4 ms·

Whole-food plant-based vegan here. Life is good. Energy is high.

skyyler 11y ago
Do you spend more on food than you did as a non-vegan? What made you take up veganism? I've been considering it for a while, I had a realization while eating a slice of salami a few weeks ago and I realized something had to die for me to eat it and it made me feel bad.
- 91bananas 11y ago
  Plants have to die too in order for you to eat them generally.
  - noondip 11y ago
    Especially when the animals are fed them in amounts many times greater than could be fed to humans directly.
    - pasquinelli 11y ago
      animals have to die for agriculture too.
    - pluma 11y ago
      Also, modern agriculture kills lots of little critters (including lots of fluffy rodents). Just ask anyone who's ever worked on a farm. The only 100% moral solution obviously is not to eat.
      - noondip 11y ago
        Lots? I'm sure it's nothing compared to the premeditated killing of 150 billion animals born and bred into captivity on purpose, every year. Seeing as how not eating is infeasible, I'm not sure your solution is reasonable.
  - shlant 11y ago
    well it's a good thing plants aren't sentient then.
    - TTPrograms 11y ago
      Are you sure?
    - oh_sigh 11y ago
      Yes they are
      - noondip 11y ago
        No, they're not. Unlike animals, plants lack a central nervous system, which would allow them to feel pain and ultimately suffer. Yes, plants respond to stimuli, in the same way a ball being rolled off a table does. But you cannot say plants and animals have the same capacity for sentience. Even if that were true, it should be immediately apparent animals require more plants to feed throughout their lifespan than do vegans. I hope you made this comment out of ignorance, not arrogance. Take a look at http://adaptt.org/veganism.html http://adaptt.org/veganism.html - The Insipid "Killing Plants" Argument, if you're honestly sure plants and animals are the same.
        oh_sigh 11y ago
        > plants lack a central nervous system Is a CNS required for sentience? If so, why do most vegans(that I can find online) agree that it would be wrong to eat a jellyfish, which generally lacks a CNS? > Yes, plants respond to stimuli, in the same way a ball being rolled off a table does Not even close to correct. Plants attempt to establish dominance in their domain from other plants by gathering more resources, can respond to try and protect themselves from certain types of pests/blight/fire, etc.
    - pluma 11y ago
      Are you?
- noondip 11y ago
  > Do you spend more on food than you did as a non-vegan? I did when I'd first started out with plant-based eating, because I didn't know which foods to purchase and a lot went to waste. I had also sought out meat, cheese and dairy alternatives like Beyond Meat and Tofurky which aren't competitively priced (yet). Now that I've been vegan for over a year - and eating almost exclusively whole foods - the grocery bill for my household is drastically lower. I buy a lot of food in bulk. A 25 lb. bag of brown rice provides tens of thousands of calories to last months and costs a mere ~$60, for example. Canned legumes, frozen fruits and veggies and seasonal produce from my garden, CSA or farmers' markets are all very affordable. > What made you take up veganism? Two YouTube videos - 101 Reasons to Go Vegan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4HJcq8qHAY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4HJcq8qHAY Best Speech You Will Ever Hear by Gary Yourofsky - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es6U00LMmC4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es6U00LMmC4 Later, I learned animal agriculture is responsible for the most greenhouse gas emissions and avoiding animal products can protect against most "diseases of affluence", which reaffirmed my decision.
Madmallard 11y ago
How do you get your B vitamins (including B12), Iron, enough protein to maintain muscle, etc?
- noondip 11y ago
  Vegan here - I take a sub-lingual Methylcobalamin B12 vitamin. Iron is had from a variety of foods, lentils and spinach especially come to mind. With regard to protein, there is an ample amount (~10%) in all whole plant foods which doesn't make this a practical concern.
  - stinos 11y ago
    Definitely try to figure out where your supplement comes from.. Ideally, after seeing this [1] and other negative reports on quality of some supplements, you'd almost have to put it through a spectrum analyzer to make sure [1] www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/supplements-and-safety/
    - noondip 11y ago
      The brand I purchase is Jarrow which seems reputable. Is there a practical guide to inexpensive home testing? I guess an alternative is annual B12 injections from your physician or some sort of wellness center. For the record, the only other supplement I take is an algae-based EPA/DHA pill and I'm told all brands of such are manufactured in one place.
      - stinos 11y ago
        Is there a practical guide to inexpensive home testing? None that I know, might exist though. I mean, you can buy dead cheap properly working test kits for MDMA for instance, then why not for B12 you'd wonder. But rather than testing the B12 itself you might just (or also) test if you have enough of it. Many vegans I know make a yearly appointment with their doctor for a blood test looking for defficiencies in a number of substances. Most are always fine btw. Oh and google came up with this: http://www.testcountry.com/products.html?product=1883 http://www.testcountry.com/products.html?product=1883. Again, hard to tell if it's ok - but you could compare it with blood test results. Then again, blood test might be cheaper than this kit.
pc86 11y ago
Okay, so we've got the unrelated vegan comment, there's already an unrelated CrossFit comment, all we need is someone to mention they're an atheist and we've got the trifecta. It's almost as if nutrition is incredibly complex and different things work for different people.
- dhimes 11y ago
  I took the cross-fit as a sarcastic point about (its) gp- essentially making the point you are making about it.
- pluma 11y ago
  Funny you should mention that. As a Christian I think you should eat everything there is because if God put it there, He obviously intended us to use it.
  - tkyjonathan 11y ago
    I thought God mentioned something about humans protecting animals? Then fall of man happened and something changed..
    - pluma 11y ago
      You'd think so but as with any religion there are different interpretations. There's a very libertarian (economically speaking, not civil rights) strand of Christianity that can be summarized in what I parodied: because the world was intelligently designed it's our god-given right to subdue nature and make the best use of it.
- adamqureshi 11y ago
  I found this very interesting, check it out. Personalized Nutrition: Healthy foods are unique to individuals http://bit.ly/1ItKTrV http://bit.ly/1ItKTrV

Do you spend more on food than you did as a non-vegan? What made you take up veganism? I've been considering it for a while, I had a realization while eating a slice of salami a few weeks ago and I realized something had to die for me to eat it and it made me feel bad.

91bananas 11y ago
Plants have to die too in order for you to eat them generally.
- noondip 11y ago
  Especially when the animals are fed them in amounts many times greater than could be fed to humans directly.
  - pasquinelli 11y ago
    animals have to die for agriculture too.
  - pluma 11y ago
    Also, modern agriculture kills lots of little critters (including lots of fluffy rodents). Just ask anyone who's ever worked on a farm. The only 100% moral solution obviously is not to eat.
    - noondip 11y ago
      Lots? I'm sure it's nothing compared to the premeditated killing of 150 billion animals born and bred into captivity on purpose, every year. Seeing as how not eating is infeasible, I'm not sure your solution is reasonable.
- shlant 11y ago
  well it's a good thing plants aren't sentient then.
  - TTPrograms 11y ago
    Are you sure?
  - oh_sigh 11y ago
    Yes they are
    - noondip 11y ago
      No, they're not. Unlike animals, plants lack a central nervous system, which would allow them to feel pain and ultimately suffer. Yes, plants respond to stimuli, in the same way a ball being rolled off a table does. But you cannot say plants and animals have the same capacity for sentience. Even if that were true, it should be immediately apparent animals require more plants to feed throughout their lifespan than do vegans. I hope you made this comment out of ignorance, not arrogance. Take a look at http://adaptt.org/veganism.html http://adaptt.org/veganism.html - The Insipid "Killing Plants" Argument, if you're honestly sure plants and animals are the same.
      - oh_sigh 11y ago
        > plants lack a central nervous system Is a CNS required for sentience? If so, why do most vegans(that I can find online) agree that it would be wrong to eat a jellyfish, which generally lacks a CNS? > Yes, plants respond to stimuli, in the same way a ball being rolled off a table does Not even close to correct. Plants attempt to establish dominance in their domain from other plants by gathering more resources, can respond to try and protect themselves from certain types of pests/blight/fire, etc.
  - pluma 11y ago
    Are you?
noondip 11y ago
> Do you spend more on food than you did as a non-vegan? I did when I'd first started out with plant-based eating, because I didn't know which foods to purchase and a lot went to waste. I had also sought out meat, cheese and dairy alternatives like Beyond Meat and Tofurky which aren't competitively priced (yet). Now that I've been vegan for over a year - and eating almost exclusively whole foods - the grocery bill for my household is drastically lower. I buy a lot of food in bulk. A 25 lb. bag of brown rice provides tens of thousands of calories to last months and costs a mere ~$60, for example. Canned legumes, frozen fruits and veggies and seasonal produce from my garden, CSA or farmers' markets are all very affordable. > What made you take up veganism? Two YouTube videos - 101 Reasons to Go Vegan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4HJcq8qHAY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4HJcq8qHAY Best Speech You Will Ever Hear by Gary Yourofsky - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es6U00LMmC4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es6U00LMmC4 Later, I learned animal agriculture is responsible for the most greenhouse gas emissions and avoiding animal products can protect against most "diseases of affluence", which reaffirmed my decision.

Madmallard 11y ago

How do you get your B vitamins (including B12), Iron, enough protein to maintain muscle, etc?

noondip 11y ago
Vegan here - I take a sub-lingual Methylcobalamin B12 vitamin. Iron is had from a variety of foods, lentils and spinach especially come to mind. With regard to protein, there is an ample amount (~10%) in all whole plant foods which doesn't make this a practical concern.
- stinos 11y ago
  Definitely try to figure out where your supplement comes from.. Ideally, after seeing this [1] and other negative reports on quality of some supplements, you'd almost have to put it through a spectrum analyzer to make sure [1] www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/supplements-and-safety/
  - noondip 11y ago
    The brand I purchase is Jarrow which seems reputable. Is there a practical guide to inexpensive home testing? I guess an alternative is annual B12 injections from your physician or some sort of wellness center. For the record, the only other supplement I take is an algae-based EPA/DHA pill and I'm told all brands of such are manufactured in one place.
    - stinos 11y ago
      Is there a practical guide to inexpensive home testing? None that I know, might exist though. I mean, you can buy dead cheap properly working test kits for MDMA for instance, then why not for B12 you'd wonder. But rather than testing the B12 itself you might just (or also) test if you have enough of it. Many vegans I know make a yearly appointment with their doctor for a blood test looking for defficiencies in a number of substances. Most are always fine btw. Oh and google came up with this: http://www.testcountry.com/products.html?product=1883 http://www.testcountry.com/products.html?product=1883. Again, hard to tell if it's ok - but you could compare it with blood test results. Then again, blood test might be cheaper than this kit.

pc86 11y ago

Okay, so we've got the unrelated vegan comment, there's already an unrelated CrossFit comment, all we need is someone to mention they're an atheist and we've got the trifecta. It's almost as if nutrition is incredibly complex and different things work for different people.

dhimes 11y ago
I took the cross-fit as a sarcastic point about (its) gp- essentially making the point you are making about it.
pluma 11y ago
Funny you should mention that. As a Christian I think you should eat everything there is because if God put it there, He obviously intended us to use it.
- tkyjonathan 11y ago
  I thought God mentioned something about humans protecting animals? Then fall of man happened and something changed..
  - pluma 11y ago
    You'd think so but as with any religion there are different interpretations. There's a very libertarian (economically speaking, not civil rights) strand of Christianity that can be summarized in what I parodied: because the world was intelligently designed it's our god-given right to subdue nature and make the best use of it.
adamqureshi 11y ago
I found this very interesting, check it out. Personalized Nutrition: Healthy foods are unique to individuals http://bit.ly/1ItKTrV http://bit.ly/1ItKTrV