Posts by soaraway

Good for you for going mostly vegan!! Although I'm vegetarian, I am of the opinion that a raw vegan diet is ultimately the healthiest - and I'm not the only one.  There is a LOT of literature out there on diet that will give you ammunition to defend your diet.  It'll give you the ability to say "Did you know...?"  I highly recommend reading Diet for a New America by John Robbins and maybe also subscribing to an informative podcast (I love the one from "Compassionate Cooks" - http://www.compassionatecooks.com/).  Good luck!  I'm sure you'll do fine :D

I've never had an ed, so you might think this is coming out of left field a bit, but it might be helpful... in Judaism, we have a concept called the "yetzer hara."  Literally, that means the "evil inclination," but it is different for every person.  I guess in your case, you could consider your ed part of this, or an instrument, however you like to look at it.  It is said in Judaism that the yetzer hara is the only thing where it gets stronger the more you fight it.  From reading the posts here about ed, it makes me think it's pretty similar - if you're constantly trying to beat it head on, it'll constantly be at the forefront of your mind and it might never leave you alone.  So maybe try the tactic my rabbi gave me for fighting it - tell it ok!  If your ed tells you "don't eat, starve yourself!" then tell it "Ok, I won't eat, I'll starve myself - but NOT RIGHT NOW."  When you start feeling that way it's kind of like caving in and giving that little desire what it wants to hear, but not giving it right away.  Every time it starts bothering you, just procrastinate.  And while it sounds strange saying to procrastinate starving yourself, you can totally do it.  Whenever it says that to you just grab a quick piece of fruit or a handful of nuts and say "Yeah, of course, Mr. ED, I will give you whatever you want - just not NOW."  The trick is, of course, that "later" never comes - it's ALWAYS "now."

I hope that trick helps you - it's good in other areas of life, too.  Good luck and keep up the good work!  I think it's so impressive whenever I hear of someone tackling and triumphing over a struggle like this!

Oooh fun :)  I'm 122, give or take 4 lbs for fluctuations (I fluctuate a lot haha).  Woo!

Original Post by ohtobethinagain:

I was vegan when I got pregnant and oddly enough, started craving chicken and pork BBQ.  That's actually how I knew something was up.  LOL!  For probably the first 4 or 5 months, I felt like I was starving and the only thing that would make that go away was meat.  So, I just gave into that. 

I think this is a more common occurrence than people realize.  I have a very good friend who was vegetarian for years.  During her second pregnancy the same thing happened to her.  She gave in and is now definitely a carnivore.

I just hope the same thing doesn't happen to me some day! :O

I positively LOVE them.  To me, they taste like real hot dogs except without that nasty acidic grossness.  I don't know how else to describe it... except to say perhaps that they are hot dogs idealized.  LOVE THEM! :D

ETA: I'm talking about Smart Dogs.  I wouldn't switch brands for the world... nothing compares!

No, I definitely would not. However, because I keep kosher I have a really good defense in the kosher laws.  The kosher laws would say that because the soy burgers were cooked in the meat juice, it would give them the status of meat - which would mean I couldn't have dairy products for 6 hours or so afterwards.  My simple rule is... if I can't have a glass of milk right after, I can't eat it.

Anyway, I'm totally with you.  To me it's exactly the same thing as being offered chicken soup and being told "But there are no chunks of chicken in it!" 

Original Post by starcrossdlovex:

Original Post by soaraway:

starcrossd - good job ignoring the valid points made by other posters regarding the media. You are clearly just another example of someone who is incapable of taking responsibility for your own actions and instead sees fit to make excuses for yourself and others. I wish people would quit making excuses and start accepting the consequences of their actions and taking responsibility, rather than blaming it all on the media. Ugh.

ETA: Also, I find it amazing that people are so obsessed with those few members of the population who are striving to be thin, when the majority of the American population is actually OVER weight.

LOL, you're absolutely ridiculous. Thanks for the entertainment though.

I don't even know if I should bother pointing out all the things completely ridiculous about your post.
But just for future reference, you may wanna actually read my post before making asinine accusations/assumptions about how I didn't read previous posts.

& garnet, thanks for actually reading what I said & formulating a response. Sorry I'm a bit distracted by soaraway. Anyway, while I definitely agree that there are a lot of people who are naturally thin, there are also a lot of people that want to be thin because they admire Nicole Ritchie & other thin celebs. There's no way for us to know which group is larger, unfortunately. & also, even naturally thin people generally have their eating habits catch up to them eventually, & then many of them start trying to lose weight- how much of that is driven by the media? Again, there's no way for us to know since these can only ever be hypothetical situations [unless someone figures out how to eliminate the media? haha]
It's definitely a curious topic though.

It's nice to see that instead of responding with some sort of intelligent rebuttal to anything I said (or anything nevarren said), you have to result to petty insults.  Your posts just come across as vapid given that you CONTINUE to blame the media for all of society's problems.  I feel really bad for people like you who are so insecure in their own bodies that not only do you have to starve yourself into thinness, but you also can't take responsibility for doing so.  Let's blame someone else!  Yep.  Really responsible.

starcrossd - good job ignoring the valid points made by other posters regarding the media. You are clearly just another example of someone who is incapable of taking responsibility for your own actions and instead sees fit to make excuses for yourself and others. I wish people would quit making excuses and start accepting the consequences of their actions and taking responsibility, rather than blaming it all on the media. Ugh.

ETA: Also, I find it amazing that people are so obsessed with those few members of the population who are striving to be thin, when the majority of the American population is actually OVER weight.

Original Post by jblarghp:

"You might think of yourself as a glorified monkey... but I am not"

Before making a statement like this, you should actually educate yourself about evolution, because you're coming off as ignorant.

 

 

And I think you are the one coming off as ignorant.  I've researched the subject and evolution is nowhere near as clearcut as you seem to think it is.  I can provide you with resources if you're curious.  There is one internationally renowned physicist whose work (along with that of his colleagues) comes to mind...

Original Post by disease_of_ease:

Original Post by soaraway:

G-d gave us animals to eat. End of story. They are ANIMALS. NOT PEOPLE.

Humans are animals as well, we are part of the great apes. It's cool with me if you want to think otherwise, though. It's your life.

And I do, obviously, think otherwise.  You might think of yourself as a glorified monkey... but I am not.

Personally, I am a pescatarian and my main motivation for giving up meat in the first place was (and remains) health reasons.  What I found in my research was that the fats and oils in fish are metabolized differently to those in meats, and so are not as harmful. 

Personally, I am a very picky eater.  Maintaining a healthy and balanced diet is a challenge for me as a vegetarian/pescatarian, but in the 5 or 6 years I've been eating so, I have never experienced any dietary deficits or malnutrition.  I attribute this partly to the fact that I still eat fish (no seafood for me, just fish).  Given the fact that I won't eat things like mushrooms, nuts, straight tofu, or soy milk, I think it's a pretty important source of protein for me.  I don't eat fish obsessively... only every once in a while as part of my healthy diet.  Plus, I don't eat much canned fish.  I try to eat fresh, healthy fish like tilapia, avoiding things like albacore tuna with a high amount of mercury in them.

On a more practical note, I happen to also keep strictly kosher.  Eating fish makes it easy for me to say no thanks to meat products, but yes please to dairy and parve ;)  Which, incidentally answers disease_of_ease's question as to why I don't consider fish to be meat.  Being religious, I define things as the Torah defines them . . . and it does not define fish as meat.  If I can eat it with cheese... it's not meat! :D

ETA: My religious beliefs are the same reason this whole speciesist argument y'all have going on completely baffles me. G-d gave us animals to eat. End of story.  They are ANIMALS. NOT PEOPLE.  Does that mean torturing them is good? NO.  But the Torah says to treat them with respect and slaughter them a certain humane way... and that is good enough for me.  So although I don't expect anybody else here to agree with me or believe the same thing I do, I do hope you'll be respectful enough of my religious beliefs not to put me down for them. -_-

Re: the bycatch issue.  My philosophy is simple... I would rather be a somewhat guilty healthy person than to be guilt-free but anemic/protein deficient/etc.  Plus, I don't think it's half as dramatic as you make it out to be.  First off, I can't rely on the statistics you cite until I see some reliable sources (although I'm going to readily admit that I haven't researched it well enough to say one way or the other).  Additionally, you can't just ignore the fact that any animals unwittingly killed as bycatch are NOT just "wasted."  Whether it's humans using them or other animals, they are getting used.  Other animals will eat them... other fish, sharks, crabs, etc. etc. etc.  Or they will decompose and put those minerals back into the environment, thereby providing food for plants.  Does that make it right to be killing animals you don't plan to use/eat?  I think not.  But it does make your point that much less dramatic... and me that much less guilty of a healthy human being. ;)

I can empathize, since I find myself doing that every once in a while.  I'm also vegetarian and I typically eat vegetables and a lot of beans, which were filling but did not provide enough calories.  I also don't like sweets much and I tend to avoid pastas and breads like the plague.  I've solved the problem by adding small portions of breads/pastas to my diet (whole wheat wraps, whole wheat & vitamin enriched pasta, etc.) a couple of times a week, adding olive oil to my salads, and eating lots of fruit.  Fruit is high in sugar, but it's still really healthy and bumps up your caloric intake.  I've done things like adding fresh fruit to yogurt, adding raisins to oatmeal, adding fruit to my salads, and drinking smoothies in the morning (I prefer to make them with no added sugar so they're healthier).  Delicious, easy, and a healthy little calorie bump :)