h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

How many vegetarians take vitamin tablets to supplement their diet ??
Surely vegetation alone must be lacking in some of the resources that humans need. The human was designed to eat both meat and veg, otherwise we would be built like a cow with several stomachs.

The myth that humans need to eat meat has been around
since we thought the earth was flat. Firstly our teeth are
the same as a vegetarian animal...molars! - which chew in
a grinding crushing way. Our stomachs are very long like a
vegetarian animal so that the nutrients are removed slowly
Meat takes ages in a humans gut and it rots. Our livers
are unable to remove large amounts of uric acid unlike a carnivore...

Most vegatarians take some form of vitamin suppliment, if not for the express reason that they are vegatarians, more just 'cause they are generally a more health concious group. This is generally not necessary, as by the nature of their diet, they eat approx 5 times more fruits and veggies than the average American. As we all know, the majority of what you get in a multi vitiman can easily be gotten by eating some fruit and some leafy green veggies every day (hard to do in a Big Mac culture). However, vegatarians must be aware that they do need to focus on protein, as there is precious little to be found in vegatables alone. I hear nuts are a good source.

I dont take any vitamin supplements and I give blood every
6 months and I never failed the anaemic test. You're right
you can get protein through lots of things but you dont need
much anyway. Vitamin B12 can get low in vegetarians.
I eat yeast extract to compensate...

Naturally occurring yeast extract? If we hadn't started eating meat to leave more time for tool-use and the development of technology would there be a Marmite™ factory to extract the yeast for the veggie to eat?
Leave the dentition/alimentary argument alone. We're not ruminants and therefore have to choose our vegetables carefully if we don't want some sort of deficiency. We have SOME molars but don't have open-rooted molars. The reason for the average age of death being 35 was the fact that by then all our teeth had fallen out and we couldn't eat enough of anything to survive, even if we could hold off disease and so forth. Granted, we have some enteric bacteria but not nearly enough to make vegetarian subsistence as effective as meat-eating.

Well, damn, you';d better tell my body that it can't do that thing. I am a really sloppy
life-long vegetarian, and yes I smoke, and drink, don't cook, eat randomly, etc.

It's only meat eaters giving up that panic.

Everyone assumes I'm ten years younger than I am (53) and want to know a secret.
There isn't one. Don't panic, tune your system out of really bad habits and then eat what you like, when you like, as often as you like. this only works when you have tuned your system up, like your average cat (we're not talking intellectual intelligence here, just biological stuff).

The worst thing for your sytem is worry. I occasionally take ginseng, or vitamins, or whatever, when my system fancies them.

No rules, OK?

I have read two forums and the discussion goes on. On the other forum someone said, (Im sorry can't remember who) that vegitarians have to put up with remarks from meat eaters as if the vegitarians were perfect. I am a meat eating vegetarian and have been ridiculed with snide remarks such as "why are you eating dead animals".If that and many other similar remarks are not designed to make one feel guilty, I don't know what is.

On the subject of suppliments - Yes a vegetarian must take Vitimin B12 which on the main is found in meat products and in very few vegetable based products. The body is not able to produce this vitimin in great quantities, if at all and without it a person can feel rather tired and listless. The potassium found in bananas can help to some degree to counter the tired feeling but prolonged periods without B12 can seriously damage health.

I eat vegetarian food (vegiwoman makes a wonderful vegetarian hot pot), I also eat meat dishes. Therefore I enjoy the food delights of both worlds. Why argue over anothers eating habits? It is petty and both sides have their good & bad points.

BTW a good way of detoxifying the blood is to eat any fruit for a day or so and drink loads of water. This not only helps smokers who lose about 50u of vitim C per cigarette but everyone else wwho lacks vitimin C. If you generally feel tired and run down, detoxifying the blood is a great PickMeUp. If you are under the doctor on a special diet, do consult him/her before trying the above.

Back to vitimin C. Do remember that cooking foods kills vitim C. Whether you are a vegitarian or not, you should eat plenty of fresh fruit or some other form of Supplimentary food or drink that contains it. You cannot overdose on VitC as some other vitimins and it can be a natural antibiotic for many deseases, especially colds.

Trials in America claim that vitimin E in fairly large doses can defurr the blood vessels. This vitimin can be found in large amounts in wheatgerm, the bit they take out of bread before baking it. A very under rated food source.

I think I have waffled on to long. Pop over to my page sometime and have fun.
vegiman

Sorry, but isn't a "meat eating vegetarian" a bit of a contradiction?
Don't mean to be picky or anything...

Hi Rubie

Yes ! It was meant to be contradictory. I like many meats and I like many Vegetarian type foods.

The point I was trying to make was you do not have to be a vegetarian to enjoy vegetarian foods. I rather like being a meat eating vegetarian. I get the best of both worlds.
vegiman

Fact:Vegans shun animal products.
Fact:Most Vegans are going to have to resort to vitamin supplements to get their nutrition.
Fact:These same supplements are derived from genetic processes involving harvesting certain proteins and vitamins within the living bodies of mice, pigs, and other animals and extracting these vitamins for supplements. A common example is insulin.

Does this just seem a wee bit odd to anyone else?
The Lackadaisical Maestro

A vegan with a balanced diet does not need to take nutritional supplements. There seems to be so much talk about vegetarians and vegans having an inadequate diet, but what about omnivores? Looking at the diets of the meat-eaters around me, it is obvious that the majority of them do not consume enough fibre, viable calcium, vitamin C etc. And all this talk of not getting enough protein is ridiculous. The average omnivore consumes at least 209% the amount of protein they need, while the average vegetarian consume around 109% of their bodies requirements. Too much protein is more of a problem in the average diet, not a lack of protein as some choose to believe.

Just a thought......

If we were meant to be vegitarian, how come we have got canine teeth????

To bite people to win the argument o o
I
MM
WW

P.S. but being a veggie I didn't take a lump out- don't worry.

Oh I'd lined the OOIMM and WW's up to look like a biting face but it didn't work

Oh dear, what a pity, never mind-