Crossfit vegan; can it work?

[sean hernandez mccumiskey]

hello fellow crossfit-ers! i have a ? for all you knowladgeable pepole out there. what would the effects be on my health and performance if i were to become a non meat eater? i would follow the rest of the nutritional guidelines of a Paleo diet, but minus the meat. i understand the importance of eating meat and accualy like it very much. but i feel sorry for the animals. if i had the time to go walking in the forrest and run down a wild boar stick it with a spear and beat it to death i think i could say i earned the right to eat that animals flesh to sustain my life. i would feel that that animal had a chance to live and a chance to decide if it is going to let me take its life or it mine. these feelings stured up in me when i first came to this site and thereafter found the paleodiet.com. i read about how our ancestors ate meat setting up our genes to require meat. but like i said before i feel that they earned that priviledge, and what we are doing today is sort of a cop out.

can someone please give me some advice. i am also opened for any ideas to help me with my inner fellings

i thank you all here at crossfit. this is the best forum on the web.
sean

Sean,

I agree with your premise. Today's factory farms and agribusiness are awful on many fronts.

Mike Mahler is vegan and a strength athlete. You should check his site (www.MikeMahler.com -- I think). He follows the "Warrior Diet", but I think there's some overlap there and with paleo eating.

You can also try those meat analoges--"fake meats". They tend to taste pretty close to the real thing, usually have low carbs and high protein. Try anything with "seitan" in it.

Good luck,
HG

[Robert Wolf]

Sean- I have pretty much the same feelings as you however eating vegetarian nearly did me in. Some people (Like mike mahler) do well on it at least for a time. The way i reconcile the megafarming issue is to buy local grassfed meat products and additionally I stick to local in-season fruits and vegetables. What this does is put money into the pockets of local mom and pop operators not "BigBusiness". This restores habitat and minimizes the energy expenditure necessary to transport food.

That is how I practicly and to a degree morally justify what I am up to (to myself if nothing else). something else i find helpful is a chapter out of the Joesph Campbell Companion in which Campbell describes vegetarianism as " ...the first turning away...from life, death and our role in this process..." that is paraphrased from memory but the general idea is there. One need not look to the morality of mega farming to see the insanity of it. it is low quality, dirty, promotes disease, and creates unneeded suffering.

Finally...one need only to read "The Secret Life of Plants" to realize NOTHING wants to be killed and eaten... and every thing alive is a lot more conscious than we migh first assume. Plants release toxins and chemical messages to warn others that they are being eaten.

I hope I did not over step myself getting into this area...I mean no disrespect to yours or anyone elses beliefs.
Robb

[David Werner]

Sean
I partially agree. I don't feel bad that some creature dies to sustain me - that is the way of life on earth - rather I feel bad that their life is so screwed up before they die.
So become a hunter. I don't mean to be glib here, I hunt for these reasons and others. 2 of the last 5 years my family has eaten primarily elk. It is far better than even grass fed beef. I havent been succesful yet with deer but am working on it. Hunting is part of our heritage and is a very rewarding pursuit. Both my son and daughter hunt with me (daughter not very often). Hunting is an embrace of life, and a very good source of food.
David

[sean hernandez mccumiskey]

thank you all very much for your input; it is all taken well. no robert wolf you did not over step your self. the reason i wrote this tread is to get the thoughts of others on this issue. i feel that i can not find what is write for me without knowing my options.

thanks and please keep the input comming
sean
seeking inner peace

[David Cooke, Jr.]

sean, have you considered fish? I don't know if you live where you can hunt or fish for yourself, but many store-bought fish like sardines and salmon still have to be "earned"-caught, by a fisherman, and aren't raised in a factory farm. There may be some health concerns with large canned fish like tuna, so you may want to research that. Otherwise, consider fish while you are sorting this out.

[Patrick Johnston]

Guys:

I think that you have been a bit duped by the media. Yes, there are some bad farms out there, but most are quite good. I, too, shared your beliefs until I married into a dairy farming business. I realize that ours is much better than many of the others out there but the average is still quite good. You may want to quit eating fruits and vegetables as well because many of the laborers, in the US, and abroad are treated inhumanely. This is a very slippery slope. Any of you are welcome to visit our operations at any time. We have a large dairy farm and I am quite proud of how our animals (and workers) are treated. I don't want to get into a big debate or anything. Just be careful what you believe.

[David Cooke, Jr.]

Patrick,
thanks for offering an informed opinion.

[Patrick Johnston]

No problem. I don't mean to offend anyone, I just don't think both sides of the story are represented equally most of the time.

[sean hernandez mccumiskey]

Hello fellow CrossFitters. Well I stoped eating meat; I am eating vegan now and I like it. Since I stoped eating meat I have been craving bread like a mad man and cant eat enough vegys to quench my burning apetite. I have been eating some soya products. But do to their high glycemic load I try to avoid them, Although I do enjoy tofu. I am eating a some what Paleo diet minus the meat.

I avoid the grains and all processed foods, except for a 60gram portion of spelt made into a brie mixed with fruit and nuts for breakfast. I understand The more the grains are processed the higher the glycemic index becomes, so I grind the grain very coarse and soak it in water over night.

Robert:
I just read the article you wrote for www.girevikmagazine.com, titled Caloric Restriction, Longevity and Fitness: How-To-Guide, and was concerned about CRAN. My concern is that I am not meeting the protien requirements and will this promote muscle loss?

Saying I get enough calories and all the essentials I need, 2/3 of the protien requirement and as much sleep as possible ( I will be lucky to get nine hours), follow crossfit and enjoy my life would I reap the benefits of Caloric Restriction, Longevity and Fitness?

How do i determine my caloric requirements, muscle mass and so on?

I stated in my initial post that I understand the importance of eating meat and accualy like it very much. Is thier really an importance for humans to eat meat? I undrstand the Paleo concept and can see how the eating paterns of our "fathers" and "mothers" could have mapped our needs for certain foods. On that note: is it possible that over all those years of eating meat that our bodies would have evolved physically to the digestion of meat? I am refering to our lack of proper enzimes/acids in the stomach to properly break down the meat and our elongated intestinal tract, which is unlike predatorial meat eaters like lions who are equiped with a short, staight intestinal tract making it possible to digest and get rid of ( for lack of a better word, any suggestions) the waste.

Why do so many big animals like elephants and rhinos not need meat to maintain their muscle?

I am no expert rather just interested in this subject, so if I have stated something wrong or am misinformed please let me know.

I would like to thank everyone ahead of time for thier help.

sean