Could lentils save your life?
This is a very long article so here is the link:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-471918/Could-lentils-save-life-Meet-man-vegan-month.html
And here is the first portion of the story:
One day I was bemoaning to a female friend that I felt a bit run down and in need of a change of eating habits, while unhelpfully refusing to be drawn into any discussions on faddy diets that she proposed.
Maybe out of desperation, maybe revenge, she suggested I become vegan. I laughed, thought about it, and laughed again.
"Gwyneth Paltrow is a vegan," she said. Maybe I could think of it as an ethical stand rather than a diet, I thought.
"I couldn't," I said. "No, maybe you aren't as strong willed as Gwyneth," she replied. But I am.
My decision to go vegan elicited a variety of responses, but not one was enthusiastic.
Meat eaters thought it ludicrous, even vegetarians weren't convinced it was possible, and one person told me he'd rather eat his arm.
With ill-disguised glee they ran through lists of things I wouldn't be able to eat.
It was a depressing list - basically vegetarianism without the eggs, milk, cheese, butter or cream. And for a man whose culinary art could be summed up by 'pierce film and microwave for three minutes, stirring once', how would I deal with ingredients that actually required cooking?
But first, to find out what all this was going to do to my body, I went for a health check at the BUPA Wellness centre in London's King's Cross.
After a thorough, hitherto assiduously avoided blood analysis, body mass indexing, cholesterol and weigh-in, I was informed by the doctor that I was overweight and had a cholesterol level of 6.5 - the recommended upper limit is 5.
The doctor was deeply sceptical that four weeks as a vegan would be enough to see a difference and said he wouldn't recommend veganism as the body needed meat to function.
However, he wished me well and I left, vegan for a month.
TOT, but I read the title of the thread and immediately got a new version of an old top 40 hit...all I'll be singing: "Last night a lentil saved my life!"
I only got to the part where it said Gwyneth Paltrow was such a strong-willed (cry me a forking river) vegan. She's not even vegetarian, and she's a bit of a loon. *eyeroll*
Anyway, I'd have to read the rest. I skipped to the end, and I guess his cholesterol went down a lot. Hopefully it will stick with him.
I had issues with the Gwenyth Paltrow thing too. I watched a PBS food show with her once, talking about being a vegetarian, and then eating seafood on that same show. Anyway. I'm glad that he finally said some positive things about being vegan at the end of the article, however, it bothered me how he portrayed veganism for the bulk of it. He made it seem like such a negative thing...like "yeah veganism is good for my health, but it's such a chore with such a boring food." I think we all know that isn't the truth! :)
Yeah, I got that impression too. I hate these types of experiments where people are like, OMG I HAVE TO MAKE THESE HUGE SACRIFICES. Mostly because it's like, you know it's not gonna last. I'm glad about the health parts, but really, you can't know what it's like to be vegan just from doing it for a stint like that. How about we talk to long term vegans instead? But I guess that's boring.
Yeah, I got that impression too. I hate these types of experiments where people are like, OMG I HAVE TO MAKE THESE HUGE SACRIFICES. Mostly because it's like, you know it's not gonna last. I'm glad about the health parts, but really, you can't know what it's like to be vegan just from doing it for a stint like that. How about we talk to long term vegans instead? But I guess that's boring.
Not boring, but we all know "all vegans are out of touch weirdos." Since there is no way they are like "real people", we don't make programmes about them. Right?
Actually the media thinks vegans are aliens-from-the-planet-Vega anyway. ROFLOL
I had issues with the Gwenyth Paltrow thing too. I watched a PBS food show with her once, talking about being a vegetarian, and then eating seafood on that same show. Anyway. I'm glad that he finally said some positive things about being vegan at the end of the article, however, it bothered me how he portrayed veganism for the bulk of it. He made it seem like such a negative thing...like "yeah veganism is good for my health, but it's such a chore with such a boring food." I think we all know that isn't the truth! :)
I think my husband thought the same thing, but I've made more of a variety of foods since going veg than I did when I still ate meat. Huh... Funny how that works.
8)
"OH REALLY? STARBUCKS CAN PUT SOY MILK IN WHATEVER YOU WANT?"
This guy seems like an idiot.
Could lentils save my life? You're darn right they could.
In fact... they did!
The night was dark. Not stormy, no, but dark. The kind of cloud cover that always threatens moisture, but never delivers. Making you sweat the possibility of rain is the only moisture possible on a night like this one. I don't remember why I was out so late, but there I was. Stuck in isle 12. Maybe the wife had a peanut butter craving, or there was a pot luck the next day... It's not important. All I remember is being at the wrong supermarket at the wrong time.
There are certain horrific scenarios you rehearse in your head. You do this so you know how you might react. What if I'm mugged? What if I have a flat tire? You think about these things in hope of preparing for the day that particular misfortune strikes. There was no preparing for this, however.
Ever wonder what happens when people don't accept free samples? What is the deal with the smiling pitch-person who is there helping you sample new and exciting foodstuffs? The deal is: No Leftovers. If the food isn't gone, you can't go home.
So, again, I ask: What happens when people don't - or won't - accept free samples? I'll tell you the answer. The sample provider goes rogue. Stopping passers by and forcibly stuffing various bacon-wrapped cheese stuff down their throat. Badgering old women into samples, stuffing samples into toddlers' pockets... all sorts of unnatural deeds.
It was on this night I found myself face to face with a turkey-double-cheddar-beef pocket sample giver. At first I thought I'd run... no dice. For just as I turned, what should start coming down the other end of isle, but an army of rascal-riding sample seekers... they were in a frenzy.
I wish I could say I did something heroic that night. I wish I could say instinct took over and I saved my own skin.
No.
The vibrations from the army of rascals shook the shelf unit beside me. The shelving unit containing - you guessed it - lentils. Just as I was about to be flattened and/or force fed, a bag of lentils tumbled of the shelf and broke on impact, sending lentils all over the linoleum. When the rascals hit them, they skidded, swerved and crashed... allowing me to bound through the wreckage and make my escape.
And that is how lentils saved my life.
I love you, lentils.
And I :)>>> you, AIS.
YG, maker of lentil hummus extraordinaire
ais, you're a lovely, lovely smartass.
The text box with the red heading is the best part of the article.
Vegans avoid all animal products including milk, eggs, and even, surprisingly, honey.
Why is that surprising?
That entire article pisses me off. STOP BLOODY WHINING. I love how "oh yea and I pretty much stayed vegan coz I like it better yay" is the tiniest footnote after an entire article of bitching about it.
dailyfail?
I'd rather not read anything from that pile of shit :)