I can be silent no more.

[Shemeska]

As for the corn allergies: Isn’t it odd how all of a sudden things such as corn allergies and soy allergies are becoming more and more common.

Most likely a combination of more and more people eating soy products, and the allergies being diagnosed.

Forgive this ole consipiracy theorist, but I wonder if that has anything to do with 2/3rds of the worlds soy supply being GM, and corn is also dominated by GM ‘breeds’.

I strongly doubt it. GM crops have less of an unknown factor in what you're eating than the product of two conventionally crossed strains of a crop, and they've got more safety testing on them on top of that. A protein is a protein regardless of the original source of the gene. I find it very distressing that some people (the OMG FRankenfood!!1! types) seem to feel that the moment modern science gets involved, food stops being 'natural' and suspect some evil plot.

 

[Pbartender]

the colder the better you burn calories to warm it up to your body temp.

Sorry, Ampolitor, but that's .

It take one calorie (lower case "c") to heat one gram of water (one milliliter of water) by one degree Celcius. So, if you drink one liter of ice-cold water, your body burns about 37,000 calories.

Sounds good, right?

Not quite.

The calories listed on the nutritional label of food is Calories with a capital "C". One Calorie is equal to 1,000 calories. So you're only really burning about 37 Calories by drinking that liter of ice-water. In other words, you'd have to drink down about 2 gallons of ice-cold water to burn enough calories to balance out a candy bar. Hardly seems worth the trouble. Better to just not eat the candy bar.

On the other hand, all of your other suggestions are great ideas.

 

[Mycanid]

yeah, that's pretty much my handicap with veganism as well.

not to mention, having to give up milk, cheese, butter... man, depriving yourself like that just isn't natural.

we have a vegan in our gaming group, and we order pizza just about every week. he says it's like torture, because he loves cheese, but hasn't eaten any in like a decade.

not for me, man, no thanks.

Now just a minute! There are different "types" of vegetarians! My younger brother was a vegan for YEARS and he told me all about the differences of type.

I am not a red meat or poultry eater (for various reasons) but I do eat fish, sea food (not mammals), and such. I have had very little trouble adapting to this (been 19 years now or so) ... and that is from being a rather ravenous carnivore. Cheese, milk and such like are eaten every now and then.

Point being: to be "vegan" you don't have to give all those things up. Of course there are some that do so ... but not everybody's constitution is the same. Some can live like that on their own steam or willpower (even so have you ever noticed that these folks frequently look emaciated and unhealthy and eat lots of vitamin supplements? Its actually kinda creepy to me) ... but most can not.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

As for the corn allergies: Isn’t it odd how all of a sudden things such as corn allergies and soy allergies are becoming more and more common.

Forgive this ole consipiracy theorist, but I wonder if that has anything to do with 2/3rds of the worlds soy supply being GM, and corn is also dominated by GM ‘breeds’.

Nah- allergies are the result of a problem in your immune system. Basically, your body is treating an otherwise harmless substance* as if it were a disease-causing bacteria or virus.

The trick, of course, is that you have to be exposed to a substance more than once to actually trigger the response.

The modern practice of using corn, soy, peanuts and certain other things into various processed foods as sweeteners, thickeners, and fillers is radically increasing exposure to those substances. An uptick in allergies to those substances in societies that consume large amounts of processed foods is inevitable.

If, as you suspect, it were because of the GM effects, the people who were exposed to those GM strains would also show allergies to the sources of the spliced-in genetic material. As in, if corn allergies were related to a GM strain of corn featuring a beef protein, then you'd see a proportionate increase in allergies to beef.

And there hasn't been any correlation between corn, soy, or peanut allergies and their GM relations.

* some allergies are simply genetic and are a result of evolutionary response to actual toxins, like the allergy to poison ivy toxins, which occurs in something like 80% of humanity.

 

[Merkuri]

Now just a minute! There are different "types" of vegetarians!

...

Point being: to be "vegan" you don't have to give all those things up.

Um, I think technically "vegan" refers to vegetarians who give up all animal products, including things like eggs and milk. You can be "vegetarian" and still eat things like fish, but not vegan.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Now just a minute! There are different "types" of vegetarians! My younger brother was a vegan for YEARS and he told me all about the differences of type.

Um.

There are different types of Vegetarian. This is true.

One of those types is Vegan. This is not a generic synonym for Vegetarian; it refers to someone who excludes all animal products from their diet - meat, dairy, eggs, and honey.

Vegetarians might or might not eat cheese and eggs. Vegans do not.

(As far as I can tell, a Vegan could eat human meat, as long as it was obtained with the consent of the owner; they seem to exclude humans from the definition of 'animal products'... for example, a Vegan baby can breast-feed, but cannot drink cow's milk.)

-Hyp.

 

[Mycanid]

Um, I think technically "vegan" refers to vegetarians who give up all animal products, including things like eggs and milk. You can be "vegetarian" and still eat things like fish, but not vegan.

Depends who you talk to ... you are partly right, though!

In some circles those who abstain from all animal products (aka "vegans) are simply called "strict vegetarians" or "pure vegetarians". There is a wide range of differing "degrees" of vegetarians - again, my brother introduced me to this one.

Here is a link describing all the different sorts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism

I guess I would technically be a lacto-ovo vegetarian.

My brother was part of "straight edge" punk movement for many years, and his stance was hand in hand with his involvement in the animal rights movements.

But anyway ... I am digressing from the thread a bit. Sorry folks!

 

[Mycanid]

Um.

There are different types of Vegetarian. This is true.

One of those types is Vegan. This is not a generic synonym for Vegetarian; it refers to someone who excludes all animal products from their diet - meat, dairy, eggs, and honey.

Vegetarians might or might not eat cheese and eggs. Vegans do not.

-Hyp.

Hey there Hyp! We double posted over each other!

 

[Hypersmurf]

In some circles those who abstain from all animal products (aka "vegans) are simply called "strict vegetarians" or "pure vegetarians". There is a wide range of differing "degrees" of vegetarians - again, my brother introduced me to this one.

Right, but you just said that to be Vegan, you don't need to give up milk, cheese, or butter.

Don't you mean that to be Vegetarian, you don't, but to be Vegan, you do?

-Hyp.

 

[Hairfoot]

I'm a reformed obesoid, so I'm even more critical and judgemental of the overweight than lucky sods who are naturally slim. My whole family's fat, and I spent 21 years making excuses about metabolism, or hormones, or anything else which allowed me to be lazy.

It was all rubbish. Of course, a tiny minority of people have to deal with cruel pathologies which make them weighty no matter what, but most people can find a form of exercise they enjoy and want to do (the critical factor) and learn not to accept advertising which says a 'portion' is a whole cowburger and bucket of chips.