My political affiliation: I'm a bon vivante
Years and years ago, I wrote an email to someone close to me outlining my thoughts on vegetarianism and they described it as being effectively "a position paper." I don't think I yet knew the word veganism.
In a nutshell: I'm for semi-vegetarian diets. The Bible recommends a mostly plant-based diet. Most dietary restrictions in various "wisdom" traditions, such as other religions, also trend towards banning various meats. Food plants are usually not banned.
I'm for that primarily as a good recommendation for your individual health in most cases and secondarily as generally not a bad idea "politically." But I think it needs to be individual choice made without outside pressure to conform to a particular ideology.
I was molested as a little girl and felt "dirty" and that was one of the reasons I wanted to go vegetarian starting at age fourteen. I suspect stuff like that is probably pretty common and most people are less inclined to openly admit to motives of that sort.
Long experience suggests I wear a lot on my sleeve that a lot of people just don't talk about.
But while I am suspicous of the motives of a lot of people promoting vegetarian diets, I don't think wanting to go vegetarian for a reason of that sort is merely neuroticism. I think being molested can cause health issues and trying to find some way to "purify" your body afterwards can, in fact, help you actually recover.
I never did go vegetarian. I have a genetic disorder and I need about 1.5 to 2 times as much nutrients as most people.
On the one hand, given MY initial reason for being interested in going vegetarian and my inability to get adequate nutrition without meat, my knee-jerk reaction is "Vegans are all nutters."
On the other hand, NOT EVERYONE has my genetic disorder. So maybe it works JUST FINE for them.
I do sometimes read posts on r/exvegans and they talk a lot about going back to being pescatarian or vegetarian or omnivore because their health went to hell while vegan.
Guess what? A LOT OF PEOPLE have health issues and their poor diet contributes. I have absolutely no solid evidence that veganism PER SE caused their health issues, though I can READILY believe they got ill due to poor nutrition while vegan.
I do find pushy vegans trying to "recruit" me annoying. I find veganism as a political ideology aggravating, in part because it is hostile to Native tribes who want to eat their sustainable traditional diet in places where plants are not available as a staple, like Alaska.
I'm very big on "You can eat what you want to eat. I will eat what I damn well want to eat."
For ME, the jury is still out as to whether veganism is "crazy" or not. Maybe my feeling that "It's crazeh!" is MY baggage talking. I don't have clear evidence one way or the other.
If you ARE vegan or want to go vegan, please be aware that SOME essential nutrients are hard to get with a vegan diet and try to work at eating healthy.
But we all need to work at eating healthy. That is NOT peculiar to veganism.
I am willing to make "My right to eat as I see fit" a hill to die on and defend yours as well, no matter what you are choosing to eat (unless you are a cannibal -- I shall make an exception for that). I also don't eat keto or paleo or any number of other "weird" diets but most of those people are not trying to actively promote their diet as a political thing, akin to hellfire and damnation Christian types.
I read Diet for a Small Planet a LOT of years ago. It is half political tome, half vegetarian cookbook and advocated vegetarianism as an antidote to global war and famine long before vegan became some hot button political topic.
I'm all for trying to live lighter on the land as a means to combat climate change and promote world peace. But there can be many legitimate reasons why someone can't or doesn't want to go vegan and diet is not the ONLY means to live lighter.
I saw the word flexitarian recently and it apparently describes the way I eat, which I describe as semi-vegetarian. Years ago, I saw someone famous for their low-budget-lifestyle writing talk about "less meat" meals instead of "meatless meals" as a means to cut expenses because meat tends to be pricey and "Less meat meals" or a "less meat diet" generally works to describe how I eat overall compared to the "typical" American.
THIS site is about eating better for your health. I ONLY talk about "political" aspects of things like vegetarianism and veganism because I feel it's become such a politicized topic that it's NOT POSSIBLE to write about food without SOMEONE getting all up in your business about it.
But I pretty much hate politics and THIS site is NOT a political site. It's a HEALTH site. A NUTRITION site. And a site about living well, eating well, enjoying your meals and taking pleasure in food without tearing your hair out to put a damn meal on the table.
You do you. Don't tread on me though.
In a nutshell: I'm for semi-vegetarian diets. The Bible recommends a mostly plant-based diet. Most dietary restrictions in various "wisdom" traditions, such as other religions, also trend towards banning various meats. Food plants are usually not banned.
I'm for that primarily as a good recommendation for your individual health in most cases and secondarily as generally not a bad idea "politically." But I think it needs to be individual choice made without outside pressure to conform to a particular ideology.
I was molested as a little girl and felt "dirty" and that was one of the reasons I wanted to go vegetarian starting at age fourteen. I suspect stuff like that is probably pretty common and most people are less inclined to openly admit to motives of that sort.
Long experience suggests I wear a lot on my sleeve that a lot of people just don't talk about.
But while I am suspicous of the motives of a lot of people promoting vegetarian diets, I don't think wanting to go vegetarian for a reason of that sort is merely neuroticism. I think being molested can cause health issues and trying to find some way to "purify" your body afterwards can, in fact, help you actually recover.
I never did go vegetarian. I have a genetic disorder and I need about 1.5 to 2 times as much nutrients as most people.
On the one hand, given MY initial reason for being interested in going vegetarian and my inability to get adequate nutrition without meat, my knee-jerk reaction is "Vegans are all nutters."
On the other hand, NOT EVERYONE has my genetic disorder. So maybe it works JUST FINE for them.
I do sometimes read posts on r/exvegans and they talk a lot about going back to being pescatarian or vegetarian or omnivore because their health went to hell while vegan.
Guess what? A LOT OF PEOPLE have health issues and their poor diet contributes. I have absolutely no solid evidence that veganism PER SE caused their health issues, though I can READILY believe they got ill due to poor nutrition while vegan.
I do find pushy vegans trying to "recruit" me annoying. I find veganism as a political ideology aggravating, in part because it is hostile to Native tribes who want to eat their sustainable traditional diet in places where plants are not available as a staple, like Alaska.
I'm very big on "You can eat what you want to eat. I will eat what I damn well want to eat."
For ME, the jury is still out as to whether veganism is "crazy" or not. Maybe my feeling that "It's crazeh!" is MY baggage talking. I don't have clear evidence one way or the other.
If you ARE vegan or want to go vegan, please be aware that SOME essential nutrients are hard to get with a vegan diet and try to work at eating healthy.
But we all need to work at eating healthy. That is NOT peculiar to veganism.
I am willing to make "My right to eat as I see fit" a hill to die on and defend yours as well, no matter what you are choosing to eat (unless you are a cannibal -- I shall make an exception for that). I also don't eat keto or paleo or any number of other "weird" diets but most of those people are not trying to actively promote their diet as a political thing, akin to hellfire and damnation Christian types.
I read Diet for a Small Planet a LOT of years ago. It is half political tome, half vegetarian cookbook and advocated vegetarianism as an antidote to global war and famine long before vegan became some hot button political topic.
I'm all for trying to live lighter on the land as a means to combat climate change and promote world peace. But there can be many legitimate reasons why someone can't or doesn't want to go vegan and diet is not the ONLY means to live lighter.
I saw the word flexitarian recently and it apparently describes the way I eat, which I describe as semi-vegetarian. Years ago, I saw someone famous for their low-budget-lifestyle writing talk about "less meat" meals instead of "meatless meals" as a means to cut expenses because meat tends to be pricey and "Less meat meals" or a "less meat diet" generally works to describe how I eat overall compared to the "typical" American.
THIS site is about eating better for your health. I ONLY talk about "political" aspects of things like vegetarianism and veganism because I feel it's become such a politicized topic that it's NOT POSSIBLE to write about food without SOMEONE getting all up in your business about it.
But I pretty much hate politics and THIS site is NOT a political site. It's a HEALTH site. A NUTRITION site. And a site about living well, eating well, enjoying your meals and taking pleasure in food without tearing your hair out to put a damn meal on the table.
You do you. Don't tread on me though.
