Any Vegetarians out there??

kieranb

look up the VCAC http://www.vcac.vegfolk.co.uk/ established in 1888 to prove that you didn't need meat to compete at a high level. I have been veggie for about 20 years as has my wife. Our 2 children have been veggie from birth, when they are old enough they can choose to eat meat if they wish. The human body has probably evolved to make do with many different types of diet and to cope with imbalances (e.g. in ye olden days it had to cope with reduced fresh foods in winter, occasional famines etc - still the case today in many areas of the world). Don't forget most ordinary people rarely ate meat as they could not afford it, the occasional chicken/cow was kept for it's eggs and milk.

Check out the variety of seeds etc from south america for good sources of protein, e.g quinoa.

bompington

kieranb wrote:

look up the VCAC http://www.vcac.vegfolk.co.uk/ established in 1888

My goodness, they got on the internet a long time before anyone else

plankton

Clearly ahead of their time

Great links though and a very thought provoking thread, thanks.

kieranb

yea, babbage invented an early version

durianrider

Some stats from www.earthsave.org


HUNGER:

-The Number of people worldwide who will die as a result of malnutrition this year: 20 million

-

Number of people who could be adequately fed using land freed if Americans reduced their intake of meat by 10%: 100 million

-

Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by people: 20

-

Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock: 80



-Percentage of oats grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock: 95



-Percentage of protein wasted by cycling grain through livestock: 90



-How frequently a child dies as a result of malnutrition: every 2.3 seconds



-Pounds of beef produced on an acre: 250



-Percentage of U.S. farmland devoted to beef production: 56



ENVIRONMENTAL:



-Cause of global warming: greenhouse effect



-Primary cause of greenhouse effect: carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels

-

Fossil fuels needed to produce meat-centered diet vs. a meat-free diet: 3 times more

-

Percentage of U.S. topsoil lost to date: 75

-

Percentage of U.S. topsoil loss directly related to livestock raising: 85



-Number of acres of U.S. forest cleared for cropland to produce meat-centered diet: 260 million

-Amount of meat imported to U.S. annually from Central and South America: 300,000,000 pounds



-Percentage of Central American children under the age of five who are undernourished: 75



-Area of tropical rainforest consumed in every quarter-pound of rainforest beef: 55 square fee
t


-Current rate of species extinction due to destruction of tropical rainforests for meat grazing and other uses: 1,000 per year



CANCER:



-Increased risk of breast cancer for women who eat meat daily compared to less than once a week: 3.8 times



-For women who eat eggs daily compared to once a week: 2.8 times



-For women who eat butter and cheese 2-4 times a week: 3.25 times



-Increased risk of fatal ovarian cancer for women who eat eggs 3 or more times a week vs. less than once a week: 3 times



-Increased risk of fatal prostate cancer for men who consume meat, cheese, eggs and milk daily vs. sparingly or not at all: 3.6 times.



CHOLESTEROL:



-Number of U.S. medical schools: 125



-Number requiring a course in nutrition: 30



-Nutrition training received by average U.S. physician during four years in medical school: 2.5 hours



-Most common cause of death in the U.S.: heart attack

-

How frequently a heart attack kills in the U.S.: every 45 seconds



-Average U.S. man’s risk of death from heart attack: 50 percent



-Risk of average U.S. man who eats no meat: 15 percent



-Risk of average U.S. man who eats no meat, dairy or eggs: 4 percent



-Amount you reduce risk of heart attack if you reduce consumption of meat, dairy and eggs by 10 percent: 9 percent



-Amount you reduce risk of heart attack if you reduce consumption by 50 percent: 45 percent



-Amount you reduce risk if you eliminate meat, dairy and eggs from your diet: 90 percent



-Average cholesterol level of people eating meat-centered-diet: 210 mg/dl



-Chance of dying from heart disease if you are male and your blood cholesterol level is 210 mg/dl: greater than 50 percent



NATURAL RESOURCES:



-User of more than half of all water used for all purposes in the U.S.:livestock production



-Amount of water used in production of the average cow: sufficient to float a destroyer



-Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of wheat: 25



-Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of California beef: 5,000



-Years the world’s known oil reserves would last if every human ate a meat-centered diet: 13



-Years they would last if human beings no longer ate meat: 260



-Calories of fossil fuel expended to get 1 calorie of protein from beef: 78



-To get 1 calorie of protein from soybeans: 2



-Percentage of all raw materials (base products of farming, forestry and mining, including fossil fuels) consumed by U.S. that is devoted to the production of livestock: 33



-Percentage of all raw materials consumed by the U.S. needed to produce a complete vegetarian diet: 2



ANTIBIOTICS:

-Percentage of U.S. antibiotics fed to livestock: 55



-Percentage of staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin in 1960: 13



-Percentage resistant in 1988: 91



-Response of European Economic Community to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock: ban



-Response of U.S. meat and pharmaceutical industries to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock: full and complete support



PESTICIDES:


-Common belief: U.S. Department of Agriculture protects our health through meat inspection

Reality: fewer than 1 out of every 250,000 slaughtered animals is tested for toxic chemical residues



Percentage of U.S. mother’s milk containing significant levels of DDT: 99



-Percentage of U.S. vegetarian mother’s milk containing significant levels of DDT: 8



-Contamination of breast milk, due to chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides in animal products, found in meat-eating mothers vs. non-meat eating mothers: 35 times higher



-Amount of Dieldrin ingested by the average breast-fed American infant: 9 times the permissible level



ETHICAL:



-Number of animals killed for meat per hour in the U.S.: 660,000



-Occupation with highest turnover rate in U.S.: slaughterhouse worker



-Occupation with highest rate of on-the-job-injury in U.S.: slaughterhouse worker



Article Source – “Diet For A New America” by John Robbins

Please

Visit earthsave.org

Velonutter

Mind blowing stats Durianrider, thanks

sunburntknees

If it's good enough for Robert Millar...

Also, isn't a vegan cycling team out there somewhere too???

legendary27

Percentage of sensibly started threads involving vegetarianism that degenerate into 'preaching' - 100
Percentage of vegetarians who like to discuss why human beings have evolved canine and incisor teeth - 0


On a serious note, the original poster asked for hints and/or ideas to assist in maintaining a training regime whilst following a vegetarian diet. Why do people insist on steering the debate towards the perceived moral superiority of a vegetarian diet versus an omnivorous one ?

Regards,
Gordon

neeb

legendary27 wrote:

Percentage of vegetarians who like to discuss why human beings have evolved canine and incisor teeth - 0

Well, we're omnivores. Having the ability to eat meat when it was the easiest food to get hold of was highly advantageous to our ancestors, but so was the ability to survive perfectly well on nuts and tubers in other circumstances. Our "specialty" was not being obligate carnivores or vegetarians, but being able to live equally well as either and so being able to adapt to shifting environmental conditions and different habitats. Our current situation as a species (massively overpopulating with prolonged lifespans) is one in which a wholly or largely vegetarian diet makes much more sense. Apart from the obvious land-use issue, we now regularly live long enough for the deleterious effects of excessive meat and saturated fat consumption to become a problem. Those of our ancestors who were largely carnivorous would have lived at a population density of about one per square mile and would mostly have been dead before they were 40.

legendary27

neeb wrote:

Well, we're omnivores. Having the ability to eat meat when it was the easiest food to get hold of was highly advantageous to our ancestors, but so was the ability to survive perfectly well on nuts and tubers in other circumstances. Our "specialty" was not being obligate carnivores or vegetarians, but being able to live equally well as either and so being able to adapt to shifting environmental conditions and different habitats. Our current situation as a species (massively overpopulating with prolonged lifespans) is one in which a wholly or largely vegetarian diet makes much more sense. Apart from the obvious land-use issue, we now regularly live long enough for the deleterious effects of excessive meat and saturated fat consumption to become a problem. Those of our ancestors who were largely carnivorous would have lived at a population density of about one per square mile and would mostly have been dead before they were 40.

Damn, you're good. Can't disagree with any of that !

Percentage of vegetarians who like to discuss why human beings have evolved canine and incisor teeth - 1 !! (Rounding up to the nearest 1% !). :P

Regards,
Gordon

simon_e

legendary27 wrote:

Why do people insist on steering the debate towards the perceived moral superiority of a vegetarian diet versus an omnivorous one ?

I don't know if it is morally superior but it is often considered "more ethical" (depends on your ethics, of course!) and environmentally less harmful. Some people care about these things a great deal. I suspect some vegetarians feel so strongly that it dominates their contribution, but a forum like this is not necessarily the best place to really understand other people's values. I'd consider their reaction to be less "preaching" and more "arguing", and it takes two to argue.

I don't think whether we have incisor teeth is relevant. It's a decision, a choice. We all make choices and have ethics or values about stealing, drugs, the age of consent, is it right to smack kids and so on. Some people hate the idea of eating horse meat but don't bat an eyelid over lamb, beef and pork. Social conditioning? Probably.

Since I've stopped eating meat the reaction from non-veggie people falls into two distinct patterns:
1. disdain: a measure of disbelief that I deny myself this great food. Perhaps I've been brainwashed.
or
2. guilt: mumbling about how they don't eat much meat themselves nowadays. Some of them don't wish to consider the animal cruelty often involved in commercial livestock production.

Returning to Dave's original question, I have not eaten meat since about 2006; I'm fitter and healthier
- and, I think, leaner - than I have been for a long time. Could probably be more so if I managed to leave the cakes and biscuits alone

the_spooks

ADIHEAD wrote:

Hey I should have read this before doing another post :oops: Did anyone see the article in this month's Cycling Plus? It suggests Creatine additives may be a good idea, anyone tried them?

I have tried creatine as a supplement and noted no difference, unsure what I was expecting to be honest. What do you expect to achieve from using it, or what do you feel you lack? Having said that I will continue to use a low amount ~2g daily and my B12 as my only supplements.

I have read this thread with great interest and have to agree with loads written. Been a vegetarian for 22 years and only recently thought about a healthy vegeterarian diet instead of a don't eat meat/fish diet, there is a huge difference.
there is so much misinformation regards what a vegan/vegeterarian needs and I'm still trying to cut through all the bs and find the truth, but I seem to have found something that works for me in that I'm healthier than I have ever been and lost the weight I needed to( yes vegetarians can be fat lol).

Velonutter

Hmm Tommy Goodwin a Vegetarian still holds the maximum number of miles cycled in a year at 75,065, can't have been too bad for his health then :roll:

http://www.phased.co.uk/index.php/tommy ... eater.html

durianrider

I wish my parents raised me vegan and then I wouldnt have had so many health issues as I did as a child. When I moved out at age 17 I just started eating less meat by default when I had to cook myself. I started eating less meat and feeling healthier but caved into peer pressure when I started getting really ripped. People started worrying about me so I started fattening up by eating more steak and eggs.

Then I eventually got sick enough that I had to make some drastic changes. Bit like when you get tendonitis, you start looking at your training and bike set up.

Almost 11 years now vegan and loving it. All my blood tests are super and Ive gone from 40 supps a day as a meat eater down to just 1 every few months.

johndoran

Not wishing to enter into any debate about the rights or wrongs . I have not eaten anything with a face since 1982 and really have never had any health issues as such. Yes I get the occasional cold like everybody else . I don't ride as competitively now as I used to but still get out on a regular basis. When I was going reasonably well ,certainly in time trials I regularly managed sub 60 min rides for 25 miles without much specialist equipment. (no aero helmet,no special wheels,no carbon fibre bike). All I can say is being a veggie is not really any drawback.

durianrider

My GF went vegan and dropped a bunch of weight.

Here is a shot from yesterday (making youtube vids in the kitchen again :x )



And some before and after shots put together.