24 replies to this topic

[jpsingh2]

I know there is a topic about what foods you shouldn't eat but this one has different content.

I heard that bananas are good..

[Orson]

Eat healthy and balanced diet. 

Take all foods in your diet such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, meat, eggs, chicken, fish, and dairy products to make your diet more healthy and balanced.

[jasdeepsingh2k125]

Eat healthy and balanced diet. 

Take all foods in your diet such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, meat, eggs, chicken, fish, and dairy products to make your diet more healthy and balanced.

not meat and eggs

[TheFancyBanana]

I know there is a topic about what foods you shouldn't eat but this one has different content.

I heard that bananas are good..

Not too many bananas. They're radioactive. They contain pottasium-40 (I think it is 40), which is radioactive. So, limit yourself to 2-3 a day. They're good for putting on weight and getting energy.

Drink plenty of whole milk!

Edited by ChuckSinghNorris, 17 January 2013 - 02:03 PM.

[singh135]

Vegan is the ideal diet for amritdharis!

[savinderpalsingh]

Not too many bananas. They're radioactive. They contain pottasium-40 (I think it is 40), which is radioactive. So, limit yourself to 2-3 a day. They're good for putting on weight and getting energy.

Drink plenty of whole milk!

i love eating banana's 

[TheFancyBanana]

i love eating banana's 

Same. They're very tasty.

Time for a dancing kela!!!

[savinderpalsingh]

best food any subji/dal with lots of desi ghee  

 

 

and lassi

[rrss]

Vegan is the ideal diet for amritdharis!

 

Vegan is an ideal diet, indeed it is the most natural diet for humans. Unless you survived on pakoras and chips you'd find it very hard to become ill or obese on a vegan diet, it is very very healthy indeed-  nuts seeds vegetables and fruit along with some fungi and bacterial products provide you with 100% of your nutritional requirements. Consume mostly raw and cook some but not too much so as to denature the nutrients. I also recommend sarbloh bibek.

 

It is a fallacy that you cannot get enough protein from plant sources. There are even vegan protein supplements available which contain a better mix of amino acids and more easily digestible than animal sources.

 

Vegans just need to be extra careful about developing Vitamin B12 deficiency.

 

Indeed we get ALL nutrients from plant sources bar one, Vitamin B12, which is made by bacteria, and only bacteria. Animals don't make B12. Some animals have symbiotic bacteria in their gut which generates B12 as a by product for the animal host and others just build it up in the muscle through the food chain (along with dangerous diseases, toxic chemicals and indeed plastics which find their way into the food chain these days). So animals are not a good source of B12. Some people claim that dairy is an alternative source of B12, but it isn't really (read below for more about milk). There are actually natural sources of B12, e.g. it is produced as a by-product of a yeast culture (i.e. yeast extract products such as marmite etc). Multi vitamin tablets are obviously a clear winner (supported by a balanced diet). Breakfast cereals, non dairy milk and many other foods are fortified with B12. Note that B12 builds up a store in the body and deficiencies take months or years to present however if untreated the damage is irreversible. So you just need micrograms of B12 to maintain your storage. If you're concerned about your B12 levels you can have a blood test to confirm.

 

From an evolutionary perspective, humans are believed to naturally have the same diet as the plant eating apes. The reason they don't suffer from B12 deficiencies and why B12 deficiency is a relatively new phenomenon (in evolutionary terms) is due to our mad dash for 'cleanliness' without understanding the risks. For thousands of years we have managed without even knowing bacteria existed. We have begun to view bacteria as an unnecessarily evil which must be eradicated. So in short we have through excessively attacking the useful bacteria that would otherwise get into our food and hands, lost nature's source of providing us with this vitamin that we have co-oevolved with (it supports nervous system functions). Unfortunately this is largely irreversible due to lost resistance so can no longer surround ourselves with this healthy bacteria.

 

I vhemently oppose drinking from the breasts of another animal, it just isn't natural. The commonly cited arguments of calcium from milk is bogus, milk and dairy are not a good source of usable calcium. Icing on cake- around 60% of the human race is lactose intolerant- go figure. Milk also contains blood and animal proteins so really under a microscope there isn't that much difference between milk and meat. It also contains viruses and other things which humans should definitely not be consuming. Finally, If God had wanted us to be drinking mothers milk he would have made women lactate throughout life.

 

And from a moral point of view, indeed if you knew the cruel torture imposed on cows etc for their milk, you'd vomit it out at breakfast. Death is preferable to being treated the way they are, so eating meat is morally preferable to torturing the animal. Organic milk is a better option, but they're still commercially reared, almost always slaughtered for meat when they stop giving milk and calfs are separate from mothers for veal and/or more milk. Ethically you could keep your own milk giving animal in good conditions and utilise that milk which is in excess to the calf (I believe Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh ji followed this approach).

 

I nevertheless stand by the unnatural source of nutrition point. There are many vegan alternatives to milk and cheese. Consider almond, coconut, hazulnut etc milk, there many sources and are healthier than animal breast milk. However take it easy on Soy based products, you don't want to consume soy in excess as it contains oestrogen-like hormones which can upset hormonal balance.

 

Beign vegan also means rejection of animal sourced products but that's a subject for another time so please do not mix the two together when replying to this nutrition post.

 

Conclusion: Vegan is a natural diet, it digests easily and provides all the nutrients you need. Have a healthy and balanced diet and do support it with extra sources of nutrients if you know you have a particular condition such as iron anemia or are prone to B12 deficiency. I was a vegan was a long time without knowing about B12 and the fact that I was prone to a deficiency, I suffered a small deficiency which was easily treated with a few tablets. Now armed with better knowledge of B12, my mostly vegan diet provides me with exactly what my body needs for optimal survival. Also I mostly cook in sarbloh- an additional source of Iron!. I now mostly consume vegan food products and back this up with multivitamins, and occasionally include a genuine certified organic milk product. I do not purchase or eat ready made food of any description. I eat a minute amount of degh.

Edited by rrss, 22 January 2013 - 06:01 AM.

[HSD2]

In the UK, Social Services have to remove kids from parents who enforce a vegan lifestyle on their kids. The media reported on how large numbers of the medical and scientific community were worried about the vegan lifestyle on children. So, if you are old enough be a vegan if you choose to. Dont force it on your kids though, unless you want the social involved.