Minutus

Vegans don't eat eggs and many appear healthier than some who do.
For the past 3 weeks I've gone mostly animal sat fat FREE, gluten/wheat FREE, no dairy, no cheese, no red meat, no pork, no nuts, no artificial sweeteners. Only some lean chicken and turkey.
Not easy after a lifetime of Atkins high animal fat dieting and takes a few weeks to adjust and get the kinks out.
Goodbye heavy cream, hello Silk organic unsweetened soymilk, coconut milk.
Goodbye French butter , hello Earth Balance vegan organic buttery whipped spread.
Amy's Gluten/Dairy Free Bean Burrito actually tastes good!
My fats now mainly come from avocado, flax, hemp, olive oils.
Feeling much lighter, calmer, less aches, pains, diabetes symptoms greatly reduced, blood sugar stays lower while I've been eating more carbs than ever, fruits, vegetables, sweet potatoes, lots of organic brown rice as steamed, tortilla, Rice Dream frozen, bread, rice cakes, hummus.
Hope the arsenic in brown rice doesn't cause new problems!
The strong desire for beef is waning and not craving it any longer.
I don't feel sleepy after eating as I did when eating animal products and the whole digestion process seems effortless.
My inherently weak, poor detoxifying liver seems to like it and hasn't been happy processing cholesterol from animal foods, which shows on the scale, now at lowest weight I've been in years.
Stopped most supplements & fish oils without losing energy and only take probiotics, B12 and CoQ-10.
I knew this change could become permanent when I threw out all my frozen Atkins meals a few days ago along with some frozen beef.
Whether I can go totally vegan or at least stay on current track remains to be seen, though when I had a little cheese, yogurt, I got stomach upset.
I always laughed when reading that plant based high carb diets can reverse diabetes, but it may actually be true.
You acquire a Zen-like awareness.
I credit continued constitutional, anti-psoric and anti-miasmatic daily LMs with delivering me to this life transforming phase to finally address dietary maintaining causes which were already appearing in blood tests showing high C-reactive protein meaning high inflammation, now being implicated in many ageing diseases.
While the jury is out on homeopathy's effect on genetics, looks very effective on epigenetics.
Hopefully I can silence the constant guilt & fear inducing mantra from allopathic MDs, that you MUST take insulin, MUST take statins, MUST take high blood pressure drugs, MUST have gastric bypass surgery as the primary health solution.
Susan

Finally a cult worth joining! More legit reasons to go vegan, save the planet!
Susan
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/199 ... estock-eat
Animal protein production requires more than eight times as much fossil-fuel energy than production of plant protein while yielding animal protein that is only 1.4 times more nutritious for humans than the comparable amount of plant protein, according to the Cornell ecologist's analysis.
Tracking food animal production from the feed trough to the dinner table, Pimentel found broiler chickens to be the most efficient use of fossil energy, and beef, the least. Chicken meat production consumes energy in a 4:1 ratio to protein output; beef cattle production requires an energy input to protein output ratio of 54:1. (Lamb meat production is nearly as inefficient at 50:1, according to the ecologist's analysis of U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics. Other ratios range from 13:1 for turkey meat and 14:1 for milk protein to 17:1 for pork and 26:1 for eggs.)
Animal agriculture is a leading consumer of water resources in the United States, Pimentel noted. Grain-fed beef production takes 100,000 liters of water for every kilogram of food. Raising broiler chickens takes 3,500 liters of water to make a kilogram of meat. In comparison, soybean production uses 2,000 liters for kilogram of food produced; rice, 1,912; wheat, 900; and potatoes, 500 liters. "Water shortages already are severe in the Western and Southern United States and the situation is quickly becoming worse because of a rapidly growing U.S. population that requires more water for all of its needs, especially agriculture," Pimentel observed.
Livestock are directly or indirectly responsible for much of the soil erosion in the United States, the ecologist determined. On lands where feed grain is produced, soil loss averages 13 tons per hectare per year. Pasture lands are eroding at a slower pace, at an average of 6 tons per hectare per year. But erosion may exceed 100 tons on severely overgrazed pastures, and 54 percent of U.S. pasture land is being overgrazed.
"More than half the U.S. grain and nearly 40 percent of world grain is being fed to livestock rather than being consumed directly by humans," Pimentel said. "Although grain production is increasing in total, the per capita supply has been decreasing for more than a decade. Clearly, there is reason for concern in the future."

EIGHT MEATY FACTS ABOUT ANIMAL FOOD

From "Livestock Production: Energy Inputs and the Environment"
By David Pimentel
-- WHERE'S THE GRAIN? The 7 billion livestock animals in the United States consume five times as much grain as is consumed directly by the entire American population.
-- HERBIVORES ON THE HOOF. Each year an estimated 41 million tons of plant protein is fed to U.S. livestock to produce an estimated 7 million tons of animal protein for human consumption. About 26 million tons of the livestock feed comes from grains and 15 million tons from forage crops. For every kilogram of high-quality animal protein produced, livestock are fed nearly 6 kg of plant protein.
-- FOSSIL FUEL TO FOOD FUEL. On average, animal protein production in the U.S. requires 28 kilocalories (kcal) for every kcal of protein produced for human consumption. Beef and lamb are the most costly, in terms of fossil fuel energy input to protein output at 54:1 and 50:1, respectively. Turkey and chicken meat production are the most efficient (13:1 and 4:1, respectively). Grain production, on average, requires 3.3 kcal of fossil fuel for every kcal of protein produced. The U.S. now imports about 54 percent of its oil; by the year 2015, that import figure is expected to rise to 100 percent.
-- THIRSTY PRODUCTION SYSTEMS. U.S. agriculture accounts for 87 percent of all the fresh water consumed each year. Livestock directly use only 1.3 percent of that water. But when the water required for forage and grain production is included, livestock's water usage rises dramatically. Every kilogram of beef produced takes 100,000 liters of water. Some 900 liters of water go into producing a kilogram of wheat. Potatoes are even less "thirsty," at 500 liters per kilogram.
-- HOME ON THE RANGE. More than 302 million hectares of land are devoted to producing feed for the U.S. livestock population -- about 272 million hectares in pasture and about 30 million hectares for cultivated feed grains.
-- DISAPPEARING SOIL. About 90 percent of U.S. cropland is losing soil -- to wind and water erosion -- at 13 times above the sustainable rate. Soil loss is most severe in some of the richest farming areas; Iowa loses topsoil at 30 times the rate of soil formation. Iowa has lost one-half its topsoil in only 150 years of farming -- soil that took thousands of years to form.
-- PLENTY OF PROTEIN: Nearly 7 million tons (metric) of animal protein is produced annually in the U.S. -- enough to supply every American man, woman and child with 75 grams of animal protein a day. With the addition of 34 grams of available plant protein, a total of 109 grams of protein is available per capita. The RDA (recommended daily allowance) per adult per day is 56 grams of protein for a mixed diet.
-- OUT TO PASTURE. If all the U.S. grain now fed to livestock were exported and if cattlemen switched to grass-fed production systems, less beef would be available and animal protein in the average American diet would drop from 75 grams to 29 grams per day. That, plus current levels of plant-protein consumption, would still yield more than the RDA for protein.

It is a myth that being vegan helps the planet, it does the opposite!
...Irene
PS It doesn't help an individual who is omnivore by design either. Leve veganism for the herbivores who are designed that way.
--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots/clickhere.html (Veterinary Homeopath.)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."

Everyone also seems to think being vegan is good for the animals.
I am not talking those disgusting factory farms either. Most farmers is know are kind to their animals and do not raise them in overcrowded conditions and inhumanely. Stressed and improperly fed animals do not give milk, eggs, or put on weight.
If a farmer couldn't sell his animals, he would not raise them. Biodiversity is bad enough now but would be totally gone without a market.
Maria

Sent from my iPhone

Well it is if they are herbivores - except of course they ALL need mother's milk.
Copper deficiency and VIt A deficiency also prevent milk production.
I know of a newborn tiger being handraised as the mother tiger lacked enough copper and has no milk. The problem was caused by living in a desert area where soil IS depleted of copper and consequently the prey animals used for feeding the cats in the conservation centre in this dessert area, ALSO lacked copper.
(The tiger was rescued from someone who wanted it as pet!)
The problems of inappropriate feeding are far more serious in consequence than most people seem to realize. Each animal species (and human) is designed (in terms of liver enzymes, digestive metabolsim, ability to make the right ratios of all tissues, immune system components, muscle fiber types and ratios etc) for a specific diet without which they can not be healthy, especially longterm.

Namaste,
Irene
--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots/clickhere.html (Veterinary Homeopath.)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."

I am an omnivore. So is every other human being. There are so many telling signs that I wouldn't know where to begin. Our eyes are facing forward, unlike herbivores, whose eyes face to the sides of their heads.

Roger Bird
________________________________

To: minutus@yahoogroups.com
From: minutus@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2014 01:55:41 -0700
Subject: Re: [Minutus] Eggs-LESS, Going Vegan
It is a myth that being vegan helps the planet, it does the opposite!
...Irene
PS It doesn't help an individual who is omnivore by design either. Leve veganism for the herbivores who are designed that way.
--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots/clickhere.html (Veterinary Homeopath.)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."

"1.4 times more nutritious", that's kind of an odd description; in fact, for someone who needs meat (some of us do; I do), eating half-again as much veggie food will simply not do the trick. I did it for 12 years. For the first maybe 2 years I felt better, and after that I kept trying to figure out how to make it work, then gave up when I got pregnant, and never looked back.

(Well actually I did *mentally* look back often; still WISH I could be a veggie, and find it conceptually weird to be a critter-eater, but am now reconciled to it.)

Soy is often used for "meat substitutes", but it's a common allergen, heavily GMO, and in many respects kind of an anti-food. (Maybe not so much if organic / non-GMO, and also sprouted or fermented, but does not work very well for someone who actually needs meat.)
The preferred way to raise beef is on pasture. That can be done with benefit to the environment and economy (though it could never be produced in as vast a quantity or at as low a cost as CAFOs do!); as part of a rotation would be ideal.
Only if they are being raised under unnatural conditions, in which case they are something of an unnatural food.
There are so many problems with soy as a food, even apart from the GMO factor.
That is because of poor *practices*. Similarly, poor practices in agriculture are directly responsible for soil depletion, nutrient depletion, surface- and groundwater contamination, and if we include various other political and social mismanagement, for so many other ills…

I wish I had time to keep going with this, very interesting thread to me.
I'm happy to hear others weighing in on reasons why veganism "looks better on paper (at least at first glance)", but actually isn't sustainable, either for individuals or ecologically.

Shannon

Oprah was taken to court years ago by the USA beef industry for making negative comments on her TV show about beef due to Mad Cow Disease where cattle feed included animal parts leading to the this fatal neurological disease.
Humans in UK and Canada developed fatal Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease by consuming food from animals infected with Mad Cow. There are also fears--based on animal studies that consuming beef or beef products containing prion particles can also be a cause.
Japan and other countries did and may still prohibit imported beef from USA and other countries.
During the height of the mad-cow scare in 1996, Oprah invited Howard Lyman, a cattle rancher turned vegetarian, onto her show to discuss controversial practices within the beef industry, including a process now banned in the U.S. called "rendering," which involves turning cow organs into feed for other cattle. While Winfrey challenged some of Lyman's more outlandish statements — which included the suggestion that the disease could become as infectious as AIDS — she exclaimed at one point that his revelations had "stopped me cold from eating another hamburger!" Beef prices plunged for nearly two weeks after the episode aired, eventually reaching a 10-year low. In response, a group of angry cattle ranchers in Texas filed a $10.3 million lawsuit claiming she defamed the entire industry. They lost. "Free speech not only lives, it rocks," Oprah told reporters in February 1998 after the Amarillo, Texas, jury ruled in her favor. "I'm still off hamburgers," she added.
http://content.time.com/time/specials/p ... 75,00.html
CJD can take many years to appear, so no way of knowing if beef you ate 10 years ago will come back to kill you. I remember reading beef on the bone is more problematic and ground beef since it contains various parts.
Unless you source each piece of beef you eat, buy from expensive Coleman, NIman Ranch, etc. no way of ensuring that all the feed used is animal free even though illegal to use in the USA.
While the risk of contracting CJD may be similar to Ebola, it's not 100% risk free if you eat beef.
Susan

There is no part of life whatever, that is completely risk-free. All we can do is to choose our risks wisely.

Some forms of risk-avoidance carry along with them consequences that in their damage go far beyond the risks that they are trying to avoid. (But this also goes again to *sustainable* practices, and caring for animals appropriately; I don't believe any pastured (i.e. appropriately fed) animal ever carried that disease.)

I am an omnivore. So is every other human being. There are so many telling signs that I wouldn't know where to begin. Our eyes are facing forward, unlike herbivores, whose eyes face to the sides of their heads.

You choose to eat omnivore doesn't mean you must.
The bushmaster snake whose venom is used to make Lachesis is not an herbivore yet has eyes on the side.
http://www.survivalprimer.com/21110133.gif
Humans are 99% genetically identical to gorillas who are herbivores, they don't eat meat.
Susan