Going Vegan for at least a week...advice?

Professor Farnsworth wrote:

http://rawveganrunner.blogspot.com/

I've seen her at some races, tattoos all over and really slow (like 10:00 min/mile).

bootsie wrote:

Except for the fact that 75 percent of the world's population is lactose-intolerant, thus rendering any of milk's (dubious-at-best) benefits to be entirely moot.

I don't think it is quite that high. But you are correct, for a lot of the world, dairy is not an option. But why should anyone who can tolerate milk factor in others' food intolerances or allergies into their own diets? That makes no sense. It it like someone telling you not to eat what or peanuts because some people have lots of problems with the those foods. If you can consume dairy, and enjoy it, I think it (low-fat versions) can certainly be part of a healthy diet (and many recent studies have shown it to be an excellent recovery aid for endurance athletes due to its combination/ratio of carbs, protein, fat, its water content, and its micronutrients).

For the record, I think that a vegan/vegetarian diet, IF the person is aware of potential deficiencies, can be and often is extremely healthy. Sometimes they have to work a little harder to consumed adequate protein (especially an athlete), but yes, this can certainly be done.

Because of their focus on a wide variety of fruits, veggies, whole gains, and healthy oils, and due to such a diet lending itself well to moderate calorie intake, I would certainly say the average vegetarian/vegan is healthier than the average non-vegetarian/vegan. But this is also due to the fact that someone who makes such a choice is usually more focused on what they are eating and their health to begin with. If such a person added small amounts of low-fat meat, omega-3 rich fish, and low-fat dairy to that already nutritious vegan diet, and I certainly don't think there would be any negative consequences, and probably there would be even advantages (such as improved protein status, some micronutrient improvements, and increased intake of epa/dha)

The consensus seems to be about 75%

http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/lactose_intolerance.html

If there were no other negative corollary factors involving dairy, then perhaps an argument could be made for the percentage of the population who can actually digest it, that it was a suitable dietary supplement, in moderation. However, taking into consideration the massive negative environmental aspects involved in the raising of dairy cattle, coupled with the ethical concerns about how animals are treated on factory farms and slaughterhouses, I think a better comprehensive argument can be made against the use of dairy, in that vegetable sources can provide adequate nutrients without these accompanying negative factors.

low fat-milk is for suckers and studies have shown you actually gain more weight by drinking low fat versus whole milk. anyways, raw whole milk is your best choice for dairy. anything else should really be avoided.

bootsie wrote:

The consensus seems to be about 75%

http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/lactose_intolerance.html

If there were no other negative corollary factors involving dairy, then perhaps an argument could be made for the percentage of the population who can actually digest it, that it was a suitable dietary supplement, in moderation. However, taking into consideration the massive negative environmental aspects involved in the raising of dairy cattle, coupled with the ethical concerns about how animals are treated on factory farms and slaughterhouses, I think a better comprehensive argument can be made against the use of dairy, in that vegetable sources can provide adequate nutrients without these accompanying negative factors.

if the milk is pastuerized it destroys the Lactase enzyme which breaks down the lactose sugar in milk. of course you don't want to drink the crap milk from factory raised cows. they have to pastuerize it because of how unhealthy the cows are and in turn how much bad bacteria is in the milk. However, if you drink raw milk from grass fed cows it has the lactase enzyme and the majority of people can actually drink it. It's unfortunate what large companies have done to the dairy industry, but there are better perfectly healthy options out there.

If you read Nutrition and Physical Degeneration you'll see what optimal nutrition and crap nutrition will do to the health of people. I'll gladly consume a traditional diet with traditional fats, pasture raised meats, vegetables, etc. that have been proven to provide superior health to generations of people over the processed crap most people eat. Again vegan or not if you want to be healthy avoid processed foods. Cereal is a highly processed food, as is pastuerized milk.

A fun and very good cookbook to either buy or check out of the library is Veganomicon. I'm not a vegan let alone a vegetarian, but I think this book has great recipes in it that are inventive and yummy. It's really not very hard to cook/eat vegan--there are lots of delicious things to eat in this world that are not animals or come from animals. Good luck to you!

Who's talking about an Ethiopian resturaunt? I was talking about the diets of elite ethiopians and Kenyans.