GregX999

Yeah yeah yeah... those are all good movies. But the BEST movie EVER... http://www.imfdb.org/images/2/21/Big_Trouble_In_Little_China.jpg Hands down!! Greg

I've been using Nutribody protein (http://www.nutribodyprotein.com) - it's a blend of rice and pea. It tastes good enough to me that I can actually drink it just mixed with water. It's not great that way, but not horrible. Usually I blend it with fruits. I guess it's pretty expensive though. But I like the idea of the blend to maximize the amino acid profile. I just can't stand hemp protein - no matter what it's blended with - the taste and the texture, to me, are ing. Greg

Wow! That's so awesome!! Just curious... did you start loosing weight when you switched to eating vegan, or were you vegan for a long time before hand? (And you don't need make-up!) Greg

I just saw this thread, doh! I used to race BMX (NBL) when I was 10-14 years old. I was even number 10 in NY State when I was 13. Man, those were the days! I wonder how my parents felt/feel about it - having to drive me all over the state every summer to race in all the races (I have good parents!) Now I mountain bike. And I drive myself to the trails. Greg

I bought some. It's one of the best tasting non-whey, non-soy proteins I've ever tried - it has that "earthy" flavor and grainy texture, but WAY less than hemp protein. I've tried it mixed just with water - it's not great that way, but not totally ing. The sweetness has that "artificial sweetness" flavor to it. It's pretty good mixed with fruit. And I also mix it into oatmeal (after pre-mixing with a bit of water first). As long as I can afford it, I'll definitely buy it again. Greg

I've tried a few different flavors of that - it's pretty good. Yeah, most flavors contain bee pollen (which I don't mind) and some contain D3 - so you need to read the ingredients carefully. Greg

I like Dawkin's other books too. Like "The Selfish Gene". His books really make you think! Greg

Excellent article!! While it's seems (to me) to be 100% true for "most" people, there's still the large body of evidence that claims people trying to build lean muscle (such as most of us on this site) need more protein than 20, 40 or even the USDA's 56g per day. I've thought about this often over the past year: If one consumes 1g of protein per kg of body weight in order to pack on the lean muscle, does that mean that he/she is damaging his/her health by over-consuming protein? Greg

That doesn't sound totally vegan to me. Unless they were wild donkeys, not captive, and they came up to you of their own free will.

In the past, when I've gone long periods without eating any legumes, and then started up again, I too would discomfort and lots of gas. But if I just start slowly and eat a little more each day, within a week or two I am able to eat 2 or 3 servings a day without any problems at all. I think maybe it just takes a week or so for the right bacteria to build up in your digestive system. (???) Greg

So, I've tried tempeh a few times before, but never really liked it very much at all. But, finally today, I've learned the right way to prepare it! The few times I've had it before I would take it out of the package, cut it into strips, and it would be the first ingredient into the pan followed after a minute or two by all the veggies to make a big stir-fry. But apparently, you need to cook it before you cook it! This time I put it in a little "pan" aluminum foil with a splash of water and a dash of namu-shoyu and baked it at 350 for 20 minutes (flipping it over half-way through). I use a small toaster over for this - it'd be a bit overkill to bake a 3 inch by 3 inch square of tempeh in a regular over. So if you don't have a toaster oven, apparently you can also do basically the same thing in a shallow pan with about a quarter-inch of water in it - and just simmer the water. Anyway, after baking, I then "cooked" it the way I've done before, but this time it was much more tender and not as bitter and "beany" tasting. Lesson learned! Greg

As long as you eat a mix of different grains (rice, oats, rye, barley, wheat, spelt, etc...), legumes (beans), whole fresh fruits & vegetables, and some nuts (not too many if you're trying to loose weight) all throughout the day then you'll be fine. To maximize protein, I eat more beans, more oatmeal, more brown rice (whole grain rice), and use powdered protein shake mixes with things like pea, rice and soy protein. There's also soy milk, tofu and tempeh (but they have slightly higher fat - not perfect for trying to loose weight). Just eat a variety during the day. You don't have to worry about specific combining for each meal. Your body will hold on to amino acids for awhile so if you get a lot of one type for breakfast, and a lot of another type for lunch, it will still put them together. For gaining muscle, just be sure to also eat LOTS of calories and lift weights. Greg

Well, I tried the Chai Latte Spiru-tein and the Berry Blue Fruitein. The Chai Latte one was okay, but nothing to write home about (and it was greenish... not exactly looking like Chai). The instructions say to mix it with 8oz milk. I used 4oz soy milk and 4oz water. The Berry Blue Fruitein one was really good. It says to mix with 6oz water. I blended it with a bit more water than that and a banana. The packet of the Luscious Blue Fruitein lists ergocalciferol, not cholecalciferol. So that one does seem 100% vegan so far. The two Spiru-teins I have just list "vitamin D" in the ingredients - it doesn't say from what. It's a bit strange that this company doesn't make these products 100% vegan. They also make whey protein. And I would think that the total number of people that would choose this pea/rice/soy protein over whey would be very small - pretty much only people that CAN'T eat whey, and vegans. Seems like they could really increase their market for the stuff by just switching from D3 to D2 and not using bee pollen. I think I'm going to buy a tub of the Luscious Blue Fruitein as well as try out the other flavors. Greg

For health reasons against dairy, check out http://www.notmilk.com. I can't think of any sites off the top of my head that talk about meat/poultry, but I know I've read quite a few. Stuff in books too. Greg

I agree with a lot of what you said. We can't get our own water because it's all polluted!! We're paying the water company not only to pump it to use, but to pump us water that's at least drinkable. (Although I buy bottled water because I refuse to drink fluoride and chlorine). Food is certainly something we *could* grow ourselves, provided we have land (more on that below) and the time to do it (more on that below too). Shelter... I build a fort in my parents back yard when I was a kid. But I wouldn't want to live in it. But I don't think it would be all that hard to build something decent. It's not rocket science, but it is something most people know nothing about because they don't need to know it. But... in our society you do have to pay for land. In so many places the cost if the land is more than the cost of the actual house... unless you love out in the boonies. (But I think number 4 on your list should be social interaction. ) And if you want to live where there's lots of social interaction, you'll only be able to afford a very small piece of land - not enough to grow food on. And then also you have even LESS access to clean water. So if you need to pay for land (and pay the taxes on that land), you have to work anyway. And if you have to work for money, you have less time to build your house or grow your food. It's all a big catch-22 that can only be fully solved by going back to a tribal society where there are no "jobs", no taxes, no land ownership, no pollution and no body to provide anything so you have to make/grow/gather it all yourself. But of course that won't work in a world of billions of people. There are many levels of self-sufficiency between the two extremes to be sure, many of them even realistic in todays world. It's just a matter of what you're prepared to give up to reach them. Greg