why are vegetarians so angry?

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by pgardn

Rupert.
Meats dont contain fiber (cellulose derivatives). Fiber does something very special. It absorbs a very large amount of water and it cannot be broken down by our digestive tract. When one's large intestines get stretched by this wonderful combination of cellulose and water, a message(and massage) is sent to the brain causing contractions. These contractions can be caused other ways (an especially discomforting way is when Salmonella give off their wonderful toxins that help illicit contractions of the stomach and intestines, rectum... projectile vomiting and explosive mud slides often result in combination). The cellulose is a great way to bulge those smooth muscles and make them contract in a healthy regular way unlike meat.

And my good man, if you go #2, two to three times a day, congrats.
Thats a very good boy. My mom used to tell me this.
If you want to get a really interesting brand of cellulose try corn. If you tell me your #2 looks just the same as when only eating meat, report immediately back to me... no, check that, go to the closest entomologist because you might be a termite (actually termites have the right type of bacteria to break a very stubborn bond between glucose molecules in cellulose). You too might be able to digest cellulose which would be cool because you could eat wood and paper and get calories out of that. Forget the Vegan stuff. Newspaper with a bit of sawdust. Heck if you can digest cellulose, try and go out and lay in the California sun. If you grow (not while observing females in swimsuits... not that growth), you might also be able to photosynthesize. Which would make you a termite and a plant.

This is a community service message brought to you by pgardn. Bowel specialist.

For even more fun try the following. Black beans, cooked cabbage, jalapenos and red wine (Burgundy). DO NOT attempt to date unless you want to be dumped... in more than one way. Just kidding... do not eat the above in combination.

If you substitute a tuna sandwich with a peanut-butter sandwich for lunch and then you substitute a hamburger for a soy-burger for dinner, you're not going to suddenly be going to the bathroom 5 times a day. I doubt you will see much difference at all.

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

If you substitute a tuna sandwich with a peanut-butter sandwich for lunch and then you substitute a hamburger for a soy-burger for dinner, you're not going to suddenly be going to the bathroom 5 times a day. I doubt you will see much difference at all.

You are right there because they are all high in protein and contain minimal cellulose. Soybeans are a great protein sub. and so is peanut butter except peanut butter contains a heck of a lot of oil also (I drain it off the top in the Scudders). So you can get fat on peanut butter.

Im all with you on fish. It has great taste if caught fresh and many good types of oil. I will be stocking my freezer with Redfish from the bays of the Texas coastline starting next week.

[GenuineRisk]

Such a good thread and I've had to miss it for days...

Rupert, you are what I call a "flexitarian." I consider myself one, also, although my meat intake is even lower.

Cajun, farmer's markets are great resources for buying humanely raised meat. Other good tips are if the meat is certified "organic" (not "natural," which means virutally nothing. Organic doesn't guarantee the animal was raised outdoors, but it does mean they had some access to fresh air and were not ever fed animal or animal by-products (which is how the whole mad-cow mess started). "Grass-fed" and "grass-finished" are also very good terms to see.

In your case, if you want to cut back on meat you may just have to compromise with your body and find the minimum amount of meat you need to stay healthy. I admit I'm lucky in that I can go without meat and not feel tired (though excessive sugar saps me). Even cutting back on meat is still a great thing for the environment and for limiting the proliferation of factory farms. I think one of the things people get stuck on with the vegetarian thing is thinking that it's an all-or-nothing proposition and it's not. Every little bit helps- it's not useless to just cut back, either, and that way people who need more animal protein won't go into anemia in their attempts to help the planet.

I have low blood pressure, too, and sometimes the world goes black for a few seconds if I stand up too quickly. And I have A positive.