Could you go fully plant based? U

[JC2021]

Any vegans/ strict vegetarians on here? Your views on climate change?

Any meat eaters ready to go green and move to a plant based diet for a better environmentally friendly planet?

Nope. Easy and delicious vegetarian food consists of soups, curries, and stews... all the things that DP hates.
The best I can do is low meat. I don't have meat with my lunches but DP normally has sausage rolls/ham sandwich. We only eat chicken and pork anyway.

The carbon emission of white meat is much much lower.

ourworldindata.org/carbon-footprint-food-methane

No. I already have to follow a gluten-free low-GI low-tyramine high-calcium diet with predictable and consistent levels of salt, fluids and fibre, and I just couldn't handle the extra mental load of adding ethical restrictions on top of the medical ones.

No. I have a few meat free nights a week but am not willing to give up beef or chicken or bacon, cheese etc.

Don’t do this, don’t eat that, don’t drive your car, don’t buy this or that no wonder people aren’t interested

I’m trying-ish. I’ve stopped eating meat, switched to oat milk and vegan butter, but I just can’t give up eggs. Purely doing it for environmental reasons, but am enjoying it and not missing meat at all, not even bacon! I told myself that if I wanted to odd slip I could, but I just don’t want to anymore. I feel that this is doing my bit for the environment far more than a bit of recycling.

Vegan for 19 years but not for the environment. Any environmental benefit is purely a bonus.

@Lougle

Isn't this one of those things that's ideal in theory, but if everyone tried to do it, we wouldn't be able to support it? The amount of land needed for plants is much bigger than the equivalent nutritional value of animals, and farmers rely on animal waste to fortify the soil in between crops.

Meat is necessary and healthy as part of a balanced diet. The issue is the cheapness of meat , battery farming and hence its overconsumption.

@TractorAndHeadphones
And yet here I am, happily existing having never eaten meat a day in my life

Weird...

No. I don't like fruit or vegetables. I do eat vegetables but i can only manage them if i have some nice meat and gravy to go with them. I had a lovely steak for dinner, no way would i give that up. I would like to eat vegetarian/vegan some of the time, but none of the food i have seen appeals to me. I think smaller, local,more sustainable farming is the way to go for dyed in the wool carnivores, surely its mass production that is most damaging for the environment.

Hell no - given the high concentrations of soy products required and the linking of soy products to infertility in females and males including those whose mothers were vegetarian/vegan or were given soy infant formula - no chance.

@Lougle it's the other way around. animals require feed which comes from plants grown on other land. and depending on what animal and how it is raised, take longer to grow to slaughter age/weight than a crop. we are using land to grow crops to feed 50 billion farmed animals at the moment. that's an astronomical amount of animal food.

www.leap.ox.ac.uk/article/could-uk-farmers-grow-more-plant-based-protein#/

Going plant based was the best thing I've ever done. But did it for the animals predominantly.

I don’t think on a global scale moving to a fully vegan diet is desirable or even possible.

But I think in the west we could and should dramatically reduce meat and dairy consumption on environmental grounds. But unless it’s something individuals want to do on moral grounds I don’t think being fully vegan or veggie is necessary.

No it’s too difficult to eat a balanced diet, much of the food including the milk is highly processed and packaged with high food miles.
I strongly feel we are better off eating the type of food that is produced locally to where we live and that suits the local environment. Where I live in winter that’s potatoes, carrots, swedes, parsnips and grass fed rare breed lamb. Minimal packaging and few food miles. Much of the land in the uk is only good for growing grass, grassland supports many small mammals and birds as well as birds of prey such as barn owls and sparrow hawks. Grass is effective at taking carbon dioxide out of the environment. There is a significant difference between grass fed animals and those housed and fed grains both in quality of meat and impact on the environment.

[quote Ellextra]@TractorAndHeadphones
And yet here I am, happily existing having never eaten meat a day in my life

Weird...[/quote]
Whoops - my bad. What I meant to say with regards to farming was that animals are part of a balanced crop rotation, and that animal products , not necessarily meat are part of a balanced diet.
My culture is traditionally vegetarian (in fact I grew up eating meat as a treat). People rely on cows' manure to fertilise fields, and on their milk. Cheese, clarified butter (ghee) etc are the cornerstone of many dishes.

Of course in the 'modern' world it's possible to get by with making nutrionally complete vegetarian meals. However IMO is requires lots of effort. I don't think meat itself is bad , rather the degree. It would be an easier step to get people to eat less meat rather than advocating going full vegan. From an animal welfare POV I see nothing wrong with raising animals for slaughter provided that they had a good life first.

And while animal farming is bad for the environment the biggest cause of emissions is one we cannot control - the production of energy.

ourworldindata.org/ghg-emissions-by-sector (biit outaded but the proportions haven't changed)

@Okki

www.ox.ac.uk/news/2018-06-01-new-estimates-environmental-cost-food

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaq0216 (full study for news report above)

ourworldindata.org/land-use-diets

No, I love meat and fish and dairy, so there’s no way I’m going vegetarian far less vegan.

Plant based here purely for health reasons.

I enjoy my food so much more now.

My arthritis symptoms are nowhere near as bad as they were while drinking cows milk.
Oat milk has made such a huge difference I think.

Has there ever been a society in history that was 100% vegan ?

@Lougle

Isn't this one of those things that's ideal in theory, but if everyone tried to do it, we wouldn't be able to support it? The amount of land needed for plants is much bigger than the equivalent nutritional value of animals, and farmers rely on animal waste to fortify the soil in between crops.

I think this is correct, also much land is hilly and unsuitable for crops, only for grass which then needs to be grazed and those animals put nutrients back in the soil. We've switched to mainly veg diet but also occasionally eat some higher welfare grass fed meat, say once a week.

I could definitely be vegetarian. Vegan at a push apart from eggs! Is eating eggs really that bad though if you/a family member keeps chickens and you only have eggs from them? From both an environmental and animal loving perspective?

Have been vegan for about 8 years now. Did it for the the animals. But the damage to the environment from animal agriculture is another good reason to go plant based. A previous poster said about all the land needed for all the plants people would eat but many crops are grown to feed the animals so it wouldn't make a difference.

Yep, I’ve been thriving quietly and happily on a whole food plant based diet for a few years. And previous to this I was a massive meat eater, steak 3 times a week, meat every day, heavily into keto etc.

I was one of those who said “I could never give up meat!” and meant it, but honestly it was the easiest thing I’ve ever done. Once I found a selection of really tasty wfpb recipes that I could eat on rotation, it’s made my life so much better. I hate most beans so only stick with the ones I really like, I eat lots of starchy vegetables and seeds, shit tons of vegetables and some fruit.

My asthma disappeared within 4 days, no constipation, no menstrual pain, lighter periods, no gastritis etc.

We have high incidences of cancers on my dads side (bowel/stomach/colo-rectal especially), and my brother died of cancer a few years back, so an intense fear of cancer or dying young made me change my eating habits.

I love it, it’s wonderful.

Environmental concerns are the main reason I went vegan. I used to be vegetarian in my teens & early 20s but started eating meat, fish etc when DH & I got together. Went vegan a few months ago from a full meat/dairy diet. As a bonus, my migraines have improved immensely. I haven't decided which vegan milk I prefer yet - oat, soy or almond - I'm aware that almond is worse than oat or soy, but it apparently still has less of an impact in terms of land use, water consumption or environmental impact. I mostly use oat TBH.

I would never refer to myself as vegan though as I still prepare meat for the kids, but although I started from a health perspective I’m very much cognizant of the animal welfare perspective and thats definitely a close second in my reasoning.
So not a vegan but pulling my family closer to it

@mayblossominapril what a sensible post. It’s scary the way large plant based food processors seem to be brainwashing people that eating highly processed factory produced foods flown from every corner of the earth is better for the environment than eating local. In the UK eating local means a balanced diet of world leading high welfare meat and dairy, grains and seasonal fruit and veg. Plant based trend is all about the money (and the anti farming crowd) and absolutely zero about the environment. Eat local, minimise waste.