Becoming vegetarian

yellum

Originally posted by Jr.Shabadu
The reason that we evolved from throwing bananas a each other up trees was because we started scavenging

Actually its because we started using "extensions": tools weapons and so forth. Using elements from the environment allowed us to come down off the trees. The rate of human evolution as a result of this drastically increased more than anything else. An increase of protein in our diet would not give us bigger brains. We had to be using our brains more before they grew larger. I don't believe an increase of protein would do anything for brain size, despite what that book states.

yellum

Originally posted by Emerson

Some scientists have said the reason why people are having problems with their bones is not solely because they aren't taking in enough calcium (of which there is more per calorie in pac choy than milk) but simply because of the huge amounts of protein they consume impedes it's obsorbsion.

Actually recent studies (and I'm not going to quote em, we all have access to google) show that milk inhibits the intake of calcium and milk can be a major factor for brittle bones.

I don't think protein itself is a cause of brittle bones because athletes and bodybuilders on very high protein diets have not had problems with their bones. But then again they use protein sources with the other crap removed.

yellum

Originally posted by seamus
Calories != fat.
Meat has more fat than bread, plain and simple.

(AFAIK)

This is true. But the calorific content as quoted above shows it contains more calories. If these calories are not burned off during the day they get converted into fat deposits.

Unless you are in an aerobic state and burn equal to what you consume or burn more than you consume those carb calories will be stored as fat.

So while there may be more actual fat in a steak than bread, theres more carb in bread which gets turned to fat pretty easily.

This is the basis of the Atkin's Diet - protein overload causes you to eat less.

Well its also the fact that you can only take in a certain amount of protein per meal. Whereas I think most carbs will be processed no matter what the amount.

Thats why bodybuilders have 12 meals a day. 12 small meals with the max protein amount in each. Hmm, on retrospect maybe after that amount in a meal it gets turned to carbs...

Stark

On the human evolution front, it's believed that a diet of fish allowed humans to grow bigger brains (see your mother was right ). It's also noticed that humans are one of the few mammals who have concious control over their breathing which allows us to go swimming and diving in search of fish.

And as yellum said, you put on fat more readily from carbohydrates (especially the quick buring ones like alchohol, sugar and white flour) than you would put on fat from protein or even fat itself. It's all due to the insulin response which removes the carbohydrate from your blood and stores it as fat before you have a proper chance to burn it off.

In short if your an animal rights person, fine become a vegeterian, but you shouldn't go removing meat from your diet for health reasons.

rs

Originally posted by seamus
Calories != fat.
Meat has more fat than bread, plain and simple.

As k.oriordan says however, in order to obtain the same nutritional value as a piece of meat, you may have to use 2 or 3 different foods.
As a veggie myself, I know full well that it's all too easy to eat far too much starch/carbohydrates, and forget to add in what you're missing from meat. Believe it or not, it's actually far easier to become overweight as a vegetarian due to this. Protein takes longer to digest and essentially fills you up more than carbohydrates. So where you may have stopped before with enough protein, you'll substitute with carbohydrate. This is the basis of the Atkin's Diet - protein overload causes you to eat less. Although excess protein is also stored as fat/energy, 1 gram of protein has less stored energy than 1 gram of carbohydrate.

(AFAIK)

Typically, meat has more fat then bread, but it depends on the meat. White meat like chicken and turkey has only slightly more fat than bread. Read meat has substantially more.

While fat and calories are not the same. Eating too many calories, of any kind will make you fat. It just happens that 'fat' contains more calories per gram than protein or carbohydrate, so eating fat makes you fatter faster.

Counting calories is better than counting fat. As you have already stated, you can eat a very low fat diet, and still be gaining weight due to carbohydrates.

However, a diet that is slightly higher in fat, but maintains a low calorie count will not result in weight gain.

The real purpose of the atkins diet is to put you body in a state called ketosis. Ketosis happens when you are in carbohydrate deprivation. If you eat almost no carbohydrates, your body shifts into ketosis, and starts to burn fat for energy instead of carbohydrate. This is when it works so well for fat loss when it's followed properly. I don't think it's a particularly healthy way to lose weight, but I do believe that it works.