The downside of being a vegan

[Cycling Naturalist]

With the family largely absent this weekend, I thought I'd have a go at preparing Dhall and Hummous (as a property lawyer it's a good idea to have a plan B ) and I was really impressed with the Dhall. However, all these pulses seem to come with a warning to boil like the clappers for at least 10 minutes uncovered and then cook for an hour or so.

So, what the energy input required? Having had three vegan meals on the trot, I'm tempted to have some steak. If I marinade it, all that's required is four minutes of cooking.

The other thing that I haven't seen any figures on is the reprocessing effect of cattle. OK, you only get a kilo of meat instead of ten kilos of nourishing pulse, but the cattle seem to produce a lot of natural fertiliser that goes straight back on the land.

 

[zimzum42]

Plus that a vegan diet will have you producing plenty of extra gases yourself!

 

[Saddle bum]

Vegan!!! Come on patrick, you'll be telling us you're a Creationist next.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I once had to suffer a vegan meal when visiting friends who were into it. It was like eating damp cardboard, we had to stop for a McDonalds on the way home.

 

[mr_hippo]

Wasn't Spock from Star Trek a vegan?

 

[zimzum42]

I went out with a a vegan for nearly 4 years, could never share a meal at home, was a nightmare. Made her really thin too. My other mate who's a vegan is stick thin too!

 

[zimzum42]

As nobody has mentioned flatulence yet I'll get my oar in now!

I did!

 

[wafflycat]

Some vegan food is tasty, but I couldn't eat only vegan food - too limiting a range of food stuffs, and from my experience, a lot of food miles and all the implications of that. I'm much happier trying to eat locally sourced food where possible & after that, British food whenever possible.

 

[Yorkshireman]

With the family largely absent this weekend, I thought I'd have a go at preparing Dhall and Hummous (as a property lawyer it's a good idea to have a plan B ) and I was really impressed with the Dhall. However, all these pulses seem to come with a warning to boil like the clappers for at least 10 minutes uncovered and then cook for an hour or so.

So, what the energy input required? Having had three vegan meals on the trot, I'm tempted to have some steak. If I marinade it, all that's required is four minutes of cooking.

The other thing that I haven't seen any figures on is the reprocessing effect of cattle. OK, you only get a kilo of meat instead of ten kilos of nourishing pulse, but the cattle seem to produce a lot of natural fertiliser that goes straight back on the land.

They (and presumably you if you're downing a load of pulses and veg) are also producing a fair amount of methane - not good for the planet re global warming (besides other side effects)

 

[Cathryn]

Is there a good side to being a vegan?

 

[longers]

Is there a good side to being a vegan?

You never run out of milk?

 

[Smokin Joe]

Is there a good side to being a vegan?

If you value being holier than thou.

 

[bonk man]

I am a partial vegan............ no dairy but eat eggs as we have hens.

The down side is not eating some goodies like some biscuits and choccy that have milk in but otherwise no problems.

The upside is losing weight from not eating cheese on toast at every opportunity .

If you are going to become a vegan I reckon the UK is one of the best places to do it as we are spoilt for choice here. There are so many meat substitutes that can satisfy the urge for that meaty taste and texture.

As for bike riding and fitness, I am as fast [ or slow if you prefer ] now as when I was a meat consumer in my early 20's. The thing I would advise is to make sure you keep your diet varied and make sure you get enough B vitamins but yeast extracty stuff sorts that out easily or just top up on the B in tablet form, just a yeast extract anyway by the taste of it.

It can't hurt [ no matter what you might have read in the Mail ] to try it for a while, you might drop some weight and it gives the body a break from consuming dairy which after all is for babies [ of another species ] after all.
Oh yeh ........ and you can be well SMUG

 

[MessenJah]

My other brother is a vegetarian.

Eats fish though. So not really a vegetarian.

I'm a non-smoker. I smoke though. So not really a non-smoker.

 

[Mr Pig]

We were very strict vegetarian for a few years and we did feel a lot healthier. It was too monotonous and too hard to keep up though, making interesting meals is work.