Veganism

Status
Not open for further replies.
I suppose if vegans replaced plants with insects, they'd harm fewer animals. Other than that i've not given it a lot of thought. I can't imagine that would be a very popular alternative.
That doesn't quite follow as insects are animals too. :) But I take your point. In the West it's an issue of taste, not so much elsewhere, have you read any of the literature suggesting that vegans may actually be "obliged" to eat insects on ethical grounds?
 
From what I've read, to put your body in a state of ketosis for long periods of time can increase mortality quite substantially. It's more of a band aid solution not addressing the underlying problem.


That is why the diet is high in fats.Low carb/low fat diets might cause ketosis but the fat component prevents that.
Regardless of that we have evolved to tolerate periods of fasting and associated ketosis.Indeed fasting twice a week is another way of improving your health-especially if you are pre -diabetic.
 
That is why the diet is high in fats.Low carb/low fat diets might cause ketosis but the fat component prevents that.
Regardless of that we have evolved to tolerate periods of fasting and associated ketosis.Indeed fasting twice a week is another way of improving your health-especially if you are pre -diabetic.

The high fat doesn't prevent ketones from being formed, ketones are literally formed from fat and are used as energy. Its otherwise known as going into survival mode.
 
Energy is lost at each stage in a food chain because the organisms use some of the energy they get just to survive (move, reproduce etc.). This energy is therefore not available to be passed on to the next stage in the chain. This is where the inefficiency comes in. In what way would creating a food chain involving insects and humans increase efficiency?
 
People are looking into it, I'm no expert, our resident farmer would know more. Other than the less suffering to furry animals I think the idea is that it would be easier to get more proteins from poorer land or unsuitable areas and there's the added benefit of fertiliser, I think the only problem other than taste would be whether you consider it unethical
 
Administrator
Joined 2004
Paid Member
Energy is lost at each stage in a food chain because the organisms use some of the energy they get just to survive (move, reproduce etc.).
That's not the only inefficiency. Food digestion is 100% efficient either, there is plenty of energy left over in waste. Of course waste does go completely to waste. :) (But it does cause a lot of other problems like water pollution)
 
Energy is lost at each stage in a food chain because the organisms use some of the energy they get just to survive (move, reproduce etc.). This energy is therefore not available to be passed on to the next stage in the chain. This is where the inefficiency comes in. In what way would creating a food chain involving insects and humans increase efficiency?

The trick is to find insects which derive their energy/food from substances we can not release the energy from efficiently.

Mopane worms (the grub of a moth) are quite tasty and eat Mopane leaves which are otherwise useless to us unlike the wood which is very useful indeed being termite proof.
So while we could be growing trees to harvest the wood we could harvest another crop annually at no cost in money or energy.



PS: Not sure how eating insects reduces the number of animals harmed. Insects are animals so a lot more animals would be harmed if anything.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.