Vegan?

[M_Six]

It also needs to be said here that there are vegan meals and then there is a vegan lifestyle. Most of us have had a vegan meal, even if you didn't intend to. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a Coke can be vegan. We've considered going on a vegan river cruise in Europe just to have some amazing vegan food and see the sights. But I'd have no problem grabbing a bratwurst for lunch while walking around a city if I so desired. However, I'd have a big problem if someone else on the cruise saw me do that and made a big stink about it. It's the vegan-as-religion types who make me cautious about taking one of those trips.

[Sea-Tac]

Originally Posted by Speedwell-Industries

Has anyone tried going Vegan?

How has it worked out for you? How does it affect your workouts, daily routine, etc??

How do you feel?

Sam

I have been vegan for the last 4 years. I was a vegetarian for the 8 years prior to that.

It was most difficult for me the first 6-8 months. Now it’s pretty routine. Every once in a while I think it would be real nice to a milkshake or a hamburger. But honestly I don’t really miss it.

We’re pretty lucky up here in the PNW. Lots of good vegan and vegetarian restaurants and really nice grocery stores that offer good quality products.

Never had a weight issue before. Lost maybe five pounds. So that was never a problem. My cholesterol has always been low it’s now around 97 right now. My doctor loves that but hates that I beat him at squash. I play 5 days a week and work out 4 days a week with weights and equipment for about 30 mins. I jog about 10/12 miles a week. Seems fine no major issues in that area.

[The Wind Breezes]

Originally Posted by Sea-Tac

I have been vegan for the last 4 years. I was a vegetarian for the 8 years prior to that.

Since you are reasonable enough to have decent nutrition and a active lifestyle, maybe you can offer a good explanation for why you went vegan. So far I've only seen people who are totally misinformed and support their vegan habit with Ms. Information.

[Speedwell-Industries]

Originally Posted by Sea-Tac

I have been vegan for the last 4 years. I was a vegetarian for the 8 years prior to that.

It was most difficult for me the first 6-8 months. Now it’s pretty routine. Every once in a while I think it would be real nice to a milkshake or a hamburger. But honestly I don’t really miss it.

We’re pretty lucky up here in the PNW. Lots of good vegan and vegetarian restaurants and really nice grocery stores that offer good quality products.

Never had a weight issue before. Lost maybe five pounds. So that was never a problem. My cholesterol has always been low it’s now around 97 right now. My doctor loves that but hates that I beat him at squash. I play 5 days a week and work out 4 days a week with weights and equipment for about 30 mins. I jog about 10/12 miles a week. Seems fine no major issues in that area.

Awesome, great for you!!!

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by Sea-Tac

I have been vegan for the last 4 years. I was a vegetarian for the 8 years prior to that.

It was most difficult for me the first 6-8 months. Now it’s pretty routine. Every once in a while I think it would be real nice to a milkshake or a hamburger. But honestly I don’t really miss it.

We’re pretty lucky up here in the PNW. Lots of good vegan and vegetarian restaurants and really nice grocery stores that offer good quality products.

Never had a weight issue before. Lost maybe five pounds. So that was never a problem. My cholesterol has always been low it’s now around 97 right now. My doctor loves that but hates that I beat him at squash. I play 5 days a week and work out 4 days a week with weights and equipment for about 30 mins. I jog about 10/12 miles a week. Seems fine no major issues in that area.

I toss a banana and a half dozen strawberries into a smoothie blender and fill with ~8oz unsweetened almond milk, then blend. Makes a great shake/smoothie that's about 170 calories.

[Sea-Tac]

Originally Posted by M_Six

I toss a banana and a half dozen strawberries into a smoothie blender and fill with ~8oz unsweetened almond milk, then blend. Makes a great shake/smoothie that's about 170 calories.

I really missed milk-in my cereal, coffee or just a plain glass of low-fat every now and then. About a year ago I tried almond milk and it is really good. I use it regularly now and I too make smoothies, pretty much the way you are. Since we live in the berry capital of the US I consume large amounts of blues and blacks. Mix them in with a banana and I'm good to go.

All that said...I have to say I do miss a bowl of ice cream every once in a while!!!

[Sea-Tac]

Originally Posted by The Wind Breezes

Since you are reasonable enough to have decent nutrition and a active lifestyle, maybe you can offer a good explanation for why you went vegan. So far I've only seen people who are totally misinformed and support their vegan habit with Ms. Information.

Sure...I had been a vegetarian for several years and did very well with that routine.

I decided to try the vegan diet and give it a go for three months and then re-assess. I increased my intake of whole grains, many different types primarily for their abundance of fiber and antioxidants.

I wanted a simpler way of maintaining my weight as well and wanted to eliminate a percentage of fats from my diet. With a non vegan diet I would consume various fats, that I really didn't need. Primarily dairy fats, butter and cheeses etc. My weight has been stable at 170 pounds down from 176 about 8 years ago. I attribute this to the elimination of dairy fats. I eat a good diet of about 2100 calories a day made up of fruits, veggies, grains, pasta, legumes, nuts and seeds...and about .5 ounce of very dark chocolate a day. I also drink almond milk and for a snack I eat a particular brand of granola or vegan cookies that I get at Whole Foods.

I also did some research on various blood chemistries and how diet affects that in both a positive and negative direction. My blood chemistries are very good and have negligible cholesterol and balance lipids which are now bordering on the low side. This is a slight improvement from my vegetarian days.

There is also an abundance of information and research on diet and heart disease and how a green diet can minimize chances of a cardiac event. I hold absolutely no credence whatsoever in a vegan diet preventing cancer. NO ONE KNOWS with any degree of certainty that this diet can prevent cancer. If it does, great, I just won't hang my hat on that peg just yet.

I'm happy to answer any questions you might have...I'm not a "soapboxer" about the benefits of my diet. I enjoy going out with friends who consume beautiful thick steaks and chops and smother their dinners in butter...it still looks good to me and yes I do miss a good hamburger and ICE CREAM...I miss that a lot.

Thanks for asking.

ps...you're right lots of misinformation about vegan diets.

[Timujin]

I have been on a plant based diet since February of this year. I didn’t eat much animal prior. I don’t like the animal business.

[Speedwell-Industries]

Originally Posted by Sea-Tac

Sure...I had been a vegetarian for several years and did very well with that routine.

I decided to try the vegan diet and give it a go for three months and then re-assess. I increased my intake of whole grains, many different types primarily for their abundance of fiber and antioxidants.

I wanted a simpler way of maintaining my weight as well and wanted to eliminate a percentage of fats from my diet. With a non vegan diet I would consume various fats, that I really didn't need. Primarily dairy fats, butter and cheeses etc. My weight has been stable at 170 pounds down from 176 about 8 years ago. I attribute this to the elimination of dairy fats. I eat a good diet of about 2100 calories a day made up of fruits, veggies, grains, pasta, legumes, nuts and seeds...and about .5 ounce of very dark chocolate a day. I also drink almond milk and for a snack I eat a particular brand of granola or vegan cookies that I get at Whole Foods.

I also did some research on various blood chemistries and how diet affects that in both a positive and negative direction. My blood chemistries are very good and have negligible cholesterol and balance lipids which are now bordering on the low side. This is a slight improvement from my vegetarian days.

There is also an abundance of information and research on diet and heart disease and how a green diet can minimize chances of a cardiac event. I hold absolutely no credence whatsoever in a vegan diet preventing cancer. NO ONE KNOWS with any degree of certainty that this diet can prevent cancer. If it does, great, I just won't hang my hat on that peg just yet.

I'm happy to answer any questions you might have...I'm not a "soapboxer" about the benefits of my diet. I enjoy going out with friends who consume beautiful thick steaks and chops and smother their dinners in butter...it still looks good to me and yes I do miss a good hamburger and ICE CREAM...I miss that a lot.

Thanks for asking.

ps...you're right lots of misinformation about vegan diets.

Originally Posted by Sea-Tac

Sure...I had been a vegetarian for several years and did very well with that routine.

I decided to try the vegan diet and give it a go for three months and then re-assess. I increased my intake of whole grains, many different types primarily for their abundance of fiber and antioxidants.

I wanted a simpler way of maintaining my weight as well and wanted to eliminate a percentage of fats from my diet. With a non vegan diet I would consume various fats, that I really didn't need. Primarily dairy fats, butter and cheeses etc. My weight has been stable at 170 pounds down from 176 about 8 years ago. I attribute this to the elimination of dairy fats. I eat a good diet of about 2100 calories a day made up of fruits, veggies, grains, pasta, legumes, nuts and seeds...and about .5 ounce of very dark chocolate a day. I also drink almond milk and for a snack I eat a particular brand of granola or vegan cookies that I get at Whole Foods.

I also did some research on various blood chemistries and how diet affects that in both a positive and negative direction. My blood chemistries are very good and have negligible cholesterol and balance lipids which are now bordering on the low side. This is a slight improvement from my vegetarian days.

There is also an abundance of information and research on diet and heart disease and how a green diet can minimize chances of a cardiac event. I hold absolutely no credence whatsoever in a vegan diet preventing cancer. NO ONE KNOWS with any degree of certainty that this diet can prevent cancer. If it does, great, I just won't hang my hat on that peg just yet.

I'm happy to answer any questions you might have...I'm not a "soapboxer" about the benefits of my diet. I enjoy going out with friends who consume beautiful thick steaks and chops and smother their dinners in butter...it still looks good to me and yes I do miss a good hamburger and ICE CREAM...I miss that a lot.

Thanks for asking.

ps...you're right lots of misinformation about vegan diets.

That's awesome! Thanks for sharing!

@timujin how do you like it?

[Wolf 335]

Originally Posted by The Wind Breezes

Doctors, biologists, and anyone with an ounce of common sense would disagree. Humans are omnivores, and this is not even slightly controversial. Claiming we're herbivores is like saying we haven't been to space. Like, OK...Our digestive system is absolutely equipped to process meat, and it doesn't even have to be cooked. It's just that cooking makes it easier to extract nutrients. But it's not necessary.

If you want to see what a digestive system designed for plants is like, look at a cow, goat, horse digestive tract. Herbivores have a completely different digestive process and a substantially different anatomy.

Like mentioned earlier I really don't want to have a pissing match here.

But I do encourage you to broaden your research a bit more.

[Sea-Tac]

[QUOTE=Timujin;23500711]I have been on a plant based diet since February of this year. I didn’t eat much animal prior. I don’t like the animal business

There is a pretty good book about plant based diets. “How Not To Die”. Have you read it?

[Sea-Tac]

Originally Posted by Not_Judy

Ex-girlfriend tried it for a while. My findings were that she suddenly wanted to drive 60 miles (120 round trip) to go to the grocery store as the small town we live in doesn't have a Whole Food store. This resulted in her wanting to buy a Prius and constantly explaining to me about how everything I did was terrible based off what I ate. Our relationship didn't last much longer after that and I did't mind it at all.

That happens a lot. People get on a soap box and lecture their friends about how wonderful and fantastic their new diet lifestyle is. I think it’s a form of bragging or telling people that “I’m so smart” and your not. Not a smart thing to do. Never liked telling anyone that my lifestyle is better than yours because it’s not. Ditto. My beliefs are no better than yours. It’s stupid and boring.

All that said I sure have taken a bunch of good natured ribbing from my friends. When we go out with them - like going over to their house for dinner and everyone is eating these fantastic looking hamburgers as the hand me a plate filled with real honest to goodness rabbit food. Or going to a baseball game and Have have one of your friends buy a round of hot dogs and have them hand you one with just a bun and mustard in it. You got to roll with the punches and laugh at yourself too.

[Sea-Tac]

Originally Posted by Not_Judy

You know, me too. As hot as she was, she was a major pain in the ass. Now I have less drama, better sex and I can eat my steak in peace.

[UncleWede]

The quantity of milk I/family go thru, we've needed a cow in the back yard since my second brother arrived I bought <nut>-milk for a couple years while I was single, but just couldn't do cereal with that. Then too, I read the label and saw a HE-UGE amount of sugar in the mix. I'm comfortably back to whole milk. It just seemed wrong to not drink milk, when my grandfather's entire life in the US was based on a dairy farm.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by Sea-Tac

I really missed milk-in my cereal, coffee or just a plain glass of low-fat every now and then. About a year ago I tried almond milk and it is really good. I use it regularly now and I too make smoothies, pretty much the way you are. Since we live in the berry capital of the US I consume large amounts of blues and blacks. Mix them in with a banana and I'm good to go.

All that said...I have to say I do miss a bowl of ice cream every once in a while!!!

I like the almond milk, too. Try Almond Dream ice cream. I just tried it this past weekend and it's really good.

[Sea-Tac]

Originally Posted by M_Six

I like the almond milk, too. Try Almond Dream ice cream. I just tried it this past weekend and it's really good.

I’ll check it out. Where do you get it?

[TheWatchGuy]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

The quantity of milk I/family go thru, we've needed a cow in the back yard since my second brother arrived I bought <nut>-milk for a couple years while I was single, but just couldn't do cereal with that. Then too, I read the label and saw a HE-UGE amount of sugar in the mix. I'm comfortably back to whole milk. It just seemed wrong to not drink milk, when my grandfather's entire life in the US was based on a dairy farm.

this just sounds so wrong

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by Sea-Tac

I’ll check it out. Where do you get it?

Most stores here carry it. I think I've seen it at Walmart.

[UncleWede]

Originally Posted by TheWatchGuy

this just sounds so wrong

Which MAY save some poor, unsuspecting #whippersnapper from making a grave mistake

[Sea-Tac]

Originally Posted by M_Six

Most stores here carry it. I think I've seen it at Walmart.

Will look for it...thanks...

[The Chaddening]

Vitamin B12 and it’s effects on the evolution of the human brain is the destruction of the vegan argument

[The Chaddening]

Can this dude just have a nice bbq? Wow