The Omnivore's Delimma - Can't get it out of my head

[MattLeft]

It may not contribute anything constructive to this conversation, but I thought I'd put it out there anyway:  I am a meagan.  It's the anti-vegan lifestyle, consisting primarily of meat with a side of meat.  Beer and chips are honorary meats.

[Pat K]

It may not contribute anything constructive to this conversation, but I thought I'd put it out there anyway:  I am a meagan.  It's the anti-vegan lifestyle, consisting primarily of meat with a side of meat.  Beer and chips are honorary meats.

My Hero. 

[Caleb]

It may not contribute anything constructive to this conversation, but I thought I'd put it out there anyway:  I am a meagan.  It's the anti-vegan lifestyle, consisting primarily of meat with a side of meat.  Beer and chips are honorary meats.

LOL. That was me a few months ago. 

[Caleb]

I think they see that I'm giving in to stuff way more because I have a lot of personal issues with my health and depression so they are taking advantage while I'm occupied with myself instead of them as much.   It makes me feel like a crappy mother too and I need to gain some more ground here at home no matter what is going on with me.

I just had another one of my kids move out 2 weeks after she turned 18 right smack into the scummy drug place my son moved in to before he came back home.  It really threw me for a shocker because we were so close and I never expected it so it seems like I went wrong somewhere with whatever I've taught them.  I'm trying not to think about her that much because my health is really in the pits right now and I can't deal with much more.

I doubt you're going wrong, rainey. Kids grow up and they have to test their wings and experience life for themself, and sometimes that means doing things that you know aren't good for them, but sometimes we have to learn things the hard way. We are all rebelling, we just don't know what we're rebelling against. I'm not a parent, so I don't know what it feels like from that end. I'm sure it hurts.

[dalebert]

i agree with you. i am not opposed to eating animals morally. Given the right situation, I could be persuaded to eat meat. (Rather easily, actually.) If, for instance, someone offered me deer meat that had been shot in the wild. Or cattle that was raised in a way that I could confirm was humane and natural, fed on grasses, etc.

What I object to is the inhumanity and unkindness that is extended to animals, as if they aren't a living, breathing creature, but rather a product to be exploited heartlessly.

Those were my exact reasons for being vege for 3 years back in my college days.

[John Edward Mercier]

Ok, so here's a little link that I found rainey. It'll tell you the iron sources of various types of foods. But it may be that absorption is your problem, because you said it didn't get better when you started eating meat. So you might want to try eating more oranges. The Vitamin C helps absorption of the iron. Plus, oranges are delicious. 

http://www.mckinley.uiuc.edu/Handouts/dietary_sources_iron.html

Awesome thank you so much!  I finally went to a doctor and he has me taking 325mg of Iron with vitamin C 2 times a day.  I can't eat oranges or apples they make me gag, I hate them.  Thanks Caleb!

How about broccoli? You can grow it in your backyard... and if I can find the link it has the highest total nutrient value of any crop.

[John Edward Mercier]

As for the idea that cattle are genetically selected by humans, that is laughable.

Selective breeding has radically altered the appearance and build of cows.   I wish I could find this old Britannica illustration of cattle breeds through the centuries. 

Some are bred for meat production, some for milk, some to survive drought conditions, some for pulling plows.

Perhaps only dog breeds are more engineered.   The idea of a "natural" cow -- untouched by human artifice is laughable.   Humans have been mucking with cow genetics for thousands of years.

American Bison... but we're having problems in New England as our grasses are not native prairie grasses, but hybrids from other countries.

[John Edward Mercier]

I fail to see the immorality of slaughtering farm animals fed from your own crops and pastures.   

Living on a farm will quickly disabuse you of anthropomorphizing animals -- no matter how many Disney films you watch.   People are too far removed from the reality of food production.   

On a farm death is not sanitized.   You feel no post-modern remorse when plucking a chicken, only the hunger in your belly.

Where is the universal ethical impetus for vegetarianism?   (excluding reasons of individual health, religious belief, taste, etc.)

Ethical vegetarianism strikes me as another post-Catholic system to absolve imagined guilt.

How many male vegans would we have if they watched a young bull get 'crimped'?

[Raineyrocks]

It may not contribute anything constructive to this conversation, but I thought I'd put it out there anyway:  I am a meagan.  It's the anti-vegan lifestyle, consisting primarily of meat with a side of meat.  Beer and chips are honorary meats.

My Hero. 

[Raineyrocks]

It may not contribute anything constructive to this conversation, but I thought I'd put it out there anyway:  I am a meagan.  It's the anti-vegan lifestyle, consisting primarily of meat with a side of meat.  Beer and chips are honorary meats.

  A meagan, I never heard of the word, did you make it up?   I say whatever works for you!

It's funny but every time I'd go over people's houses for dinner when I was a veggie they'd get so nervous about what to make for dinner and I was always like make whatever you want, if I don't eat it then I don't.  So everyone and I'm not kidding when I say everyone would make spaghetti and salad, it was funny because I'd make bets with Rick about what dinner was going to be at so and so's house.
When my girlfriend and her husband came for dinner I made a nice pot roast, potatoes and carrots, it flipped them out because they were used to uptight veggies.

[flaherty]

It may not contribute anything constructive to this conversation, but I thought I'd put it out there anyway:  I am a meagan.  It's the anti-vegan lifestyle, consisting primarily of meat with a side of meat.  Beer and chips are honorary meats.

i was exactly the same way before i went vegan. every meal was meat and red meat was cooked rare. blech!

[Lex]

Question for the vegans on here, what do you do for vitamin B12?

[Raineyrocks]

I think they see that I'm giving in to stuff way more because I have a lot of personal issues with my health and depression so they are taking advantage while I'm occupied with myself instead of them as much.   It makes me feel like a crappy mother too and I need to gain some more ground here at home no matter what is going on with me.

I just had another one of my kids move out 2 weeks after she turned 18 right smack into the scummy drug place my son moved in to before he came back home.  It really threw me for a shocker because we were so close and I never expected it so it seems like I went wrong somewhere with whatever I've taught them.  I'm trying not to think about her that much because my health is really in the pits right now and I can't deal with much more.

I doubt you're going wrong, rainey. Kids grow up and they have to test their wings and experience life for themself, and sometimes that means doing things that you know aren't good for them, but sometimes we have to learn things the hard way. We are all rebelling, we just don't know what we're rebelling against. I'm not a parent, so I don't know what it feels like from that end. I'm sure it hurts.

Thanks Caleb.   I hope I'm not doing anything wrong after the first 2 left they did want a relationship with me and I know #3 has asked if I'm ready to talk yet so that does seem hopeful.  I'm not ready yet though and all the wrong things would come out of my mouth because I'm so hurt and angry. In due time, the wound is fresh.

I just wish she would've waited until she graduated high school, she has 2 months to go and the school keeps calling me because she's absent.  It's not that I pushed graduating off on her she's the one that wanted to go back to public school and head onto college and what bugs me is when most kids are that young, (myself included), you don't realize how these actions are going affect your future until your much older probably with kids and it's not that easy to go to college and do what you wanted to do in the first place.

Then I had my oldest daughter call me this morning and tell me her boyfriend/ used to be fiancee went nuts last night and hurt her pretty bad and my 2 grandsons were there.  I know I sound like a drama queen and I really wish I was and these were all just stories I make up.   But it looks like Rick and I are going to be heading south to get her and the grandsons this week, she's safe for right now so at least I have that peace of mind.  Whew, I'm glad we have a big enough house that's all I have to say.

Sorry for the run on and thanks for the kind words!  I'm going to go back to trying to be happy for the rest of the day!

[Raineyrocks]

Ok, so here's a little link that I found rainey. It'll tell you the iron sources of various types of foods. But it may be that absorption is your problem, because you said it didn't get better when you started eating meat. So you might want to try eating more oranges. The Vitamin C helps absorption of the iron. Plus, oranges are delicious. 

http://www.mckinley.uiuc.edu/Handouts/dietary_sources_iron.html

Awesome thank you so much!  I finally went to a doctor and he has me taking 325mg of Iron with vitamin C 2 times a day.  I can't eat oranges or apples they make me gag, I hate them.  Thanks Caleb!

How about broccoli? You can grow it in your backyard... and if I can find the link it has the highest total nutrient value of any crop.

My yard is weird we have a little patchy grass front yard, then cliffs and the entire back yard which is real, real, steep is nothing but shavings.  I guess the people that built the house figured it would be too hard to get a lawn mower down there, I really don't know because we have a basement that the lawn mower could be wheeled into the back yard, blah, blah, I'm going off on a nonsensical rant again.
I was thinking of trying to make a tiny garden in the front yard, thanks!

[Raineyrocks]

Question for the vegans on here, what do you do for vitamin B12?

I've read that if you don't rinse your fresh veggies real, real, good there is actually b12 in the dirt that's on them.   I take b12 shots every week now but that's for the anemia not because I'm vegan.