Philosophical Vegan Forum

PiggyOfDoom wrote:

EquALLity wrote:^Woah, when did you become a vegetarian?

Who? Me? Since I realized meat tastes like crap and makes my stomach feel weird

So nothing about the ethical or health sides of it? What do you think of those?

EquALLity wrote:

So nothing about the ethical or health sides of it? What do you think of those?

Ethical? A single individual's meat-free diet isn't enough to stop animal cruelty. Don't get me started with the fact that I didn't throw dairy and eggs out yet. Health? Health just isn't an option for me. Never was. My metabolism is terrible and I gain weight no matter what I eat. Exercising has no effect and I can't lose much. So I just said to hell with it and decided to be happy with who I am. After all physical appearance doesn't really impact your mind and mental health, right? I'm vegetarian just because it makes me feel better and helps with my digestive problems. I know the Vegan Atheist himself would disagree with my excuses for vegetarianism but I'm having no problems with it.

PiggyOfDoom wrote:Ethical? A single individual's meat-free diet isn't enough to stop animal cruelty.

Have you heard of the ripple effect?

You go vegetarian, and inspire someone else to go vegetarian, who inspires someone else to go vegetarian...

Also, you are ending animal cruelty you were previously funding by cutting out meat. You didn't take down the industry, but there's still an impact there.

PiggyOfDoom wrote:Don't get me started with the fact that I didn't throw dairy and eggs out yet.

I wasn't going to say anything about that.

PiggyOfDoom wrote:Health? Health just isn't an option for me. Never was. My metabolism is terrible and I gain weight no matter what I eat. Exercising has no effect and I can't lose much. So I just said to hell with it and decided to be happy with who I am.

I wasn't really talking about weight, just about the unhealthfulness of meat (cholesterol, saturated fats, and often carcinogens).

PiggyOfDoom wrote:I'm vegetarian just because it makes me feel better and helps with my digestive problems.

I'm not saying that isn't a good reason. I just want you to consider the other ones.

Not many people are willing to go vegan/vegetarian in my region though

PiggyOfDoom wrote:Not many people are willing to go vegan/vegetarian in my region though

The ripple effect can also happen via Internet.

Also, that could change through persuasion, and more people going vegetarian. Part of the reason some people don't go vegetarian is because it's not really a thing where they live, not realizing that by going vegetarian there that they are helping to change that and make it easier for other people.

Also, you could plant seeds in peoples' minds about vegetarianism that may grow later, and leave a good impression in their mind of vegetarians so that they aren't against vegetarianism, something that they might spread to other people.

And like I said, it's not just the ripple effect, because you're decreasing demand by going from meat-eater to vegetarian.

PiggyOfDoom wrote: Ethical? A single individual's meat-free diet isn't enough to stop animal cruelty.

A single person not owning slaves won't stop slavery. A single person getting tested for STDS before endangering a partner won't end disease. A single person not trolling bars and raping drunk people won't stop bar rape. A single person not being a serial killer won't stop murder forever.

Based on that reasoning, there's never a reason to abstain from doing any terrible thing, because you won't permanently end it.

Why do you feel this way?

PiggyOfDoom wrote: Health? Health just isn't an option for me. Never was. My metabolism is terrible and I gain weight no matter what I eat. Exercising has no effect and I can't lose much.

If your body violates the laws of thermodynamics, you are owed at least two million dollars. Also, you'll revolutionize physics. We'd be able to solve the world energy crisis.
Nobody on Earth can possibly gain weight literally no matter what they eat. You can lose weight and be healthy if you eat right. I promise you that -- physics promises you that. You just might not like the idea of what kind of food that means eating.

PiggyOfDoom wrote: After all physical appearance doesn't really impact your mind and mental health, right?

Appearance? It does, actually. No man is an island. As much as we want to tell ourselves we don't care what others think, we really really do. It's innate to human social psychology.
But beyond mere appearance, health can affect mental ability, and particularly ageing and age related disease.

Ugh. Time for a damn-long response.

brimstoneSalad wrote: A single person not owning slaves won't stop slavery. A single person getting tested for STDS before endangering a partner won't end disease. A single person not trolling bars and raping drunk people won't stop bar rape. A single person not being a serial killer won't stop murder forever.

Based on that reasoning, there's never a reason to abstain from doing any terrible thing, because you won't permanently end it.

Why do you feel this way?

Because in my region there are no vegetarians/vegans. (Not that I can notice any) Nobody even gives a damn about animals; Don't get me wrong, some people would feed a starving dog that comes up to them, but even those individuals are hard to come by, most will kick a stray animal dead just "because they feel like it." It truly saddens me that a man can not only make an animal suffer needlessly but put actual effort into doing so.

brimstoneSalad wrote:If your body violates the laws of thermodynamics, you are owed at least two million dollars. Also, you'll revolutionize physics. We'd be able to solve the world energy crisis.
Nobody on Earth can possibly gain weight literally no matter what they eat. You can lose weight and be healthy if you eat right. I promise you that -- physics promises you that. You just might not like the idea of what kind of food that means eating.

Actually, I don't really care if I have to sacrifice part of my diet to get in shape, but that either means I'm doing something wrong or that I have to narrow down to nothing but raw fruits and vegetables.

brimstoneSalad wrote:Appearance? It does, actually. No man is an island. As much as we want to tell ourselves we don't care what others think, we really really do. It's innate to human social psychology.
But beyond mere appearance, health can affect mental ability, and particularly ageing and age related disease.

Hmm.. In that case I might have a mental problem or I'm just getting insane confidence from nowhere. I actually don't care much when I get called obese in a name-calling manner or a serious one. I don't know about anyone else, but my mind is doing pretty good with the fact that I'm barely even eating now. As for the aging and diseases, you're right.

PiggyOfDoom wrote:It truly saddens me that a man can not only make an animal suffer needlessly but put actual effort into doing so.

Then why make excuses for them?
Shitty people can do shitty things; it doesn't stop being shitty just because a lot of people do it, does it?

PiggyOfDoom wrote:Actually, I don't really care if I have to sacrifice part of my diet to get in shape, but that either means I'm doing something wrong or that I have to narrow down to nothing but raw fruits and vegetables.

Sweet fruit makes people gain weight; it's too high in calories, and very low in essential macronutrients (it causes weight gain, and malnutrition).
There's an idea that if you're malnourished, you're more likely to overeat. That may or may not be true, but fruit definitely isn't the way to go.

Veggies, yes. Beans are good too. A moderate amount of nuts. Certain kinds of whole grains (but no white/brown rice or white/yellow corn).
There's no need to eat raw. Boiling, steaming, and baking are fine. Just don't fry things.
Keep calories low, but maximize nutrition. Lowering calories and nutrition is just going to make you unhealthy. Gotta lower calories while raising nutrition, which means eating better foods.

Make a thread about what you eat, what you like, what you're sensitive to, and I'll help you out.

I really like almond milk and almond+coconut milk. I drink soy milk for the protein.

I am not a fan or rice, macademia, or oat milk.

I have yet to try hazelnut and hemp milk.

Reviving old thread here.

I drink almost exclusively soy milk at this point (Silk, Original). I sometimes have oat or almond, and I'll try a new milk every now and again like Flax or Hemp, but I like the soy milk for the protein. I think the sweeteners and thickeners added in help make it taste and feel more like real milk for people, so when I tell people to try plant milks, I recommend almond milk first since it's pretty mild, but soy milk has much more nutrition, and I encourage people to give the Original a try too. I would drink more of the Unsweetened Soy Milk from Silk but aside from less sugar, it seems as though the Original packs more nutrition overall.
https://silk.com/plant-based-products/s ... et-soymilk
https://silk.com/plant-based-products/s ... l-soymilk/

Edensoy and Westsoy are other common brands in the US but they're a little harder to come by. Plus they insist on labeling things "Organic" (even Silk's Unsweetened Soy milk is specifically labeled as Organic) which is probably worse for the environment.

Sometimes I buy the Vanilla and Very Vanilla soy milks from them (they taste just like like ice cream), but those are VERY rare treats, and they have several times the amount of sugar as the others.

Silk also came out with a new line of Ultra Soy Milks which have 20 grams of protein in a single damn cup (and generally enhanced nutrition). Great for protein shakes.

I want to try making my own soy milk, but I currently don't have any room in my kitchen for that. I'm planning on buying a soy and almond milk maker when I leave home, very eager to try it out. However, I still want to buy the Store brands since not only do I enjoy the taste, but from an economic perspective it's important to enhance market signals towards the dairy alternatives. Speaking of which, I wanna try their Yogurts out.

Of course, while Soy milk is the healthiest, I don't really mind what milk someone drinks as long as it's vegan. Aside from Coconut milk and super-sweetened milks, most plant-milks are at least nutritionally neutral as far as I know, although rice milk does have a few environmental concerns.