Go Hunting (Blog)

[danas]

Originally Posted by russianrocket

Choosing to become a raw food vegan over night shows that your views on animals were VERY conscious, and could easily attract what you are talking about. Before you became one, you obviously didn't care much about animals, but then you started caring about animals and thus became a vegan. The thing is, you can still be exactly the way you are, with out becoming a vegan.
So it doesn't really go both ways, as it goes what ever way you CHOOSE it to go.

I did not at all choose to be vegan bc of the animals. I really couldnt care less at the time.
I chose to go raw food vegan bc of the health and energy Steve was going on about non stop at the time. (I was like "Alright alright I'll try it!").

Still I tell ppl its not for moral reasons but for health reasons.
But as a result of eating in a certain way, it brought me closer to nature in a natural and subtle way.

Lets put it this way- If I see someone eating a chicken and someone eating a bag of marshmallows, I am more disturbed that someone can put something like a bag of marshmallows inside their body without a second thought.

That said I feel so so grateful that my diet has taken down the barrier between me and mother nature. A whole new experience of this world. Seriously.

[russianrocket]

Originally Posted by danas

I did not at all choose to be vegan bc of the animals. I really couldnt care less at the time.
I chose to go raw food vegan bc of the health and energy Steve was going on about non stop at the time. (I was like "Alright alright I'll try it!").

Still I tell ppl its not for moral reasons but for health reasons.
But as a result of eating in a certain way, it brought me closer to nature in a natural and subtle way.
Lets put it this way- If I see someone eating a chicken and someone eating a bag of marshmellows, I am more disturbed by the marshmellows.
That said I feel so so grateful that my diet has taken down the barrier between mother nature and myself. A whole new experience of life. Seriously.

eating plants doesn't put up a barrier between you and mother nature, so why would eating animals? Or is eating animals not part of mother nature? I'm confused.

I mean, I'm sure you can see where my confusion comes from, as I love earth and mother nature, but I also love eating what comes from the earth and mother nature.

It's ALL about CHOICE, nothing more. Eating a certain way didn't just flick a switch in your head. Being conscious of your food made you make new choices, that's all.

[danas]

Originally Posted by russianrocket

eating plants doesn't put up a barrier between you and mother nature, so why would eating animals? Or is eating animals not part of mother nature? I'm confused.

I mean, I'm sure you can see where my confusion comes from, as I love earth and mother nature, but I also love eating what comes from the earth and mother nature.

It's ALL about CHOICE, nothing more. Eating a certain way didn't just flick a switch in your head. Being conscious of your food made you make new choices, that's all.

What you are saying is like saying why not eat other people. Because if Plants= Animals. Then People= Animals too.

It is not necessary for us humans to eat eachother in order to live healthily.

It is not necessary for us humans to eat animals in order to live healthily.

It IS necessary for us humans to eat plants in order to live healthily. And Im sorry to break this to you, but plants are not animals, but I think you know that already.

[Lakshyayidhi Lakshmihi]

Originally Posted by danas

What you are saying is like saying why not eat other people. Because if Plants= Animals. Then People= Animals too.

straw man.

Never resort to this if you want to participate in a debate that informs rather than antagonizes.

[shawnmihalik]

You're right, it may be too early to tell for sure. That being said, I don't think it had anything to do with the amount or kind of meat I was eating. I've lost 50 pounds in the past year, and it's come from being very conscious of what I eat, so I was eating pretty well before I did the trial. Eliminating meat altogether just seemed like the next logical step in my diet and pursuit of personal growth.

[Rachelle]

Originally Posted by ssandra

Now I'm curious... what would you do with a bath bomb and cayenne pepper?

That sounds FUN!!!

[secrets0stolen]

Originally Posted by st33med

Another post about raw/vegan vs omnivore diet? Steve, honestly, I love your exploring nature, but I believe that you've already explored this avenue with a lot of people in multiple blog posts. Not saying this was wrong or right; it's your own blog.

Myself, the health benefits of vegan or vegetarian diet appeals to me. However, I don't feel inspired to do it yet. Forcing people to become 'inspired' via guilt by exploring food factories or hunting is more of a guilt trip for people and it won't stick for a long time because of negative motivation. Positive motivation is more inspiring.

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

When you've aligned your actions with your values, then perhaps you'll stop feeling the need to keep reading articles on the subject over and over again. I mean really -- it's getting kind of repetitive that you feel drawn to keep reading and re-reading the same ideas. Slow learner perhaps?

On top of that, are you trying to blame me for your guilt or something? Isn't it odd that you would intentionally read an article like this and then complain about its affect on you? It's not like I did a bait-and-switch with the topic or anything. I mean really -- what does your feedback even mean?

Only other explanation I can see is that you're trying to ask for help in making a change, but you aren't ready to ask openly just yet, so your beating around the bush like Ed Norton in Fight Club before asking Brad Pitt if he could crash at his place. If you want help making the change, go ahead and start a thread to that effect. Don't be indirect.

Originally Posted by ssandra

What I'm wondering about is why you see this as negative motivation?

Getting in touch with your integrity and living your life according to your own values (not Steve's) seems positive motivation to me...?

I mean... I'm not blaming you for not being Vegan or not hunting. I'm just wondering where the negativity comes in, in your perception?

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Would you prefer a paperclip and ice?
Sandpaper and a bicycle pump?
A cigar and a pancake?

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Wow... kudos to you for getting the reference. Hot damn!

Originally Posted by Zach Matley

Yes, the cocky ones.

Originally Posted by Piercetheveil

I do not want Kudos. I want a friggin cheese cake!

One helluva movie. The bar scene where he goes off on Mr Pony Tail guy is worth watching the entire movie for.

Now about that cheese cake...

I love the energy on this forum recently...it's all gotten a bit more edgy and in-your-face, while still being goofy.

[Ikkyo]

I decided on going vegan although I'll start by being vegetarian first.

Since the only thing I know how to cook is steak and pizza I don't really know how to become a vegetarian right now (or I would have to eat ready made salads and bananas everyday) but I'm looking for some workshops and I'll buy a book on vegetarian food.

[MyronM]

People who bought "Personal Development for Smart People" by Steve Pavlina also bought:

"Kill it and Grill It" by Ted Nugent

[Zach M]

Originally Posted by Ikkyo

I decided on going vegan although I'll start by being vegetarian first.

Since the only thing I know how to cook is steak and pizza I don't really know how to become a vegetarian right now (or I would have to eat ready made salads and bananas everyday) but I'm looking for some workshops and I'll buy a book on vegetarian food.

Congrats. Having been herbivore for 11 months now, the best suggestion I have is to eat soy products in moderation.

[Ikkyo]

Originally Posted by Zach Matley

Congrats. Having been herbivore for 11 months now, the best suggestion I have is to eat soy products in moderation.

Why did you eat to much of them?

[Zach M]

Yes. I ate too much imitation meat at first, and felt awful. There are plenty of other sources of protein like nuts, pumpkin seeds, broccoli, nori seaweed, hemp powder, etc.

Of course, everyone's bodies are different. Maybe I just have some kind of mild allergy.

EDIT: I'm not giving out nutrition advice. Just saying what's been working for me.

[jayh]

Originally Posted by Zach Matley

Yes. I ate too much imitation meat at first, and felt awful. There are plenty of other sources of protein like nuts, pumpkin seeds, broccoli, nori seaweed, hemp powder, etc.

Of course, everyone's bodies are different. Maybe I just have some kind of mild allergy.

EDIT: I'm not giving out nutrition advice. Just saying what's been working for me.

For me personally, I've never had a problem with Soy - I drink Soy milk every day, and am a big tofu fan. One thing to watch out for though is eating too much processed food, and too many sweets. It's not uncommon to actually gain weight after the switch - I think being unsure of a proper diet, combined with the ease of processed foods is something to watch out for.

[RomanHD]

If you can't kill an animal but you want to eat it, it's not a major internal incongruency, it just means you were never raised to kill animals. If you ask 10 people raised in a farm setting, most will tell you they can kill a chicken no problem. If you ask 10 people raised in a huge town, most will tell you that they couldn't probably kill a chicken, but still like to eat it.

[Tam9]

If you can’t personally kill an animal and prepare it for consumption, that would signal a major internal incongruency, so perhaps it would be wise to reevaluate your food choices.

I don't see this as incongruent whatsoever. One can still enjoy the taste of meat, foul, or fish and not have any interest in learning how to kill or prepare it.
Why should they?

[russianrocket]

Originally Posted by Tam9

I don't see this as incongruent whatsoever. One can still enjoy the taste of meat, foul, or fish and not have any interest in learning how to kill or prepare it.
Why should they?

so that they value that which they consume. Goes for just about any type of consumption tho.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Tam9

I don't see this as incongruent whatsoever. One can still enjoy the taste of meat, foul, or fish and not have any interest in learning how to kill or prepare it.
Why should they?

If they want to live as children, they shouldn't. It only matters for those who wish to grow in responsibility, courage, wisdom, etc.

[Carl Carlson IV]

Nothing tastes better than a deer in my mouth that was frolicking along in the wilderness 2 hours prior. Mmm.

[Daffy Duck]

Originally Posted by Tam9

I don't see this as incongruent whatsoever. One can still enjoy the taste of meat, foul, or fish and not have any interest in learning how to kill or prepare it.
Why should they?

Remember, Steve's idea of what it means to be congruent, or courageous, and so on may differ from our own.

[Angela]

Originally Posted by Carl Carlson IV

Nothing tastes better than a deer in my mouth that was frolicking along in the wilderness 2 hours prior. Mmm.

I hope he takes a shower first.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Carl Carlson IV

Nothing tastes better than a deer in my mouth that was frolicking along in the wilderness 2 hours prior. Mmm.

plz no beesty stff thx

[Carl Carlson IV]

It really is quite an experience hunting for your own food rather than stopping by the grocery store and picking up your beef neatly packaged for $3 /lb.

I live in Michigan and have been brought up in a family of die hard hunters. My dad is about 50 and has been hunting every year since he was 16. He is an expert and has hunted just about everything.

For example, in order to legally hunt deer in this state, you have to:

- Pass hunter's safety (few week long course)
- Purchase a license
- Buy a rifle / bullets
- Buy and sight in a scope for your rifle
- Find a good location for a blind
- Spend $$$ on bait
- Bait your blind regularly
- Sit and wait hours upon hours in the freezing cold (avg temp is ~0-30 deg F during deer season)
- Wait sa'more
- Fall asleep while waiting
- If you're lucky, a male deer with the correct amount of antlers will arrive (while you're awake)
- Point crosshairs at deer, pull trigger, don't miss
- Kill the deer
- Track the deer by following hair/blood trail, hopefully find deer
- Cut the deer open, pull guts out, hope you don't rip open the intestines too much. Remove heart, lungs, all other internal organs. It gets messy. It stinks.
- Drag 200 lb deer out of woods (quite the workout)
- Hang deer, let bleed out
- Next day, skin deer, cut meat off deer
- Cut up and package meat, place in freezer packs.
- Eat


Yes, quite different from going to the grocery store.

I agree with the message in the article. To me it isn't an argument of veganism vs eating meat, it's simply learning WHERE your food is coming from and HOW to go get it yourself. The same goes for anything, even planting a garden and watching your fruit/veges grow, it doesn't have to have a face.

[Carl Carlson IV]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

plz no beesty stff thx

oh deer.

[mariamachon]

I wonder how much of the better feeling by becoming vegetarian/vegan/rawfoodist comes from eating more varied (which some ex-meat-eaters also mention as a side effect).

I have noticed something similar since I started getting a box of assorted (mostly) regional bio-vegetables at home every week (very recommendable experience). Once the veggies are there I have to see what I do with them (thank you internet-recipes!). Before that I bought more or less always the same couple of things I already knew how to prepare. I now eat better because I eat more different things, I am discovering the fun of cooking and eating is also much more satisfactory since it is more fun to try so many different things. This is in any case a much more visible effect than the effect of the food being bio.

What would the vegetarians, vegans and raw-eaters out there say? How much percent of the "effect" would you attribute to varied eating?

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by RomanHD

If you can't kill an animal but you want to eat it, it's not a major internal incongruency, it just means you were never raised to kill animals. If you ask 10 people raised in a farm setting, most will tell you they can kill a chicken no problem. If you ask 10 people raised in a huge town, most will tell you that they couldn't probably kill a chicken, but still like to eat it.

In fact, if you ask 10 people raised in a farm setting, most will also tell you that they can grow their own crops, no problem.

If you ask 10 people raised in a huge town, most will tell you that they couldn't probably grow their own crops, but still like to eat vegetables.

[russianrocket]

Originally Posted by mariamachon

I wonder how much of the better feeling by becoming vegetarian/vegan/rawfoodist comes from eating more varied (which some ex-meat-eaters also mention as a side effect).

I have noticed something similar since I started getting a box of assorted (mostly) regional bio-vegetables at home every week (very recommendable experience). Once the veggies are there I have to see what I do with them (thank you internet-recipes!). Before that I bought more or less always the same couple of things I already knew how to prepare. I now eat better because I eat more different things, I am discovering the fun of cooking and eating is also much more satisfactory since it is more fun to try so many different things. This is in any case a much more visible effect than the effect of the food being bio.

What would the vegetarians, vegans and raw-eaters out there say? How much percent of the "effect" would you attribute to varied eating?

I keep hearing the whole "variety" increase thing on this board, over and over again. And what I had to say to that, is, if you are able to consciously choose to become a vegetarian, you can consciously choose to introduce variety into your cooking while STILL eating meat. And with meat, you have even MORE variety.

[Tam9]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

If they want to live as children, they shouldn't. It only matters for those who wish to grow in responsibility, courage, wisdom, etc.

Not at all!

Not wanting to kill or prepare the meat, foul or fish you eat does not entail responsibility, courage or wisdom. This is not a moral issue. You are attaching way too much irrelevant significance to this and making associations where there aren't any. Mind you, if this is important to you so be it, but doesn't automatically hold true for everyone. Projecting your values regarding meat on others is rather presumptuous.

[Lakshyayidhi Lakshmihi]

Originally Posted by Tam9

Not at all!

Not wanting to kill or prepare the meat, foul or fish you eat does not entail responsibility, courage or wisdom. This is not a moral issue.

On the contrary, my grandfather and father (meat eaters) always stressed the importance of being intimately connected with and therefore RESPECTFUL of the animals who provide you with nourishment. It is a moral issue, I think, because it is too easy to just buy and consume prepackaged meat without thinking of the living being whose life and nutrient acquisition enables you to eat their flesh and acquire the nutrients through them. It's easy to forget.

You don't have to kill your chickens three times a year (like my sister does), but doing it once or twice is really just an obligation for all meat eaters. My sister's kids fed Dinner #1 and Dinner #2 (the two cows they've raised and butchered), took care of them, and then ate them. The circle of life.

[James81]

Is there anybody else who looks at these answers, seeing the variety of beliefs and meanings that each of us make about meat, and think it's kinda cool?

So many people making so many different meanings, and none of it is any measure of any real TruthTM.

[Savage]

So many tasty strains of salmonella, so little time.