This is a fantastic way to look at it. It feels like a perfect application of the 80 / 20 rule -> with 20% of the effort, you can get 80% of the benefits of being vegetarian / vegan.
Veganism is not so much about soil health but to put a stop to animal suffering. Once you consider animals as beings who deserve to live, pareto rule does not apply.
Definitely. Not the OP you were replying to, but I love meat of all types. I also love vegetables. I also really like some vegetarian foods. Actually, I just like food, but I can't each much of it at one sitting.
I think the other proposition is that, for whatever reason, there's this push to market vegetarian foods as substitutes to lure in traditional meat eaters rather than putting effort toward convincing them that they're alternatives that taste just as good.
Like bean burgers. I absolutely love bean burgers because regular burgers just don't sit right with me half the time. But I don't treat them as a substitute--I treat them as an alternative that is delicious and unique in its own right AND to be enjoyed as such. I mean, let's be honest: There's so many different varieties of beans, and so many things you can do with them, that even speaking as a meat eater, it's almost impossible to get bored with how many different dishes you can make (with no meat)!
One example that comes to mind that's semi-vegetarian is a black bean enchilada recipe I make from time to time. Just beans. Only non-vegetarian item is the cheese (and sometimes the corn tortillas because of lard, if you get them fresh). Doesn't feel heavy, tastes amazing, and it's super filling. Have a side of refried beans (I like beans)[1], Spanish rice, a salad, and it's like a restaurant-style meal.
Err. Didn't mean to make this reply so long. Sorry. I guess I just love cooking, too.
And yes, it's not that much effort to at least cut out red meat from your diet. Way healthier too.
[1] The people around you probably won't like the side effects.
If by your [1] you mean flatulence, Indians (and some other Asians) eat many kinds of legumes (including many kinds of beans, like rajma, lobia, French beans, etc.), on a regular basis, and I, at least, have not heard of flatulence as a common thing among them due to that. Only if you indulge a bit too much in say chana (chickpeas, as in chana masala or puri chole or bhature chole), do you sometimes get gas. Possibly the Indian masala's spices used in those dishes help with digesting the beans, in fact they probably do, since they are the common ones used in Indian cooking, some of which have known digestive benefits, such as cumin, ginger, coriander, asafoetida, etc.
(BTW, tip: just a pinch of asafoetida a.k.a. hing, really improves a dish; the zing of hing :)
Also, I saw a video about nutrition by some scientist, who said that peoples (i.e. nations) who eat beans regularly, develop, over time, the ability (maybe via better gut flora) to digest them more easily, without gas being generated.
I suspect your points (all of them!) probably harbor some degree of truth--in particular the latter. I don't eat beans quite often enough to notice any long term benefits, but I do know that if I eat certain fibrous foods with increasing frequency, the effects become milder over time. So I would imagine the gut flora adapts to your diet, if you're willing to work at it.
I may have to try the suggestion of different spices. I'm exceedingly fond of cumin and season my bean enchiladas accordingly, but I've never thought to try an experiment involving consumption of the same amount of beans with or without. This may warrant further investigation.
I appreciate the feedback. It gives me some things to try since, well, I just love all manner of seasonings. Thank you so much for that!
> Glad you think the points are worth checking out.
Well, of course! Physiological "hacks" like that which are largely something already known in other cultures and subsequently re-discovered in the West always fascinate me. It's a good reminder that there are a LOT of things we don't know (or think we do).
Plus, I enjoy the conversation even if the topic (flatulence) is somewhat less appealing (or amusing). I've always had some digestive issues with too much fiber and certain foods, but it never really bothered me all that much until the last few years. Onions, for whatever stupid reason, seem to bother me the worst. Which is a shame, because I love them.
But, I'm definitely going to try your suggestions. Plus I've been itching to try cumin in something new, AND you've given me a list of other things to add to my arsenal. Living in New Mexico, there's only so many things you can do with hot peppers before you start to look toward other cuisines (kidding; I love them as well!). :)
You also reminded me of something. When you mentioned a slow tolerance toward certain foods, I'd forgotten that a few years ago I went through this phase where I was eating steel cut oats every day. I tried it again recently and they absolutely bothered me to no end (err, phrasing), yet I don't remember that being an issue when it was a regular part of my diet. I know it's only anecdotal evidence, but I swear they didn't bother me before. Of course, this comes on the heels of discovering that an Instant Pot is absolutely beautiful for cooking them consistently.
Anyway, thank you so much for the advice--and the conversation. I'm sorry I hadn't replied for close to 2 weeks!
You might want to investigate Dr Vasant Lad's videos (2 in number, IIRC) on Ayurvedic cooking in particular, and the principles, or at least techniques, of (spices and masalas used in) Indian cooking in general. All with a view to improved digestion. He is a senior Ayurvedic doctor and the founder of the Ayurvedic Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. There is also a book about this subject (the cooking), by some woman, IIRC, but sorry, cannot remember the name.
IME, flatulence is 90% attributable to eating more than the digestive system can comfortably handle at a time, also some questionable food combos and gut flora may be involved, but mostly the former. Glossing over specifics, a conservative well digestible meal size would be up to 300g or 1/3 l, no less than 3h apart, no fruit, sugary drinks or milk. Gradually relax constraints and monitor side effects.
Interesting points, thanks. Related to meal size, yoga (via a book by The Yoga Institute) says at the end of a meal, your stomach contents should be one half food, one quarter water and one quarter air, for good digestion, which seems to make sense, intuitively, because if it was all food, it would be a tight fit, so would not move around and through the digestive system easily, and the same (though less so) if full with only food and water, hence the air bit too.
The Yoga Institute may be the oldest commercial yoga center in the world.
Re [1]. Same with me. On the input side, I could exist solely on rice and beans. However, on the output side, my body just won't cooperate and generates a very foul output. So meat and veggies it is. :-(
Judging by the sibling comments, it would appear there may be more natural ways around that which seem to improve digestion. I'm going to have to try their suggestions at some point.
But I don't know. Could it be a physiological thing? Maybe. I know that I have a bit of, err, sensitivity to certain foods that seem to transform me into a source of natural gas.
Thanks! Yeah my wife and I stared over a year ago. If you had told me 2 years ago if I would be mostly vegan I would have laughed.
80/20 is a great way to look at it. It cuts out all of the food where you just get chicken or beef and it doesn’t actually add to the meal. Now I opt for vegan choices, but if I’m in a place that makes really great meat options, usually with high quality product, I’ll get one and really appreciate it. Makes meat an actual treat. Though the less meat I have the less I actually want it.
