Over the past week I have been slowly transitioning to vegetarianism, with the thought of perhaps in the future going full-blown vegan. Two years ago I started thinking of the insanely inhumane practices happening in factory farms, not only for food, but for clothing too. I also have one of my closest friends being a vegetarian or vegan since 2002.
And not only did I start thinking of the aforesaid practices, I started thinking of how every living thing on this earth, and the earth itself, is connected. When I first met my wife, I realized that she was far more spiritual than was I. She mentioned ideas to me that were completely foreign to me. I had an almost completely materialistic worldview. No, I don’t mean materialistic in that I liked gaudy junk or the accumulation of things for the sake of it, as so many insanely consumer-driven are Americans. I meant that although I was worldly in the sense that I knew of the many different kinds of people roaming this earth and was a history buff for quite some time, I lived my life without much thinking of my day-to-day activities, nor had I traveled much (I still haven’t). I was concerned with finding a woman (with marriage in mind), spending time with friends and family, and work–you know, like nearly everyone else runs their lives and thinks.
Keep in mind, I for quite some time thought of things like overpopulation, eugenics, and how modern man, especially in America, is brutalizing, exploiting, mistreating and ruining his own land and related creatures. But beyond thoughts, I never did much. After all, what the hell can or could I do?
My wife mentioned vegetarianism to me two years ago, and being a stereotypical meat head and gymrat, I agreed to a meatless day here and there. That did not last long considering we had only one “meatless Monday” and the idea fizzled out immediately for me. She tried vegetarianism for a few weeks and that fizzled out for her too, considering it’s sort of difficult when one lives with a meat eater.
Then I bumped into the Vegan Gains You Tube channel and I really started thinking all over again. I went back and read Berardi’s vegan nutrition article on here. I started perusing vegan bodybuilding websites. So, last week, I went to a hardcore show in Brooklyn (it was a benefit show for diabetes) and there are many vegan restaurants in Williamsburg, where the event was. So, I wanted to try something new and said, F— it! I’ll try something out of the ordinary! So we went to the restaurant and the meal was great. The next day I had a meatless day with some dairy. It was actually enjoyable. So for the last week I have only been finishing the meat in my home slowly and been having mostly meatless meals, with a few days being totally meatless and dairy free, but eating eggs everyday. I will be buying eggs from the farm around the corner from me that raises chickens only for eggs, not meat, and lets them roam about.
My reason for doing this is purely ethical, after seeing the utterly horrifying and tear-jerking scenes on factory farms, including those for clothing.
I had been buying organic meat and eggs for some time, despite the expense because I was of the belief that so long as the animal is treated humanely while alive, it is alright for it to be killed swiftly for food in the end. I thought and sometimes still think, despite it seeming juvenile, something like, “Well, we are animals, just we humans are animals might be at the top of the food chain in some cases, and like how other animals kill animals for food, we do the same.” The counter thought I have buzzing around my head is that although that might make some sense, I believe we are at a point in which we are killing, breeding, and eating animals in such gross excess. Look at how freely people grossly over eat all food products, including blitzing though burgers, wings and blue cheese dressing while being entranced by a ball game. I myself, even being a dietitian and gymrat myself never thought about how my food wound up on my table or how clothing wound up on my body till recently.
I am sharing this on this board in case anyone is interested because it has to do with nutrition and I believe the people in this sub-forum to be bright and friendly and thoughtful. If no one cares to read it or get into it , that’s fine.
The nutritional concerns I have are B12 intake and omega-3 intake. I believe egg intake will take care of the B12 issue and the omega-3 intake will be and has been for some days with flax and chia seeds and seaweed.
There have been some thoughts buzzing around forums regarding vegans and vegetarians I have thought about it. They do make some sense but I don’t fit them.
Vegans hate other humans. I don’t! Although I am cynical and believe that we are overpopulated. I also think we are in an unprecedented dysgenic state in America and the breeding of ne’er-do-wells, bottom feeders, degenerates, and intellectually stunted and the compromised breeding of the brightest and steadiest people–mostly because of economic or selfish reasons–is sending our civilization down the drain! This does not mean I am not caring or loving. I have solid social and familial ties and understand the severe importance of them and aware of the obligations I have to other people, whether the obligations are with people close to me or obligation I have to be a civic-minded person, follow rules, and treat other people with respect. Those who spew misanthropic garbage like, “Humans are filthy, death to mankind, blah blah blah,” do so as a PC-copout instead of laying the blame on a degenerate few at the expense of everyone else! In this day and age, we often hear shit like, “We as a human race failed!” because scumbags do evil actions. This is false! Scumbags failed us! I believe they also fail us when they mistreat and abuse and terrify animals.
Our ancestors ate meat. Yeah, our ancestors also collectively did some deeds and had institutions (that is, not some individuals at work, but institutions upheld by the group as a whole) that would make some modern tough guys and bleeding hearts squirming and bleeding real blood! So while I can understand what this statement means, I can’t wrap my head around it fully. Northern European ancestors used to drown homosexuals, and I’m sure they weren’t boasting, “Good for HER” when they encountered some dude who really thought he was a woman. My Jewish ancestors stoned them to death. The Greeks practiced crypteia, in which young Spartans would make their bones by arming themselves with daggers and ambushing and murdering helots to keep their population in check. They did away with handicapped babies. Some of our ancestors looked upon racial mixing in the same way we look at bestiality.
I don’t say this to be pedantic, nor do I think all of what I say here is reasonable to some reading what I write here. I say this because when I hear people talking about how our ancestors did things and then go on to call vegans “faggots” or overly sentimental, maybe they should think about how they are nowhere near as stoic, hardened, or insensitive as our ancestors they so enthusiastically speak of.
As for the protein issue, I no longer believe we need so much damn protein to grow, so long as their is appropriate caloric intake. I’ve seen too many large men eat lower than the “gram of bro-tein per pound” recommendation and some studies have shown muscle growth at intakes as low as 0.6 grams per pound. I’ve been eating lentils, eggs, very little dairy (which I might phase out too, considering what goes on), all kinds of beans, green peas, seeds, nuts, whole grains like quinoa and amaranth, tons of veggies, and potatoes. I get around 20 to 30 grams of protein four times per day. I am not going crazy with counting right now, just getting in the groove of portion control with the aforesaid items and getting the right nutrients. I feel very good.
Will I remain this way forever? Who knows? I am not making that vow now, nor am I trying to turn anyone else.
Comment if you like. I don’t mean to ruffle feathers here, only to share my thoughts with the very thoughtful bunch we have here now. If some of what I say seems ludicrous, oh well. I can only express myself as I see fit and my thoughts and myself are not perfect.
The boxes I was interested in going to are just too far for me to commute to for working out. There is a UFC gym a few minutes from me that my bro goes to, that I might join soon, which has a lot of stuff I’d like to use, such as battle ropes, tires, sleds, sprinting turf, etc.