Eh. I drink milk because I like hot chocolate and because it cools my tea faster. I don't like plain milk.
Milk is the only fat-reduced thing I ever have, because semi-skimmed lasts longer than full fat before it goes sour.
I don't drink it for the calcium, and I could probably use whatever fat it has in it since I don't really get much from elsewhere.

As for 'not intended for human consumption'... well, I'm kind of wary of saying that. After all, humans can and do eat all kinds of things that may not have originally been in their diets during the evolutionary process. We eat a lot of imported exotic fruit like mango, which doesn't grow up here in the cold northern clime. One could as a result argue that mango isn't intended for consumption by humans of celtic, nordic or otherwise non-tropical descent. There are suggestions of genuine differences in tolerable diet depending on lineage, such as the unusually high rate of lactose intolerance amongst particular groups of Asian descent.
Humans specialise in doing things that we were originally 'not meant' to do. Technology alone shows us this. So as long as it doesn't kill me and doesn't actively harm another human, I'll be happily doing whatever it is. And since I'm not lactose intolerant, I'll continue enjoying my hot chocolate.

(And sorry to pick up on this point as well, but a possible additional reason for the vegan/omnivore obesity contrast may be that a lot of vegans don't have a well balanced diet and are more likely to end up underweight. There are a lot of fat omnivores anyway, since there's more processed food available to them. I wouldn't include it in a dairy debate since dairy is only one of a pretty wide range of factors impacting the obesity comparison.)

alot of people here have some really great advice. ive had the oddest year ever. i have lost somewhere from 50-60 lbs. being homeless. i had ot carry a backpack around with me about 98% of the time, and it was fucking HOT this padt summer. i think I sweated out most of it.

I was a size 16 last December, and now I am a size 9.

We eat alot of veggies here, the produce market is four blocks from our house, adn it's really cheap. lots of fresh steamed bell peppers, onions, garlic, mushroom, squash, zuchinni. we take alot of the veggies and cut them up and put them in a bell pepper, wrap it in aluminum foil and pop it in the oven. a little garlic and rosemary works good.

It's really not that ard to keep it off now that i have a house either. i have a little problem being around alot of people, (panic attacks, etc.) and i take a walk with my boyfriend for at least an hour a night, right before i go to to work. I am a janitor at a bar, and it really gets your heart beat up there. then, another walk to get me sleepy, and home to bed i go. Im up ALL night, because i work at 2 Am. so, yeah. easiest thing for me really. yeah, and being poor enough o only eat veggies and oatmeal. and we can afford to eat meat like, twice a week really.

You can drink soy.

I'm not such a fan of soy, rice milk on the other hand is yummy.

This thing that some vegans and vegetarians have about eating eggs gets me. Human beings have eaten eggs for thousands and thousands of years. Before chickens were kept worldwide ( they are descended from a jungle bird and thus were not native to europe for example ) the eggs of other birds were eaten for a source of protien . Eggs are actually a pretty natural part of the human diet whatever bird they come from.

I do understand about the milk, It isn't natural for us to consume it from another animal or past the age of around 1.5 years . I do quite like soy yoghurts now I think of it. And I may try making my porridge with soy milk to see how that tastes. I doubt I'll give up milk or products containing it altogether though. And I will continue to eat eggs ( free range , I want my own chickens when I get my own place too ) as that is a perfectly natural source of protien.

Fresh eggs directly from the source are the best! Just be sure you have a -really- good fence, one that dogs can't burrow under or get into at all, and that the chickens can't get out of.

10 foot by 8 foot ( L + W ) by 8 foot (H) enclosure. Concrete base covered with dirt ( for scratching and ferretting about in, which is what chickens basically do most of the time ) with a 4 foot surounding wall topped with fine mesh plus a roof, plus a chickenhouse inside is the basic housing need for around 6 hens or 8 bantams .

We don't get many stray dogs round here, or cats but for general safety that's a basic guide. Doesn't take much genuis really and yet so many people seem to fail at it spectacularly and then moan and whinge when something eats or kills their birds.

But I'm straying off topic now....... :o

Me too:

I heard them scratching at the floor
I tried to tell her
About foxes and ferrets, cats and strangers
I don't really know what for
But she looked good with chickens

:cool:

Ahaha! cheeky thing :p I think a chicken would suit me! I don't look to bad in ribbons either ;-)

.

I'd imagine it's primarily a moral issue - even free range hens get a pretty rough deal.

honeythorn: Sounds like a good fence to me.

My parents moved to the middle of the woods when I was about 11. We inherited some chickens, but seeing as how my parents weren't very good farmers [much less the folks before them], the chickens didn't last long. Plus, there were a LOT of animals of all kinds who seemed to like chicken dinners. [Opossums are among earth's ugliest rodents, I swear. >_< ]

Not when kept properly free range. A great many of the peple who join things like PETA and cite morality as the reason for their diet change have never set foot on a farm. I have. The cows here eat grass in fields as cows are supposed to. Pigs are also kept in fields. I get my eggs from the local farmers market .

Yes, but supermarket "free range" hens certainly don't live like yours do.

My chickens have a good life.
...I hate them.

No. That's why I don't buy eggs from supermarkets ;) Though I do appreciate not everyone can get to a farmers market.

It really bugs me, the farmer's markets around here only have produce so I can't get super yummy eggs around here :(

The one in my town has local meat ( including venison and wild boar from boars raised in owned areas of woodland ) , eggs, preserves, cider and there's a crafts section too.

The natural lifespan of a chicken is twelve years, cut off a couple for it being a laying hen and you've got ten years. The farm that you get your eggs from is not going to keep these hens for years after they've stopped producing, they're just going to slaughter them, which is one reason why a vegan wouldn't have eggs from a farmer's market. Plus, veganism and animal liberationism often meld.

I want to fry up some human flesh. Plenty of dead weight, good for nothing peeps that could serve a useful purpose. Hallelujah!

I have a shitload of fat you can have !

Mmmmmm! I am coming over!

Yay stirfry! I want lots of veg in mine though , I am on a diet after all :P

Man this diet sucks... in the end it'll be worth it.

Nothing is worth starving yourself.

I'm 5'11', 170lbs and don't give a fuck. Makes life A LOT easier.

Replaced 3 20 ounces bottles of soda with 2 12 ounce cans a day, none on days off. Drinking water and replacing my snacking on chicps and shit with apples. I do at least 30 minutes of cardiovascular workouts a day... is that enough to lose some pounds?