Contemplating Veganism Any Advice

[Guest paul walter]

I am considering becoming a Vegan. Anything i should know or read before i begin this path.

 

-Book recomendations?

-General Advice?

 

 

It has to come from "within", from your own life circumstance, not from animal rights, morality etc. Paul

[Guest paul walter]

I am considering becoming a Vegan. Anything i should know or read before i begin this path.

 

-Book recomendations?

-General Advice?

 

 

 

Healing with Wholefoods by Paul Pitchford

Any and all books by Gabriel Cousens

NOT popular diet/lifestyle books on veganism

NOT popular cookbooks on veganism (avoid the ones that 'reproduce' those delicious junk food recipes that non-vegans eat, get wholefoods ones, there are a lot around now)

NOT books by Neal Barnard, Dean Ornish, Michael Klaper, T.Colin Campbell--these are the vegan scenes' favourite scienctific legitimisers for the vegan diet. They aren't all bad, but not to be trusted on face value.

Be prepared to break ties with the society you are a part of (this is one of the 'hidden' virtues of being vegan-like living in the Himalayas for a few years )

[Guest paul walter]

When I live in Taiwan its easy to go vegan or pure vegetarian as they call it. Meals are generally veggies, rice and some kind of tofu product. Hundreds of other choices, never get bored. The only problem is I gain weight because its all so wonderful. Its heart touching in fact, to see a culture having developed and maintained this. Other countries struggle and pooh-pooh something that Taiwanese make easy. Sure you have to give up being a barbarian and risk giving yourself good karma, but you know, when I go into a non-vegetarian restaurant now I can see such a difference in the level of the people-when the food is about to be served I notice a kind of wolf-like beady eyes, kind of greed trance when theres a chunk of meat in front. In the vegetarian restaurants theres often Buddhist monks sitting in their garb, most other patrons are chilled out, and I think to myself, yes, this is the right kind of environment for eating.

 

Taiwanese are professors and other most other countries are kindergarteners as far as vegan meals. One thing most people dont think of, is that a cultivator is not trying to be part of the natural food chain just because we happen to be wearing these bodies, but to surpass our animal-nature towards a being of pure energy. This is where a non-cultivator's understanding stops and crashes, but if you know that to be truth, then you can make your own decision as to whether your food choice can influence your cultivation progress.

 

 

 

Oh, all so true, especially the bit about the Chinese and meat eating--my god if I wasn't vegan I'd think they'd want to eat me judging by their bloodlust at the table . Being vegan definately has spiritual pluses (ask me) since it opens up the higher chakras. Grounding comes from beans and meditation, being happy, being connected to the earth etc (grounding the lower energy fields). Most on here will tell you that vegetarianism is purely a moral imposition in the traditions and religions, but then they'll also tell you enlightenment doesn't exist etc etc. Look at all the higher practices and you'll see the science of dietary "restriction" serves a real purpose other than getting into an imaginary heaven . Paul.

[ejr1069]

Before going Vegan, consult a GOOD accupunturist. He or she should be able to tell you if a Vegan diet is right for you. It is not right for everyone. The combination of energies that were present whern you were conceived is unique to you. Depending on what combination of energies exist in you, meat might actually be beneficial for you.

 

If you do go Vegan, these tips work for many, but still, your accupunturist will know better.

 

1. Soy is not really a health food.

2. Eat plenty of seeds and nuts (Flaxseed, Almonds, walnuts)

3. Milk is not a health food

4. Eggs are healthier than people think

5. If you cut out or greatly reduce "white" from your diet, that will probably be good for you. Brown/whole grains are typcially better.

6. Avoiding processed foods is generally a good thing.

7. Fish oil is good for you

8. Green tea and water, drink plenty of both and little else

[suninmyeyes]

[Astral_Anima]

Veganism? pfff, easy man. RAW VEGAN...now there's your trouble, lol. But yeah just vegan there's plenty of great ways to make it work, but before I share, I'll just share with you a quick website that inspired me to stick with it.

 

http://www.mikemahler.com/articles/vegan_diet.html

 

This guy was my hero/inspiration that made the vegan diet work.

As for spirituality...only in the sense of karma. It's theorized (especially by essenes) that when you eat the flesh of a slain animal you're taking part in it's murder. You're eating the product of death which binds you to the cycle of birth and death. Also it's theorized that when the animal is slain it releases fear, anger, and anxiety into it's body and we end up ingesting those same vibrations. Personally I just don't like the taste, smell, texture, look, or idea of meat so i tend to avoid it.

As for dairy and eggs...by the above theory, factory farmed dairy and eggs would be unhealthy but organic ones who are raised with love would theoretically be okay. I think the whole animal kingdom is riskier assuming the vibrational theory is true. Because animals can feel such strong negetive emotions like we can one always runs the risk of ingesting some of those "lower" vibrations. It's theorized that plants have less consciousness and don't feel the same negetive emotions animals feel so that they're "safer" to eat; less karmic debt as well. I've heard that in the "first level" of heaven they eat nothing but fruit and honey, and in all the higher levels they live off of subtle energies. Thus it can be theorized that if one adjusts to a diet of less and less food they train their body to use more energy from other sources, like the sun or breath, and in turn they begin to experience life in a different way. Look into breatharianism/sungazing

 

Anyway, down to making it work. Proteins pretty much a myth unless you're like SUPER active and even then... So really just focus on fresh organic fruits and veggies. Grains are for some reason looked down upon in some "higher" daoist sects (unless sprouted), if that means anything to you. I mean most of any diet is just lowering your addiction to tastes and textures and slowly learning to eat for sustainence rather than sensation, it's actually rather hard to be deficient unless your body hasn't had time to adjust to whatever you're doing. If you're worried about protein mixing and variation of nuts/seeds with grains or beans works well. Lots of greens (chlorophyll is a potent detoxifier). If you're looking for omega-3s chia seeds and flax seed are abundant.

Oh and the B12 issue. B12 is synthesized in your gut by bacteria. Keeping up your intestinal flora will keep this issue in check. many vegetarian societies (including certain farms) Usually eat alot of food raw, right out of the dirt, without washing it and thus ingest the minuscule amount of bacteria needed to continue synthesizing B12. It's my theory that because of the now over-germaphobic society that focuses on killing bacteria (everything is anti-bacterial) that they're killing all of the GOOD bacteria that regulate gut flora and health.

 

And the BEST advice I can give you is not to worry about nutrition. Honestly i've had more health problems cause by worry/anxiety than by any deficiency "which i've never had throughout all my fasting and diet experiements). Remember the 7 emotions of TCM...

 

http://www.shen-nong.com/eng/principles/sevenemotions.html

 

 

best of luck in your journey

-Astral

 

P.S. Avoid soy like the plague along with commercial wheat products. Anything that you find in everything has the tendency to be bad. You'll notice that wheat, milk and soy are in EVERYTHING. Try to stick to a WHOLE FOOD (only one ingrediant) diet.

Edited June 19, 2010 by Astral_Anima

[hyok]

I think it should come down to a few things...

 

like...

 

1. Are you doing it for the animals because you feel bad for them?

 

2. Do you think your digestive system is more inclined to be better off without meat? (because meat takes a long time to digest and break down)

 

3. Do you take pleasure in eating and tasting meat? If so, it won't be easy and you will also be depriving yourself of a very basic pleasure that you've become accustomed to.

 

In the end, you should just do whatever you wanna do and not listen to any of us because we don't know anything -- especially me. You know what's best for yourself, homeboy.

[DalTheJigsaw123]

Awesome thread!

[Guest paul walter]

Before going Vegan, consult a GOOD accupunturist. He or she should be able to tell you if a Vegan diet is right for you. It is not right for everyone. The combination of energies that were present whern you were conceived is unique to you. Depending on what combination of energies exist in you, meat might actually be beneficial for you.

 

If you do go Vegan, these tips work for many, but still, your accupunturist will know better.

 

1. Soy is not really a health food.

2. Eat plenty of seeds and nuts (Flaxseed, Almonds, walnuts)

 

In moderation

 

 

3. Milk is not a health food

4. Eggs are healthier than people think

 

raw,organic eggs-cooked ones can't be digested and all the protein that people go on about is 'dead'.

 

 

5. If you cut out or greatly reduce "white" from your diet, that will probably be good for you. Brown/whole grains are typcially better.

6. Avoiding processed foods is generally a good thing.

7. Fish oil is good for you

 

Not if it's laced with mercury/di-oxins and is rancid from shelf life, better eat deep sea cold water fish fresh.

 

 

. Green tea and water, drink plenty of both and little else

Green tea-too much caffeine