healthy vegetarian

[abifae]

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[savingdogs]

My grandma was hale and hearty until about age 90 and almost lived to be 100, on a HORRIBLE diet that consisted mostly of cheap beer, cigarettes and one meal a day, not particularly healthy. Just sayin'

Some folks are lucky and are naturally healthy. You cannot make scientific decisions based on anecdotal evidence.

 

[freemotion]

We won't be seeing too many more like your grandma (and my grandpa) in the future in this country. The difference is that those people grew up in a different era and got a fantastic start nutritionally. Their parents were producing children at a time when everyone ate pasture-raised animal foods and relied heavily on the family gardens. They also ate live culture foods regularly and things like trans fats, GMO foods, chemical fertilizers and herbicides, mono-cropping, CAFO's, antibiotics, growth hormones.....I could go on.....were not in the food supply. People today start out at a serious disadvantage so many CANNOT survive on a vegetarian diet, and certainly not on a fully vegan diet, and be in optimal health.

 

[abifae]

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[savingdogs]

It is especially hard for children to be vegetarian. My daughter wanted to become one at about age 9. Our doctor sat us down when I discussed it with him and he begged me to reconsider allowing this. She has always been short and he was concerned she just wouldn't GROW enough. That sounded pretty serious to me.

To me the basic idea that we have been meat eaters for eons, it doesn't make sense that our bodies would be able to do without. I understand the concept of not wanting to kill/consume animals as I could not eat my dog, my goat or my cat, but ......

You just can't replace everything with a vitamin pill. Most vegetarians I knew didn't eat carefully, they just skipped meat.

 

[freemotion]

I believe people can only be successful vegetarians (if they are among the very few who can be healthy this way....NOT vegan, there is plenty of evidence that humans cannot successfully be totally vegan) if they are either very wealthy and employ a cook or if they are willing to do pretty much all of their own food preparation, and spend plenty of time both preparing their own food and sourcing or growing it.

Most modern vegetarians, especially the little girls and teens, eat a highly processed diet and simply skip the meat. This is very dangerous, especially for growing children. Especially if they eat soy, which most vegetarians eat in fairly large quantities.

Being in the massage industry and an instructor, I have a lot of opportunity to ask people how they eat. I always ask the vegetarians and vegans. I do so in a way that is not challenging....they are proud of it and are very willing to "teach" me and give lots of info. I have yet to meet one who's diet doesn't horrify me. The vegans who were students of mine had some strange behavior issues in class and in their interactions with other people. Many of them start to shake when required to work on clients by mid-afternoon and ask me why and how to correct this. They don't believe me when I say to eat butter and eggs for lunch, LGI veggies, and no refined carbs. Mostly because lunch was bought at the nearby Boston Market and consisted of mashed potatoes, sugary cornbread, a serving of corn, a brownie, and maybe a soda or if they are really "healthy," a Vitamin Water (as much sugar as Coke!)

 

[Wifezilla]

Most modern vegetarians, especially the little girls and teens, eat a highly processed diet and simply skip the meat. This is very dangerous, especially for growing children.

BINGO!

 

[big brown horse]

I've said this before...I was raised as a "healthy" vegetarian (no fake foods) although sometimes I ate what I wanted at my friend's houses when I was a teen. I'm not telling anyone what to eat just giving you my case study for yucks.

My parents always had a HUGE garden and fruit and nut trees, we had raw milk delivered from a neighbor's dairy, used butter, ate cheese (big boxes were sent down from WI every Christmas) and had free range chickens for eggs. Mom never allowed us to take more than 1/2 an asprin at a time, no matter what and pestisides/chemicals were totally banned in our house. My parents were mostly afraid of what the animal was fed (harmones etc.) and how that would affect their children. She also was terrified of bacon b/c of the nitrates or something. I remember she was suspicious of the red "coloring" of bacon. You know there wasn't a lot of info about food back then, so some of her reasons now seem old fashioned to me. Bottom line, if it wasn't in it's natural state she stayed away from it.

I remember once mom did try to have one of her older non laying chickens butchered to serve us and we kids just couldn't eat it...so that was that as far as raising our own meat. (We still talk about the day that "Bertha" made it to the table. )

There were no soy alternatives back then in rural Tx, so mom never used them. Even though she was a terrible cook everything we ate was real food. Mom was and still is best known for her fantastic salads and fresh fruit salads--using yogurt.

Anyway...

My mom and dad are 81 now and still fit as fiddles. They both work, my dad travels for his business, mom is an antique show promoter and has about 5-6 big shows per year all around rural Tx. Her job involves lots of travel, computer work etc. My dad is a swimmer and rides his bike 5 miles every day, even though he suffers from an old injury involving the high dive. Mom used to ride her bike 100 miles per week and still can run circles around me.

We spent a lot of time out in the hot Tx sun year round with no sun protection, us at the pool or on our horses, mom in her gardens all day.

No cancer or any other diseases has ever affected them until 4 years ago at the age of 77 my mom got post menopause breast cancer. I blame it on the fact that she got scared of fat and cholesterol in the 80's and switched from butter to margarine, amped up the bran and fed my dad (or the cats) her egg yolks. By then the old milk man died and his kids sold his dairy cows off...then we went to skim. (Since then, I've never actually drank milk for enjoyment, used it in my coffee but that was it--until recently when I started to buy raw milk.)

Mom had the lump removed and went through treatment and is back to being healthy again. My dad is still 100% healthy.

 

[freemotion]

Exactly, BBH. They started out with a lot "in the bank" so the poor choices later didn't put them too far off track. And all that raw milk and good eggs.....whole foods, etc....that is how it should be done.

Pass the CHEESE!!!

 

[FarmerChick]

my parents are 82 and 83
not on one pill
never had a true sickness of any kind
they can outwork me practically even now...but they are slowing (just a bit )


they ate alot of processed stuff thru their lives, drank hard, both smoked cigs....mom quit at age 77 lol

and this is 'mostly' the story of our family album. we live hard and wild, and don't get too sick and live long. we are a lucky bunch.


AND I HOPE to God every single day that I did inherit every single gene they have that got them thru this life in such a great state of health and happiness!




Everything in moderation! I live by this rule. I will never go super 'fanatic' on any menu plan in my life.

but I sure believe there are definitely healthy vegan and vegetarian menus out there to live on for life. No 2 eating plans will ever be good for everyone. People individually can easily pick and choose foods that suit their needs to promote good health.