Curious. You cook a lot. Why buy veggie ready meals when you can cook vegan meals so much healthier and better tasting?
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Time pressures. These were the type of ready meals presented as super healthy. Yet they turned out to be high in fat and salt.
I’ve also recently been reading about lectins. I have realised that I seem to have an intolerance to these. It seems that nuts, lots of raw veg, lentils, beans pretty much staples for vegan/veggie diets are high in the stuff. I’ve tended to avoid beans, chickpeas, nuts, lentils because they used to make me feel a bit bleugh without realising they are all high sources of lectins. I do eat them in limited amounts but only occasionally.
So that doesn’t leave too much choice other than meat, fish, eggs, some veg. rice or rice noodles, soups.
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Those are all relatively low fiber foods on the whole.
I thought the low fiber in fast food is what makes it objectionable. Other than that, fast food doesn’t tick that many boxes in the bowel cancer chart.
Starting a vegan diet causes discomfort in some because of the increase in fiber. I see that a lot in vegan circles. The feeling goes away after the body acclimates.
I can’t eat most of the foods that provide energy for vegans. I’ve given up trying to be ethical and just try to source free range meat and wild caught fish. I would say the answer for me is a mediterranean type diet with that inverted food pyramid. Everyone has a different metabolism I guess. But vegans/veggies are no healthier than meat eaters. Maybe less so based on my small circle of veggie/vegan friends. It is meant to make you happier to be vegan but I’m not convinced about healthier.
By far the highest dietary cause of bowel cancer is a lack of fibre followed by processed meat. But fast food (in my definition junk food) also contributes to heart attacks, diabetes, stroke etc.
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Absolutely left to myself I would probably eat pizza everyday with maybe a yogurt for afters
It’s not entirely conclusive in some studies, but a small circle of friends seems like a pretty small sample size to base your conclusions. Genes and lifestyle play a part in everyone’s health.
One study says a 9% lower risk of death for vegans. Another shows a 12% lower risk of death for vegans. The last study was inconclusive.
I hadn’t heard about the happier part of veganism, so I looked it up. You’re right. There’s a study that says that vegans are happier. My guess is that would have something to do with socioeconomic status, but maybe I’m wrong about that.
Personally, I’m not a big advocate for veganism, but I think it’s good to have information to base people’s choices. I read every food label for everything I eat.
In the fast food places I’ve eaten, there are often nutrition labels for the foods in the fast food restaurant. There are healthier food choices in every fast food place I’ve been. A Big Mac at McDonald’s is a less healthy choice than a salad at McDonald’s.
Here are some healthier food choices at the major chains in the US with nutrition information.
Are you going by calories or fat/salt content? My scrutiny would also be the fibre content. Until these places go gluten free I can’t consider burgers, which I guess is a blessing to my waistline.
Yes in terms of vegans I read a study many years back about the happiness rating. I would love to be vegan if it suited me because I do feel very strongly about animal welfare. I’ve tried and tried both veggie and vegan but have to compromise for the sake of my health. My BFF vegan/veggie friend from early school years died prematurely last year. She had high cholesterol when very young and then developed a viscious cancer. I have another vegan for decades friend who battles Barrett’s oesophagus and lives in fear of it developing to oesophageal cancer. Another veggie friend is overweight with high cholesterol, high BP gallstones and heart problems. She is younger than me and has had health problems over the years. I have one vegan friend who is very healthy. So one out of a sample of four. I had a vegan/veggie manager who also developed serious health problems AF and others in his early 50s. I also used to have a vegan lady working for me years ago, she didn’t seem particularly healthy and used to graze constantly at her desk. That is something I’ve noticed - vegans constantly thinking about their next snack.
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Here’s the nutrition for a Big Mac at McDonald’s
Here’s the nutrition for an Asian salad with no chicken at McDonald’s
Calories 540 vs 140 for salad
Fat 28 g vs 7g for a salad
Sodium 950g vs 20g for a salad
Fiber 3g vs 5 g for a salad
The salad at McDonald’s is higher in fiber and lower in calories, fat and salt than a Big Mac. There’s no gluten in a salad that I’m aware of.
Not sure what your vegan friends’ health problems have to do with anything. A few anecdotes about a handful of people you’ve known doesn’t mean anything.
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The studies out there have conflicting results and are inconclusive. In my experience most long term veggies vegans don’t fare any better healthwise and the studies as a whole agree with this view. There may be marginal overs/unders in individual studies but on the whole I wouldn’t say it’s worth going down this route for health reasons as there is no conclusive evidence it’s going to make much difference. I mentioned vegans are happier, but on checking there’s another study to say they are more depressed. Go figure.
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Depends on the individual. Odd that you make conclusions of the lack of benefits based on a few individuals but then generalize to the whole population that it doesn’t make much of a difference.
Going back to fast food. There are better and worse food choices at fast food restaurants.
Vegan or not, the bigger risk is a low fiber diet. Steak has very little fiber. I think some people are surprised by that.
yes, my original point.
It also matters, repeating my previous point, how often one does so.
If for whatever reason, you are buying takeaway food more often, pick healthier choices.
If it is very occasionally, doesnt really matter if it is a splurge of unhealthy options (barring specific medical conditions, of course)
Your dietary health (weight, cardiac issues, cancer risk etc ) is dependant on your overall diet - not one isolated meal
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Re vegans living longer - I am not a vegan nor even a vegetarian so no vested interest - but I think that is probably true
However that means nothing without factoring in other variables.
On the whole vegans tend to be more into healthy lifestyles - fitter, don’t smoke or drink to excess etc - unless the living longer was shown to be longer with no other variables, then one could just as easily increase ones chances of longetivity by just adopting the other factors.
which is about what I do anyway.
I used to work with a bloke who’s main meal on shift each day was two hamburgers with the lot. In a concession to healthy living they were washed down with a DIET Coke.
He retired at the same time as me but I attended his funeral about a decade ago.
The moral of this story is to avoid diet coke, it’s a killer.
So true Bruce, I just wish the meat avoiders would stop salivating whilst one is trying to enjoy one’s Hamburger!!!
I have two thoughts about that theory:
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Germany is the biggest customer for soy beans from Brazil. Pigs are being fed soy bean based ‘food’ here. So Germany is probably partially responsible for the deforestation there. Proves your point, soy is not good for the beast (which lived in the rain forest before soy beans were planted there).
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People in Japan eat lots of Tofu and little meat. Guess who has the oldest population? This rather disproves your point.
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I don’t think they eat only Tofu in Japan. I haven’t checked the stats but I am pretty sure people there have developed Western health conditions due to the influx of fast foods in the last 50 years.
I am staying at my daughters house so last night we had fast food from Slow Noodles Fast. Their Seafood Kui Teow is my favourite.
There is too much to eat at one sitting so I divide it in half and have another meal the next day.
I do the same with the Saturday night Curry, still put on a Kilo, every Sunday!
Apparently KFC is Japan’s go to Christmas dinner, they have to order weeks in advance. (Or was that Korea? one of the two.)
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Well done. 
Good example of drawing a conclusion from
1 limited sample size
2 not factoring in other variables.