Going Vegan

[Abide]

Yes they are high in lectins and phytates, but with cooking and rinsing the content is reduced. Here is a couple articles for you to read if you are interested.

http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2010/09/reducing-phytic-acid-in-grains-and-legumes.html
http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/living-with-phytic-acid

 

[Bare Lee]

Yes they are high in lectins and phytates, but with cooking and rinsing the content is reduced. Here is a couple articles for you to read if you are interested.

http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2010/09/reducing-phytic-acid-in-grains-and-legumes.html
http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/living-with-phytic-acid

The problem for me with these types of blog posts is that I have no way of evaluating their assertions. I have no training in physiology. For all I know, there's someone else who can easily refute everything they're saying.

 

[Abide]

Yep exactly, I don't really worry too much about this kind of stuff. I am a vegan wannabe and legumes and grains give me a lot of energy and don't negatively bother me so I eat them. I've also found it is really hard to be a vegan and eat 4000 calories a day without eating them.

 

[peacekaren]

I've tried both vegetarian and vegan, though I found I did much better with a pesco-vegetarian variation. If you want to go this route with a focus on reducing processed foods and junk foods I recommend the writings of Dr. Andrew Weil. http://www.drweil.com/ His book, 8 Weeks To Optimum Health, is a great starting point for making a huge lifestyle changes like this. Back in 2001 I switched from the Standard American Diet (SAD), started following Weil's advice and made huge improvements in my overall health. I continued this for about a decade with great success.

Then 1.5 years ago I switched from a Weil/veggie lifestyle to a Primal Blueprint lifestyle (Mark Sisson -- http://www.marksdailyapple.com ) and I've found even greater improvements in my health and happiness! Primal is my first recommendation for a healthy lifestyle. If you're certain you want to go vegan or vegetarian, I suggest Weil as a reasonable alternative.

Sisson and Weil are very similar in many elements of their lifestyle approach. Weil has even started to lighten up on his stand against saturated fat in the face of increasing research suggesting it is not nearly the problem it was once thought to be. They both suggest avoiding processed foods. They both recommend a complete lifestyle approach to health (including exercise, sleep, stress management and other elements as part of their plans). Neither suggests you take an all or nothing approach to a healthy lifestyle, instead recommending that you allow for occasional, reasonable indulgences. Both recommend that if/when you choose to eat meat, it is best to select local, sustainable sources where the animals eat a natural diet (eg, grass-fed beef). And both put a high importance on balancing omega-3 / omega-6 fatty acids. The main difference is in their approach to meat and grains. Weil recommends minimizing meat and focusing on legumes and whole grains. Sisson recommends including meat as a diet staple while avoiding legumes and all grains (whole as well as processed).

Good luck with whatever changes you make.

Peace,
Karen

 

[Bare Lee]

I looked over Weil's site years ago. He was too much of a pill shill for me. He kind of lost credibility there. I wonder how well-considered his ideas really are, and how much of it is just lifestyle branding.
Nutrition research overall is mind-boggling in the diversity of opinions and its tendency towards simplex explanations of complex processes. The truth is, we're just beginning to find out how this stuff really works. That's why I take the Paleo diet, or my bastardized version of it, as sort of a default, even though some of the notions involved seem half-baked as well, like the idea that humans didn't eat any grains at all until they were domesticated 12,000 years ago, or that our digestive systems adapt as slowly to dietary changes as our skeletal system does to changes in gait or posture. Very suspect reasoning, but I don't have the ability to evaluate a lot of the specifically physiological claims, so I just go with it.

 

[NickW]

I looked over Weil's site years ago. He was too much of a pill shill for me. He kind of lost credibility there. I wonder how well-considered his ideas really are, and how much of it is just lifestyle branding.
Nutrition research overall is mind-boggling in the diversity of opinions and its tendency towards simplex explanations of complex processes. The truth is, we're just beginning to find out how this stuff really works. That's why I take the Paleo diet, or my bastardized version of it, as sort of a default, even though some of the notions involved seem half-baked as well, like the idea that humans didn't eat any grains at all until they were domesticated 12,000 years ago, or that our digestive systems adapt as slowly to dietary changes as our skeletal system does to changes in gait or posture. Very suspect reasoning, but I don't have the ability to evaluate a lot of the specifically physiological claims, so I just go with it.

I have the same feelings as well about the human diet.

 

[ElyDave]

Interesting that no-ne has mentioned the obvious connection between veganism and yoga or buddhism, through the principle of ahimsa i.e. doing no harm to another being via thought word or deed (and includes oneself)

I'm moving towards vegetarian (still eating fish only) but haven't told my wife yet. The one thing that has stopped me up to now is the nutritional aspect of it as an athlete and also the practicality in my job. I'm hapy with the nutritional bit now having read a good few resources including a number of research papers into the subject, but I'm still experimenting with the practicality.

Veganism, whilst a yogic ideal would just be entirely impracticable for me, plus I love goats cheese and eggs.

 

[Bare Lee]

We pagans get a spiritual kick out of meat. Brings us closer to our species being, the earth, and life in general.

 

[ElyDave]

We pagans get a spiritual kick out of meat. Brings us closer to our species being, the earth, and life in general.

who said I was a Buddhist? I might read about all religions, but i'm pretty well settled in the atheist camp. My tent has been there so long I have a permanent fireplace, deck chairs, extenstions to my tent, and even a little garden for my bonsai trees

 

[Bare Lee]

who said I was a Buddhist?

Not me.
In any case, apologies for my comment, I thought I was over on the Paleo thread. Talking about paleo on this vegan thread is kind of troll-ish. I'll shut-up now.

 

[ElyDave]

Not me.
In any case, apologies for my comment, I thought I was over on the Paleo thread. Talking about paleo on this vegan thread is kind of troll-ish. I'll shut-up now.

No offence taken, I guess I should have stuck a smiley at the end of that. The intent can sometimes get lost in just pixels

 

[Bare Lee]

No offence taken, I guess I should have stuck a smiley at the end of that. The intent can sometimes get lost in just pixels

No, I feel like I know you a bit now, and neither one of us has thin skin, and I always read everything here charitably, and assume the best intentions, knowing that everything is written hastily, and especially in my case there's a tendency to write run-on sentences like this one, and I have trouble using smileys, probably due to age, but the apology in any case was intended to be general, because I felt a bit obnoxious chiming in about meat on a vegan thread--kind of like someone mentioning shoes on a barefoot thread.

On a somewhat more serious note, I too, like you, am pretty much atheist, with a dash of pagan spirituality thrown in when I'm engaging in basic biological functions like eating, exercising my animal, sleeping, and experiencing the elements and nature, and a touch of Christian/Buddhist spirituality when engaging in social functions.

 

[Mark Wilkinson]

With all this talk of religion I have to wonder how such a thread would do here. It might be one of the few places on the internet where such a conversation could be had without errupting into a shouting match.

 

[NickW]

I dunno, I'm sure there are some on here who might just take it to the shouting realm. Not sure who that is, but I bet there are some on here.

 

[Bare Lee]

With all this talk of religion I have to wonder how such a thread would do here. It might be one of the few places on the internet where such a conversation could be had without errupting into a shouting match.

My sense is that people who run barefoot tend to be open-minded.

 

[ElyDave]

I'm surprised the veggie/vegan/paleo threads have been as civil as they are. I remember asking a question in "the other place" about who was veggie/vegan and why.

Two days later I really wished I hadn't.

 

[migangelo]

WHAT THE HELL MAKES YOU THINK ME OR ANYONE ELSE HERE IS GOING TO YELL? HUH???

i ask too many questions to be able to follow any religion.

 

[Vampire]

I just made a fantastic Vegan Chili. I used my usual secret chili recipe but simply substituted the ground beef for chickpeas, broad beans and green lentils. I also threw in a pile of mushrooms.

I've been veggie for about 2 months, and vegan for just over 3 weeks. I was starting to get bored with the same foods but I guess there are loads of nice recipes out there if you look for them.

I'm going to try making the Scott Jurek lentil/mushroom burgers next week.

 

[ElyDave]

Not Vegan, but I just had a great lunch salad of tomatoes, lightly sauteed runner beans, red pepper, beetroot, goats cheese and a couple of still warm boiled eggs, yummy!

How's your weight loss going Vampire?

 

[Vampire]

Going slowly, but in the right direction. My biggest hurdle is my appetite, but at least eating vegan/whole food, if you binge it's not on burgers, ice cream or fried chicken!