And other than taking fertitlity drugs, I meant.mememe
And other than taking fertitlity drugs, I meant.mememe
Dynamic Harmlessness
Thanks mememe - that was really interesting! I have no huge personal interest in reproduction but it's good to know *things*.
I don't know how families cope with 8 after over successful implantation!
"if compassion is extreme, then call me an extremist"
thanks for posting that explanation!
i hate when people ask me if i think i don't ovulate because i'm vegan... no, i have pcos, and like most people with pcos, i have ovulatory problems. most vegans do ovulate just fine, and most people with pcos aren't vegan....
other than taking fertility meds and, i guess other than drinking gallons of milk (!) i don't know of any way to increase the chance of twins. i kind of hoped that we'd have had twins, but i'm more than fine that xylia came on her own!!!!! she's a right handful! but, a sweet one
mememe-- i hope that nature brings you twins. in that, 'you never know, it could happen' kind of way.
hannah, 28 (vegan), bryce, 28 (ovolacto), xylia born january 2005 (vegan)
I like that idea.veganblue
"Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends". ~ George Bernhard Shaw.
I'm sure I read in a women's mag that eating yams at conception increases your chances of having twins! This could well be an old wives' tale with no basis however.
It is a monstrous thing to do, to slay a unicorn...you have slain something pure and defenceless and you will have but a half life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips.
It's interesting to see how many humans have been fooled to feel that drinking milk from a cow is natural for humans, and I guess it's because we have a tendency to mix natural with normal. I'm pretty sure most people who drink cow's milk would find it strange, and maybe slightly disgusting - if, when drinking milk, someone would tell them that the milk came from a pig, elephant or horse, because they are not used to drink milk from these animals. I'm also pretty sure that most cow milk drinking humans would find it more than strange to drink milk directly from the udders of any of these animals - maybe they should try eg. drinking milk from a horse once, and see how 'natural' it felt?
I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.
Here's some more info about the link between dairy products and Parkinson's disease:
Dairy food linked with Parkinson’s disease in men
American Journal of Epidemiology: Consumption of Dairy Products and Risk of Parkinson's Disease
I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.
Unfortunately, this increased risk is not likely to have an effect on milk-drinkers, because it is still low as an actual percentage.
Maybe it can if people consumed only milk, but it is necessary to assume that most dairy users get magnesium from somewhere else. Otherwise, they would all have that. Anyway, I now know why one of my evil relatives said cardiac arrhythmia is normal!
Last edited by steven1222; Jul 12th, 2007 at 10:56 PM. Reason: Quoted incorrect amount of post
Milk is truly disgusting. I really enjoyed watching the Mcdougall DVD section "Marketing Milk and Disease" for my Nutrition class. It showed how the dairy industry spends millions of dollars every year to propagate its message on the naive, American public. Mcdougal says that 9 out of 10 cows have the BLV (Bovine Leukemia Virus). He goes on to tell that milk is mixed in big vats and distributed, thus every glass of milk is likely to contain BLV. Veterinarians, and dairy farmers have higher incidences of leukemia consequently. At the end of the DVD he says something like "Milk is for baby cows, you are not a cow" except more eloquently, of course. It just makes me so mad to see and hear commercials recommending 3 a day for dairy when i know its to the detriment of society.
How did all this get started (drinking milk i mean).
I am so sad after reading all of this. Just as i, and all humans should be.
i think it's sad when people ask you why you don't drink milk and you have to explain to them about all this, and yet they still just shrug it off. How can they not care??
Sometime sit does make me think 'why do i care if they don't? What is it in me that makes em decide to change when they can just ignore it?' Those thought upset me really
People believe just about everything they read in magazines or see on the television. I've seen so many commercials that say "3 glasses of milk a day will help you lose weight." (I really don't know if the correct number is 3, I'm just taking a guess).
HAHA no it won't. Not eating saturated or trans fat or too much refined sugar will keep you healthy, and getting off your ass and exercizing will help you lose weight and stay healthy. People want the easy way to be healthy, so the milk industry decided to tell everyone that milk is good for you because, hey, we'll believe anything that isn't too extreme and doesn't require a long process of change.
Bottom line, people like things easy and free of drastic change. When some people hear that meat and dairy is bad for them and they shouldn't consume it, they choose to ignore it because they are WAY too scared to try to change that much, even if they know it will benefit them in the long run.
Custom will reconcile people to any atrocity; fashion will drive them to acquire any custom.
in my opinion..i find that most of the time it's for simple reasons..
#1- these people that we tell about dairy's harmful effects are most likely looking at us already as if we are strange because that is the label that we have been given for whatever reason. so why should they believe what we are telling them..especially when they see something that contradicts us on tv?! come on..you can't say something on tv if it isn't true, right? (hahaha)
#2- to be a vegan requires a little thing called "discipline".."will power". things that, i dont know if you have noticed but..most everyday people are lacking. that would mean they would have to give up their yummy mac and cheese? choc chip ice cream? eggs and bacon for breakfast?? ha! fat chance! (pun intended)
honestly, i find it to be rather pathetic..that people can be given the knowledge that something is extremely bad for their health, not to mention what happens to the animals that are supplying it...and yet still continue to consume it. seems like a majority of people that are not too fond of themselves if they are willing to essentially poison their bodies. and even worse than that...to hear these facts and not even stop to consider giving it up at all? seems like we are surrounded by a lot of thoughtless and electively ignorant people.
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.~ Mahatma Ghandi
At least some motivation is needed in the transition phase. Once old habits are changed, I don't really think any kind will power, discipline or even motivation (!) is needed. It just becomes second nature, a new habit.to be a vegan requires a little thing called "discipline".."will power".
On another note, it's interesting to see that some people (who have spent years learning maths, reading, writing, walking, talking, driving a car or whatever) only wants to become vegans if "it's easy". It is easy, but others can't do the work for them... and changing old habits always needs a little effort.
For the record, they didn't give in and Tillamook still doesn't use rBST.
I had a friend when I was in school who grew up on a large family-owned dairy farm. I would go over to her place, and saw the living conditions of the cows. It is not nearly as bad as a factory farm, but it was still very unpleasant and made the very concept of milk disgusting to me. (I'm surprised THEY drank so much milk, I guess I'm easily grossed out?) The cows were on pasture rather than in concrete stalls, as are most of the dairy farms in Oregon (including the Tillamook ones, which are a collection of family-owned dairies).
However, they took their babies away just days after they were born (after they had drank the colostrum). The babies had to live alone in little paddocks, being bottle fed powdered formula (I often went along when she did this), instead of getting to live with their moms. Male calves were sold and raised for slaughter (not veal in this case). Females were raised for the short life of dairy cows. The cows were bred each year, through artificial insemination. The cows did need to be milked multiple times each day so that they wouldn't get horribly swollen, painful udders -- remember, babies suckle on demand, keeping that from happening.
I saw a cow with mastitis (common for many nursing mothers at one time or another). They treated her for her infection with salves and antibiotics and she was kept out of milk production. They took her aside and MILKED THE PUS OUT. This was for her benefit (stripping the pus helps prevent abscesses), of course, but it was absolutely disgusting. I immediately wondered how many times a mild or just-starting case of mastitis is missed and that pus gets into the milk!
Being lactating their whole lives, the cows likely suffered from mastitis over and over, as well as cracked and swollen udders and other problems that lactating animals suffer from. All without getting to actually feed their babies!
The cows were semi-tame. They were not wild or feral, but they were not handled with love, coddled, etc. except for a few show animals. They were well conditioned to getting into line for milking and come in for food, and so on, and these things didn't seem to stress them. They weren't scared of humans. However, they were not slowly conditioned to handling necessary for hoof trimming and so on -- these things were just kind of forced on them, and it obviously stressed them out a lot. (I know some dogs who find nail trims terrifying as well. Now imagine an entire herd of cows being quickly worked through with no attempt to make it easy for them!)
This was at a family-owned dairy.
At some factory farms, cows often never see daylight. They are kept in dark concrete buildings, either in open lots, or stalls. They do not get to graze or go out on pasture.
They often dock (cut off) their tails. Why? Because their tails sometimes get infected because of the poor conditions, they're afraid their dirty tails will contaminate milk or give them infections, and because the workers don't like being swatted in the face. This is not done with any anesthetic. They crush the tail, or cut off blood flow to the tail with a band or tourniquet, and then cut off the tail with scissors (sometimes heated) or shears. The AVMA has researched the procedure and does not agree with reasons that proponents claim.
Factory farms also dehorn breeds that have them. When they're young, this may involve applying a caustic paste to their horn buds, searing the buds with a hot iron to kill the horn-creating cells, or actually scooping out the horn bud with a sharp or electric tool. Mistakes can cause deformed horn stubs to grow, or hurt the calf even more by damaging extra tissue around the horn, which heals even slower. The process is painful. If done when they are older, it can be dangerous, as the horn has a blood supply. They can't burn the horn off on weanlings, so they clip them very deeply. They use a saw on yearlings and adults. The animal is restrained but not sedated for the procedure.
They feed them growth hormones to make them produce more milk. Antibiotics are less commonly fed to dairy cows than some other farm animals, but it does happen, and it can end up in their milk.
http://style.uk.msn.com/wellbeing/he...mentid=7486404
Interesting quite good objective write-up I thought, considering it's intended audience.
I thought that article was really funny. In the pro-dairy section they said milk is good for preventing osteoporosis, and in the anti-dairy section they said it causes osteoporosis!
Confused? You will be ...
It's good to see the bad side of dairy being highlighted for a change!
I like Sandra, she keeps making me giggle. Daft little lady - Frosty
Interesting article .. nothing new though I guess
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe-Albert Einstein
Haha they mentioned vegans!
The taste of anything in my mouth for 5 seconds does not equate to the beauty and complexity of life.
http://www.mad-cow.org/00/paraTB.html
and
http://alan.kennedy.name/crohns/welcome.htm
They are both very well done reports/web sites with plenty of resources. I was drinking lots of milk and eating meat years ago when I lost quite a bit of weight (20+ lbs) in just under 2 weeks and then another twenty or so through gradual loss.
I can't afford health care and apparently that worked out for me quite well as I have managed to gain quite a bit of weight back - all but 10 lbs on a vegetarian diet milk and egg free diet. To be fair I used quite a bit of plant based antibiotics like oil of oregano, licorice, coconut oil, raw garlic, etc.
I only wish I knew all this earlier; everyone has to make a buck I guess, even if millions of people get sick and die in developed nations because of preventable illness.
My mom has Crohn's Disease, and it is really terrible. It was after I had been vegan for a while that I learned there was a link (John Robbins mentions it in The Food Revolution). I think its really a shame that people don't realize that drinking milk can have these sorts of consequences. I have seen first hand how terrible this illness is.
tabbouleh-bouleh
I did an assignment on Crohn's recently and the worst thing I found during research is that general guidelines don't even recommend nutritional therapy (except for helping with malnutrition and malbsorption of nutrients caused by the damaged gut ) as a preventative measure. So an average person with this condition/ genetically susceptible to it wouldn't even be advised to give up foods that are potential triggers, eg dairy. This is just because it hasn't been proven as a cause of the disease.
I know someone with Chrone's Disease and when it was first diagnosed this person was in a terrible physical state having lost a lot of weight and was severely malnourished. Along with her medication she was given a list of foods that she could eat and drink and ironically milk was one of the few things on it, the list consisted of mainly animal foods with very few plant based foods as the majority of fruits and vegetables can't be digested when the disease is at it's worst. Thankfully she's much better now and the disease is under control but it was many months before it was properly diagnosed, the GP just kept giving her antibiotics and telling her she'd get better eventually despite the fact that she was loosing weight rapidly.
Vegan diet and breast cancer risk - Scientific update
Insulin-like growth factor I, or IGF-I for short, is a hormone that appears to promote the growth of both normal and malignant cells in the breast. Elevated levels of IGF-I in the blood have been associated with an increased risk of developing breast cancer before menopause. Close to 300 British women were studied, 92 of whom were vegan, and 101 vegetarian (used dairy and/or eggs). The average level of IGF-I was lower in vegan women than in the other groups. The researchers believe that the vegans' lower intake of animal protein or of essential amino acids may explain their lower levels of IGF-I.
Dairy Products and 10 False Promises
Last edited by Korn; May 20th, 2009 at 12:32 PM. Reason: Added link to another article
Thanks Korn. I've recently returned from the UK to home after 6 yrs, and found that my nephew has been suffering from inner ear infections for at least the last year. His mum is hardcore omni, so I guess I'd better get ready for a showdown..
k thx bai
I was just reading about acne on Wikipedia.
Refined sugars and fats may also be linked.Milk Recently, three epidemiological studies from the same group of scientists found an association between acne and consumption of partially skimmed milk, instant breakfast drink, sherbet, cottage cheese, and cream cheese.[23][24][25] The researchers hypothesize that the association may be caused by hormones (such as several sex hormones and bovine insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1)) or even iodine[26] present in cow milk.
The article also mentions skin oil, which in my experience is caused by eating greasy, i.e. fried, foods. This includes pizza. Every time I used to eat pizza or fried rice, my face would flare up. I think pizza was the worst.
"To become vegetarian is to step into the stream which leads to nirvana." - Buddha
*pulls out (very long) list of reasons to be a vegan and adds this to it*
I was on a milk diet once. That happened to be the time I got the worst spots. So I believe there is a link between milk and acne.
Love life love soya...
I've got a website about dairy: www.nzdairy.webs.com
Here's an excerpt:
Dairy cows are continually kept pregnant and lactating and their babies are sold off to the meat industry when they are only two days old. The life of a dairy cow is not as natural as you might think, especially considering that 80 percent of dairy cows are made pregnant through artificial insemination.
The only way for a cow, like any other mammal, to produce milk is for the cow to have a baby. The milk produced by cows is naturally meant for baby calves; however, because people want to drink this milk, the baby calves are taken away from their mothers when they are only a few days old. Cows are extremely maternal animals and both the mother cow and the baby calf suffer terribly from being separated at such a young age. In fact, one cow missed her baby so much that she broke out of her paddock and trekked through 8 kilometers of paddocks and rivers to find her baby. On dairy farms, mother cows can be heard bellowing out wildly trying to find their babies as well as running after the cattle trucks that take their babies to separate farms.
The baby calves lives are then decided by their gender. That’s right, not only is the dairy industry hell for the animals, the environment and your health, it is also an industry th at decides an animal’s entire life based on gender. If the calf is male then he is taken away to be raised and slaughtered for meat. Because of this the NZ dairy industry contributes to the death of more than 1 million male calves every year. That’s one death every 20 seconds. In fact, 55 percent of all beef in New Zealand supermarkets comes directly from the dairy industry. These male calves are transported to separate meat farms or slaughterhouses, where they will never see their mothers again. Transported as young as 4 days of age, they endure cold and hunger, without food for up to 30 hours, while struggling to maintain their footing in the cattle truck.
There is no legal requirement for calves to be fed before being transported. A 1998 study looked at 7,169 young male calves who arrived at a Wanganui abattoir (slaughterhouse) after a 7-hour journey in cattle trucks. The research found that 27 arrived in an 'unacceptable condition' - lying down, unable to walk, extremely weak or seriously injured. A further 4 percent were 'marginal' with a 'wet umbilicus, were hollow sided, apparently immature, or weak and slow and unsteady on their feet'. While these numbers may not seem large, the fact that a million male calves are slaughtered every year means that thousands probably arrive at slaughterhouses in critical condition, and tens of thousands are seriously unwell after the journey.
Animal rights music video from all-vegan metal band 8 Foot Sativa. Contains footage of calves being transported and slaughtered. This video shows what happens to male (and some female) calves who are unlucky enough to be born into the dairy industry. Filmed entirely in New Zealand.
If the calf is female she has a 20% chance of being raised as a dairy cow, living in the same conditions as her mother. She too will live in a cycle of pregnancy and lactation, being forced to give birth to a baby calf each year, only to have that baby torn away from her within a few days. The other 80% of female cows are taken away to slaughter immediately or killed on farm.
In the 6-8 days after calving, cows lose weight and condition rapidly, as their bodies consume themselves to provide milk for absent calves, so that humans can buy milkshakes to wash down burgers made from the bodies of those same calves. Researchers have estimated that a modern dairy cow is under as much strain as a cyclist on Tour de France.
Naturally cows can live to be up to 25 years old. But on dairy farms they are slaughtered when they are only 5-7 years old meaning that most dairy cows live less than a third of their natural life span. In fact, 20 percent of New Zealand's dairy cows are killed every year, because they are considered too old or they fail to become pregnant. Cows form strong relationships and spend most of their time in 'friendship groups' of 2-4 cows who lick and groom each other. This annual slaughter is very distressing to their friends in the herd.
Cows are forced onto trucks (in the same way baby male calves are transported) that take them to be slaughtered. When they arrive at the slaughterhouse, they are held together in stunning pens where they are stunned with a captive bolt pistol. They are then shackled by the leg, lifted up and have their throats slit. After the blood has been drained away, the cows body is used for cheap meat and pet food.
Video of a cow being slaughtered in a NZ slaughterhouse
Because dairy cows are milked so excessively, NZ dairy cows have increased risks of teat diseases like mastitis. Symptoms of mastitis include include hot, swollen, acutely painful udders, fever, and loss of appetite. When a cow has mastitis her udder may become so inflamed that it is as hard as a stone, and blood bubbles into her milk, which becomes clotted and watery. Severe cases of mastitis can kill a cow in less then 24 hours. Modern dairy cows have been bred for milk production to the point where the teats of their enlarged udders dangle close to the ground, and become muddy and infected.
Although tail docking is not as common in cattle as in sheep, the tails of some dairy cows are amputated using a tight rubber ring, or a searing iron, in order to “improve comfort for milking personnel, and enhance milking efficiency,” or to try and stop mastitis. However, the scientific evidence for mastitis prevention is inconclusive. A US study by researcher Dan Weary found no health benefits in chopping off cows’ tails.
Amputation is very painful, as the cow’s tail is richly supplied with nerves and blood vessels. Cows need their tails to swat away insects, and possibly to communicate with other cows. Docked cows try in vain to flick their tail stumps, and are likely to suffer from neuropathic pain, similar to the “phantom limb” pain experienced by human amputees. Cattle may also be branded for identification.
The RNZSPCA is opposed both to the docking of the tails of dairy cows, and to the use of hot branding.
This really hits home. My grandfather passed away three weeks ago, from complications of Parkinson's and dementia. I miss him terribly, and in some ways I feel like he's been gone for years because we pretty much lost the ability to communicate verbally when the diseases started hitting him hard.
It doesn't do to dwell on the "what if's" because a) I'm sure there are other factors besides dairy consumption that can contribute to the development of Parkinson's and other diseases. And b) nothing can bring him back or restore his health now. But reading this made me cry a bit; I couldn't help but think...would one of my favourite people in the world still be alive and in good health today, if things like this had been known (and not covered up!) a lot sooner?
Keep in mind that many people drink milk in some form or another and that milk is still high in calcium, ethical or not. That figure is most likely accurate."For example in the UK milk and milk products provide 43% of calcium intake, providing 33% of riboflavin intake and 35% of iodine intake in men and 42% in women."
I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.
I believe it. My skin has cleared a little since going vegan.
I've always had very little dairy in my diet (I've never liked the taste I think I might be allergic anyway) and I've always had lovely skin, no one would believe me when I said it was probably due to eating very little dairy!
^ That's interesting. It's funny how no one seems to make the connection between milk and acne.
My skin has definitely cleared up since going vegan. I get a pimple now and again around my monthly cycle, but that's normal and it doesn't bother me much
For the past few years I was getting mild acne every now and then (about 1-2 pimples a month, maybe?). Since going vegan 3 months ago, I've only had one tiny one, which I got a couple of weeks after making the switch. No pimples since then! So, yes, I agree, there seems to be a connection...
Very interesting; I have never really considered this before.
oh hey this makes sense. ever since becoming vegan my skin has been wonderful. i used to break out pretty bad for a week or so at a time. no matter how much i washed my face i couldnt make it go away. now i tend to wash my face even less because it just isnt as greasy. my skin is just kinda perfect all on its own now. i never really correlated it with my diet. but if i think about it my skin got like this about a week or two after swearing off animal products. the other day i saw my sister for the first time in a while and she commented on how nice it was. she kept asking what i did. did i use special soap? did i exfoliate? did i use lotion? nope! ill have to call her and tell her if she wants this skin she better go vegan!
I wish this was the case for me I have not eaten dairy products (and meat of course) for over a year and still have about 10 pimples/month on my face an upper back. Although the stress of being in nursing school may be the cause...
i think it can be a cause of some acne, but some not at all. the only way mine cleared up was by going on a very high-dosage contraceptive pill...but not eating dairy of course makes me feel a lot better. it's probably psychological but i used to feel like my face was really greasy after i ate cheese or anything greasy.
I really would like to print this and show it to my teenage son and family....any easy way to do this without printing the whole discussion?
As someone who has osteoporosis I have read lots about the dairy industry from both sides. I am wholly convinced that dairy makes little difference in quality and strength of bone. How can something that is so unnatural for human consumption (dairy requires pastuerization and other techniques to make it safe and the hell farm animals go through to make it for us causes tremendous damage to them and to the environment) be of such great benefit? Dairy is stripped of many other important minerals that are vital to bone formation and growth but often overlooked. I have been an omnivore for most of my life and although I am lactose intolerant I did consume yogurt on a regular basis as an omnivore and at times lactose free milk and other less lactose producing dairy. My osteoporosis comes from years of being on thyroid meds (23 years to be exact), from having my reproductive parts including ovaries removed at the age of 33 for endometriosis (a nightmare and mistake I wish I had never made) therefore putting me into early and severe menopause, being underweight for years, genetics, and ten years of smoking (quit in 2006). It certainly did not come from lack of dairy in my diet. I also find it interesting that the countries with the highest consumption of dairy also have the highest rate of osteoporosis.
Once I became vegan (11 months ago) and cut dairy from my diet completely, I stopped producing so much excess mucus. I used to have to clear my throat and cough after consuming dairy and also meat. Dairy used to cause such bloat for me and a constant nausea. My bowels were never regular. I was tired more often. Not an issue now.
I do consume a ton of bone building leafy greens, use blackstrap molasses, and find other ways to get my calcium and I consume far more vitamin K, magnesium, mangenese, and other bone property minerals as a vegan. I also supplement and take ergocalciferal (D2). I had my D levels checked in the summer having been on ergocalciferol for 4 months at that time and vegan for 5 months and it was in the 70 range, very robust. However I was riding my bike daily in the sun too. I am on a bioidentical estradiol replacement as well as testosterone in small amount for the hormones I lack due to having my ovaries removed (I tried going without them but life was a living hell). When these were added my dexa scores improved after several years. I have not had a dexa scan since becoming vegan but plan to next year. It takes several years for bone improvement or worsening to show up on tests as bone turnover is a slow process. The point is that there are many factors that contribute to osteoporosis, and lack of dairy in the diet should not be on the top of the list.
I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.
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