Veggies Rock!

Sence when did people stop doing things because they might be challenging? It's not very hard to become a Vegan. The only reason everyone is not a vegan is because of the mass market and also because no one bothers to educate themselves on the subject. Yes, it is a life changing commitment but its a commitment for the better, plus it's worth it. Not just for your own health but your the enviroment and the only planet that we can exsist on. Being a Vegan is a no brainer. If you go to the grocery store there is a section full of wounderful, delicous fruits and vegetables and plenty of recipies online to make interesting yummy dishes with. It's science and experimentation at it best, in your own kitchen. Being Vegan makes you develop new brain cells from trying new and differnt types of foods that you never thought you could make for your family. BUT YOU CAN! It's sad that there are so many people who don't believe in themselves or want to be healthy. How did that happen? Being a Vegan gives you great self esteem, a great body and a great soul. I wish i new more Vegans in person that I had things in common with. That would be cool. But for now im satisfied with knowing that my family is living a long lasting compassionate life style to have a promissing future. VEGANS SAVE LIVES!

I have been vegan for 6 months, vegetarian for 2 years. My family's meals have always included plenty of meat and dairy. (I always joke that thier main food groups are bacon and cheese :) I have loved animals since I was very young and the first time someone told me that my hamburger used to be a cow, I was appalled. From then on I was very uncomfortable with the idea of eating meat, and I only ate enough to appease my parents. I didn't know vegetarians existed until I met one in my elementary school. I was about 9 and I started thinking about becoming veg. When I was in high school, I finally made the transition and felt more at peace. Right before I left for college, I decided to go vegan. It is the best decision I have ever made! I am able to focus much better than before I gave up the dairy, and I have tons of energy. I have also begun to lose weight more easily, which I have been struggling with for years. I love being vegan!!

**Also, whenever I offer food to my non-veggie friends that I describe as vegan, (ie- vegan pizza, vegan cookies) they are automatically turned off. A few of my friends refuse to even taste it, usually saying it's too healthy. (Who's ever heard of a healthy cookie??) That's just what I have noticed :)

I definitely support peoples' beliefs in raw foods diets, living vegan, and vegetarianism, but I'm a little curious about the comment that people are "freaked out" by food labeled as vegan. Seriously? Who do you know that is freaked out by vegetables and grains? It's all good. Come on now. Even the biggest meat n' potatoes lover still eats... um, potatoes.

vegas do not think about the fact that animals produce the fertilizers for their supposed vegetables and insects pollinate and die for the plants they eat whats the deal with that? and as far as the animals thanking us for being vegan that will not happen unless you find an animal that does not eat another animal!

Should is what you tell a child when they are about to jump into the middle of the street because they are going to get hit by the car if they don't look both ways. You SHOULD look both ways.

Should is not a word that is to be used with the consumption of food.

Humans are to eat to live. They are also to eat certain things so that they get the right vitamins and such. Otherwise they'll just get sick....with that said where is the source of protein coming from? I take vitamins. But that's not an answer I'm looking for---what in the veggie world is eaten to obtain that? I'm pretty sure there is something.

I'm also pretty sure eliminating meat from one's diet could cause some sort of complication that is unknown. They always find out the "bad" after the fact. Considering they can't decide how one should raise a kid. They've been back and forth on that issue since the seventies. What is right and what is wrong...what one should do...they don't have a solid answer.

I am not going to stop eating just because an animal dies. I'd like to see you convince a lion to be more polite when he kills an antelope. Tell that sea lion to not bother the penguins with it's mean teeth and eat seaweed instead.

We are not mini gods of this earth. You can claim that it's vile to harm chickens. But they are going to get eaten...by coyotes with sharp teeth that will tare their flesh as they cluck in pain.

It's a claim that the food industry is mean to them. Is that really a problem? If they killed them more 'humanly' then their deaths would be alright? People can be vegans and vegetarians because they get to decide what they want to eat. I think it takes a lot of strength and will power to do so until one is use to it. I'm also pretty sure that there are some things that look appealing like cake and ice cream but can't be because of the use of dairy---even if there is a tofu supplement.

I don't drink alcohol. I don't care to but it wasn't easy...as in I had to hear people go OH come on...look how much fun...yeah no. I don't see that as fun. I mean drinking is fine cause I have found things that taste really good but I just don't want to put myself in a position that I will do something totally stupid. I'm capable just like everyone else.

I supporting death of chickens and cows for my BBQ night doesn't mean I have a one trip ticket to hell.

Jammer, I do not claim superiority. I claim only that I have taken the moral highroad. It doesn't make me better than anyone else, although, if animals could talk, I'm pretty sure they'd prefer Vegans to meat eaters.

"it is not your right to suggest that just because someone wants to eat a mouse and its babies that they are horrible people."

ACTUALLY, it is my right. However, this isn't so much about what you CAN do as about what you SHOULD do. I could pussyfoot around and respond o so nicely, but I don't have the time, and I've discussed it many times before. I think that the inconvenience of hearing rants about why murder is bad is a bit less convenient than being murdered. Between "preachy" Vegans and murderous flesh eaters, who's guilty of the more severe crime?

If you still feel the same, I can present a more thorough argument.

Why is it necessary for those who are vegan or vegetarians to suggest they are "better" than anyone who eats meat?

Seriously....if you like to eat things that are not breathing that's your progative but it is not your right to suggest that just because someone wants to eat a mouse and its babies that they are horrible people.

Wouldn't it be funny...not that it's going to happen...that someone finds out that veggies and fruits have thoughts and that all along those who claim not to want to kill have been.

If that is how someone wants to live that's what they want to do. If I want to eat the meat of a giraffe or that of a hippo that's my choice too.

Too much of anything is bad....even if it's veggies.

I've been veggie since I was eleven (18 years) and vegan for the past six years. It's a way of life. I think people should eat what they want but factory farming needs to change. I'm a huge supporter of Farm Sanctuary (www.farmsanctuary.org) and a onetime employee. Veggies Rock and Tofu Does Too!

I've been vegetarian for 17 years now and I love it. I never really liked the taste of meat, or the way it made me feel when I ate it growing up. I like animals and I think the meat industry is for the most part cruel and barbaric. I think we are desensitized when it comes to the treatment of animals other than our domestic pets. It always confused me how people could be concerned with the welfare of dogs and cats but not with other animals?

I ate anything I wanted for 24 years. Then I went veggie about 5 months ago, and Vegan about 4 months ago. So far so could. I was a little worried about becoming the lady from "I've fallin and I can't get up". Well I mean I wasn't actually worried about actually becoming an old lady who was hurt on the floor, but I was worried about being tired and weak, like an hold lady who's hurt on the floor.

I exercise a ton. I have plenty of energy. I've lost weight at a healthy rate. And I have an easier time sleeping and waking up.

Also my food bill has gone down a lot. I spend approx, $40 a week. Yea

I don't know what restaurants you're going to. I live in California, and we have a lot of options. One thing is that soy takes on a really nice flavor when it has been deep fried. That could be part of the issue. Try cooking your own vege dishes. It's easier than you think. there's a large asian population here in San Jose, CA, so we have lots of Asian grocery stores. These offer a WIDE variety of tofu products, as well as other vege/vegen food options. check one out!

Why is it that most vegan restaurants deep fry every single item in their menus? If you think you are eating healthier because you are deep frying battered tofu in vegetable oil, you are just fooling yourself.

I've been slowly eliminating meat from my diet to the point where I can easily go a full month or two on a vegan diet. The process becomes a lot easier when you actually learn your food properties and how to combine your greens to get the most out of them.

Once meat starts grossing you out you'll know that you are not far away from a healthier lifestyle.

vegetables are gross!

hehe.

I've been a die-hard vegetarian for going on 11 (12?) years now. It's one of the most fulfilling things that I have been able to do with my life thus far. Aside from saving a handful of animals, I get the opportunity to show others an alternative way of eating, hopefully sparing a few more animals along the way. My friends have all reduced their meat consumption, some of them even becoming full fledged vegetarians. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Vegetarianism Missionary or anything. The food is just good. They like it. They eat it. I am incredibely healthy, and rarely sick. When I was younger, I had very bad allergies, and now those are gone too. I'm vegetarian because I love animals. i don't want to eat muscle tissue that is intended to allow them to run and play together! Another benefit of vegetarianism is simple discipline. It's refreshing to have somthing in your life that you stick to religiously. It doesn't even require effort. I don't even think about meat as being a possible food. Do you see a carcass as being dinner?

Vegans literally glow, are healthier, happier, more beautiful, smell nicer, and live much longer than meat-eaters. :)

I'm vegetarian for the sheer science of it. Plants have more energy/vitamins and phytonutrients than meat. Why use beautiful, fertile farmland to grow low-grade corn and other grains to feed livestock when you could use that land to grow food suitable for people, for hemp for all the amazing and durable products that can come of it, etc.? Each time energy "changes hands" it loses more or less than 10%, so that if a person eats a carnivorous animal, that animal has far less energy than if they ate an equal amount of plant substances.

Good pod. I'd like to see more on this topic.

i have considered becoming a vegan a few times. Some of my vegan friends have challenged me to try it for a month, I think I might try it.

I think, because of the seemingly ascetic nature of Veganism, most Vegans have reasons beyond health. I'm Vegan, because I value all life and wish no harm to any sentient being. If I could live off of sunshine, I would.

People often ask how hard it is to be Vegan. If you're doing it because you know it's the right thing to do, it's not hard at all. Even when I'm absurdly hungry (simply because I'm an unemployed adolescent Vegan in a flesh-eater household, not because finding Vegan meals is so difficult. It isn't.), I am satisfied, knowing that no animal died so that I could live. It's as simple as minalizing the negative effects of your existence upon others. Eat for health, and be considerate.

Anyway, nice pod. I'm going to make a pod about Veganism, as soon as I get a good camera.

Have you ever turned vegan or veggie, and what were your reasons for making the change?