Food choices: the whys and the becauses

By intothepot, 11/22/2013

Eating meat: right or wrong? According to me we shouldn’t  take  away anybody  else’s life. We are not supposed to kill thousands of animals for food.

Somebody might say: “We have eaten  animals since the dawn of time”. Yes, we have, but it doesn’t mean that we have to persist in doing it. We have got emotional intelligence and thanks to evolution we have learned to have morals, we have learned to be “humans”.  The lion hunts other animals because he has to survive, the lion doesn’t have the tools not to eat other animals but we do have! We can survive perfectly and easily without having animals as food.  We have lots of alternatives not to make our body go through some kind of nutritional deficiency.  Many kinds of cereals, legumes, vegetables  and fruits can help us to give our body the necessary nutrients for living healthy and happy.  There is a wide range of good foodstuffs that can replace meat and the animal derived foods. You can easily find online interesting information about foods of all kinds that can be used as substitutes for meat and for animal derived products. Let me now write for you some of the foods which are not well-known:

The seitan is a protein-rich food obtained by extracting the proteic  part of the wheat. It is well-versed for cooking many  meals.

The tofu is excellent for giving our body proteins, iron, calcium, vitamins and other sevaral  minerals.  It is obtained by curdling the soy milk and it is available in many versions (soft, smoked, white, flavoured and spiced).

The tempeh is very rich in proteins and it comes from fermenting yellow soybeans. It is sold in many preparations (to cook or already cooked on the griddle).

The soy milk has got lots of proteins (and no colesterol!) and it is available natural or flavoured. We can also find soy yougurt, soy butter, soy cream (as well as whipped soy cream) on the supermartket shelves.

The oat milk is nourishing and  energizing and it can be used for making puddings and cakes.

The rice milk is excellent for having breakfast with a bowl of cereals.

The almond milk is great for making a delicious almond ice cream and it also tastes good if it is drunk cold. It can be mixed with the rice milk.

The coconut milk is tasty and it can be used for the preparation of many cakes and drinks.

Vegetable hamburgers and vegetable rissoles are made of  restructured soy proteins, seitan, rice, several vegetables and cereals. They can cooked on the griddle, in the microwave oven or baked.

Restructured vegetable proteins are a soy-based product which is dehydrated and sold granulated or in the form of rissoles or stew.

Sauces, dressings and condiments as vegatable mayonnaise, vegetable margarine, gomasio (condiment for salads made of sesame seeds), soy sauces (as shoyu and tamari), miso (made of rice and barley) and tahin (cream of sesame seeds).

Algae are rich in iron, calcium, iodine and omega-3.

Yeast flakes have got high amounts of proteins, minerals and vitamins. They can be added to soups, rice and pasta in the place of parmesan cheese or to legumes, salads and vegetables.

The golden syrup is very rich in calcium, iron and important nutrients. It is delicious and very sweet, that’s why it is excellent as sweetening and it tastes good if you spread it on a piece of bread. In the same way can be used the malt (of cereals as rice, wheat and oat) which is very helpful for sportspeople.

The linseed oil is rich in omega-3. Only 2 teaspoons of this oil and your body will receive the recommended daily allowance of alpha-linoleic acid.

What about spending a few minutes to look for some vegan recipes? Give it a try. You can eat well without saying goodbye to good taste. Being vegan has got lots of advantages and your body will thank you. The web is full of useful information on how to give up eating meat and animal derived food. Please get information on how to save thousands of lives. You can start with becoming aware of how the animals are treated at the slaughterhouses.  There are videos online that I can barely watch, they are just inhumane.

Why should we eat vegan? Because besides the love for animals it is about our environment. If you eat vegan you will considerably reduce the environmental impact and the devastation, the plunderation of resources and the huge wastefulness, that make the poor populations become even poorer, will be downsized. It is an elaborate matter that I invite you to examine in depth.

There are many adjectives  to put ahead the word “reason”ethical, moral, ecological, humanitarian and health. Before making any choice we must have a clear head, we must know the motivations, we must be able to explain the reasons for our actions that’s why it is vital to inform ourselves , to be aware of everything about the subject at issue, it is essential to find the becauses to our whys… so what are yours?

 Arielle T.

Versione italiana

Per i nostri lettori italiani ecco alcuni siti interessantissimi:

http://www.veganhome.it/diventare-vegan/

http://www.agireora.org/  dove potrete trovare le risposte agli interrogativi più frequenti riguardo il mondo vegan.  “Ma una dieta senza carne e derivati animali è equilibrata?”, “Ma questo tipo di dieta non è dannosa per il nostro corpo?”, “Ma cosa si mangia se si sceglie di essere vegan?”, “Ma perchè hai fatto questa scelta?” “Ma come fai? Ma perchè? Ma non è naturale mangiare carne?”… sono tutti “ma” che hanno in testa le persone lontane da questa scelta, ma informandosi e leggendo si può trovare una risposta a tutto, o quasi. Il web è pieno di articoli informativi che fanno riflettere, ci sono fotografie e video esplicativi, ci sono testimonianze e discussioni  che possono aiutare chi ha domande a cui dare risposte. I siti da me suggeritevi sono  soltanto due fra i molti che ci sono in rete e che Vi invito a leggere. Le nostre scelte devono avere un perchè e con questo mio piccolo articolo vorrei che le persone si chiarissero i perchè delle loro scelte. Sono vegan, perchè? Vorrei diventarlo, perchè? Mangio carne, perchè? Non voglio cambiare le mie abitudini, perchè?

Continuate sempre ad informarvi.

Arielle T. (traduzione ed adattamento)

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