Meat, the cigarettes of food

[jimmy]

Ok, I receantly got bashed and acausted on another forum I'm a part of because I discussed about my choice to go Vegan Raw and the benifits, I didn't scold anyone for eating meat, food was a topic and people started to attack me when I brought up Vegan Raw. Seems people who eat meat are very passionate about it, almost like what a smokers is when it comes to smoking (no offense to the smokers here if there are any). I've explained my diet to my parents and tried to convince them to join me. My parents agreed that being a raw vegan is way more healthy than the SAD diet, but they said that they like to eat there bacon and steaks and burgers. I asked them why not change though, it'll make you healthier, they simply told me that they can't give up meat. So they are addicted to meat, cooked meat. I have many other friends that are the same way, lots of them get offended when you tell them it's not health or they think you're bonkers when you tell them you're making that lifestyle change.

I wonder what it is about meat that makes it so addictive? Brainwashing from advertisement? Chemicals put in the meat to make you eat more (most likely IMO)?
What are ya'lls thoughts on this?

-Jimmy

[Bananna]

Well, I don't know....I think it's really a cultural thing, a habit, more than anything. What's that saying...'creatures of habit'?

A side note...this is my favorite video on how to handle the social aspect of being raw....
http://www.archive.org/details/OrganicAthlete_2006_09_30_Lennie_Mowris

I think ALL of us have been through the initial stage of discovering this great thing and wanting the whole world to know about it and are Shocked that people aren't open-minded about it.

[shashibala]

I find this to be very interesting myself. I work with kids and one thing that is completely taboo is discussing the origins of the meat on their plates. I think that once people really consider the truth about the suffering and wastefulness of eating meat, their worlds would be so rocked that nothing would ever be the same. It opens the door to feelings that we have long buried and it makes us begin to question all of our decisions. Some people would not choose to stop eating meat if they opened this dialogue with themselves, but they would have to consider where it came from and how the living beings have been treated.
People feel very threatened by others questioning their "lifestyle". Some don't want to be identified with those fringe dwellers, the vegetarians!
As for health concerns, many people won't make a diet change unless they fear for their lives. I have to admit, I was a vegetarian for almost all of my life for "ethical" reasons, but I didn't feed myself really well until I got sick.:rolleyes:
I don't know,as I haven't eaten meat since I was about 11, but I bet that cooked meat does have addictive qualities.

[juliebove]

I don't think meat is addictive, but... I do think there are some people who can't seem to live without it. My husband is one and so is one of my friends. They can both do with a meatless meal every once in a while but certainly not as frequently as 2 or 3 times a week. Neither one likes vegetables much and would do quite well on a diet that was mainly meat. That's them. I'm not that way. I don't think there is one diet that will work for everyone.

[jimmy]

shashibala, I agree, I think what happens is the heart becomes less jaded and more tender towards other living things. Personally I could never ever see myself killing an animal jsut so I can have something to eat. My parents have some cattle (they treat them very nice, they only feed them organic feed and they don't put any chemicals in them, they graze in a huge pasture) and they think that it's better for them to eat those cows for meat, well, honestly, I don't think it make any difference where the meat is comeing from, it's still meat. I guess some people are able to live just fine eating meat, but I don't believe that we were made to do that.
I think a lot of the chemicals in the meat are one of the most adctive things in it as well as it being a cultural thing. I have a friend who used to be a manager an McDonalds and he told me that they add chemicals to the meat to make people eat more and crave it.

-Jimmy

[commoncents]

I was talking with a friend this weekend and I made a comment that "we take in the fear, suffering and misery of animals that have been raised for food and ultimately slaughtered in modern day factory farms when we eat meat."

She looked at me as if I had two heads and proceeded to disagree with me. She is a heavy meat eater.

Later on in the conversation, she was telling me how smart her dog is and how he understands many of the things she is saying and she went on to further state how much she loved her dog.

I then told her that the billions of animals that are slaughtered in this country annually also have amazing intellects and instictional qualties that would amaze us humans. I then asked how would she feel if her dog were to be treated like an animal that had to live a tortured existence on a factory farm?

She thought about it and had to agree that she would not want her dog treated in the inhumane way that factory farm animals are treated.

I'm planting the seeds of vegansim one person at a time.

[Bananna]

That's cool....my sister became vegetarian purely from tactics like that.

[cherries]

Meat is more addictive than caffeine:

"The trioxypurine in meat has 3 addictive oxypurines to caffeine's 2 oxypurines
(dioxypurine). Trioxypurine or uric acid is preurine in animal muscle cells
which would have been eliminated had the animal not been murdered.
The crystals of uric acid form in needle fashion around joints causing
the pain of arthritis. "

[RawPaw]

I sometimes cheat and eat meat when I'm depressed or stressed out. When I do I feel guilty, not only for my own health. I love animals and am ashamed for eating them when I don't need to.

I mean, pigs are vegetarian, but when they are stressed out in factory farms, they can resort to eating their babies. That's sad on so many levels.

When people ask where my protein comes from, I usually point out horses and how they'll so athletic, muscular, huge, and graceful, yet they don't eat meat.

[Vaclare79]

I read somewhere that the human brain is very easily habit forming and with having habits, culture & diets ingrained into us from early age people find it hard to change especially when it's something that most people aren't used to, like in some cultures eating seaweed or chinese food would be foreign to them so they would find it hard to switch up their diet. For some people, food is something they LIVE for especially people like me. I loved all kinds of cooked foods with a passion it depressed me so much when I had to switch to raw because of health issues, but if people KNEW what they were putting into their bodies and that they could save their bodies and the environment at the same time they would probably NOT eat meat or nasty processed cooked foods.

[RawSinger]

O.k., I'll say it: meat tastes good. Sorry folks. That's one reason why people are "addicted" to it. I've also heard a lot of people say that eating a nice big steak makes them feel like a million bucks. I'm not sure exactly what it is; maybe it's just the right dose of protein, iron, etc. I was talking to a guy who's really into nutrition, body building, and just fitness in general. He said that he just feels really good and strong when he eats meat. People like that feeling. And I hate to say this, but some people also like the feeling of being "on top of the food chain" and that powerful feeling is enhanced when they eat meat. Of course, I'm not condoning eating meat. This is just my two cents.

Lastly, like others have said, it's a cultural thing. It's unfortunate, but we can't expect everyone to give up meat and SAD foods entirely. We can only be a healthy example of what we believe.

[Pilgrim]

I think it's a habit and it's the taste--it does taste good. We become slaves of our taste buds.

As a child I had to be forced to eat meat, but by my teens it had become a habit--that's what you have every night for supper. Also, it fills you up and gives you a feeling of comfort.

[fruitandveggies]

I will also add that the fact that the US (and probably a lot of other) governments practically SHOVE meat and milk down the throats of its citizens. You have your food pyramid (complete crap and made by heads of the meat and dairy industries--the USDA), you have your ads for milk and meat, you brainwash doctors in to thinking we need cow's tit excretions, the school lunch program, oh..and I love this one...a few years ago, the US government was doing scenario training for its military in order to prepare them for any possible ordeals. Well, guess who was the enemy in their scenario? VEGANS. No, not terrorists or other criminals, VEGANS. This society (fueled by the government) has been conditioned to practice hate against those who do not condone the torture and murder of animals.

I think that's why they look at us like we have two heads.

[smoothiegirl]

Jimmy,

This is what heavy meat diets do to your body. Show this to them.

www.kangenwatergirl.info Click the movie selection-colon cleanse. Woke me up.:)

[fruitandveggies]

That video was crazy! I just got through with an herbal colon clense fast, so I can believe it. I'm vegan and it was still disgusting!
The sad thing is, if I showed this to my family, I still don't think they would change their ways.

[Raw Angel Mom]

Oh my goodness, i knew what meat protein or dairy do to your blood stream and all the fat that get deposit before you poor liver gets to clean that but what it does to your colon, oh good lord.

I suffer from chronic constipations since almost birth. I only started to be regulate only a few years ago. And letting go the dairy, surely did the trick.

Yes the meat appeared to taste good but once this is out from your system, i mean the thought of it, will grost you out. I know, for this was my experienced. I just can't believe that i was raised eating so much meat, :eek: and dairy. I was vegetarian for many years but never really let go the dairy until my raw vegan diet.

I think many people don't necessary enjoy the meat itself or what they think they like(for some they really do like the plain flesh), but for many it is the flavor, the spice etc.... I recalled making a stuff vegan squash with what look like burger meat, but it wasn't and my familly sweared it was meat and arguing with me, lol.... Well i said whatever you think but It was vegan. Many seek for the experience of food or eat by fear they will become weak if they don't consume meat. Seeing evidence like that what flesh do to you, is far more powerful and give me more confidence that i have done the right choice for opting for vegan.

In the old days, the time of the ice age, men kind had no choice to start eating meat if they wanted to survive the winter (Couldn't growth much vegies then on winter). But before that, there are evidence that men were vegetarian. Our body did adapt to eat flesh BUT unforturnately the price of our average of life span has went down. We die typically from 70 and up and apparentely we can do way better then that. I feel that consuming alive food and vegan is what will buy out extra years.


I will share this video with others no doubt

Hugs
-Chantal

[fruitandveggies]

I was also reading that the first "cavemen" that started eating cooked food over their fires were also the first (it seems) to have chronic illness. The scientists could tell by the caveman's bones that he was severely arthritic as well as the bear that lived in the cave along side him that he would feed his cooked meat to. The article compared that to the eskimos that lived in a similar fashion but without cooking their food. The eskimos showed very few chronic illnesses until they started to adopt the "modern" way of eating by cooking their food throughly.

[Zaphirah]

I mean, pigs are vegetarian, but when they are stressed out in factory farms, they can resort to eating their babies.

Maybe Americans and other SAD eaters are all just too stressed out?

[ViolinCyndee]

That video was crazy! I just got through with an herbal colon clense fast, so I can believe it. I'm vegan and it was still disgusting!
The sad thing is, if I showed this to my family, I still don't think they would change their ways.

Yes it was gross! I could only watch a few minutes of it, but definitely got the point by then. I am sure that most people will not change their ways, even after watching this!

[petaltothemetal]

I'm not by any means the rabid vegetarian people sometimes accuse me of being. But I am totally against factory farms. Most meat and dairy products in America come from animals fed WORSE than the WORST SAD diet we can imagine. Literally, cows eat chicken litter, chewing gum, processing waste from pizza factories and plastic pellets for roughage. As long as our congressmen can be bought by Big Agriculture, the abuse of intelligent beings will continue.

I don't personally care what people eat if they are moral about it. Some of my best friends are confirmed carnivores and raise their own meat. If it makes them happy, so be it. I lived on a farm with all kinds of meat animals. It seemed right at the time. So be it.

When someone attacks anyone's food choices (whether they're fast food garbage or vegan or high end grassfed lamb or raw fruits or whatever), whoever is on the receiving end always feels defensive. One thing that bothers me about a lot of other raw groups is that people will get STOOOPID with other posters who use the wrong kind of soy sauce (gasp! oh the horrors!) or slip up and eat an egg.

That kind of attitude fuels the people who want to think raw foodists or vegans are terrorists, like the kind of people who are anti-abortion but bomb abortion clinics. I am grateful that here on Alissa's group no one gets petty or mean! Ok, I'm going to eat a steak now. (Just kidding!)

[Eva]

I think it is a lot of things.

I used to smoke. It wasn't just the nicotine. I actually would be able to concentrate better when I smoked. I don't know why. I would be working on huge term papers in college, and when I was just brain dead from so much research or writing, I would take a break to smoke. If I just took a break to eat something or go for a walk, it did not help me to focus back in the same way the smoke did. Funny (but not funny haha), my father was a smoker and died when I was very young; once it came up in conversation with my mom that he too would smoke when he was deep in thought and needed to get further with a business idea or whatever.

My point re: the smoking -- there were many different elements, not just the social aspect when I would go out for drinks or to a party, not just the nicotine, but there were many other "benefits" that (believe it or not) actually outweighed the negatives for me. When I was in college, it was always toward the end of the semester when I wanted to smoke more.

Finally I quit, during the summer in Spain on a study program. I was 20 and had developed chronic bronchitis and was having stomach pains (presumably an ulcer or ulcers, although I was not treated for this -- I had been to a doctor for the same issues the previous year in Hungary and was told to cut out cigarettes, coffee, meat, dairy, etc. I did the same at this point.)... Started up and off again a few times, though. Always related to stress or exams.

NOW, it has been quite some time since I have had a cigarette or meat. When I am eating 100% raw, things like this are just not appealing. AND the longer I am raw, the better and better fresh fruits and veggies taste. I have so many moments where I bite into a tomato or watermelon, even just the lowly cucumber or celery -- and it's like it's the first time I have ever had this food. It is just so good! I don't see meat as food so much anymore. I really think that we just see and taste things differently when we are at the pinnacle of health.

How great is it that I'm not a slave to dis-ease -- but instead have NO need to go to a doctor, NO health issues...

The taste of meat? I'm forgetting. It couldn't have been that good. Ah, but a blackberry. Mmmmm, sounds good. That I can remember, think I'll have some now!