Raw/Vegan & Beer

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by grze, Mar 24, 2014.

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  1. grze

    grze Maven (1,460) Apr 17, 2012 Virginia
    Trader

    Hey,

    I'm thinking about slowly converting my diet to vegan and maybe even raw/vegan at some point. I'm not doing it for ideological reasons or anything like that. I just want to explore how that would benefit my health etc etc... I'm not even a vegetarian and therefore I'm not looking to be extremely strict, but still consistent with my choices. The question in this subject is if there are any of you that are on a raw or vegan diet and still enjoy a pint of Pliny (or Heady if you're more into that) from time to time? How do you feel about it or if you don't drink beer anymore - why?

    Cheers!
    G
     
  2. mm2112

    mm2112 Initiate (0) Jun 16, 2010 Illinois

    I went vegan after Lent last year for the same reasons (non-moral, just as a health challenge). I still enjoy and drink beer as often as usual. Honestly I feel as though switching to the diet has provided some benefits. My sleep and tiredness after having a few IPAs hasn't been effected like it was. My weight doesn't fluctuate and hangovers are pretty much non-existent. Good luck
     
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  3. spicoli00

    spicoli00 Pooh-Bah (2,231) Jul 6, 2005 Indiana
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Some beers with use fish bladders as finings and as such are not vegan. I think it is more common with kegged beer versus bottled/canned beer (someone correct me if i'm wrong). Just pointing out that you may not be able to drink some beers because of this.
     
  4. Homebrew42

    Homebrew42 Initiate (0) Dec 20, 2006 New York

    The malt in all beer is kilned and therefore beer in general would not be compatible with a raw diet. Most beers are vegan but as was pointed out some are not...some non-vegan ingredients that may be found in beer are isinglass, glycerol monostearate, gelatin, honey and lactose.
     
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  5. elchicodelgado

    elchicodelgado Initiate (0) Mar 3, 2008 Texas
    Trader

    I don't know much about raw diets but I'd have to think that beer could never be part of a truly raw diet since it involves boiling it. I could be way off base here however. My wife and I tried to go vegetarian for a time but when she found out many cheeses are not vegetarian she noped out of it pretty quickly. We do still make a lot of vegetarian dishes now however so it helped in that regard. Good luck and prepare to get ridiculed by your friends :slight_frown: Not that it really matters since you're doing it for you and not them.
     
  6. JMaxwell

    JMaxwell Initiate (0) Oct 18, 2012 Maryland

    A buddy of mine is vegan and drinks all sorts of craft beer. I've never really thought about how it may or may not fit into a vegan/raw diet though.
     
  7. teledeluxe

    teledeluxe Initiate (0) Nov 21, 2013 Illinois

    Depends on how strict of a vegan you want to become. If you are doing it for health reasons instead of ideology you don't have as much to worry about by beers that use lactose, refined sugar, or honey. Having said that, alcohol isn't the healthiest thing you could ingest.

    I was vegan for about a year but now I'm sort-of a hybrid pescetarian/vegan since I've added fish back into my diet. Honestly, I just try to eat as much plant-based food as I can. The less processed, the better. Very occasionally I have a meat/cheese treat. My girlfriend is still vegan so that helps keep me in check.

    You'd be amazed at how much annual physical and blood tests can change just by changing your diet. I used to eat meat 3 or 4 times a week and dairy often. I had borderline hypertension and high cholesterol. For 30 days I added salmon twice a week and completely eliminated the following foods (breads, white rice, processed foods, oil, meat, cheese/dairy, and alcohol) and drank only water. Took the tests again and they all came back normal. Actually significantly better than normal. Went from 215lb to 203lb too in that month, without much exercise (the next hurdle I'm trying to work on).

    That was a year ago and was a pretty hard diet to stick to for that month. I still try to follow that example as much as I can. Obviously I didn't continue to stay away from the alcohol. I do wish I could permanently eliminate the bread but at least I've switched to 100% sprouted whole wheat...

    Next stop: exercise and cutting way back on my beer intake.

    Biggest thing to remember: just because someone is vegan doesn't mean they are actually eating healthy. I know plenty of vegans that are constantly eating the equivalent of vegan pizza and french fries.
     
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  8. Homebrew42

    Homebrew42 Initiate (0) Dec 20, 2006 New York

    The presence of absence of gluten has absolutely nothing to do with a beer (or anything else) being vegetarian or raw.
     
  9. caitlinds

    caitlinds Initiate (0) Mar 30, 2014 Alabama

    You can check to see if a beer is vegan on a website called barnivore.com
     
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  10. CowsandBeer

    CowsandBeer Initiate (0) Sep 24, 2012 Nebraska

    Sounds absolutely amazing.
     
  11. tanis

    tanis Initiate (0) Feb 22, 2014 Illinois

    I was vegan for five years and I drank beer the whole time. Wouldn't've gone vegan in the first place if it involved giving up beer.

    It's a bit of a pain to figure out what's vegan and what isn't. Backwoods Bastard is vegan, but KBS is not. It used to seem worthwhile to me to put in the effort, but eventually I stopped caring (i.e. as soon as I found myself a bottle of KBS.)
     
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