I was a vegetarian - but now I'm a happy meat-eater

The Irish Independent ^ | February 18, 2003 | Louis Williams

[Desdemona]

Ever have a bout of anemia? It's not fun. The fastest way to pump up the body's iron numbers, for ladies in child-bearing years, is a couple good steaks. Just cutting back on meat, really did nasty things to the system. Being lactose intollerant doesn't help either. Without meat and a little dairy, some people develop gastro-intestinal problems. Those aren't fun either.

Be vegan, vegitarian all you want. Some of the rest of us want no part of it. Cutting back on carbs is what helped me lose weight and regular exercise, not smoking, and a daily glass of wine does wonders for the heart.

I'm glad the writer saw the light. Now he has to taste my Italian chicken.

[jeremiah]

I have cut out pasta, bread, potatoes and rice. Eat fresh veggies, meat and cheese. I feel great, although the weight loss some told me to expect hasn't come. I have lost some, and am not hungry for late night snacks, or for candy etc.

[July 4th]

I'm sure that the guy has had some wonderful meals in Paris, but he hasn't had a real steak from the USA yet.

I haven't had one good piece of beef in Paris. Duck? Fantastic. Chicken? Perfect. Mussels? The best I've ever had. But there's just something about their beef that was lacking.

I got out of Paris for a while, and made my way to Amsterdam. There, I found a steakhouse serving Argentinean beef. I haven't been that happy in a while - it was like the French curse of stringy toughness had been lifted. This author would be a lot happier eating beef elsewhere.

[aruanan]

Kudos to the French for one thing - one less vegetarian in the world is something to be grateful for.

That's exactly what went through my mind.

[Hang'emAll]

If it doesn't have a face, I won't eat it.

[B-Chan]

My wife and I were also converted from the ranks of the meatless by the culinary temptations of Paris. The only restaurant we could find within an easy walk of our riverfront rive Droit room on that cold aftternoon was this little mamán et pére place off the Rue de Rivoli. It was one of those small, menu-less restaurants -- the kind of joint where Pére pours you a glass of the house red while Mamán goes upstairs to the kitchen to bring down whatever's on the stove that day.

In our case, it was sliced roast pork with lentils, served mixed and steaming hot on plates of blue china. The smell was like someone in Heaven had left the kitchen door open. We took one look at each other, rolled our eyes to the skies, and dug in.

French politics are one thing. French food and wine are another. While I have little use for the gang of cut-rate DeGaulles over at the Elysée Palace, I'll say proudly and for the record that the food, wine, and general joie de vivre of France are the finest in the world. Vive la France.

[lysol@whitehouse]

No, despite being a vegetarian and now vegan for 30 years, anemia was never a problem. No gastro-intestinal problems either thankfully. I prefer a high complex carbohydrate, low fat, low salt diet...avoid simple carbohydates like sugar, and eat more complex carbohydrates such as baked potatoes (without butter or sour cream). I agree with the daily glass of wine! BTW: for anyone seriously interested in improving their nutritional status and achieving an ideal body weight, read "The Pritikin Weight Loss Breakthrough: Five Easy Steps to Outsmart Your Fat Instinct
by Robert Pritikin"...well researched and written...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0451195728/qid=1045579771/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_2/102-7125074-8915369?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

[Wolverine]

Meat eaters snackers and cola drinkers

[KLT]

Yep, animals are definately tastier then plants...no doubt....LOL

[B-Chan]

Not only would I continue to eat meat after touring a slaughterhouse, I have continued to eat it after shooting, gutting, skinning, dismembering, and butchering animals myself. Taking one of God's creatures apart for the sake of food is a great way to see for yourself what a miracle life is. Even the lowly squirrel is a marvel of complexity; how much more miraculous is the endlessly complex human mind?

There is nothing wrong with killing per se. Human beings are killers by nature. Killing animals for food or self-defense is a righteous act. Besides, every time you use mouthwash, you're killing animals, scalding billions of tiny creatures (bacteria) to death -- and every one of them is a work of art, a living system millions of times more complex than a computer chip. Should we stop using mouthwash, too?

Our ancestors ate meat, vegetables, milk, honey, and fruit. That's the fuel we are designed to run on. (Note: refined starch and sugar were unknown to them.) By limiting oneself to vegetable foods only, one goes against nature -- and that can't be healthy.

[Kevin Curry]

Brilliant! Let's hear it for . . . tasty charred animals.

Ummmmmmmmm. Tasty charred animals.

As an experiment to get my cholesterol and trigylicerides down a bit (I am not overweight, but my triglycerides have always been a bit on the high side) I once without without eating meat for four months. Toward the end of it, I went to a luncheon where prime rib was served. After the meal was over and the speaker had started, but before the plates had all been cleared away I remember detecting the odor of decomposing flesh. It was quite pungent and unpleasant.

I started eating meat again the next week and haven't noticed the odor since.

[Paul_B]

Amen. My story also. Went from vegan to a balanced diet low in starches. I've found the Schwarzbein books to be balanced and most excellent.

[William Terrell]

I suggest that the primary nutritional challenge to Americans includes a diet of excessive fats and protein.

Veganism or vegetarianism doesn't follow from an excessive diet of fats and protein. There is no need to be excessive; a moderate amount of animal protein per day or every other day will do the trick. Veganism and vegetarianism is a massive overcompensation.

Besides, excessive fats and carbohydrates is the problem. Remember that material that doesn't fit into the proper proportions to yield a usable protein is used as a carbohydrate by the body.

Why walk a razor edge of malnutrition when you can get all you need from a small amount animal muscle tissue, prepared properly?

[lysol@whitehouse]

Good thread; it was fun and issue based! Took my mind off of our frustrating delay in removing Saddam, and endless TV chats about 'What about our image to the rest of the world??'
GO GEORGE W BUSH! We finally got a good one!!

[Mamzelle]

People assume that eating fat raises cholesteral levels. For that matter, it hasn't been established yet that elevated cholesteral is a cause rather than an indicator of heart disease. It's now suspected that eating more fat, even animal fats, may very well lower triglycerides. It has yet to be proven either way.

But it can't be argued that being overweight increases many bad health risks, the most obvious of which is diabetes.

Chickens who eat grain make fat-and-protein-rich eggs. Does it follow that eating those eggs puts fat in our arteries?

I have discovered that a calorie is *not* a calorie is not a calorie. The body metabolizes what we eat in many ways. The bread and cereals I used to eat in the mornings would send my blood sugar jumping around, and I was famished by ten o'clock in the morning...then shortly after lunch I wanted a nap. That's all behind me. I have a princely breakfast of meat and eggs and lo-carb bread, some nuts or a salad for lunch, then a normal supper with lots of buttered green veggies (I've found I crave fresh, steamed green veggies now like I used to crave sweets) for dinner. No bread, no cookies or cake, few taters, and only small servings of fruit.

I started on Atkins, and am now trying to *stop* losing weight and learn to maintain. Never had a moment's hunger. I used to be quite the baker, but I'm going to order some lo carb baking stuff (gluten and soy flours and nut flours) and see what I can do about brownies.

[lafroste]

You sir are obviously an ill-informed, cliche spewing drone.

[Sloth]

That sounds like one of those made-up lists the homosexuals use. BTW, I'm sure da Vinci and Newton are spinning in their graves after having their contributions set on par with those of Dwight Yoakam and Joe Namath.

[lafroste]

your physician will marvel at the decrease in your blood pressure!

Oddly enough, eating the vegan way (for the most part) did not ease my hypertension. Only when I said the h5ll with this veggie routine, threw out the nutritional guidance from mainstream health advisors and brought on the meat, sausage, eggs, and cheese did my blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglycerides plummet dramatically. Did it ever occur to you that some people do better on a carnivorous diet than a herbiforous diet? probably not. You likely assume that everyone basically is the same with only minute variations. Your diet would kill me, so knock off your sanctimony.

[Luna]

I used to be a meat-eater, now I'm a happy vegetarian.

And it has nothing to do with animal rights!! It's just a healthier way to eat.