Topic: So apparently I'm going to be a vegetarian.

[Quemaqua]

I guess maybe after over 3 months of excessive alcohol and tobacco consumption I decided it was time to make some better choices.  I'm also a fucking animal rights hippy, though ultimately that has less to do with it than just doing something healthier for myself.  Already been doing good with walking/jogging, at about 4 and a half to 6 miles about 2 to 4 times a week, got some other gear for the house for strength training, and have been eating at least relatively healthy for the last while... but this should complete that end of things.

Now I just have to figure out how to ditch the cigarettes and stop drinking whiskey like it was water.

[Xessive]

Good for you, man. The hard part is keeping it up but I think you can handle it.

I've been cutting down on red meat over the last couple of months and as much as I love beef I do feel better overall.

[sirean_syan]

Huh. When I saw the title I thought it was more something a doctor told you than a personal decision. So, that's good.

Aimee and I really don't eat much meat at home when we cook for ourselves, so sometimes I feel like I could do it. The thing is meat is too much of a treat for me and it sometimes seems harder to cut out treats rather than staples.

[scottws]

I could never be a vegetarian.  At least I could not fathom it right now.  I'm a big-time red meat eater.  I can't think of not eating it even though I know it could take 20 years+ off my life if I don't eat less of it.

[idolminds]

I'm like scott, its just not going to happen. But I eat a lot of vegetables as it is so its not like I'm a total carnivore to begin with. Theres no way I can go full on vegetarian.

But thats cool man. I'll let you know if I see some good vegi recipes and stuff.

[angrykeebler]

man..i tried to go vegan a few years ago due to health reasons. i lasted 2 days and went to In N out

[ren]

Being vegetarian isn't that hard if you know how to cook. A lot of people that try only make the same few dishes again and then get bored and eat junk food or go back to meat. Also, Western vegetarian food is really boring and bland compared to Asian food.

[Xessive]

I was vegetarian for a good 5 months a few years back. I had to switch back to eating meat. Sure I was leaner but I felt like something was missing.

Anyway, it's always better to quit the things that are bad for you when it's still your choice and not when the doctor says you have to.

[Cobra951]

I worked with a girl who was a vegetarian, until her hair started to fall out.  That cured her of that notion quickly.

Yeah, I know you can get good protein without meat, if you really know your what you're doing.  But nothing is a better source of protein than a good steak. 

[W7RE]

I'm trying to find somewhere to get some cow brains because I want to try something new for my birthday in a week or so. I told my family I want to try brain tacos, which I've heard are pretty common in Mexico, and even on taco trucks out on the west coast.

My mom found a site where someone claimed that red meat causes you to drink, smoke, beat your wife, and gives you a desire for war. So if you cut out the red meat, that should make cutting back on the drinking and smoking easy, right?

EDIT: oh, and I agree with Maddox:

Why is it that vegans are the most violent, batshit psychotic morons out there in the universe?

I have a theory: The amount of time that it takes for someone to tell you about their stupid diets is inversely proportional to the amount of meat that they don't eat, and directly proportional to how big of an asshole they are.

[scottws]

Don't eat brains.  That's one of the major causes Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease ("mad cow disease").

[ren]

Have you tried cow tongue? It's a bit different and pretty good.

[W7RE]

Don't eat brains.  That's one of the major causes Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease ("mad cow disease").

Well, isn't eating regular beef from a "mad cow" pretty bad in itself? From a quick Google search, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease seems to be the human variant of Mad Cow Disease, and comes from eating the brains of a cow that has Mad Cow Disease (possibly from the rest of the beef too). So just like eating regular beef, I want some from a healthy animal.

[Xessive]

I thought we, Arabs, made the most of animal parts until I encountered the Chinese. There are no limits with the Chinese: everything goes. Eat it all. Done eating but some left? Dry it out and eat it later.

[Quemaqua]

Haha, the fact that this thread has turned into a discussion about eating meat speaks volumes about the good people at Overwritten.  I love you guys, I really do.

And for the record, I really do fucking love meat.  I also really love vegetables, but the no meat thing is a conscious decision, not just on a whim because I don't eat much of the stuff anyway or whatever.  And there's probably no way in hell I could ever go vegan.  That's really hard.  I'd just like to cut out some of the worst parts of my diet and stick to things that are better for me.  I don't know if I'll ever give up fish, for instance, and thus may never be truly vegetarian.  I'm just sort of going to play it by ear and see what the first few stages bring me.

And yeah Cobra, if you're suffering adverse physical effects from a vegetarian diet, then you're totally doing it wrong.  Your health should be increasing, not decreasing, and you need to be mindful of not only general human dietary needs but your own personal needs too.  Nobody's exactly the same as far as what they need.

[ScaryTooth]

Cool man, good for you. I don't eat a ton of meat myself. But I do like it. I eat chicken or tuna about once a week. I love red meat, but it really messes with me, so I eat it really sparingly. Like 3 or 4 times a year anymore. If it's not the lean stuff, it absolutely kills my stomach, I get horrible cramps and about shit my guts out. No idea why it does that to me. My body just doesn't like red meat or greasy foods.

Anyway, here are a few things that I like to fix that are freaking awesome.

African Peanut Stew

Fix that stuff up with some good corn bread, and you got some delicious stuff there.

Avocado Corn Salsa

Stuff is amazing. I love anything avocado. I modify the recipe slightly though. I omit the olives, I use two Roma tomatoes, and I add two stalks of green onion. Grab some corn chips and go to town. I also like it on sandwiches and stuff. It's great.

Mango couscous

Just a really good side. Or main dish if you want.

Swiss Muesli

My favorite easy breakfast. It's easy to make, and I make a decent size container of it, that lasts me about 3 days or so. I like to change the fruit up a little bit, I like to put apples, and grapes in mine. Really good stuff.

[angrykeebler]

I thought we, Arabs, made the most of animal parts until I encountered the Chinese. There are no limits with the Chinese: everything goes. Eat it all. Done eating but some left? Dry it out and eat it later.

Fuckin' asians man..fuckin' asians

[gpw11]

Cut refined sugar out motherfucker.  Huge health benefits right there, even if you're switching to artificial sweeteners.

[Quemaqua]

Artificial sweeteners are terrible for you too, most of them are indigestable chemical crap.  There are good natural sweeteners that make good alternatives.  Doesn't matter much to me because I'm not big on sweet stuff and very rarely consume any raw sugar.  My biggest sugar intake right now is alcohol, but that's slowing down quite a lot.

[Ghandi]

I don't know if I could be a vegetarian because I love steak too much (chicken and pork would be easier to give up). There are lots of vegetarians in my family, though, and many of them cook really well. I always enjoy their vegetarian dishes.

[ScaryTooth]

Not great quality but awesome.

Milk and eggs bitch!

[ren]

I don't know if I could be a vegetarian because I love steak too much (chicken and pork would be easier to give up). There are lots of vegetarians in my family, though, and many of them cook really well. I always enjoy their vegetarian dishes.

I just hate labels. 90% of my meals are vegetarian and about half of those are vegan. But I would never classify myself as vegetarian because then I wouldn't be able to eat a steak or a burger on a whim. Or you turn into one of those people who refuses the food offered to you by a host and ends up looking like a jerk and making everybody feel awkward.

If you do it for religious or ethical reasons that's one thing but if you decide to cut out meat to be healthier, becoming entirely vegetarian seems like a pointless and limiting step.

[scottws]

There is a guy at work who is a vegetarian and honestly it's pretty ridiculous.  Someone was ribbing him about it a bit and asked him how he knew they didn't use any animal products in the oil they put in the rice at Chipotle, and since then he refuses to go and eat there.  I also took a business trip with him to nowhere Wisconsin and I was nice and didn't eat without him which meant I ate nothing but Subway sandwiches for lunch and vending machine snacks for dinner.  "Vegetarian" is like a bad word in Wisconsin.

[idolminds]

Its Wisconsin. I think gravy is considered a beverage there.

[Xessive]

Is Wisconsin the fattest state? I recall reading some articles about it having the highest percentage of obese people in the U.S. Then there are the fat jokes about it, of course.

We've all seen the weird, prick-like behaviour of vegans, which often involve lectures and snap judgements, but do we see that same pattern in people who don't drink vs people who do? I was just thinking to myself "God, I hope I don't sound like a total prick just because I don't drink." I just wonder if the attitude is involuntary or they are just bitchy people who'll be bitchy about anything that they're rolling with.

[ren]

I don't really see that attitude among non-drinkers. Actually, it's usually the opposite scenario where the drinkers are giving the non-drinkers a hard time for being 'no fun'.

[scottws]

They are no fun.

[Xessive]

Ah c'mon, Scott! I'm fun! I am awesomeness incarnate! Granted my primary reason for not drinking is that I have no inhibitions to begin with so I fear what would happen if I did drink. Religion is like the 3rd or 4th reason.

I've come across pricks from both sides. Some non-drinkers (primarily religious zealots) get all upitty and won't even want to be in an area where there is alcohol, surgical spirits included. I actually saw some ignoramus panic in a hospital when she discovered what surgical spirits were! haha

On the other side, I've encountered some douchebags who make snap judgements about me when they discover that I don't drink, like "Oh, you don't drink.. Like, at all? Yeah.. ok.. so, what do you do for fun? Scrabble?"

[angrykeebler]

xessive would make a bad ass designated driver

[scottws]

Sorry, Xessive, I was talking tongue-in-cheek.  I have a couple of close friends who don't drink.

[idolminds]

On the other side, I've encountered some douchebags who make snap judgements about me when they discover that I don't drink, like "Oh, you don't drink.. Like, at all? Yeah.. ok.. so, what do you do for fun? Scrabble?"

This one always makes me laugh. Thinking you can't have fun without drinking says more about them than it does you.

[gpw11]

Artificial sweeteners are terrible for you too, most of them are indigestable chemical crap.  There are good natural sweeteners that make good alternatives.  Doesn't matter much to me because I'm not big on sweet stuff and very rarely consume any raw sugar.  My biggest sugar intake right now is alcohol, but that's slowing down quite a lot.

Yeah, I'm not foolish enough to believe that artificial sweeteners are good for you (or just not bad for you) by any means but a lot of people avoid them almost superstitiously for reasons that were brought up in the 70's and proven false multiple times since.

Obviously, the best course of action is to just avoid anything that has a diet version anyways, but if you're the type of person that drinks 2-3 coffees a day and can't do black because of stomach or gastro-intestinal problems and/or sensitivity, you're doing your body a pretty big favour by skipping over the refined sugar and going for the sweet and low.  Of course, the golden mean there is just going for the raw or brown sugar.

As for the drinking thing, one of the key questions they ask you when you take dependency tests is if you can have fun without drinking.  The problem here is that they don't make a specific situational question like "Can you have fun at a sporting event without drinking".  Because what it comes down to is what you're doing.  Yes, I will still enjoy a hockey game without drinking, but chances are I will want to kill some motherfucker if I'm in a club sober.

[ren]

I drink plenty and I would pick Scrabble over going to a club so fast

[sirean_syan]

I think I'd have a hard time choosing. Both sound less fun than being punched in the stomach.

[Cobra951]

I don't really see that attitude among non-drinkers. Actually, it's usually the opposite scenario where the drinkers are giving the non-drinkers a hard time for being 'no fun'.

Maybe we just want to help them live longer.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-08-31/moderate-drinkers-may-toast-research-finding-they-live-longer.html

 

[Xessive]

Haha thanks Keebs, my aspirations exactly

Scrabble is still fun. It's the only board game I have that still has all its pieces.

Regarding artificial sweeteners, aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin are the big ones. Each facing any number of controversies.

I read a research journal that linked aspartame with nerve disease, specifically noting that the symptoms don't appear until about 20 years down the road. The main factor being that about 50% of aspartame can be broken down to phenylalanine and about 40% can be broken down to aspartic acid, both amino acids but have been noted to have adverse effects on neurotransmitter levels and inflict damage on brain and nerve cells.

Mix that information with the public and you have a mass panic.

I tend to avoid artificial sweeteners and given the choice I always go with honey, if I add anything at all.

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, likewise.  I generally use honey to sweeten anything I happen to sweeten, except I'll add a very small pinch of sugar to my eggs if I'm making tamagoyaki.  But that's a super small amount and I make it somewhat infrequently.  So no big deal.  Other than that, I don't add sugar to anything at all, really.

[gpw11]

Haha thanks Keebs, my aspirations exactly

Scrabble is still fun. It's the only board game I have that still has all its pieces.

Regarding artificial sweeteners, aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin are the big ones. Each facing any number of controversies.

I read a research journal that linked aspartame with nerve disease, specifically noting that the symptoms don't appear until about 20 years down the road. The main factor being that about 50% of aspartame can be broken down to phenylalanine and about 40% can be broken down to aspartic acid, both amino acids but have been noted to have adverse effects on neurotransmitter levels and inflict damage on brain and nerve cells.

Mix that information with the public and you have a mass panic.

I tend to avoid artificial sweeteners and given the choice I always go with honey, if I add anything at all.

Hmmmm....who would have thought that an article posted on the health board of my gym would be so wrong.  

[Xessive]

Hmmmm....who would have thought that an article posted on the health board of my gym would be so wrong.  

Haha yeah, the gym propaganda machine is on the move!

There's a lot of bad information floating around and it's hard to tell what's true and what's not. Quite often there's bad information that's biased toward the truth and once it's revealed to be unreliable, inaccurate, or a hoax it just confuses everything (again).

As far as I know small and infrequent amounts of any artificial sweeteners are acceptable; your body will flush them out anyway. It's only when the intake is regular that the problems can occur.

Anyway, along the lines of dietary habits, salt is another concern. Too much salt and the most common effect is high blood pressure, too little and one can suffer from a severe salt deficiency and malnutrition. I try not to add too much salt to my food, especially the savoury stuff but sometimes food needs that extra pinch. Most food already has a good natural amount of salt in it so I don't need to add anything, I just need to tune my taste buds to accept and eventually like that level of salt.

[Quemaqua]

There's also good and bad salt, at least as far as I understand it.  My sister and mother both swear by some stuff that's supposed to be sort of the same idea as raw sugar... not processed and supposedly is far better for you than the mass market stuff as far as the nutrients it actually delivers.