Shaolin diet, vegetarianism and stuff

[Lucas]

I am attached to Scott R. Brown's attachments.

[Scott R. Brown]

I am attached to Scott R. Browns attachments.

Well.....that explains why I have no attachments.....

....you've stolen them all!

Just keep them for me. That way if I need any, I'll know where to look for them. I kept losing them anyway!

I can't think of anyone I would rather share them with!

[Lucas]

Sweet! You know me, I can never have enough. I swear I'll keep them safe and cosy!

I appologize to everyone for my agro derailment...You see... I have this condition..

[DangerousPerson]

I was vegetarian for a few years and vegan even longer. I'm an omnivore now. At the end of my veganism i felt week and tired. I would consider going back to being vegetarian if I could find a reliable way to restore my jing. I doubt I would go back to being vegan again but i possible would consider going ovo-vegetarian if I though it would benefit my health and had a way to maintain my vital essence without most animal foods.

[Zenshiite]

I was vegetarian for a few years and vegan even longer. I'm an omnivore now. At the end of my veganism i felt week and tired. I would consider going back to being vegetarian if I could find a reliable way to restore my jing. I doubt I would go back to being vegan again but i possible would consider going ovo-vegetarian if I though it would benefit my health and had a way to maintain my vital essence without most animal foods.

It's called a balanced diet and an active lifestyle.

Honestly, I've been vegan for 13 years and the only times I've felt particularly weak or tired is when I'm not active. If you're not getting a good sweat on a few times a week, you're going to feel a bit weak, but I reckon that's pretty much the same deal for most folks. The only other factor is an imbalanced diet. I had a horrible diet earlier in my vegan transition with lots of veggie burgers and garbage food. I actually dropped a ton of weight and muscle that way, and ended up around 150 lbs. After a getting married I packed on muscle when I was active by way of getting a balanced diet because my wife is an excellent cook. I've gotten a bit of a gut now because I found myself indulging in vegan junk foods like vegan cheesesteaks and pizza and what not. I'm working to get rid of that, but like all belly fat it's stubborn. Soon as I got active again though, my energy levels shot through the roof.

[DangerousPerson]

It's called a balanced diet and an active lifestyle.

Honestly, I've been vegan for 13 years and the only times I've felt particularly weak or tired is when I'm not active. If you're not getting a good sweat on a few times a week, you're going to feel a bit weak, but I reckon that's pretty much the same deal for most folks. The only other factor is an imbalanced diet. I had a horrible diet earlier in my vegan transition with lots of veggie burgers and garbage food. I actually dropped a ton of weight and muscle that way, and ended up around 150 lbs. After a getting married I packed on muscle when I was active by way of getting a balanced diet because my wife is an excellent cook. I've gotten a bit of a gut now because I found myself indulging in vegan junk foods like vegan cheesesteaks and pizza and what not. I'm working to get rid of that, but like all belly fat it's stubborn. Soon as I got active again though, my energy levels shot through the roof.

After 10 years vegan, and a few years before being vegetarian, I lacked overall energy and had kidney energy issues that weren't being resolved with just chinese herbs. I was consistently active and had a good to excellent diet the whole time I was vegan. I've come to believe there are other factors.

[Zenshiite]

It's possible that you just can't do it genetically. I'm not a vegan zealot these days, so it's possible it's just not for you. In general, though, I think that's rare.

Quick question though, since you're concerned about jing and all the mystical mumbo jumbo, ever had your testosterone levels checked out? Mike Mahler is a vegan strength training "guru" and the guy is cut, he's all about hormone optimization and building diets to assist with that as well as supplementing vitamins and minerals that assist.

[wenshu]

After 10 years vegan, and a few years before being vegetarian, I lacked overall energy and had kidney energy issues that weren't being resolved with just chinese herbs. I was consistently active and had a good to excellent diet the whole time I was vegan. I've come to believe there are other factors.

It's not for everybody.

[GeneChing]

It's not for everybody.

It's only for real Shaolin.

[Happy Tiger]

Is any one around here a vegemuhtarian? If so, I'm very interested in your opinions, diet choices and experiences. Also, why vegi?
So much gung fu comes from Siu Lum which practices vegetarian diet. Many of the siu lum adepts that fled to the west have admited falling off the vegi-wagon, some have expressed regret.
Any imput for those of us boxers who will punch a face but not eat one?
I originally posted this in the wing chun forum but suppose this is more appropriate. Just whether or not any one will see it.

[Scott R. Brown]

Is any one around here a vegemuhtarian? If so, I'm very interested in your opinions, diet choices and experiences. Also, why vegi?
So much gung fu comes from Siu Lum which practices vegetarian diet. Many of the siu lum adepts that fled to the west have admited falling off the vegi-wagon, some have expressed regret.
Any imput for those of us boxers who will punch a face but not eat one?
I originally posted this in the wing chun forum but suppose this is more appropriate. Just whether or not any one will see it.

Even the Shaolin understood that eating meat is important to developing proper strength and health. So the Shaolin fighters were permitted to eat meat.

I wouldn't waste my time with a vegetarian diet if your sole purpose is to help your fighting skills.

[Matthew]

Hi Happy Tiger,

Not only are nearly all Chinese monks vegetarian, but many refrain from any animal products such as Egg or Milk.

I started my reduction of meat consumption quite a time before I found my way into buddhist practice- for health reasons.

If you want to build muscle or "be strong"- eating meat is not directly related at all (with the exception you may be eating injected horomone and growing because of it?).

As far as training gong fu is concerned, buddhist practice may be concerned primarily health cultivation and self understanding. Part of health cultivation means longevity with quality of life- the focus being quality.

If you want more information on Clinical research done I'd suggest Dr. Greger's website that offers literally 100's of free videos on all of the planets most recent/updated and respected clinical nutrition research.

http://nutritionfacts.org/

If you click "Most Watched" or even just scroll through, you'll find plenty about meat consumption, and many more about animal product consumption (milk, egg, etc) and to what extent eating animal products reduces quality and quantity of your life!

[Matthew]

Found some quick links to share on the topics to make it quicker to find animal consumption related videos:


http://nutritionfacts.org/topics/animal-products/

http://nutritionfacts.org/topics/animal-protein/

http://nutritionfacts.org/topics/meat/

Hope it helps you with your questions, Happy Tiger!

I've noted huge improvement in general feeling and a feeling of lightness when not consuming meat. I noticed this shortly after I had started my transition into vegetarian diet couples years back- after a month or so of not eating meat and went back to eating meat- I can only describe the feeling that my bloodstream felt heavy/sluggish!

[Scott R. Brown]

Interesting anecdotal evidence, I have some anecdotal evidence of my own from when I ate vegetarian in the past:


I was hungry all the time, I had to eat almost every two hours and I could never get enough to eat to supply my energy needs. It did not make me feel any more energetic then when eating meat. Only hungry all the time.

[Matthew]

I could never get enough to eat to supply my energy needs.

I can't make sense of this unless you were eating poorly, which removing meat from your diet would not have helped. Adding meat back to your diet would not give you more energy as it is primarily proteins you are extracting from it- which are inefficient to convert to carbohydrates.

It did not make me feel any more energetic then when eating meat. Only hungry all the time.

Interesting- considering the majority of carbohydrates we get come from plant sources. As far as feeling hungry, I've heard many people say protein gives them a satisfied full feeling. - I eat plenty of nuts which are high energy good protein. Also flax seed, hemp seeds are easy to add to any dish for a high quality protein assortment.

If you were always hungry I'd suggest you didn't eat enough. Many of the western "raw" (unboiled/steamed) leaf vegetables fill up a lot of stomach room and don't feel full at all. I eat mostly 'chinese' leaf style vegetables for my greens and after boiling they nearly half or third in volume and you can fit a huge amount more Also cook in some tofu or soy product/nuts and should get a better full feeling, or add a slight of olive oil after cooked.