the great vegetarian debate

[Jikan]

Cabbage is a fantastic vegetable because it's inexpensive and full of nutrients. Oh, and while at the Korean grocery, look for dried mushrooms: much cheaper than the fresh ones and helpful to keep the nutritional balance in order.

Do you make your own kimchi?

Not anymore. In Tendai it's OK for us to be married but not so good to provoke marital strife over fermenting veg in the kitchen.

So no, not anymore.

[Huifeng]

Hello everyone,

What do you think would be the very cheapest vegetarian diet on which someone could still remain healthy?

My guess is a diet consisting of potatoes, beans, apples, milk, oatmeal, and whatever the cheapest vegetable is where one lives.

That will depend a lot on where you are, availability and prices, etc. What is cheap in one place, may be very expensive elsewhere.

The comments by Huseng and Jikan are good.

I lived for years by buying large sacks of rice and bulk dried grains and legumes from a wholesome store. Takes a bit of effort to lug them home, but you only need to do it every few months. Make sure to get a broad range, eg. chick peas, lentils (red, yellow, brown), red / kidney beans, black eyed peas, black beans, soy beans, etc. I'd get whole grain or fragrant (basmati, jasmine, etc.) rices every so often. Then I'd do weekly or even bi-weekly fresh vege and fruit shopping, just focusing on what was cheap and in season, but also including some fresh tofu. (All this was bought from Korean, Indian and Chinese groceries near central Auckland, NZ, about two blocks from my flat, so I could even do it on the way home from school sometimes.) I also had a yogurt maker flask, and I'd buy the powdered yogurt mix in bulk. Bulk buying can save you mega $$, for sure! I lived very cheaply, and also very healthily, too. I got so much into the art of cheap cooking, I soon ended up working part time as a chef ... but that's another story!

[Indrajala]

Hello everyone,

What do you think would be the very cheapest vegetarian diet on which someone could still remain healthy?

My guess is a diet consisting of potatoes, beans, apples, milk, oatmeal, and whatever the cheapest vegetable is where one lives.

That will depend a lot on where you are, availability and prices, etc. What is cheap in one place, may be very expensive elsewhere.

The comments by Huseng and Jikan are good.

I lived for years by buying large sacks of rice and bulk dried grains and legumes from a wholesome store. Takes a bit of effort to lug them home, but you only need to do it every few months. Make sure to get a broad range, eg. chick peas, lentils (red, yellow, brown), red / kidney beans, black eyed peas, black beans, soy beans, etc. I'd get whole grain or fragrant (basmati, jasmine, etc.) rices every so often. Then I'd do weekly or even bi-weekly fresh vege and fruit shopping, just focusing on what was cheap and in season, but also including some fresh tofu. (All this was bought from Korean, Indian and Chinese groceries near central Auckland, NZ, about two blocks from my flat, so I could even do it on the way home from school sometimes.) I also had a yogurt maker flask, and I'd buy the powdered yogurt mix in bulk. Bulk buying can save you mega $$, for sure! I lived very cheaply, and also very healthily, too. I got so much into the art of cheap cooking, I soon ended up working part time as a chef ... but that's another story!

One other option, I'll add, is going to Foguangshan temples as they dish out vegetarian lunch and dinner for free. Tasty and healthy too.

[Indrajala]

Cabbage is a fantastic vegetable because it's inexpensive and full of nutrients. Oh, and while at the Korean grocery, look for dried mushrooms: much cheaper than the fresh ones and helpful to keep the nutritional balance in order.

Do you make your own kimchi?

Not anymore. In Tendai it's OK for us to be married but not so good to provoke marital strife over fermenting veg in the kitchen.

So no, not anymore.

I've made pickles before, but not kimchi.

In Japan asazuke 浅漬け or lightly pickled vegetables are popular. They're only slightly pickled so they remain crispy and fresh. Just putting cucumbers, carrots and peppers in an apple vinegar + salt mix, which is quite light, and leaving it in the fridge for a week or two produces a tasty and healthy rice topping. It isn't meant to be 100% pickled though and I think it'll go bad eventually, but you'll have a store of rice topping vegetables for awhile.

[Jikan]

Oh, I've had those: they're really tasty. Didn't know they're so easy to make. I'll have to give that a shot. Thanks!

[fragrant herbs]

oh, in just reading this i remembered that i have to go juice with carrots. ugh. but i have no idea what is the cheapest way to eat. probably beans and rice and potatoes like they did during the depression years in america, or was that just potatoes and beans? healthy? probably not. raw food is the healthiest way to eat except that some veggies need to be cooked, which ones i don't know. juicing is very healing, and that much i know since i cured my chronic fatigue years ago by drinking raw carrot juice along with garlic, parsley and celery.

[Ervin]

I find that whenever I am on a vegan diet I am more calm. Right now I statred a raw vegan diet and I feel much calmer. In the past when I was on a vegan diet i have done the blod tests and my leves of evrything especialy cholestrerol would be very good.

I personaly believe that being vegan is a moral choice. Compassion to all sentient beings I believe should be practised.

I don't know wether I will remain vegan for good but I do believe it is a good thing.

What is your opinion on the topic?

Thanks

[Huifeng]

[Sonrisa]

Wow, that is really interesting! I never knew that veganism or vegeterian could help with such a state of mind?

Not that I am doubting you but is there some research to this as well?

[Hanzze]

One more step forward is, just to take what is given

[Indrajala]

I find that whenever I am on a vegan diet I am more calm. Right now I statred a raw vegan diet and I feel much calmer. In the past when I was on a vegan diet i have done the blod tests and my leves of evrything especialy cholestrerol would be very good.

I personaly believe that being vegan is a moral choice. Compassion to all sentient beings I believe should be practised.

I don't know wether I will remain vegan for good but I do believe it is a good thing.

What is your opinion on the topic?

Thanks

After giving up meat, I feel sick just smelling it. I often walk past BBQ restaurants here in Tokyo (Yakiniku) and feel disgusted from the gut up.

Abstaining from eating meat is good for your health, both mental and physical. You'll feel better both spiritually and physically.

[Ervin]

Wow, that is really interesting! I never knew that veganism or vegeterian could help with such a state of mind?

Not that I am doubting you but is there some research to this as well?

There is no reasearch done to my knowledge and it must be that I don't eat sweets, and fatt and I don't drink as much coffee so I supose I don't have as much energy.

Maybe thats why I think I am more relaxed, who knows otherwise no research, just personal experience and I wanted to see wheter anyone else has similar experiences.

Thanks

[neverdowell]

I'm vegetarian, and about 80% vegan. I only eat milk, cheese and eggs if they are in dishes such as pastries, cakes and junk food. Mostly I eat rice, pasta, vegetables, peanuts, fruit, tea and coffee.

When I went off meat completely I noticed clearly less anger in my mind. Today, as a matter of fact, I accidentally ate some meat in a pastry, and I felt haziness and a touch of anger arise in my mind immediately. It was only a tiny bit of tuna. So I definitely experience less negativity since being a vegetarian.

[Inge]

I have been vegan more than 10 years now, but feel mentally and physically like shit most of the time.

[fragrant herbs]

To vegan or not to vegan that is the question?

i am a vegetarian, but i can say that when i was into raw food i felt best, but mainly it was because i was juicing also, and i am trying to juice again every day. it isn't easy. but by the time i think of it i am often too tired.

i had chronic fatigue for 6 months many years ago, and it started when the dentist took all of my mercury fillings out and replaced then with new mercury fillings. i thought mercury had been banned here or would not have alllowed it in my mouth. the idea of spending the remainder of my life this fatigued was scary, then a scientist brought me an article that he found, a woman selling a product but in this article she also mentioned feeling better almost immediately when juicing, and I zeroed in on that as her reason for being healed. It worked for me. but i was so tired that it was hard to make the juice; still i juiced once daily. Then i became a raw foodist and felt even better. and lost so most weight that i was a happy camper.

now i still drink raw goats milk, eat raw eggs and cheese. maybe someday i will make raw rice milk instead of cow or goat milk. who knows? (don't worry about the raw eggs as i have been eating them almost daily for 45 years without ill effects. the dr. thinks I am just immune to samonella. I think the fears are over rated. After all, all my life I licked the cake bowl and ate sunny side up eggs.

but now i have low thyroid, and i believe that juicing could go along way to helping me; i don't know. I also know of a doctor that cured cancer with raw carrot and raw apple juice. but my juice is 6 carrots, handful of parsley, one clove garlic, and 2 ribs of celery. i plan on adding cilantro after reading about it removing mercury or something like that.

I have not noticed that any diet can make you less angry or not. My husband eats meat all the time and never blows up in anger. that is one thing that drew me to him in the first place.

I have not noticed any different in me whether I eat meat or not. Sometimes I swore it gave me more energy, but since a 75 percent raw diet did the same, then better to choose raw foods over meat.

[Aemilius]

I'd like to point out that in the buddhist tradition there are several practices connected with eating, firstly there is the practice of maintaining mindfulness with eating, which is very much recommended in the Hinayana sutras of the Pali collection. There are dedication verses connected with meals of the Zen tradition, there are different dedication verses to be recited at meals of the tibetan tantra & mahayana tradition, and so on... It is not just what you eat but also how you eat it.
From my own experience I can tell that after having recited a simple verse before meals for two months, I stopped doing it. Then after few days in the dream state I saw Longchenpa who looked at me and said that he can see just looking at my stomach that I haven't been doing the meal prayers and that they have a positive effect on my health and that I should resume them, (which I did naturally).

[ground]

Dear Ervin

I find that whenever I am on a vegan diet I am more calm. Right now I statred a raw vegan diet and I feel much calmer. In the past when I was on a vegan diet i have done the blod tests and my leves of evrything especialy cholestrerol would be very good.

I personaly believe that being vegan is a moral choice. Compassion to all sentient beings I believe should be practised.

I don't know wether I will remain vegan for good but I do believe it is a good thing.

What is your opinion on the topic?

Thanks

Congratulation! Great ...

I am convinced that the type of food influences one's state of mind.

I am only renouncing meat and meat products, sweets and limit consumption of food that is too spicy ...


This is a great vegetarian buddhist site:
http://www.shabkar.org/

Kind regards

[Individual]

Never gone vegan, but I tried to live off of raw fruits and vegetables once and I felt constantly tired and hungry.

Wikipedia mentions possible health drawbacks to veganism if it isn't done carefully:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veganism#N ... l_concerns

Personally, I find veganism to be a form of dietary vanity. This is demonstrated by the fact that it seems that although many vegetarians aren't pushy, vegans seem to almost universally be militant PETA members. Although it's possible to have a well-planned vegan diet, in practice most don't, so they look anorexic and sickly, like cocaine and heroin addicts. And you typically need to be taking dietary supplements, which are expensive. If you eat the cheapest, healthiest diet possible (which would include meat in many western countries -- perhaps not in Asia), with the money left over you could more wisely spend it on charitable causes that would benefit other lives -- instead of complex ingredients for a vegan diet and dietary supplements.

Like Hanzze says:

One more step forward is, just to take what is given

This is better.

"Please don't kill anything, but I will eat whatever you have for me".

[catmoon]

I have been vegan more than 10 years now, but feel mentally and physically like shit most of the time.

Plus side: you don't have to worry about offending anyone by turning into a salesman for your lifestyle.

[Individual]

I have been vegan more than 10 years now, but feel mentally and physically like shit most of the time.

Plus side: you don't have to worry about offending anyone by turning into a salesman for your lifestyle.

http://www.vegetariansareevil.com/