Recently I've drastically cut back on my in take of meat. I'm not really sure why, it's just the way it happened. Once I realised that I was feeling more energetic and generally healthier with a higher intake of fruit and veg I began to make the conscious decision to avoid meat. I still do eat it on occasion, chicken and fish especially, but as far as red meat goes it has almost been completely eliminated. Are there any other vegetarians/vegans about? If yes how do you stay committed?
I tried being vegetarian for nearly a year, as an experiment really, but I feel better if I have just a little meat a couple of times a week. I eat loads of vegetables with olive oil, but I don't go for fruit--all sweet and squelchy! I know you are supposed to eat pulses etc but they take such ages to cook and there's the other problem...brrrt! I don't like eating chicken much these days--factory farming of chickens all over the world is just horrific, to keep up with increased demand for white meat. I feel like the trauma the birds suffer must poison their flesh in some way or another. I don't think meat raised from such animals is better for me than eating lamb from the animals that roam here having a pretty good life until it's time to kill them quietly and humanely. I do eat chicken occasionally, though.
According to my naturopath, the diet most suitable for me would be a vegetarian one. She believes in the blood type diet, where by our blood type gives an indication of what diet would be most suitable for us ( i.e: http://www.dadamo.com/ ). I tried to do the whole vegetarian thing for a couple of weeks, but found I felt too tired without regular meals of red and white meat. I probably could stick to a vegetarian diet if I really dedicated myself to it, and gave my body time to adapt to it, but I'm too afraid my iron levels would get too low and I wouldn't be able to be a blood donor anymore. Yes, I know many vegetarian products contain iron, however red meat and white meat, contain the highest level of absorptive heme- iron among all food products.
Afraid I am a meat man. Not to say I don't enjoy the fruit 'n' veg, mind you, just could not live without bacon, sausages, burgers, chicken curries ... I'm hungry.
It is exactly those atrocious videos of factory farming and butchering that have altered my intake of meat. I would compensate with fish, but even they are so loaded with mercury and tapeworms, that I avoid it as well. It is very difficult to maintain the discipline of vegetarianism in this meat culture, but I have been trying. Plus vegetarianism is not only fruits and vegetables; there is plethora of grains, and beans, tubers, and even more ways to prepare them to maintain high levels of variety and stave off boredom; it's not just about tofu, haha.
Ha, if you eat meat occasionally then I'm sorry but you are not a vegetarian! Even if you don't eat 'red meat'! I would definitely recommend a veggie diet though, it is much healthier and happier Having been a veggie since I was about 7 (so over 20 years, gulp) I can honestly say there is no way I would consider eating meat. It is not difficult to live meat-free and I have never experienced any kind of craving for meat. Seeing all the dead carcasses lined up in the supermarket makes me feel very sick and sad. I accept that we are part of the food chain, but considering we are more in control of our own survival than ever before, I really do not see the point of slaughtering animals just because people like eating burgers. Eating animals has never appealed to me. I think most people can eat meat guilt-free because they are so far removed from the reality of the meat industry and receive their meat in neat little packets. If they had to kill the animals themselves it might be a different story for a lot of people. Being veggie is part of who I am, part of my core beliefs I suppose, so it is not a case of missing out on anything (like a lot of people tell me I am), because eating meat has never been something I have wanted to do. My partner is a massive meat eater though and it does make me feel quite sick actually! I am still working on him I was having a conversation with someone about people eating dog meat in Asia (there was some article in the local paper, they are making it illegal or something I think) and this meat eater was disgusted about people eating dog meat. I asked why and she said because it was cruel. I asked if it was more cruel than killing a cow to eat it and she said yes. When I asked why she said, 'because dogs are very cute' !! That sums up meat eaters! Go veggie
Like madhoca, I was a vegetarian for about a year. It was not for me. One day, I broke. I could not walk past the wonderful aroma coming from a local sub shop, and a raced inside and had two large, loaded, steak and cheese subs. Try to get between me and my meat now, and you will face my feral snarl, with bright red juices dripping from my omnivore teeth.
ha ha. Yes, a fair fight, I have often seen a frozen chicken wrestle itself out of a hungry meat-eater's clutches...
Which brings me to the strangely needed warning on this subject here in the forum. It doesn't seem to follow that a subject as pacific as vegetarianism could evoke pie fights or flaming, but for reasons that I am sure Stephen Hawking is currently working on, it does. So... yeah. 'Nuff said. I hope.
I've been a vegan for six months. But I don't see why a lot of vegetarians/vegans feel the need to force it onto meat eaters. It's a personal choice. I think it'd be nice if everyone stopped eating meat, but it's not going to happen. I figure most people have heard the arguements for and against eating meat - so I save my breath.
I don't think I'd survive, honestly. I've got one of those bodies that can't stand too long without solid, wholesome food - I get the shakes, feel sick, and faint unless I get something in me. And by 'too long' I mean half a day. If I'm out, I'll feel boiling hot, get a cold sweat, feel sick, and then have to sit down because I'm gonna faint. It happens all the time, always has. So, I just wouldn't want to risk it, personally. My thyroid and metabolism is already screwed enough without me wanting to add to it.
I dislike meat, so I go for months at a time without eating meat. It's just not something that appeals to me. I lost a lot of weight by purging meat from my diet, and I felt much more energetic. I still eat it from time to time though, just because I'm lazy. It's only chicken though. I havent found a good, versatile substitute for chicken. The food-related "lectures" I tend to go off on have nothing to do with being a carnivore, omnivore, or herbivore... rather I think it's important that we all know where our food comes from and how it's made, vegetarians and meat-eaters alike. Generally the meat-packing industry is the most repulsive, but some fruit and vegetables are grown and packed in really disgusting environments. I have never sworn off meat "officially," but sometimes I tell people that I'm vegetarian, mostly because it's easier than explaining to people why I dont like steak or bacon.
^ Don't like steak or bacon? What kind of world is this where someone couldn't possibly enjoy such awesomness? :O Anyways. I have never actually tried going vegetarian. I mean I could give up meat... no I guess I couldn't. I love me burgers and me(yes I am using me intentionally) steak. I do love fruits and vegetables. Hell when I hit middle school I would almost always fill up the big middle section with salad. Yum. I like meat and I am not going to feel guilty about it. Which is what bugs me about how some vegetarians either try and force it on you or try and send you down a guilt trip. I don't try and force my meat eating down on them. As far as how we get our meat. I suppose you could say I really just don't care. While I would love to have a more humane system and such. It really doesn't bother me all that much.
I've never tried being a vegetarian and I don't want to be one either, I like meat too much. I would, btw, not have have a problem with like having a small farm and killing my own animals to eat. I'm not a person that goes 'ewww' when I see an animal getting killed- which doesn't mean I don't think they should be treated well.
I like meat but I could probably stand to cut back on it some. Also I'm curious what vegetarians think of Dairy or Egg products. It's not eating an animal but is still an animal product.
i'm a moral vegetarian, so i stay committed by simply reminding myself that by eating any fellow member of the animal kingdom, i'm aiding and abetting their murder... same goes for using anything made from them, such as leather... here's what my younger sister once told me was her reason: 'I don't eat anything that had a mother." see the essays on my site linked below, for more reminders, if you need any: http://saysmom.com/maia/content.asp?Writing=59 http://saysmom.com/maia/content.asp?Writing=79 http://saysmom.com/maia/content.asp?Writing=17
I am sort of veggie. We reintroduced one meat meal a week because the cat brings us things if we don't eat meat at least once a week. Finding quick, easy, cheap meals that taste good help me not stray beyond that
To the person who said I'm not truly a vegetarian, I know, I was just opening the topic for discussion. My reason for not eating meat is a simple one - my mum stopped eating meat when she got sick and so I was just supporting her. But I feel much better now - it's a medical fact that the body takes a lot longer to break down meat than it does to break down vegetarian foods/grains/nuts etc. Besides that, the rampant demand for meat is terrible for the environment. No better than the basic demand for grains though, I guess.
Not really. That's why ruminants have a second stomach, which in us is degenerated to the appendix. The second stomach is needed to better utilize the nutrients in plant matter.
Actually, that was a little hasty. It's a medical fact that for some people, it's far more difficult for the body to break down meat than it is veg. I think Banzai posted a link relating to this sort of information.
I consider myself an omnivore, but I really just eat what I like. Many people think of me as a vegetarian simply because what I like almost universally tends to lean away from meats. No more or less. I can't claim any ethically higher reason for what I eat than that's what I like. Still, many veggies seem to like me for it, so I'll take it.
