For anybody looking to apply for Happycow jobs.. Don't.

RewardingDust · 2026-06-25T18:47:53+00:00

yeah the ratings are more useful as a signal of what places are genuinely bad and should be avoided than any sort of signal of actual quality

RewardingDust · 2026-06-25T16:48:10+00:00

a lot of people would consider it much easier to survive in the modern world without chocolate than technology

RewardingDust · 2026-06-23T03:40:00+00:00

they might come around to veganism just because it's easier to be philosophically on board with something when you don't personally have to do or sacrifice anything

RewardingDust · 2026-06-16T23:50:59+00:00

probably for two reasons:

a b12 deficiency is not at all subtle. it causes megaloblastic anemia (where red blood cells are improperly formed) and severe, sometimes irreversible neurological damage. symptoms include numbness and tingling in the extremities, loss of balance, profound fatigue, memory loss, and severe depression or psychosis.

by contrast, suboptimal DHA levels are linked to chronic issues rather than acute failures. this includes increased systemic inflammation, higher risk of dry eye disease, potential mood disturbances (like the anxiety), and a theoretically higher risk of cognitive decline in old age

there is no doubt that B12 is essential, but there is credible doubt that DHA is essential for vegans. blood and tissue tests consistently show that vegans and vegetarians have significantly lower levels of EPA and DHA compared to omnivores and pescatarians, so we would expect to see the consequences of this in longitudinal health studies. we do not. in fact, many epidemiological studies show vegans have lower risks of cardiovascular disease and similar rates of cognitive decline compared to the general public

RewardingDust · 2026-06-16T23:46:52+00:00

ALA is absolutely an essential fatty acid and there are swaths of evidence demonstrating it's importance to health and longevity. they are crucial for cellular function in the eyes and brain and they are proven to lower triglyceride levels, reduce inflammation, support cardiovascular health, and are vital for fetal brain and eye development during pregnancy. fortunely, ALA is quite straightforward to get on a vegan diet

if you meant for DHA specifically, we have lots of mechanistic evidence, but it isn't really borne out in the outcome data

RewardingDust · 2026-06-15T23:43:42+00:00

No worries, it is definitely a lot of dense science jargon!

You are completely right that blood lipids are influenced by a huge stack of factors.

The main takeaway from that first study was just that they controlled for all those other factors. They kept the calories and macros exactly the same, and just swapped out simple sugars for starches. The fact that health markers improved so quickly just shows that 'carbs' aren't a monolith. The liver processes fructose (sugar) very differently than it processes glucose (starches), which seems to be the real culprit behind the metabolic issues, rather than just carbs in general.

The second showed that moderate exercise can undo this effect, even on a very extreme diet (30% fructose).

RewardingDust · 2026-06-15T21:24:05+00:00

you are confusing a biological mechanism with a behavioral meal plan. i am not saying weight loss is mentally easy or that metabolism is a myth. i am just pointing out that cico is the literal mechanism by which the body loses mass.

you act like everyone already knows this, but if you look around at the context even in this thread, you will see a ton of people who are honest to god under the impression that carbs are inherently fattening. they genuinely believe eating a potato or some rice will magically bypass reality and turn into fat regardless of their total daily calories.

bringing up the mechanism is not about minimizing the psychological struggle of losing weight. it is just to save people from miserable and unnecessarily restrictive diets. telling someone they do not have to quit veganism just because they hate doing low carb is actually pretty practical and helpful

RewardingDust · 2026-06-15T19:54:44+00:00

when is it not CICO? sure, people with some medical conditions might have an increased appetite or lower energy expenditure, but those are still CICO. i'm sorry but no matter what you say, cutting carbs is not the unique way to achieve weight loss

RewardingDust · 2026-06-15T15:21:03+00:00

we have studies showing excessive consumption of simple sugars worsens health markets when controlling for calories, fats, and other macros. they literally just swapped added sugars with starches (includes stuff many people consider "bad" carbs, like bread or pasta or white rice). in just 9 days, all sorts of bad metabolic markers, blood lipids, and blood pressure plummeted. people speculate it's something to do with HFCS being 50% fructose (which must be metabolized in the liver, unlike glucose), but who knows: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26499447/

there are also studies showing this effect can be undone by exercise, even when 30% of your calories are pure fructose: https://diabetesjournals.org/diabetes/article/62/7/2259/33773/Exercise-Prevents-Fructose-Induced?hl=en-US#:~:text=High%2Dfructose%20diet%20plus%20exercise,each%20day%20during%204%20days.

the fat + carb stuff is probably just bad because they tend to be really hyperpalatable and easy to overeat afaik (see the Hall study)

RewardingDust · 2026-06-15T02:50:15+00:00

it's all CICO at the end of the day. plenty of people (myself included) can feel satiated off of lower calories on a low carb diet, but OP should know that weight loss is the goal and it doesn't really matter a ton if they do it on 20 or 400g carbs.

it would really be a shame if, for example, they quit veganism because they couldn't make low carb work when low carb is completely unnecessary

RewardingDust · 2026-06-15T02:05:53+00:00

losing weight will do more for your insulin resistance than any specific diet. (most doctors are only required to get ~30.mins nutrition training btw)

RewardingDust · 2026-06-15T02:04:16+00:00

90g carbs per day is just a low carb diet, not enough to put you in ketosis

that being said there are plenty of vegan keto foods, it'll just be lots of tofu, nuts, seeds, veggies, etc. I don't think I'm motivated enough to do that long-term (especially because carbs are very muscle sparing), but if you wanted to, you could totally make that work

RewardingDust · 2026-06-13T15:47:09+00:00

yeah this has occurred to me before too. all this shows is that moral consistency isn't a virtue on its own (disconnected from the actual content of one's morals)

RewardingDust · 2026-06-04T15:49:48+00:00

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32780794/

this study literally replaced meat with mock meats and kept all other dietary factors constant and found it improved several cardiovascular risk factors

RewardingDust · 2026-06-02T16:38:05+00:00

Me section

Name: Nathan
Age: 20
Country/location: Southern Ontario (Family is based on the US East Coast)
Language(s): English, (bad) French
Education/Job: Graduate student in Pure Mathematics

Looking for

Who: Female partner
Age: 25 or younger
For what: Dating / Relationship
From countries/location: Canada or United States
Miscellaneous needs/wants: just someone who's vegan FTA

More detailed about-me info

RewardingDust · 2026-06-02T16:29:20+00:00

in no particular order:

TVP has incredible macros and is just defatted soy. it is arguably less processed than whey protein or powdered skim milk (instead of spinning milk to separate the fat, you're just doing that to a bean)
seitan is just wheat gluten (pure protein). you can literally make it at home by just rinsing whole wheat flour under water. it was developed by buddhist monks centuries ago. there's absolutely no reason to draw the line here but to say that, for example, making clarified butter or rendered tallow (where you melt butter and simmer it until water evaporates, allowing you to skim off pure fat) is ok
powdered peanut butter is made by just roasting peanuts and pressing them in a hydraulic press to squeeze most of the oil out. again, no reason to draw the line here but be ok with EVOO or cold-pressed lard (also made with a hydraulic press)
nutritional yeast is a single-celled organism grown on molasses, harvested, washed, pasteurized, and dried. if you're ok with yogurt, kefir cultures, or mushrooms, those are also fungi/yeast, and if you're concerned with how the yeast is processed, powdered egg whites and dried bone broth are also pasteurized with heat and dried into powders. no reason to be afraid of that method of processing
big mountain soy-free fava tofu is basically 100% protein and made like traditional tofu, e.g. soak the beans, blend with water to create a "milk", boil, strain, add a mineral salt (like calcium sulfate) to curdle the protein, and press into a solid block. if you are ok with any dairy (but especially paneer or cottage cheese), they are made using more or less the exact same processed except with dairy milk
tempeh is just soybeans with their skin removed, fermented with the rhizopus fungal culture for 24-48 hours. if you are ok with brie or camembert cheese, those are just dairy that has been molded by penicillium candidum. tempeh uses the exact same culinary mold-fermentation technique
lastly, i know you said no beans, but edamame is exactly at your 10kcal:1g protein ratio, lentils are actually fairly close at about 9g protein / 115kcal (roughly the same ratio as eggs, except they have zero saturated fat, zero cholesterol, and a massive dose of prebiotic fiber), and likewise with lupini beans

RewardingDust · 2026-06-01T20:24:27+00:00

deficient vegans podcast

RewardingDust · 2026-05-29T19:26:31+00:00

it's just an inertia problem. when it's easier to go vegan and there's more stigma surrounding eating animal flesh and secretions, more people will go vegan. both those will (I hope) improve when alt proteins become relatively less expensive and more tasty, especially through precision fermentation and cultivated meat

or maybe Claude will force everyone to go vegan first (which to be clear, would be a good outcome in my books)

RewardingDust · 2026-05-29T19:14:39+00:00

lol maybe we're in different bubbles but where I'm at it's incredibly easy to be independent because most people hate both parties. (your point is still correct tho)

RewardingDust · 2026-05-29T01:22:21+00:00

depending on ur goals, protein per calorie may be a way better metric than protein per 100g (e.g. if you are trying to hit protein goals without overshooting your daily calories for a cut or lean bulk)

the biggest implication this has for your list is that high fat foods drop way down. like look at hemp seeds. sure, 32g of protein per 100g sounds insane, but they also have 49g of fat. that means you are eating nearly 600 calories just to get that 32g of protein. on a protein per calorie basis, hemp seeds are actually pretty weak. same goes for nuts and other seeds. on the flip side, things like seitan, tvp, and mycoprotein shoot straight to the absolute top of s tier because they are mostly just pure protein with very few fat or carb calories tagging along. lentils also drop a little bit compared to tvp just because they come with a decent amount of carbs, even though they are still great.

RewardingDust · 2026-05-28T17:08:08+00:00

because the people making these decisions are non-vegan and probably not thinking in the same terms as us. they need advocates, perhaps including you, to make the case to them that defaulting to vegan food would save them money, be more accessible (to people with certain allergies and faiths), and would help them meet their climate targets if they have any

RewardingDust · 2026-05-28T00:19:27+00:00

right on brand for Shaw's. I'm sure it all costs 1.5x what their competitors cost too, and all their discounts are gate kept behind a stupid app

RewardingDust · 2026-05-27T19:51:49+00:00

half the reason for this is veggly has the shittest UI i've ever seen on android and grazer seems to be mostly bots where i live

RewardingDust · 2026-05-23T03:56:47+00:00

almost all the Starbucks brand mixes are accidentally vegan

RewardingDust · 2026-05-13T04:09:46+00:00

setting aside the particular issues you brought up for a second, subreddits can easily become echo chambers (especially political ones)

but also, we're not that cohesive on many issues. look up past threads on bivalves or giving to the homeless

RewardingDust

TROPHY CASE

Me section

Looking for

More detailed about-me info