Going vegan......old style?!

Doom_and_Gloom

Does anyone here eat sprouts? I don't know about anyone else but I think sprouts are SOO yummy. I use them in sandwiches, stir frys, salads as well as snacking on. I'm sprouting some green lentils right now but have done chickpeas, aduki beans and mung beans before. You can also sprout and/or soak nuts, seeds as well as soak quinoa and other grains if you want to also :T . Sprouting your own is a lot cheaper than buying the packs from store but it can be a bit of trial and error to get it correct at first. Once you have it's very easy and well worth it.

Doom_and_Gloom

Ambersuccubus wrote: »

Why do people keep believing the raw foodie nonsense about "enzymes"?
By all means suggest that people eat more raw fruit and veg for better vitamins, fibre, and general wellness - but the enzymes in food are destroyed utterly as soon as it hits the acid in your stomach anyway, and only your internally created digestive enzymes do any work! Cooking does not, therefore make a ha'porth of difference in that particular field. There's a reason the pineapple diet never really worked the way they said it would...
I do wish some basic science could be applied BEFORE these claims get out into the public field - it's no wonder the omnivores think we're all bonkers!

That’s strange because almost all enzymes contained in food are proteins. Although yes acid in the stomach does denature most of the enzymes in foods (around 90%) what is able to get passed (around 10%) is able to be used by the body, although scientists are still determining what this use is they do believe that it could be a help in aiding digestion.

Also cooking is known to destroy a lot of vitamins and minerals your body needs which is why food scientists as well as dieticians advise on people eating more uncooked food or at least cook the foods for the least time possible if you feel you want to cook it. More vitamins and minerals are a good idea no matter how you look at it as anyone could be laking in them not just vegetarians and vegans like people like to assume.

twinkle_star_2

Ive just got myself a sprouter and I've already done alfalfa seeds and mung beans. It was so super easy and they've been great just to pick at and to pop in sanwiches for my OH or stirred into my soup.
Next up I'm going to try sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and wheat berries and try some of them in bread. Yum!

kafkathecat

Cooking cannot destroy minerals and in many foods makes vitamins and phytochemicals more easily digested. Raw food diets are low in some minerals such as zinc and contain no vitamin B12. I know someone who ate mainly raw for several years and developed B12 deficiency. All the people I know who eat raw spend more now on food than they did before and eat a large amount of tropical fruit making the diet expensive and not environmentally friendly imo. On the positive side they all lost weight and all report having more energy.
Oh, hello to all my fellow money saving vegans.

Doom_and_Gloom

kafkathecat wrote: »

Cooking cannot destroy minerals and in many foods makes vitamins and phytochemicals more easily digested. Raw food diets are low in some minerals such as zinc and contain no vitamin B12. I know someone who ate mainly raw for several years and developed B12 deficiency. All the people I know who eat raw spend more now on food than they did before and eat a large amount of tropical fruit making the diet expensive and not environmentally friendly imo. On the positive side they all lost weight and all report having more energy.
Oh, hello to all my fellow money saving vegans.

There is a reason why they say that cooking food destroys the NUTRIENTS of the produce you are cooking. It is due to the loss of vitamins and minerals that cooking destroys. Lightly steaming can be benifitial however eating it in an uncooked state is best and the fresher it is the better also.

Yes you may spend more on food but you will save a hell of a lot of money from health services later on in life (it makes a very good reason to grow your own food which I think we should all try and do). There is no price on health . Zinc is found in chickpeas which you can sprout to eat raw you can also obtain it from pumpkin seeds, peas, brazil nuts and almonds as well as other places.

Vitamins and minerals can be found in ALL vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, grains and pulses (last two will have to be sprouted).

B12 is seen as a problem on the vegan diet (and sometimes a veggie diet) also and if you are a vegan you should know this. Plant sources are constantly stated to be wrong analoges however it is not an animal product like people believe but a chemical made availible by bacteria. You could eat the plants believed to have B12 or you could supliment it which lets face it fortified foods that span from omni, veggie and vegan foods have this in them anyway.

kafkathecat

Yes some nutrients are destroyed but others are made more available by cooking. There are no long term studies of raw food diets because so few people do it and most for only a short time. There has never been a population of people known who have eaten only raw, ever since we became human. The longest lived people in the world are in Japan where they eat mainly cooked food.
As a long term vegan I know all about nutrition thank you. I have also read a lot about raw food and imo much of the 'science' used as a basis for the diet is distorted or taken out of context.

oldMcDonald

Other than suppliments and fortified foods, such as 'milks', where is the easiest source of (vegan) B12 found?

Doom_and_Gloom

oldMcDonald wrote: »

Other than suppliments and fortified foods, such as 'milks', where is the easiest source of (vegan) B12 found?

I see from your sig that you like marmite. Although it is debatable if the company that makes it is seen to be okay by a lot of vegans this product IS and from what I last knew contained B12 just like a lot of yeast extract products. However I do believe that they are fortified but as I stated this happens to foods from all kinds of diets. It’s difficult as due to modern agriculture with using pesticides etc we’ve depleted most of the B12 from our soil making it of little to no use to us. Makes you realise what those generations before us thought was an amazing idea really made it worse for those to come. Typical humans really :rotfl: .

Justamum

Doom_and_Gloom wrote: »

Does anyone here eat sprouts? I don't know about anyone else but I think sprouts are SOO yummy. I use them in sandwiches, stir frys, salads as well as snacking on. I'm sprouting some green lentils right now but have done chickpeas, aduki beans and mung beans before. You can also sproutand/or soak nuts, seeds as well as soak quinoa and other grains if you want to also :T . Sprouting your own is a lot cheaper than buying the packs from store but it can be a bit of trial and error to get it correct at first. Once you have it's very easy and well worth it.

I thought you were talking about brussels sprouts at first :rotfl:

I love sprouts, but need to find a sprouter to grow them in - I've tried and failed using an old coffee jar. Our local health food shop used to sell them, but I think I'll have to look on-line.

They're an excellent way of getting more vitamins into you.

Justamum

Doom_and_Gloom wrote: »

B12 is seen as a problem on the vegan diet (and sometimes a veggie diet) also and if you are a vegan you should know this. Plant sources are constantly stated to be wrong analoges however it is not an animal product like people believe but a chemical made availible by bacteria. You could eat the plants believed to have B12 or you could supliment it which lets face it fortified foods that span from omni, veggie and vegan foods have this in them anyway.

Even meat-eaters can be B12 deficient if they lack intrinsic factor in their digestive system. In fact this is the main reason for B12 deficiency in anyone. However it is sensible to ensure you have B12 in your food or a supplement.