Podcast: Sam Dale on Riding & Racing His Way

 "if you could make dairy products from human milk then would that be acceptable to vegans?" I don't believe so, as the role of human milk (and ALL animal milk) is to get a baby to eat and put on weight and not die. In The Cheese Trap by Dr. Neal Barnard there's research cited showing that dairy consumption activates the same receptors and areas in the brain that opioids are found to activate. The hypothesis, might be proven now(?), is that dairy is actually "addictive" in order to get the baby animal to keep coming back for more milk. This doesn't translate well to an adult animal, as the casein (protein in milk) has a higher correlation to activating cancer cells in adults. What other adult animals consume dairy products? To my knowledge, aside from humans, most animals ween from milk at a very early age. FWIW, I'm not a vegan, I base my diet on a vegan/vegetarian diet, but do occasionally consume cheese on pizza (I just can't quit quality pizza), eggs, fish, and wild game.

 @chacou: The extent of cheese in these posts is just amazing!

 @chacou: that's a seriously good answer thank you!
Yeah I'm in favour of a mainly vegetarian diet but couldn't go vegan . As I'd miss fish/dairy.

Thanks for responding and not being sensible about it as I'm seriously interested.

 japan has or had cows that produce human milk!

 I don’t think Sam is forcing his view on people, more just asking the questions about it

 Vegans don’t eat animal products. Humans are animals. Therefore vegans don’t drink human milk.

 I've encountered a few people in my life who claim to be vegetarians or say they don't eat meat, but they eat fish.
This is something I don't understand the rationale behind.
I am interested to hear the explanation from someone who subscribes to this school of thought.

The first one was when I was working in a juice bar in Sydney that also sold food. A customer came in and looked at the salads. There was chicken pasta salad, tuna pasta salad, Greek salad or chicken Caesar salad. He looked at them and started umming and arring, and grumbling that he can hoped there would be more vegetarian options. I was like yeah mate hard luck, I guess it's Greek or nothing for you then. Then he ordered a tuna pasta salad. I was like, you know tuna is a fish right? That's a kind of animal. He said no, that's seafood. I couldn't believe it at the time, and I still can't to be honest. What is it about fish that makes them not qualify as animals?

I really want to know!

 Soapbox time--- I work in the medical field, very very very closely with plant-based providers: surgeons, pediatricians, internal medicine, physiatrists, dieticians, etc... Vegan, vegetarianism, and plant-based are extremely different. You can be vegan and still be utterly unhealthy. Milk/dairy is the most carcinogenic food ever studied by the FDA (and a ton of nasty's to follow for it). Shoot, I had visually gross eczema-- it looked like freak'n leprosy on me and it hurt-- open sores. All the doctors gave me Rx's, said the same thang.. .until one of the doctor's I work with told me to cut the dairy out, and it went away-- mind blown!!!! I help teach a lot people/patients on this. There is an overwhelming amount of ignorance when it comes to nutrition today. Plant-based eating is the ONLY thing that has the ability to heal/ reverse cardiovascular disease. I recently had a patient that reversed 70% blocked carotid arteries in one year (no meds, no surgery), along with a gazillion patients reverse type II diabetes cholesterol, blood pressure, inflammation, avoid surgeries, lose a ton of weight, return back from disability, not to mention people begin to experience increased energy, cognitive clarity, improved rest, autoimmune disorders reversed (lupus, Crohn's, etc..) and so much more. a lot of professional athletes are going plant-based because of it's recovery time and amazing athletic benefits, etc.. MMA fighters, football players, endurance runners, blah blah blah.... It was laughed at by a lot of doctors some years ago, now tons of doctors are getting on board, their patients are returning back to them from us with tremendous life-changing results. it's not a magical diet-- it's stupid simple, we're depriving our bodies of these mandatory foods and just eating nutritionally deprived, calorically dense, fiber-less, and cholesterol-rich foods. We get confused between "feeding" our bodies vs "nourishing" our bodies. There is so much more that can be said...

 @jaame: I think you're looking at it from the "ethical vegan" perspective. It's fairly common, IME to come across "vegetarians" who occasionally eat fish as a source of vitamin-b and other nutrients.
Personally, I eat fish but not beef or pork because it doesn't carry as massive a carbon footprint. It's easier to eat fish responsibly, granted there's issues with farm raised, wild caught, heavy metals, etc. Occasional fish provides many nutrients that can sometimes be hard to come by with a plant based diet and avoids some of the problems associated with eating other meats. I see your point if someone claims to be an "ethical" vegan or vegetarian though and then turns around and dismisses fish. That's just ignorance of the animal kingdom.

 @diggerandrider: so eating a balanced diet is good for you?

 @jaame: maybe they don't like the taste of some meat but like fish, simple enough.

 @diggerandrider: Then you should know of one of the biggest modern studies on the subject. The study revealed that the plant based diets on their own vs. eating meat everyday is better for cardiovascular health. With adding exercise right after the food digests, the patients eating meat showed an increase of over 20% dilation in the arteries and showed much lower levels of plaque than the patients on the plant based diet. So for athletes, the plant based diet is less effective for health and strength. Dairy on the other hand should be eaten sparingly. For obese patients that won't exercise anyway, a plant based diet would be ideal, however most Nutritionists agree that it's not an ideal diet for everyday people. Being healthy as an athlete without essential amino acids is really not easy. There are truly things that the body requires for maximum strength and recovery that a plant based diet cannot support. I studied nutrition as well.

 @chacou: Except that we've almost fished the oceans empty... how do you reconcile that fact ?

 @miff: don’t eat fish everyday, or every week for that matter. It can be done responsibly if a person just takes a bit of responsibility into account when making their decisions.

 ...and eat local fish. I live in Colorado so 99% of the fish I eat is Trout, with the occasional salmon. Not flying in Mahi Mahi to a land locked state a mile above the sea.

 @jaame: If you are transitionning to a more ethical healthy diet, then eating fish (never farmed) can be a good step. If you are going to do changes in your nutrition do them gradually, so your body and behaviour adapts. Also fish does not suffer as a mamalian. They are free into the ocean and cause they are on salt water all the time they don´t accumulate so many bad emotions as our slaughtered animals... I turn to veganism once I dreamd about the fears of the small pig just eatan some ours before and made realize we are incorporating their suffereing... then into the way I used fish and eggs for transition into a while...

 @jaame: We can't hear their screams, so no guilt. No, I can't quite follow the logic either.

 @PauRexs: any further reading you can suggest about mammalian suffering and porcine emotions?
Do wild animals, and especially fish, not suffer in the same way when killed and eaten?

 @jaame: Can t say now... Cause I just clearly experienced by myself without doubt more than once... If you eat really greasy one you ll see... Pay attention...

There is plenty of studies which proves their suffering as we do (mammals)

Fish runs free into the ocean, that's big improvement. Their counsciousness is much lower than mamalian seems with much collective mind. And the fact they are on salt cleanses the bad energy/emotions all the time... Again prove yourself if you are into bad energy/mood to take bath on sea...

But yes the best is to not harm any living being and it's free will.

 Thanks @xice I'm glad you're enjoying them!

 We're the most dominant species. So everything and everyone belongs to us.
/s

 @colincolin: how's that working out for planet earth? Ha ha

 @nert: All going to plan, we'll be extinct shortly and the earth will return to normality.

 @colincolin: till another human comes and takes you house and your wife

 @nert: Working out great. We're murdering billions of animals a year to have pepperoni pizza and bacon burgers everyday. Earth isn't complaining, is it? :^]