diet debate

[Shadow Wolf]

Because you are a rational person. Why should you deny an animal's simple right to live? What right do you have to do such a thing?

Yes, I am a rational person, and I realize that that is how things are. I have eaten, and will be eaten. And being able to fish, fillet the fish you catch, and cook the fish you catch is a very good skill to know. I have some friends who are really wanting to take me duck hunting, and if I go I'll be learning another way to provide food for myself.
And when you don't have alot of money, hunting and fishing provide food that is both cheap and fresh.

 

[Estro Felino]

And when you don't have alot of money, hunting and fishing provide food that is both cheap and fresh.

Honestly...I am against hunting. Fauna is a heritage that we have been destroying....and we all know that wild animals provide very little meat.
You cannot compare ducks to pigs, for example. Ducks are so cute and skinny: they shouldn't be eaten.
Pigs are sometimes as fat as hippos and their greed makes you puke...so killing and eating them is not wrong, I think

 

[Renji]

I'm having regular diet. I eat everything, except those exotic stuff and the untensils ofcourse.

 

[Jainarayan]

we all know that wild animals provide very little meat.
...

Ducks are so cute and skinny: they shouldn't be eaten.

Very little meat? Skinny? I take it you've never had duck or venison.

Pigs are sometimes as fat as hippos and their greed makes you puke...so killing and eating them is not wrong, I think

Pigs raised today are actually quite lean.

But if we're talking about not killing animals, why does a pig have any less right to live than a duck? Are we putting a higher value on one animal's life over another?

 

[illykitty]

I'm not going to tell you what to do, but rather give my perspective. When I researched diets, read some books, watched documentaries and looked online, it was more convincing to me that vegan is the way to go to minimise suffering, live healthily and reduce the impact on the environment.

Then from personal experience, I felt better when eating lots of plants. It's not just in my mind (though that is a positive side effect) but blood tests in the past showed me so, being at optimal health and was very slim without much efforts. I love the taste of meat, but I don't suffer from not eating any - yes I have cravings but the good that comes from not having animal products is far more rewarding. I derive pleasure from that!

You should make your own research and test it yourself. See what makes you feel better.

 

[Estro Felino]

Very little meat? Skinny? I take it you've never had duck or venison. Pigs raised today are actually quite lean.
But if we're talking about not killing animals, why does a pig have any less right to live than a duck? Are we putting a higher value on one animal's life over another?

well...my speech didn't mean to classify animals according to their looks.
As I said, we must protect wildlife. So...farm animals can be slaughtered because they belong to man: husbandry authorizes men to decide about their lives.
But wild animals belong to nature...that's why I'm against hunting

 

[Jainarayan]

You should make your own research and test it yourself. See what makes you feel better.

This right here. :clap

I don't know why that is lost on people; I don't know why people insist one way is better than another. Everyone's physiology is different. Some people have the genetics and physiology, depending on where their ancestors came from, to thrive on vegetarian diets. Other people don't. What's so hard about that? Why do people try to superimpose their morality on others, especially when some people know and listen to their own bodies? It's not hard.

 

[Jainarayan]

well...my speech didn't mean to classify animals according to their looks.
As I said, we must protect wildlife. So...farm animals can be slaughtered because they belong to man: husbandry authorizes men to decide about their lives.
But wild animals belong to nature...that's why I'm against hunting

For the record, I don't hunt either. If my survival depended on it, yes I would. But as of now I don't have to. I have access to plenty of food that will sustain me. But some people like hunting, and that is their right to do.

 

[Alex_G]

I'm a whole food omnivore at the moment. Considering juicing, vegan, vegetarian, pescitarian etc. What, how And why should I eat.

There are two primary aspects to a good diet in my opinion. These are:

1. Health considerations and
2. Moral considerations.

Satisfying both of these will help you have the best diet possible.

Health concerns will be more quantitative, and in some respects relatively universal. Things like a nutritious and balanced diet sourcing a range of foods, calorie control relative to your level of physical activity, avoidance of any intolerances/allergies, avoidance of excess, or overly processed foods that can often contain far too much salt, or other undesirable additives.

Ive always had a rule of thumb, if you're food is colourful you're on the right track, if its all 'beige' your not eating right.

In keeping with that i think part of a healthy diet is having a good relationship with your food. That by cooking yourself from raw ingredients as often as possible will ensure quality, free from additives, be cheaper than buying ready-made foods, and will also be more fulfilling and satisfying having made the food yourself. Taking it to the next level and growing some food will also do this.

From a moral perspective, this is a little bit more qualitative, and ultimately individual. I for example, when pushed to really think about it, cannot justify eating meat under standard everyday conditions, where you buy it in the supermarket without any emotional engagement. That it fuels a ruthless meat industry that on a daily basis utterly obliterates animal rights on a genocidal scale.

This is something you have a duty to yourself to look into and then make an informed decision as to where you draw the ethical lines, and what sorts of behaviour you feel you can support or oppose.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Honestly...I am against hunting. Fauna is a heritage that we have been destroying....and we all know that wild animals provide very little meat.
You cannot compare ducks to pigs, for example. Ducks are so cute and skinny: they shouldn't be eaten.
Pigs are sometimes as fat as hippos and their greed makes you puke...so killing and eating them is not wrong, I think

A fish typically will feed one or two people (or more, depending on what kind and how big), a duck can provide a family a meal, but a deer provides a feast. Rabbits are also very good game animals, and while each one may not provide a lot of meat, there are so many of them that everything else, as well as themselves, will suffer the consequences of a rapid and unchecked population explosion if they aren't hunted.

 

[Monk Of Reason]

These are just some quick searches.

100 Scientific Reasons to NOT Eat Meat

I know the site may not be authoritative, but these guys gave links for all their reasons.

Position of the American Dietetic Association: vegetarian diets. - PubMed - NCBI

Do Vegetarians Live Longer?

"A 1% reduction in world-wide meat intake has the same benefit as a three trillion-dollar investment in solar energy." ~ Chris Mentzel, CEO of Clean Energy

“If every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetables and grains... the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off of U.S. roads.” Environmental Defense Fund

Consumption of meat and dairy and lymphoma risk in the European Pro... - PubMed - NCBI

How Tumors Use Meat to Grow: Xeno-Autoantibodies | NutritionFacts.org

Besides, I've seen way too many studies from Harvard and other Health Associations to believe that meat is healthier than vegetarianism. But that's just me.

Amazing how the vast majority of all of those claims are about eating unhealth amounts of meat or eating meat we know is unhealthy for you. I didn't see a single thing in there about eating lean chicken being bad for you. Or fish ect.

Lets compare lifespans of those who eat healthy amounts of meat and food rather than just vegetarians and everyone else. Then lets see what the lifespan looks like.

Again your argument isn't that vegetarianism is healthier but that it can be healthy. The HEALTHIEST diet for a human being has small amounts of lean meat not a total exclusion of meat. You can get by with just a vegetarian diet
and I wouldn't fault you for it. It is also a healthier way to live than most people live. I also grant you that. But to say that eating meat in the essence of eating meat is bad for you is a false statement.

 

[Jainarayan]

...there are so many of them that everything else, as well as themselves, will suffer the consequences of a rapid and unchecked population explosion if they aren't hunted.

Which is our fault to begin with for exterminating and extirpating predators, and encroaching on their environments. Every day in a 60 mile round trip commute I see 2 to 3 deer on the side of the road. We don't even have farmland anymore, because townhouses and distribution warehouses are popping up like mushrooms. NJ should be called the Warehouse and Condo State, not the Garden State.

 

[Estro Felino]

A fish typically will feed one or two people (or more, depending on what kind and how big), a duck can provide a family a meal, but a deer provides a feast. Rabbits are also very good game animals, and while each one may not provide a lot of meat, there are so many of them that everything else, as well as themselves, will suffer the consequences of a rapid and unchecked population explosion if they aren't hunted.

well...forgive my ignorance. Maybe you're right; but that's because you live in America, where the fishing and the hunting activities began to be intensive only 4 centuries ago or so. European resources have been exploited for 2500 years...so it is comprehensible that we care about our fauna. Lots of animals are extinct because of the intensive and restless hunting activities, especially during the Middle Ages. Example: Italy was full of bears and wolves in the Middle Ages. Now: zero bears

 

[Jainarayan]

Lots of animals are extinct because of the intensive and restless hunting activities, especially during the Middle Ages. Example: Italy was full of bears and wolves in the Middle Ages. Now: zero bears

My money is on the building of cities and towns rather than on hunting being the primary cause of these animals' demise. Which, btw, took away lots of farmland.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

well...forgive my ignorance. Maybe you're right; but that's because you live in America, where the fishing and the hunting activities began to be intensive only 4 centuries ago or so. European resources have been exploited for 2500 years...so it is comprehensible that we care about our fauna. Lots of animals are extinct because of the intensive and restless hunting activities, especially during the Middle Ages. Example: Italy was full of bears and wolves in the Middle Ages. Now: zero bears

Actually, at least around here (in America in general), hunters are some of the most pro-environmental people you will meet. There is also the fact that the fees for a hunting or fishing license, and the stamps, to towards environmental management agencies and programs, such as the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Historically there was massive over hunting, and animals that used to be numerous are very few now, such as bison, wolves, bobcats, bears, and others. But today we have limits for how many animals and fish you can take per day, per season, and often heavy fines for going over limits or not even having a license.