Faux meats and dairy products refer to mock meats and dairy products (or synthetic meat and dairy products) that are manufactured from plant-based items such as beans, legumes, grains, seeds and nuts, e.g. rice, soy, wheat, almonds, etc.
They are ingenious products in my opinion as they help people make the transition from carnivore (or omnivore) to strict vegan (and also macrobioticist).
Yes, they are processed food-stuffs, but they help us in preventing harm and injury to the planet (as well as animals and ourselves - humans) which results from live-stocking animals for purposes of making meat and dairy products. Read my article "Are Vegans and Raw Foodists Killing Plants By Eating Them?"
Some people are adverse to faux foods because of their memory (eating the real thing the faux food or product replaces). But how can you confuse a soybean with an animal?
Personally, it takes a strong-minded person to be able to eat faux foods and not equate them with an animal, something I never did personally. If I knew something was made of soy or wheat meat (seitan) I never thought of a chicken or a cow, only a soybean or wheat (or whatever the faux product was made of). That's just how my mind operated from day one of going vegan or 100% plant-based.
I never associated taste with an animal, because I know if you kill a chicken in the wild and cook it right there on the spot with no salt, seasoning, flour, cooking oil, etc. it is not going to taste like what people have been conditioned to associate the taste of chicken with. You can do this same test with a piece of raw chicken. Raw chicken does not taste like cooked chicken, so we are dealing with manipulation of tastes. Period!
Faux foods are giving people their addiction to concocted taste through a better and safer medium. That's all!
Many would-be health conscious individuals are hypocritical in my opinion to condemn faux foods that have helped people in their transition from a meat-based diet to a plant-based diet. These individuals are attempting to promote themselves as pure and straight raw foodist or non-processed vegan food eaters but I'm suspicious of this because I know how it is in the United States. Faux foods are not always readily available and accessible, and good, tasty raw food is a rarity indeed, especially if you travel.
Faux foods are merely TRANSITIONAL food substitutes. Key word is: substitute! If you are moving (getting away) from meat, you are dealing with "not eating real food" and your goal is to get to "eating real food" (fruits, vegetables) and so you move from the real "non-food" to the substitute "non-food" to the real "food". Clearly we see advancement or progression in this process in the three steps: 1. Non-food (meat), 2. Substitute non-food (faux or mock meat and dairy), 3 (the goal). Real food!
People who are condemning faux foods are condemning progress and transition. If one is going to promote technicalness or technicality then one should live technicalness or technicality and this means either eat 100% non-food (meat) or eat 100% real food! Don't even mess with the transition! Keep it real!
Faux foods have done wonders for me personally, especially mentally and pertaining to spirituality and consciousness, because it affected my thought (thought process and thinking) simply because these foods were lighter on my digestive system than the meat and dairy products I use to eat. The lighter we eat the lighter we become and the clearer (in mind and spirit) we become. This is the reason people feel so good after completing my "Full Body Detox." The herbs and the accompanying raw foods diet makes people feel lighter (in many ways: physically, mentally, etc.) and clearer (in mind, thought) and it's a very good feeling. We naturally feel better and good when we are pure (purified).
Though a non-food technically, mock meats and faux dairy made me feel better in the sense that I knew I was not aiding and abetting murderers of innocent farm animals for profit. I knew a sentient being didn't have to unnecessarily die for me to satisfy my taste buds (and that's what we are all doing in the Matrix, lets face it, we were all hooked on chemical drugs from day one).
It felt good to be able to eat a veggie burger and not have to worry about Mad Cow Disease (BSE: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy), E.Coli, Salmonella, parasites and worms, hormones, liquid cancer (from HA's and PAH's), or biting on what I thought was a small piece of rock but was actually animal bone. When there would be meat recalls on beef, I felt so good knowing I had nothing to worry about as I didn't eat beef anymore. I had peace of mind here and it felt great! Contaminated meat was no longer my problem.
Pro-meat-eaters like to bring up that E.Coli incident with spinach a few years back but what they won't tell you (because they don't know) is that the contaminated spinach became contaminated from the water used on the spinach. That water was contaminated with feces from animals (cows) that found it's way into water supplies that ended up being used on the particular spinach; so still, meat and dairy production gets the blame. Remove the cause (E.Coli from animals "cows") and you remove the effect (contaminated spinach).
Eating this way (plant-based) sent off GOOD VIBRATIONS. Because I thought better I also felt better, and because I felt better, I acted better! Portals of higher consciousness opened up to me. My stomach felt so much lighter, Headaches (which were frequent) became infrequent.
My health improved greatly due to eating these faux foods in addition to more raw organic fruits and vegetables (including vegetable juice) that altered my thought! This was the key. Thought!
And as a die-hard researcher, I learned how to get my nutrients from raw, live foods and herbs and other natural things. The faux foods were for sentimental reasons and to satisfy palate exclusively. But the raw foods and herbs were mainly for nutritional and therapeutic purposes.
People are now condemning health foods stores (which I am forever grateful to) just like they condemned the DVD "The Secret." This speaks to people's thought process and consciousness and I truly understand why some people prosper in life and others do not. I really do! It is lack of gratitude due to some deep-seated negative emotion that is projected on that which attempts to do good and/or good for others.
Attacking and condemning "The Secret" made none of these "The Secret" attackers rich or prosperous in life. These people are the same ignorant and financially destitute individuals they were before they even watched "The Secret." I mean C'mon, "The Secret" couldn't do it all for you. You're not going to learn all you need to learn about working and living in harmony with Universal law from watching a 90-minute video. It doesn't work like, folks! You have some serious studying cut out for yourself and this is a serious problem for a lot of people because since they are no longer in school or in a school environment, they don't like to study and will not study.
Many people have a "quid pro quo" attitude in regards to studying. They will only study for something in exchange, like for a good grade or a college degree. Many have now commoditized learning and studying. They want something material in exchange for their efforts in learning and studying.
Basically, they still have the same mindset. And these same people have the nerve to condemn "The Secret" and write it off because of their own personal defect(s). But "The Secret" made Rhonda Byrne a multi-millionaire. None of "The Secret" bashers know how to become a millionaire and if they did, they'd be one TODAY! But you can't become what you condemn!
Now, people are condemning John Mackey and his Whole Foods Market and not one of them have the capital to open up a health food store the size of their apartment's closet. Seriously! You can't do better until you THINK better; and what we eat affects our thinking. Why condemn Mackey instead of showing Mackey how to properly set up and run a health food store that refuses to sell non-vegan and unhealthy products?
How can anyone condemn a health food store that makes the statement of progress and advancement due to the fact that despite a lot of dead and devitalized products up in those joints, a few good and life-filled products can be found up in those joints?
I used to study and research in health food stores (e.g., Great Earth, VP Discount Health, GNC), something I could never do at a regular super market because the labels of the products sold in those joints don't educate. You have to first become health conscious before you can even go back into a regular supermarket and read the labels.
Beware of any vegan or raw foodist condemning faux meats and other products and telling you that you might as well go back to your degenerate diet consisting of meats and dairy products because I'm willing to bet in actuality these same condemned sinister faux products are still being conveniently eaten behind the computer screens and in secret by the condemners.
We do not have to condemn things because we want to do a certain thing (e.g. eat animals and their excreta) and feel justified. Just do the damn thing! After all, to each his own!
And also, you're going to find at least one, two, or three insalubrious ingredients in just about anything you purchase at a health food store these days, at least in 99% of the products.
Some products on health food store shelves don't even belong in a health food store but they are there for: (1) PROFIT, and (2) To lure in regular purchasers of the "bad" (insalubrious) product(s) in hopes of getting them to look around at healthier options. We can't forget that we are in a capitalist society and health food stores are in business and profit is the lifeblood of business. Many health food stores compromise their healthy selections for the sake of profit.
Moving from meat to mock meat (faux meat) is advancement on so many levels. I espouse advancement which means 'moving up'! I do this in many areas, not just health and diet. The direction of movement on earth is UP. People want to move UP the career ladder, not DOWN the career ladder. It's all about moving up, improving, progressing, and advancing, etc. The only downward motion on earth is physical death (body into the ground), gravity-induced prolapse conditions, the menstrual cycle, urination, bowel movements, and mucus from the nose. Death and elimination of wastes!
People are acting like eating faux foods are WORSE than eating real meat, eggs, and dairy and the trip thing is it's an undisputed fact that real meat, dairy, and eggs are the WORST things to eat and actually cause 90% of all the degenerative diseases.
"People who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease ... People who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease." Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of "The China Study"
Name me one processed faux food product implicated in diabetes, cancer, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc.
There's a lot of talk about soy (of which I'm not an advocate of) causing hormonal system problems but I can prove in no limit of time soy doesn't cause MORE hormonal problems than dairy products and meat! Show me a faux meat that is insalubrious and I'll show you a meat and dairy product twice as insalubrious!
Faux food is not ambrosia, by no means! But it's a clear cut above the grade compared to real meat, eggs, and dairy.
Transition does not mean "destination". A transition is the means to get one to a specified destination. Transition is like B which is in the middle of A and C. To get from A to C one must go through B. B is not C. It is only a precursor to C!
Thank you for reading!
This article is compliments of Dherbs.com.
|
