The Subject Of Plant-Based Or Vegan Diets Raises Lots Of Questions

Related To Health, Animal Rights, And Global Warming

I wonder what this lovely heifer thinks about all this human nonsense? Photo by FitOldDog, probably with permission, during a 75-mile bike ride, all on vegetables and fruit (and water!).

Today’s crop, from our small vegetable garden. I’m turning these early figs into jam, to put on one of my latest Vegan breads. Photo by FitOldDog.

My latest adventure is the plant-based or vegan diet.

Plus saving rats from chemical testing, which I did for years).

I suspect that people who take on Ironman, or other endurance sports training into their 70s, are probably a little bit OCD, or as a friend of mine described me, ‘monomaniacal.

You can argue about food for ages. There are a growing number of videos extolling the virtues of plant-based diets for preventing and curing many of our ills, from cancer to diabetes. Today, I watched such a video for about an hour, called, ‘Uprooting The Leading Causes Of Death,‘ and it was packed with information. I have a feeling that these people might be on the right track.

I’m more interested, right now however, in why my mind jumps from one topic to another, locks in for days to decades (literally – I’m at two decades with Ironman, for heaven’s sake). For instance, I was all into Paleo for a couple of years, which is the antithesis of plant only.

Vegan loaf, by FitOldDog, comprising 50% whole wheat, 25% teff, and 25% almond flour, with a little olive oil, salt, and yeast. Photo by FitOldDog.

I’m looking forward to a debate between a Vegan and a Paleo person. That should be fascinating, though I trust the insights of my local farmer, Simon, of Small Potatoes Farm. When I questioned Simon on the wisdom of eating meat versus plants, he said, “It all depends where you live!”

That made me think of my years in Scotland, and the people who lived in the north, before roads and the trucking industry arrived. Sheep can graze on the coarsest grasses and heather, which are completely indigestible for humans. The sheep turn these plants into a sustainable crop of wool and meat – eat it or starve?

Of course, for many, mass transport has changed all that, allowing us to eat anything, from anywhere, at anytime, but that’s not sustainable in the long run, I’m pretty sure. Seems things have changed for the sheep too, because of the EU! What next?

But then, who knows what the morrow may bring – wise words from a strange book, that, yes, I’ve actually read – Leviticus was tough, and the Angel With The Fiery Sword wasn’t very forgiving! Then again, The Book Of Mormon, based on a translation by a magic rock, was pretty weird, too! Guess I better leave that topic alone, or I’ll be hiding with Elvis.

Man and his symbols! Now, there’s a book I really enjoyed.

My morrow, if it comes, will be, at least in part, about trying fig jam on my next Vegan Loaf experiment.