"Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products, particularly in diet, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A follower of the diet or the philosophy is known as a vegan. Distinctions may be made between several categories of veganism. Dietary vegans (also known as "strict vegetarians") refrain from consuming meat, eggs, dairy products, and any other animal-derived substances. An ethical vegan (also known as a "moral vegetarian") is someone who not only follows a vegan diet but extends the philosophy into other areas of their lives, and opposes the use of animals for any purpose. Another term is "environmental veganism", which refers to the avoidance of animal products on the premise that the industrial farming of animals is environmentally damaging and unsustainable." - Wikipedia
If I see a vegan, I would tread carefully around them. They aren't really as wise as about their diet as they would like to think they are.
I had a friend, not a close one, who was pregnant with her first child. She would be defined in the above as a moral vegetarian. She wouldn't eat anything with meat, eggs, animal produce or any animal-drived substances and gave weird looks when anyone at the table ate non-vegan food. Her diet affected her baby's development and during natal checkups, the gynaecologist said the baby was not looking good and was not in a healthy weight range. Despite repeated warnings from the doctor to change her diet, she refused to listen and when her baby was born, the baby had birth defects and could not breathe using its own lungs.
I saw a YouTube video on a group of vegan activists recently (https://youtu.be/gm3XtE-TZoU). They used themselves as physical blockages to obstruct the killing of ducks on a farm. It went wrong midway. They chained their necks to the manufacturing line where duck heads would be slaughtered and when the line started to move, one dude almost died. They started screaming at the 6.05 min mark. Prior to that, their great leader was shouting out army-like orders like a platoon sergeant. Guess they weren't prepared to lay down their lives for their cause. I don't hope for their deaths, every life is precious. But they certainly aren't being very responsible with their own lives while lobbying for the animals. After witnessing their behaviour and actions which were recorded by their own crew, I'm not convinced that vegans are of any sound or logical mind. They are emotional and people who are overly emotional do not make good decisions.
Not joining the vegan wagon any time soon.
Interesting, there are people who are born vegan such as Nina and Randa on YouTube, and even long time vegans such as Joaquin Phoenix and siblings who's parents made him become vegan at 3 years old, he is in his 40s now (same with his 3 other siblings). Billie Eillish who is a famous celebrity today was born vegetarian and became a vegan a few years back. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's kids are being raised vegan, same with Selena William's (famous tennis player) kids. Just search on YouTube for "Vegan since birth" and there are a few videos of people who grew up healthy and fine being vegan their entire lives.
I have been vegan for 7+ years, it is easy to do. There is no reason to eat animal products. Birth defects are not unique to vegans, and there are hundreds of millions of cases of birth defects (almost all cases) from non-vegan families (but there's also a lower ratio of vegans compared to normal population). I looked it up online, statistics show that 1 out of 30 people born in the United States has a birth defect. It could be related to diet, but it could just be the luck of the draw. Likely the problems faced by your friend was she was not eating enough and/or not eating properly. You do have to eat more as a vegan, and there are some weird sub-cultures in veganism like raw diets or only fruit diets.
"After witnessing their behaviour and actions which were recorded by their own crew, I'm not convinced that vegans are of any sound or logical mind. They are emotional and people who are overly emotional do not make good decisions."
Plenty of world changers throughout history have at least been vegetarian (veganism is a new trend) such as Einstein, Nikola Tesla, Pythagoras, Leonardo Da Vinci, Fred Rogers, Paul McCartney, Leo Tolstoy, etc. Plenty of genius historical people agree eating meat is cruel, harmful, and unnecessary. Cutting out all animal products is a new trend, and those people protesting by sacrificing themselves aren't a good representation for every vegan, but it's still a very rational and ethical decision one can make.
@JustMegawatt I agree that birth defects are not unique to vegans and birth defects occur even more frequently with families with abnormal genetics who may or may not be vegan. Referring to the story of my friend and her baby, the gynecologist went into depth with her on her diet but my friend stubbornly refused to either change her diet, or to increase certain food groups or supplements to help with the baby's growth. She kept saying that it wasn't vegan repeatedly and I would trust that since my friend chose that diet for herself, she probably knows what she has to eat and how much to eat to maintain her body functions and the growth of the baby. But the consistent results that showed up during the entire 9 months of natal checkups indicated that poor nutrition in the mother steadily led to her baby's condition.
"After witnessing their behaviour and actions which were recorded by their own crew, I'm not convinced that vegans are of any sound or logical mind. They are emotional and people who are overly emotional do not make good decisions."
> There are plenty of world changers throughout history who are non-vegans as well. And people who have to have meat in their diet to be able to function normally in their lives and jobs. In my quoted statement mentioned by your comment, it is my opinion alone which is based off news articles that I have read in my spare time, YouTube (every now and then when it pops up in my feed), and my own life's experiences. I'm not convinced at this point on vegans, but I wouldn't go all out to troll them or not be friends with them when I find out that they are vegan.
@Seraphim " the gynecologist went into depth with her on her diet but my friend stubbornly refused to either change her diet, or to increase certain food groups or supplements to help with the baby's growth."
I think that's pertinent information. You should tell your friend that another vegan told her that if a medical professional said she was lacking certain nutrients then she pay attention to those and eat more foods with those nutrients or supplement. It is worrisome when anyone decides to ignore medical advice from their doctors.
I'm not sure how you were able to get a hold of that information though, were you in the room during pre-natal exams, or was she bragging about that? I think that's something to take seriously. I've only done one blood test as a vegan, and that was after I had already been vegan for six years, made sure they measured everything they could, and everything came back in the perfect range except triglycerides which were high (they have always been high throughout my life as I have had blood tests in middle school and high school, and they are actually lower now but are still high). I carried a copy of my blood test around and showed it off to my co-workers and several family members at family gatherings.
"And people who have to have meat in their diet to be able to function normally in their lives and jobs."
This is never true. People who eat meat think they _need_ it, but they actually do not. I used to eat meat and think I needed it, definitely not true. You can perfectly live your life, maybe even in better health, without meat than with it. For example even athletes, arguably the profession where nutrition matters the most, there are many world records held by vegan/vegetarian athletes that have not been beaten by meat eating people. These guys here are vegan/vegetarian athletes and are some of the best and most legendary athletic figures who ever lived:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiannis_Kouros
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virat_Kohli
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Messi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serena_Williams
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Williams
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Lewis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Honnold
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Hamilton
There are a lot more, like the world record holder for Ironman Championships, female world record holder for planks, etc. but those people are much less famous. Mike Tyson is a vegan today but he was eating meat while boxing. However there are videos of him released recently that went viral showing how fast and explosive he was still at age 53. He seriously moves like he's still in his 20s and he became a vegan in 2010 (but he did eat some meat in 2013 until maybe 2017 and has been vegan since), so that's many years without any meat.
I keep a track of everything I eat in a day (you can see photos in the Log page), and some days like yesterday I ate around $2-$3 worth of food literally for the entire day. Very cheap and I felt great throughout the day. I still did all my daily activities such as working 8-9 hours, going on meetings, studying, working on my projects, etc. the entire day. I didn't exercise hard yesterday but on days I do exercise, I still don't eat any meat. I've traveled maybe 7 countries or so since I've been vegan, and still didn't eat any meat in any other country. $2-$3 worth of food in the United States and I am full and able to do everything in my dreams without any hinderance in a day. I don't see where meat is required in any situation, ever.
I had a co-worker who normally ate meat, but when she got pregnant she went vegetarian because she was concerned that chemicals/hormones in the meat might harm the baby. I don't know the details but her baby was healthy. (Though she was also very diligent about researching and following nutritional advice.)
You must be signed in to post a comment!