, but still, funny.