WHY are people so set into thinking that with out meat you get no other form of protein and with out...?

Question

milk you get no other form of calcium?? beans, rice, legumes, veggies, fruits, nuts and soy all have protein. is there a reason that people choose to over look that? and though i cant think of many foods off the top of my head that have calcium, i always try to figure out if people choose to ignore the fact that you can take calcium supplements, or they just live under a rock and dont know they exist. i'm sorry, i know this is a rant. but i just want-no, need- people to realize that life goes on with out meat or animal products in general.

Answer 1

This is all very true. FYI one Veggie source of Calcium is greens. Vegetables are a better source of calcium anyways.

I think the reasons that these myths are so hard to kill is because the argument against Vegetarian and Vegan diets is so weak that people have to hang on to something. All the major Heath organizations have no problem with Vegetarian and Vegan diets anymore. The science is just too overwhelmingly in our favor.
Also, I believe this is a great example of how ignorance breeds ignorance. People that are misinformed pass on information to others who have no understanding of nutrition besides what they were taught in Sophomore level gym class. It makes sense to them meat = protein, milk = Calcium. for someone who has even a basic understanding of biology and Nutrition this is obviously not the case.

Answer 2

First let me once again deal with any idiot who would call humans carnivores. I seriously doubt there is any human alive that is a true carnivore. If there is, they won't be alive long enough for us to identify them.
Most humans choose to be omnivores. (For those who don't know that is an animal who eats animals and plants)

To answer the question, I think in part, the fault lies with the meat and dairy industry. How many people who would ask you the tired question "How do your get your protein/calcium?" actually know what you should get in a day? How many of them know how much they get in a day? The truth about the Standard American Diet is that most americans consume way too much protein. (You'll notice that though the USDA label on foods show how much protein the food item contains, but doesn't give you a percentage of your daily requirement.)
Many of the foods you listed also contain calcium. Some others are: all leafy greens(Kale especially, spinach, cabbage, turnip greens), almonds and many other nuts, many fruits. The USDA has a list of nutrient content I will put below that may be helpful. Don't let the uneducated sway you from your position. We are human, we grow and adapt. Many of us now know that eating meat and consuming dairy is much more harmful than helpful, but more than that, less suffering leads to more compassion for all. Non-human animals do not deserve to die to feed us things we DO NOT need. http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/SR15/wtrank/wt_rank.html

Answer 3

It's usually the rubbish people heard from their parents.

They certainly aren't getting it from doctors or dieticians.

That, and -- some people just don't eat much outside of the awful mainstream. McDonald's doesn't sell beans, rice, legumes, etc, etc. They don't know how to cook anything beyond a few meat-and-potatoes dishes, and think of a vegetarian diet is their diet with the meat removed, leaving them looking at bread, corn, potatoes, some dull iceberg lettuce, and not a great deal else. So how you avoid meat while staying healthy and eating good food is a bit mysterious, I think.

Years ago, on hearing I was vegetarian, I'd get stuff like "Good grief -- no pizza? No lasagna? That's awful!" It was somehow hard to think of pizza without pepperoni and lasagna without ground beef. Again, that was years ago, but you can still see how people's restricted food choices might lead to the idea that you can't get a balanced diet without meat.

I suspect some of them _want_ to live under rocks, given how vigourously they'll defend meat-heavy diets. "Humans were made to eat meat!" seems to come from the same people who balk at eating healthy greens. See above re. "Now you want us to eat plants, why is that?" -- as though eating vegetables is some sort of recent deviation from the norm.

Re. "who would go to a salad cook out" -- right, there's the "I have no idea what vegetarian food might consist of." I sometimes take a tray of marinated veg on skewers when invited to a cook-out, and it's always a large tray, given how many omnivores turn out to prefer it to a hot dog...

Answer 4

I agree with you 100%. And why do they always say they are carnivores? How can they support their cause when they can't even say what they truly are? They are omnivores.

And even broccolli has calcium--besides, you need vitamin D to hold the calcium in your bones, and vitamin D is so unevenly distributed in milk that you may not even have any in a whole gallon and therefore all the calcium you drank leaves your body anyways.

Answer 5

Decades of propaganda. There a huge lobby for the Meat & Milk industry. Added to the fact most doctors recieve very little in the way of nutrition education.. we've got a mess on our hands. It certainly is showing up in our health.

Answer 6

calcium can be had through other items or supplements.

Humans are carnivores and as such our bodies need animal fats and proteins... I don't know how else you would get these without eating some type of animal or meat product.

Humans have been eating meat since we can prove we exhisted. Now you want us to eat plants, why is that?
Is it because animals have feelings or feel pain? It was not that long ago that we thought animals couldn't feel or think. How long before we find out that plants can feel or maybe think.
If nature didn't want animals to be eaten then wouldn't all animals be vegetarian?

I agree that many places do not treat animals correctly or humanely, but maybe we should concentrate on that instead of on changing natures plan about us being carnivores.

Answer 7

Why the hell do we have a dairy group on the food pyramid?Because the dairy industry sponsors it.Why do we have a meat group on the pyramid?We have a strong meat lobby.I'm getting real tired of those Got Milk? ads.Telling people that adding milk to their diet will help them lose weight.That's bullshit.Telling kids that they need milk to build strong bones.That's bullshit also.I hate the dairy industry.

Answer 8

Because the meat industry shoves it down peoples throats via media.

Answer 9

It aint about protien sweety its about meat being part of our culture who we are rib eyes ,pork sausage, fried chicken , who would go to a salad cook out come on, you dont want meat fine .but Im a carnasourus rex a savage meat eating machine Ive already denied toomuch of my nature in the interest of living peacefully in an ordered society dont take away my meat the last connection I have to my cave dwelling fore fathers yes I have fore fathers and they ate meat massive piles of the flesh of other creatures stop actin so crazy girl get on the meat train go to KfC right now and get a bucket of meat the tenderest juicest meat in a bucket youve ever had help me make that chickens miserable life mean something help me love that chicken by eating his flesh in order to sustain my life help me pleez oh god help me

Answer 10

AMEN!