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Comment by moltar | Hacker News Reader

Arguing against meat is like arguing against cars.

Can society live without cars? Probably. We did before.

Will it be an interesting and convenient future? Probably not.

But we have alternatives (electric cars)! And we keep looking for more ways to propel. We don’t stop looking for solutions, just because gas is bad.

Same for beef. We have sustainable alternatives. Just vote with your dollar. Don’t buy factory meat. And help subsidize further research.

Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water!

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Naw, my family and I, including two young children, have not eaten any animal products for a year. We've had a variety of really tasty food, and no nutritional deficiencies. Cost is no more than meat, in fact less. Other than "mmm, but bacon tho", there is no material difference from before we quite meat. To compare with cars, which have undeniable utility, especially in a place like LA where we live, is disingenuous.

I was a vegan for 2 years in the past. First year I also didn’t have any deficiencies. But then it all caught up and ruined my health after two years. Low iron, low B12, constant fatigue, low libido (in 20s), muscle mass loss (people who haven’t seen me for a while thought I was either sick or on heavy drugs), no drive, bloating, constant gas (has to take anti gas pills), constant canker sores (turned out b12 related), etc.

> I was a vegan for 2 years in the past. First year I also didn’t have any deficiencies. But then it all caught up and ruined my health after two years.

I was a vegan for more that 2 years, but also ruined my health including my teeth.

When hearing from other ex-vegans, it's mind-blowing how many things we have in common regarding our health. When active in the movement, no one would talk about the problems.

Did you bother to do any research on nutrition when you went vegan? Or did you just stop eating meat without any thought to your diet? The scientific and medical consensus is that a vegan diet is perfectly healthy and perhaps even healthier than a meat diet as long as you don't have nutritional deficiencies. And it's pretty easy to avoid deficiencies if you spend a couple hours educating yourself. I'm not being sarcastic, it literally only takes 2 hours at most.

> Naw, my family and I, including two young children...

One of your arguments against red meat is that it's devastating to the environment. You know what is also devastating to the environment? having children. It's not a necessity to have children, I have none.

Why is your need for breeding more acceptable than my need for eating red meat?

Giving up cars has a real cost in terms of time and productivity. If one lives in a place without usable alternatives, it might even be impossible. Giving up beef has no such cost and is something that any individual can do.

You believe beef has no cost. But you can’t be sure.

I believe beef provides superior, and evolutionary-compatible nutrition for my body. And lack of that nutrition will have a negative effect on my health, and thus associated costs with it. Maybe not tomorrow, but in 10 or 20 years.

I’ve been both a vegan for 2 years and pure carnivore for 8 weeks. I’m eating everything at the moment. But I have my own conclusions what works for me.

> I believe

You can believe and eat whatever you like. But if you make disingenous faith based arguments in a public forum, expect to be called out.

So it gives more sense to compare eating beef with having children. Not having children has no cost and something that any individual can do.

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