Vegans ! Are you Making a difference?

Question

I try to keep to a minimum the amount of animal protein I consume but I must say I think your stance is too extreme.
I eat free range eggs so that the chickens who lay them are not among the millions who suffer the barbarity of life on a conveyor belt and I have forgotten the taste of red meat.
I have modified my diet in many more ways too, however your extreme diets seem to me to go too far as they put your personal health at risk through lack of some essential elements.
Man & his ancestors were designed to eat meat ( Canine teeth etc ) now there are 6 billion of us, the meat industry is an awful testiment to our voracious apitite for it. however 6 billion vegans would be unsustainable. any comments !

Answer 1

It seems like every time man tries to change something he screws it up. If a cow isn't milked it's udders can get infected & kill her. One of the early U.S.'s problems in the 1700s was pigs running around everywhere, rooting through garbage, defacating in the street. There are several animals in the 70s that once it was outlawed to harm them they bred so fast many were starving to death because of the food scarcity or attacking other animals not in their diet.

Your's sounds like a more sensible approach. As fast as chickens lay eggs & others born can you imagine how many billions would fill the earth in no time & all the food they'd consume. I don't think an animal should be mistreated like some are & I also keep meat to a minimum & make an effort in that respect.

But being a vegan doesn't affect your health adversely if you take vitamins to replenish what you need. A friend of mine was a strict vegan for over 50 yrs. when I met her but she took care of herself. She didn't live any longer than the average (77) but when she did die she wasn't sickly or in pain. She just went to sleep one night and didn't wake up. I can't remember what the drs. called it but basically it came down to it was just her time to go.

I might also mention she became a vegan for the same reasons most do (love of animals). Later it was more just because that was her lifestyle. She never was militant about it.

Answer 2

I think being a Vegan is a person's choice to boycott animal cruelty (pigs, cows, chickens, fish etc.) but man must be free to choose between being a Vegan or an Omnivore, I have a friend who grew up not knowing the taste of red meat (or even white) and animal by-products, although we are educated that man essentially needs the nutrients given by meat, he says he chooses not to eat meat because his parents told him not to (that it's evil to eat meat).
My point is this, there are plenty of things man can do to boycott animal cruelty without compromising your health or someone else's for that matter

Answer 3

Yes we do. I used to eat chicken about 4 times a week, which I figured to be about 2 chickens a month. That would be 24 chickens I was eating a year, now that I don't eat them 24 less chickens are born every year. Just because a lot of other people still eat meat in no way means that the same number of animals are still being killed. Factor in all other vegetarians and we are saving a large number of animals from ever having to be born, bred and killed every year. I don't understand how a lot of people can't get that logic! :) Happy day.

Answer 4

Joseph Smith disagrees with you. At age 2 he read about dinosaurs and the teeth of meat eaters and decided humans should eat vegetarian. At that age he convinced his whole family to change.

At age 7 he went from 2nd grade to 7th grade. At age 10 he graduated high school and the story goes on with him lecturing before the U.N. whilel still not an adult yet.

YOU ARE BEHIND THE TIMES. What is growing quickly now is much more extreme. It is the raw vegan diet eating nothing cooked.

Answer 5

To quote a previously said analogy, "one drop at a time". If I thought I was putting my health, especially that of my baby's (with whom I am seven and a half months pregnant) at risk, I would not be living this way. I don't buy (literally and figuratively) the "free range" blurb on eggs. Just because the chickens have access to the outdoors, doesn't mean they are happily, freely frolicking in a large field. Also, I am a human adult, not a baby cow, therefore, I do not need milk. I think it's interesting that Americans consume mass quantities of milk, yet have high rates of osteoporosis. Yet, countries that have low rates of animal milk consumption have low rates of osteoporosis. Conventional diary cows are pumped with hormones and constantly bread so they continuously pump milk. With both chickens and cows, the males are killed as they serve no purpose. (Male calves are used for veal.)

I became a vegetarian, eventually vegan because I discovered factory farming and it's poor effects to the environment. I realized that I could not live a Christian life and support this.

As for purchasing products made from animals, I do not. Yes, I have some leather loafers, a leather jacket and a purse purchased way before I changed my lifestyle. I also have a leather wallet and and a leather Bible that I got after I became vegan, but I rescued them both from a trash pile and a Dumpster. Not only did I rescue two new or almost new items from an eternity in a landfill, but I have use for both. I wasn't sure of the reliability or accuracy of the Bible translation, so I decided to keep it instead of giving it as a gift (it was still in the gift box). Also, it is a good pocket size with a sturdy cover, which I had been wanting. From opinions of my husband and some friends (all of whom are seminary students), I decided to keep the Bible.

As I said, my health is good. While I've gotten very lazy with exercising, I've only gained about 20 pounds with my pregnancy. My cholesterol is low. I'm not concerned with my calcium levels, iron, protein, etc. Earlier this summer, my husband and I got some basic health tests done. My numbers, even with being about four or five months pregnant, were lower than his. (If my husbnad had expressed reservations about my eating habits and the health of our baby, I would have implemented some eggs and dairy back into my diet, but would have been very anal about from where it came.) I make sure I get what I need and then some, for the health of my child. While my husband still eats meat and overly processed food, he is taking baby steps-- Organic ketchup, whole wheat bread without corn syrup and/or high fructose corn syrup, Smart Balance spread.... My parents-in-law have had health problems (diabetes, heart, cancer, cholestoral....) Yet, they still eat meat and highly processed food. (I am accusmtomed to taking food with me when I visit, but I was pleasantly surprised with some of the offerings when I visited last week. I suppose it helps that my younger sister-in-law recently went vetegarian, but even she still eats things I don't consider healthy. I think she has more of a belly than what I do. Although, at seven and a half months, I'm hardly showing and I'm tall and I was thin to begin with. I have some friends who were also tall and thin with their first pregnancies [now they're tall] and said that they hardly showed with their first one. I digress.)

Anyway, this is me, what I do and why.

Answer 6

I think being Vegan is a little extreme. I mean I understand why you wouldn't eat meat, but Vegans not eating anything that comes from animals is a bit odd. Of course all those vegetarians and vegans probably do help save some animals, but overall I don't think it does much. I know you probably just don't want to partake in the harming of animals. I really don't think what you guys do makes much of an impact, go ahead and give me a thumbs down, I'm just giving my opinion.

Answer 7

I keep watching the editorial page. The cows and chickens haven't written in, so I have to assume they're OK with things.

Haven't heard about any more lost tablets, so I'm going with the original Ten. They don't mention meat one way or the other.

Its fine by me if you decide not to eat meat for reasons of taste, but don't make a religion out of it. I don't eat all that much of it myself, but I don't make any efforts to avoid it.

Ten thousand years from now, noone will know the difference. Or care.

Answer 8

I am not a vegan. However, if vegans do some research, there are plenty of other sources of protein. Most people in general do not have a healthy diet so I see no harm in the vegan diet. Are they making a difference, I don't know but a bucket of water is filled one drop at a time.

Answer 9

It hardly matters if u make a difference but vegans will definitely be enjoying better health.

Eat only when hungry and not more than thrice a day. Nothing other than water in between. Include plenty of uncooked vegetables and fruits in each meal, preferably 50%. Chew each morsel at least 32 times to activate ur body to generate signals of hunger/fullness. Obey these signals.

Take light exercises and brisk walks regularly preferably twice a day.

U will achieve what u have not even dreamt and that too in a reasonable time. Do not be in a hurry.

Answer 10

So you have cut down on the animal protein, that's nice. As long as you like what you eat, eat it and leave the vegans alone. Let them eat what they like. Your canine teeth are not necessarily indicative of the human need to eat meat. You have more molars for grinding than teeth for tearing. All animals, even those designed to be vegetarian have cutting teeth in front to nip things off. All our teeth suggest is that we are ominivores, but the number of grinding teeth suggests we should be eating more vegetation than meat. However, it doesn't mean we have to if we don't want to. Vegans can meet all their nutritional needs in other ways that don't require animal products. It would also be quite easy to support a completely vegan human race. The land currently used to raise and feed animals will grow far more vegetation than it does animal life. It takes several acres of grass to raise a steer to slaughter age. The steer will not feed nearly as many people as the grain he ate would. So it's fair to say our planet could support vegans and vegetarians quite easily. In fact, a large portion of the worlds population are primarily vegetarian and they do quite well. Grant you, if we all went vegan, there would not be nearly so many pigs, chickens, sheep or cattle as there currently are, but I don't think they'd go endangered. But we don't need a major lifestyle contest here at Answers, so please leave the vegans alone. If you like chicken, eat it. Nobody said you had to go vegan.