Vegetarianism

[23_Tauri]

....
That being said. What is up with the weird nonsensical reasons for making these choices? I recently had a conversation with a vegetarian who said: "I'm a vegetarian because I feel vegetables are easier to digest as they are closer to our ultimate power source."

I for one welcome our vegetable over-lords.

 

[NewtonTrino]

If some of the claims about the environmental impact of meat production are correct, there's some pretty valid reasons why people should care about what others eat.

Good point. The less people that like meat the cheaper we can keep the price.

Anyway what I think is even funnier than the OP is that there is a word for "real" vegetarian and it's vegan. Not that I care either way about who eats what. Personally I'll stick to my standard of meats and veggies and hold the grains please.

 

[icerat]

Good point. The less people that like meat the cheaper we can keep the price.

I suspect if demand dropped (especially due to environmental reasons) then supply would also drop and prices would rise.

 

[MatildaGage]

As far as I can tell, all human diets fall into 1 of 2 categories of veggieness: omnivorism and vegetarism.

There are subtypes of both--flexitarian is a subtype of omnivore, vegan is a subtype of vegetarian, etc.

 

[23_Tauri]

To my mind, this is one of the weakest components of the paradigm. Having a "face" is so arbitrary as to be worthless.

Does a squid have a face?
What about an oyster?
What about a worm?

Don't eat the starfish!

 

[bigred]

What is up with the weird nonsensical reasons for making these choices?

Good health is nonsensical?

PS I'm nowhere near being a vegetarian and never will be. But it makes total sense from a health angle.

And I confess I'm also not getting the "don't force your choices on me!" thing. Are militant vegetarians on the rampage and I missed the news story? Never have experienced or ever even heard once of someone saying this happened to them. Occasionally a spouse/etc might try to nudge their partner into it is the most I suspect happens with rare exception.

 

[tesscaline]

Good health is nonsensical?

PS I'm nowhere near being a vegetarian and never will be. But it makes total sense from a health angle.

And I confess I'm also not getting the "don't force your choices on me!" thing. Are militant vegetarians on the rampage and I missed the news story? Never have experienced or ever even heard once of someone saying this happened to them. Occasionally a spouse/etc might try to nudge their partner into it is the most I suspect happens with rare exception.

Learn to not take statements out of context. Cherry picking posts is badddd, mmmkay?

 

[Alferd_Packer]

I had a neighbor who was a Jain and she said if it had a face she didn't eat it.

Fruits are the sexual organs of plants.

 

[bigred]

Learn to not take statements out of context. Cherry picking posts is badddd, mmmkay?

Cute. Mind explaining what I "took out of context" or would you prefer to just continue with the childish replies?

 

[tesscaline]

Cute. Mind explaining what I "took out of context" or would you prefer to just continue with the childish replies?

How about the very specific sort of statement that I gave as an example in the post that you blatantly chopped to bits while ignoring the context of?

Seriously. You quoted me. Go back and READ what you failed to quote.

 

[Amapola]

The "faces" issue: did you know scallops have eyes? Little blue eyes, they are very cute. I can post a photo if anyone wants it for evidence. What elements does one need for a face? Surely cute little blue eyes qualify.

On the "it takes grain to raise livestock" thing. I think this can be confusing. A lot of people do not realize that cattle are not raised in feedlots. They are raised on pasture, or up in the mountains etc. on grasses and forbs. When the steer gets to the feedlot, a significant amount of weight is already there. The feedlot is to *finish* the steer. And of course not all steers go to a feedlot, some are finished on grass. Where I live, the National Forest is leased (generally it's 30 cow/calf pairs to a lease) and the cattle roam the National Forest during some parts of the year. In a way this is good. We used to have very large herds of deer and elk up there but the numbers are nothing like they were before Europeans arrived. Now the cattle take the place of the elk and keep the forest grazed (although admittedly they graze some different species) and help keep the fire hazard down.

What ruminants are really good at doing is taking something that humans can not digest - cellulose - and turning into something that humans can digest - protein. There is a lot of land in the world that is not suitable for raising crops. My land, for example. My land grows weeds and sticks like you would not believe. Alas. I can not eat weeds and sticks. My goats can, though, and therefore produce goat chops and milk and cheese. Those things, I can eat.

I think what a person eats is a personal choice. Hooray for you, whatever you eat. I'm good with it. Eat what you like, and like what you eat. If you want to eat vegetarian, that's awesome. If you are an omnivore, good for you. Personally, I'm sort of like a coyote - as long as it is not poisoned or on fire at the time, I'll eat it.

As for what it is called, that is a little confusing (to me) but again I am not concerned with what other people eat. That is their business.

 

[bigred]

How about the very specific sort of statement that I gave as an example in the post that you blatantly chopped to bits while ignoring the context of?

Seriously. You quoted me. Go back and READ what you failed to quote.

Take your own advice and re-read your OP. You said: "What is up with the weird nonsensical reasonS (my emphasis on your use of plural) for making these choices?" That is a GENERAL statement. You then gave an example, but you didn't say something like "what is up with this particular weird reason I heard someone give" and then flow into the example, you made a general comment.

Try saying what you mean. Or doing a better job of backpedalling, at least.

 

[tesscaline]

Take your own advice and re-read your OP. You said: "What is up with the weird nonsensical reasonS (my emphasis on your use of plural) for making these choices?" That is a GENERAL statement. You then gave an example, but you didn't say something like "what is up with this particular weird reason I heard someone give" and then flow into the example, you made a general comment.

Try saying what you mean. Or doing a better job of backpedalling, at least.

You failing at reading comprehension is not my fault. I'm not backpedaling, and I don't need to. You took statements out of context, applied some made up intent behind them, and then attacked that instead of what I actually said.

I'm sorry that you're overly defensive about vegetarianism to the point that you think that health concerns are considered a "weird reason". No where did I say that health concerns were a "weird reason" and nothing in my post even intimated such a concept. But that didn't stop you from going on some sort of militaristic sortie about it anyway. Fine. You wanna throw a temper tantrum about some imagined insult? You can do that. It makes you look like an idiot who lacks any sort of reading comprehension skills, but you can go right on ahead and do it if you so desire.

 

[bigred]

Hey the pot/kettle thing. What a surprise.

You also make less and less sense as you go on, meaning you're either on drugs, a troll, or simply a moron (or a combo platter). I really don't care which, but thx for proving that this discussion and discussions in general w/you are pointless sooner vs later. buh bye

 

[MatildaGage]

I find omnivores tend to be really preachy. I have a few in my life who deliberately try to trick me into eating meat, even if they have to lie to do it.

I have had many a conversation with omnis where they interrogate me, give me erroneous advice, criticize, then conclude with, "Well, as long as you don't try to convert me." LOL

Silly really. What one puts on one's plate is one's own business. (Unless it's live infants or something.)

 

[23_Tauri]

Fruits are the sexual organs of plants.

If you think I'm going to do a photoshop for that you've got another thing coming!

 

[23_Tauri]

What ruminants are really good at doing is taking something that humans can not digest - cellulose - and turning into something that humans can digest - protein. There is a lot of land in the world that is not suitable for raising crops.

'xactly, which is why the Welsh farm sheep in the Welsh mountains. This makes use of land that would otherwise not support any food, as it's too cold, too mountainous and the soil's too thin to grow crops.

 

[tesscaline]

What ruminants are really good at doing is taking something that humans can not digest - cellulose - and turning into something that humans can digest - protein. There is a lot of land in the world that is not suitable for raising crops. My land, for example. My land grows weeds and sticks like you would not believe. Alas. I can not eat weeds and sticks. My goats can, though, and therefore produce goat chops and milk and cheese. Those things, I can eat.

This is what I don't get about that reasoning that "vegetables are easier to digest" thing that acquaintance of mine told me. We can't digest cellulose. So how exactly are vegetables easier to digest? *shakes my head*

 

[23_Tauri]

This is what I don't get about that reasoning that "vegetables are easier to digest" thing that acquaintance of mine told me. We can't digest cellulose. So how exactly are vegetables easier to digest? *shakes my head*

I think the reasoning for this statement (which is poorly defined IMO, hence the confusion) is based on the fact that protein and fats take longer to be broken down than carbohydrates, particularly simple carbohydrates. It's a nonsense though, because some vegetable based foods contain significant amounts of proteins or fats. Vegetables though, are in the main complex carbohydrates. Following your acquaintance's argument we should all live on white bread and sugar, because it's broken down to glucose super-quick. A diet high in substances that are "easy to digest" is actually bad for you because it leads to spikes on blood glucose levels and stress on the pancreas.

 

[tesscaline]

I think the reasoning for this statement (which is poorly defined IMO, hence the confusion) is based on the fact that protein and fats take longer to be broken down than carbohydrates, particularly simple carbohydrates. It's a nonsense though, because some vegetable based foods contain significant amounts of proteins or fats. Vegetables though, are in the main complex carbohydrates. Following your acquaintance's argument we should all live on white bread and sugar, because it's broken down to glucose super-quick. A diet high in substances that are "easy to digest" is actually bad for you because it leads to spikes on blood glucose levels and stress on the pancreas.

Yep. More of the reason why I found the "reasoning" so confusing. It was just pure insanity. Took every ounce of my willpower not to launch into a lecture on the human digestive system, the chemical makeup of foods, and the biology of how the two interact... Oy.