Hi Austyn, welcome! It's great that you're compassionate to animals.
Also, lots of videogame fans here.
AustynKersey wrote:
How do I make sure I'm getting enough protein?
The protein thing is a myth; green veggies have one of the highest protein to calorie ratios there are (they best most common meats too).
All you have to do is avoid the very low protein "junk foods"
You only need around 50 grams of protein a day. You can get that from beans, and most whole grains.
There are two common grains you have to watch out for:
1. White/brown rice. Rice, both white and brown, are low in protein. Don't base your diet on those.
2. White/yellow corn. Like white/brown rice, white and yellow corn is also low in protein. It shouldn't form a major part of your diet.
You can eat a little of those, but try not to eat much of them.
Pretty much
any other
whole grain will be high in protein.
Black rice. Wild rice. Blue corn. Red corn. Wheat. Oats. Buckwheat. Rye. Barley. Sorghum. Teff.
I literally do not know of any other whole grains aside from brown rice, and white/yellow corn varieties that are low in protein. There might be some, but I haven't found them.
Some processed grains are low in protein. Pearled barley, for example, is a little low in protein, since it has been polished and the nutritious bran has been removed.
White wheat flour is usually OK in terms of protein, but I don't recommend it because it's not very nutritous otherwise.
Generally, stick to whole grains, and avoid too much brown rice or white/yellow corn and you can't go wrong there.
Beans have lots of extra protein in them. Veggies are very high in protein.
Fruit is low in protein, so don't eat too much sweet fruit. Non-sweet fruit is higher in protein.
Anything made from sugar and oil tends to be low in protein. Pretty much, if it's junk food it probably doesn't have much protein in it.
If you eat whole foods, a mix of beans and whole grains and vegetables -- and go easy on the sweet fruit (just a couple a day, don't base your diet on them) -- you will not be low in protein.
You only need 50 grams, but by incorporating beans and green veggies in your diet, it's easy to get 150 grams or more a day.
AustynKersey wrote:
What are some vegan foods that mimic the taste of meat?
There are what are called "mock meats" that you can buy. It's more about mimicking the texture than the taste.
Seitan is popular. Some are also made from soy.
For taste, they're mainly flavored with savory broths made from soy sauce and spices.
Tofurkey is a popular brand. Most of their products are pretty good.
AustynKersey wrote:What are some humane ways to control the deer population? (Deer are everywhere in my area)
First, don't feed them. Some regions also apparently deliberately increase the deer populations by managing the forests to create more clearings for deer to feed.
Second: Why is the population itself a problem?
Usually the issue is with cars and roads, or deer eating trash in suburban areas. It seems to me to be more of cars hitting deer problem when we've built roads dividing forested areas without building proper fences or deer crossings, and people not using suitable trash cans when they live near woods, thus drawing deer into the human environment. There are any number of infrastructure based solutions to that issue to keep deer off roads, and out of human areas.
AustynKersey wrote:One more thing. I recently read a non-vegan's claim that humans evolved because our evolutionary ancestors ate meat. Is this true and would you consider this a valid reason to eat meat?
It's wrong on so many different levels.
What the person was probably referring to, ignorantly, was the expensive tissue hypothesis.
http://paleovegan.blogspot.com/2011/11/ ... issue.html
1. The expensive tissue hypothesis never claimed it was meat, just that it was a calorically dense easily digested food. Meat was one option, but it could have also been starchy roots.
2. The expensive tissue hypothesis was wrong after all. It turns out it probably has more to do with our legs giving us efficient locomotion.
Even if it were true, it would not be a valid justification for eating meat today. Whatever the cause, we already evolved. Not doing a thing that was instrumental in our evolution will not cause us to "de-evolve" back into the prior state.
Penguins don't fly. They still have wings. They use them to swim instead. Flight was the cause of them developing wings, but it is not required for them to keep their wings.
The only thing necessary for a species to retain an evolved trait is that the trait not be detrimental to its survival.
If our intelligence were detrimental to individual survival, then and only then might we lose it.
Also, if somebody is trying to make an appeal to nature, it's equally true that we evolved through rape and murder, through tribal warfare pushing our development of intellect and tool usage. Are those good ideas too?
Appeal to nature is a common fallacy:
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/appeal-to-nature
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_nature
Just because we may have done something in the past, or it's seen as "natural" doesn't mean it's good, or right, or morally justified to do it now.
Nature is full of lots of nasty things, and we're well off having developed civilization, law, and morality.
