Posts by edamame3

When, in the 60's? A lot has changed since then in the field of health and nutrition.

And a lot of vegetarian products are made with this potential deficiency in mind, so they are, in fact, fortified with B12.

Between my fortified almond milk, tofu, cereal, nutritional yeast and bread, I get well over the reccomended amount of B12 every day.

"Yet if someone told me, "I only date people who are Christian, just because it's easier," I really wouldn't respect that person or their opinion."

Yeah, but what if someone said "I only date people who are Christian (or vegetarian) because it is important to me that someone I get intimate and close to considers important the same values as me"?

I wouldn't date someone who is racist, because I don't beleive in that outlook on life and I wouldn't want to get close to someone who had that outlook. It's the same type of thing.

I don't know why everyone seems to have a problem with the ethical veg*ns and not the nutritional ones. Perhaps it's threatening?

You can freeze bananas and use them for all sorts of things, including 'ice cream' by blending them in the blender; they come out the consistency of soft serve; add a little cocoa powder and it's just like chocolate ice cream.

And uh, this is going to sound weird, but have you ever heard of dumpster diving? My good friend is a Freegan vegan (meaning she doesn't spend a CENT on groceries) and lives entirely off of 'reclaimed food'.

I have gone with her, and number 1, it's amazing how much food grocery stores throw away that is still in great condition. number 2, most of this food is thrown out BEFORE the sell by date (NOT the use by date!!!), is in it's original packaging, and is separated from everything else in the dumpster with plastic bags. I'm squeamish, and I found the food well protected enough that I had no problem eating it. I also have a US Sanitation Certificate for food, so I know what dangers exist with this, and I still think it's relatively safe, as long as you use your own judgement.

Trader Joes is the worst around here; when we dumpster dove, we found a big plastic bag full of tons and tons of untouched Ezekial Bread, and they had all been thrown out on their sell by date, which means that had I come to Trader Joes just a couple of hours earlier that day, I could have bought that same bread in the store.

Look up Dumpster Diving online; I know it's weird, but it saves money and helps our world to live off of the excesses we produce.

...and I know plenty of Catholics who get divorced, lie and have sex out of wedlock. Does that mean that's what Catholics strive for?

"That's a really important point.   When people advocate diets dating pre the development of agriculture they often forget that the average lifespan was well under 40."

Not really true; my first major was Cultural Anthropology, and we did a lot of studies on the !Kung bushmen of the Kalahari desert, as they are one of the last surviving hunter and gatherer tribes on the planet, and in being so, they give us a great glimpse into what life might have been like before agriculture.

It must be noted that the !Kung inhabit the Kalahari desert, which is not known for it's abundance of resources. Still, the bushmen live well into their 60's and 70's. It's pretty much the same as our lifespan, though when they die it is usually because of something modern medicine could prevent, rather than lifestyle diseases like cancer.

Here's a great article on the !Kung and their lifespan and lifestyle:

http://tobyspeople.com/anthropik/2006/01/thes is-25-civilization-reduces-quality-of-life/

Kudos to you for just having one piece!

Did you know that it is EXPECTED in behavior modification to relapse to old behaviors? That is how the brain works; you try to instill a new behavior, and you fall back on the old one a few times until finally, you're doing it less and less and you've made a change for good.

Just expect that this is going to happen here and there, and don't make it a big deal in your head, because it's not. The bigger deal you make it, the higher your chances of falling are!

Good luck!~

This one is from Angela Stokes, and it's actually the same recipe we used at the raw restaurant I used to work at for our Thanksgiving Food Boxes. I've tried it out at home and it's just as easy to make with non-professional equipment, and tastes great! If you're a fan of pecan pie, this recipe is bound to satisfy as it bears a striking similarity to the flavor you love without all the refined ingredients.

Yield: 1 (8-in.) pie Prep Time: 20 minutes

3 1/2 cups pecans

3 1/2 cups pitted dates

1/2 cup raisins, soaked 2 cups filtered water

1/4 cup date/raisin soak water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 cup agave nectar

1. Place 3 cups pecans and 1 1/2 cups dates in a food processor fitted with an S-shaped blade. Blend on high speed for 30 to 40 seconds or until mixture sticks together and runs up the sides without falling into the center. You may need to add more dates.

2. Press crust into a pie pan, making a layer around the bottom and sides at least 1/4-inch thick. (No need to oil the pan.)

3. Place 1 cup dates and raisins in a small bowl with filtered water. Allow to soak for at least 20 minutes.

4. Place remaining 1 cup dates, soaked dates, raisins, 1/4 cup soak water, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and agave nectar in a blender and blend on high speed until a thick, relatively smooth mixture forms.

5. Pour mixture into the piecrust and layer the top with remaining 1/2 cup pecans. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. You want pie chilled so it keeps its form when sliced. (but after you slice it, feel free to heat it up a little...just enough so it's warm, not enough to kill the enzymes ;-)

Feel free to top with raw vegan vanilla ice cream (or just plain ol vegan vanilla ice cream) and you're good to go!

I like honey, too. And I like fish, and cheese, and filet. But since I am vegan, it doesn't matter if I like them! :-P

Noodles and Company.

Not only do most of the sauces taste canned, but the simple principle of paying more than 50 cents for noodles is a little weird; Noodles are like the cheapest food around; I can't imagine ordering pasta in a restaurant knowing that. The mark up on noodles is just incredible.

Also, I once got a tomato basil soup at Noodles and Company, and I swear to Golly they gave me a bowl of the same tomato sauce they put on the spaghetti.

At least they serve alcohol.

EDIT: omigod I am sorry to the original poster, I had been following these replies and I totally forgot about the original post! Ania kind of hijacked it...so sorry! This is the last I'll post that is off topic!

A fruitarian diet is 100% fruit, when you use the biological definition of fruit. Most practicing fruitarians know this, which is why I asked her for more info. She emailed me and I don't think she understands what a fruitarian diet is, either, but I wasn't sure of that by simply looking at her post.

And you can't really know if it is a healthy diet if you haven't researched the diet. And I don't even mean you personally; I mean the general public; most people aren't too clear on fruitarianism and veganism and raw foodism and all those 'isms'. That's the only reason I made such a big deal about clearly defining what a real fruitarian diet is here, so the mods don't delete it out thinking it's an eating disorder.

The first to subsist on a fruitarian diet were zen and buddhist monks, hence the reason it is commonly referred to as a zen diet. It's essentially eating without causing ANY harm, which means you are not only not eating animals, you are also only eating the parts of the plant that the plant wants you to eat, hence the 'fruit' of the plant. This includes a lot more than it seems to.

Ania, look this up and log in your food on Calorie Count to make sure your calories are all there (which, with dates, nuts, dried fruit and figs, seeds, avocados, bananas, nut butters, etc, is a lot more easy to do than it sounds. Remember, even chocolate is a fruit!), and pay attention to your protein/fat/carbohydrate balance to make sure it is...well, balanced. It will take a LOT of work and research on your end, and if you're not willing to do it, then DON'T be a fruitarian. It will give a bad name to those who legitimately are fruitarians, and you'll end up harming yourself, which is one of the tenants of fruitarianism: harm none, INCLUDING yourself.

I know this thread is old but I read this comment by girl4moon:

"(our brains grew all those years back because of the addition of meat into humans' diets)"

So are you saying that traditionally vegetarian cultures, like the vedas in India, for example, have less developed brains because they DIDN'T add meat to their diets all those years? By your logic, carnivores like tigers and lions would have been far superior in intelligence than us at this point, with more developed brains.

And, just so you know, since everyone seems to point to the hunters and gatherers when we debate whether or not humans should eat meat, just know there are still hunter and gatherer societies in existance today that function much like the first hunter and gatherer societies in human history, and they are lucky if they get meat once per month. It is a once in a while thing; men go out on hunting trips and are gone for weeks at a time, meanwhile women (and men while they're on the road) are living off of nuts, seeds, berries, fruits and vegetables.

That's the diet we are talking about when we are talking about 'what grew our brains'.

Ania, what kind of fruitarian diet do you follow, out of curiousity? As to everyone else (including moderators), don't freak out just yet, fruitarian diets should include nuts, berries, seeds, vegetables; anything with seeds in it is technically a fruit. It's essentially a raw food diet, not including tubers and whatnot, and can be done very healthily. So don't discard the post just yet.

I concurr, UD!

oh yeah and about the raw thing I also wanted to add that it is proven that raw diets are helpful to cancer patients and people with terminal illnesses, mostly because the raw diet does not cause acidosis and generalized inflammation and leukocytosis that cooked food can cause. So it may not solve problems, but it almost always generally helps. We were meant to consume raw foods; look at nuts as the perfect example: the fats turn rancid when they are cooked, making roasted almonds pretty bad for you, whereas raw almonds have all of the benefits.

There is legitimate science backing this up, it's not just a bunch of hippies in a commune somewhere lol

But yeah you said you're seeing a doctor, and that you're under the supervision of both a regular doctor and a psychotherapist, so I'm not going to tell you to go see a doctor again.

Alright, time for one of the crazies to weigh in, here:

So yeah, you mentioned raw and living foods; I know you said you don't want food to take over your life. I felt the exact same way.

However, I started doing raw fasts; meaning I would eat only raw foods for 10 days straight. I would always feel SO GOOD and have SO MUCH ENERGY during the fasts, but then when I started adding back cooked foods, I started to feel the same again. Then, I realized there was a whole community of people who just never went off the fast...I went to a raw food potluck, and sampled cheesecake (made from cashews), brownies, decadent chocolate pudding (made from avocados, believe it or not), tacos, fajitas, pizza, etc..., all raw and living, all vegan. It tasted so good, I thought 'why ever eat cooked food when raw food tastes this good and makes me feel so good?'

I did have to learn how to make food for myself and how to survive day to day as a raw foodist, but I got the hang of it. And rather than feeling like food became my life, I felt like my diet gave me my life back. Because really, once you get the hang of raw 'uncooking', it's actually quicker and easier than regular cooking. It's just different.

I don't eat a 100% raw and living diet (I used to, for about a year); now I'm at about 50% raw and I still feel good, but not as good as I felt at 100%.

Anyway, I'm just saying that the raw diet might be a small price to pay for the energy and feel-goodness that you'd get from it, so maybe don't dismiss it as an option right away. Maybe try 10 days in a row eating raw or something and see how you feel? I mean, raw is as clean as it gets lol!

Just a suggestion! Good luck!