Turning Vegetarian

[Count Zero]

What would I be lacking other than protein which I can get elsewhere anyway?

The kind of protein and iron in the proper amounts you can get from meat that can't effectively be substituted with supplements.

Mmh, I really doubt that. There are millions of vegetarians who are pretty healthy (myself included, and since you mentioned iron: I have excellent iron values even though women tend to lack iron), so I don't buy it.
It's perfectly ok for you not to approve of this lifestyle, though.

But now back on topic: I'm pleasantly surprised that you want to become vegetarian. Others have already given good advice. I can assure you that vegetarian dishes are quite versatile. I don't really understand what you said about the high price of vegetarian food. Usually, stuff like vegetables, seasonal fruits, rice, potatoes and pasta are rather cheap and cheaper than (good) meat.
There isn't a standard way to do it, I think. I became vegetarian by accident, so to speak. I used to eat a lot of meat and really enjoyed it but then realised we don't have the right to kill other sentient beings for our pleasure (and to prevent an outcry from the carnivore community: that doesn't mean I despise anyone who eats meat. After all, I did so for most of my life and nearly all my friends still do). Much like you, I thought I could never fully give it up, so I decided to radically cut meat out of my diet but that I would eat it at special occasions or if I really wanted it. (In that way, the animal's death would at least be appreciated in a way). Well, somehow those special occasions never came and after a few weeks I decided that I probably was a vegetarian, now. Well, half a vegetarian. I still ate fish (I loved sushi) occasionally for a while but eventually I gave it up, too. But because I hadn't intended to become a full vegetarian I didn't have the pressure many people who try to go vegetarian can't overcome. Maybe you should try it this way. I actually found it remarkably easy, and today, a few years later, I find it hard to believe I ever ate meat because being a vegetarian seems to be my natural way of being.
So, I suggest you try to radically reduce the meat in your diet as a first step while exploring vegetarian cuisine and then see where it goes from there. Good luck!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I don't buy that whole animals eat animals argument.

Well, they *do*.

With great power comes great responsibility, so in this situation that means that with intelligence we have the ability to consciously decide whether it's right to kill animals and eat them or not. Our ancestors didn't have the intelligence to work out that it is wrong, other animals aren't intelligent enough to know that it's wrong.

Of course it's right to kill and eat animals. It's what they're there for.

 

[AstroSmurf]

I read through most of this thread... and I am a bit flabbergasted by some of the statements here.

First off, I have been a vegetarian for eighteen years. That means I have not (and will not) consume anything with a face. That includes fish, gelatin and certain types of cheese that use cow's stomach to process. And I am, according to my family physician, in excellent health and nutritionally stable. My choice has not effected my health in a bad way at all. In some cases it has helped me. Actually my diabetes is more easily managed and my odds of getting colon cancer has dropped to less than 1%. My immune system is in much better shape than it used to be too.

I am also quite saddened by several posters complete lack of respect when it comes to another poster's beliefs. I became a vegetarian, not because of a health issue, but because of a moral obligation I felt that I had to follow. The rest of you may not understand that but I don't care. To be blunt, I don't think it is anyone's damn business. My choice is my own and I have never felt the need to justify it to anyone. And I am not going to start now either. So to that end, Tachyon Shield you should follow your heart. Sometimes doing something doesn't require a reason. Sometimes belief can not be quantified.

As for your questions about health, I would suggest consulting a nutritionist. They can help you make a safe, comfortable transition without endagering your health.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

i weep for all the faceless plants

 

[Captain Intrepid]

i weep for all the faceless plants

Though on the plus side our clocks are safe.

//starts working on breeding a faceless cow//

 

[QCzar]

I am also quite saddened by several posters complete lack of respect when it comes to another poster's beliefs. I became a vegetarian, not because of a health issue, but because of a moral obligation I felt that I had to follow. The rest of you may not understand that but I don't care. To be blunt, I don't think it is anyone's damn business. My choice is my own and I have never felt the need to justify it to anyone. And I am not going to start now either. So to that end, Tachyon Shield you should follow your heart. Sometimes doing something doesn't require a reason. Sometimes belief can not be quantified.

Be careful. People have been known to seriously hurt themselves falling off high horses.

I fully respect yours and the beliefs of all vegans/vegetarians, but don't confuse respect with "unquestioning acceptance". Quite frankly you can no more expect to be treated with kid gloves than any other "belief" that is so arbitrarily accusatory. No more than a "conservative" Christian can "believe" that all gay people are deviants and expect everyone to just silently "respect their beliefs".

The only real way to have your beliefs not criticized is to not broadcast them. If you choose not to do that, you have to expect people to debate them and their merits, just as we do with any others (see the "Patriot/Nationalist" thread). All the more so when the belief in question is so provocative as "all animals are sentient beings and by extension, people who kill and eat them are murderers". "Respect my beliefs" shouldn't be code for "keep your opinions to yourself". Further, I've not seen any sign of the "complete lack of respect" that you've pointed out.

Unless by "respect" you mean "nod disapprovingly, but in silence". Obviously, Tachyon Shield cares what people think, otherwise he wouldn't go on and on about it, starting a thread to boot. He has decided to broadcast his "damned business", and, in so doing, invited people to comment on it. And so they do and there's nothing "disrespectful" about that.

 

[Captain X]

^Exactly. BTW, this is what I think of "moral" vegetarians. AS, I respect you and all, but I still can't respect your vegetarianism and your stated reasons for being one. And I'm sorry, but I have yet to meet a vegetarian who looks healthy. Every single one I've met has been scrawny enough to look like a stiff breeze could knock them over, and they've also all had oddly colored skin that just doesn't look healthy.

 

[NCC1701]

^ Really? It must be something in the water out your way then, I know quite a few vegetarians, including my own girlfriend, and as far as I can tell they're just as healthy as the rest of us who eat meat.

And no, I don't get lectured on the evilness of my meat-eating ways by my girlfriend - her mum on the other hand... That's a tale for another time though - and she has been raised vegetarian. We both accept we are different in that way and get on with our lives. I could possibly give up meat for moral reasons, in fact, but the stuff is way too tasty for me to stay away from

And I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks vegetarian patties are criminally expensive. As it is, it's cheaper being a meat eater than buying that stuff, for fucks sake! How they justify that, I have no idea.

 

[Captain X]

So she don't eat meat but she sure like the bone?

And yes, the female vegetarians I've met tend to be just as bad if they've been on that diet for long enough. The only one I know who doesn't only recently became vegetarian, and she only did that because apparently handling meat for some kind of food place really grossed her out to it.

 

[Hoser]

And I'm sorry, but I have yet to meet a vegetarian who looks healthy.

Rob Zombie, Carrie Underwood, Natalie Portman....just off the top of my head. And I think I remember Alicia Silverstone doing some adverts for vegs.

But of course, think of the vast amounts of meat eaters who don't look healthy from the opposite angle.

Some vegetarians don't put enough thought in their diet, and sometimes they get sickly. But some meat eaters do the same and wind up overweight. It's all in how much effort you put into knowing what's going into your body.

 

[Captain X]

Rob Zombie,

Rob Zombie as an example of someone who looks healthy? That's rich.

Carrie Underwood,

Probably the best example of the three, but give her time, she'll become a waif as her body starts to digest her muscles, especially if she ever slacks off on working out.

Natalie Portman

I don't know if you noticed, but she's kind of scrawny.

Of course for most people who can't afford personal trainers and dietitians, they tend to be pale and skinny.

But of course, think of the vast amounts of meat eaters who don't look healthy from the opposite angle.

Not the meat-eaters who take care of themselves, which is much easier when you eat something your body has evolved a need for.

Some vegetarians don't put enough thought in their diet, and sometimes they get sickly. But some meat eaters do the same and wind up overweight. It's all in how much effort you put into knowing what's going into your body.

That and how much you work out, as evidenced by my ballooning from 200 to 260 pounds in about six months when I stopped working out once I got out of the Air Force but kept eating like I needed it for the energy to work out.

 

[Skywalker]

In recent months I've been kind of trying to change my diet, too. I'm not completely cutting out meats, but I have cut back big time on beef and pork. Now I mostly try to eat chicken (which isn't hard for me, since chicken has always been my favorite meat) and fish, and I've been adding a larger amount and a more varied selection of fruits and vegetables than the old mainstays.

The biggest problem for me is my roommates, who aren't quite as focused on diet change as I am. They buy a lot of the type of stuff that I used to eat, and it's all horribly tempting.

 

[WillsBabe]

They buy a lot of the type of stuff that I used to eat, and it's all horribly tempting.

You too, eh? I'm usually really good at resisting temptation, but sometimes if my self-control isn't up to parr, it's easy to give in when other people have tempting stuff. They do this all the time in work.

 

[Goliath]

I say: give in to temptation; that's what it's for.

 

[SeerSGB]

In recent months I've been kind of trying to change my diet, too. I'm not completely cutting out meats, but I have cut back big time on beef and pork. Now I mostly try to eat chicken (which isn't hard for me, since chicken has always been my favorite meat) and fish, and I've been adding a larger amount and a more varied selection of fruits and vegetables than the old mainstays.

The biggest problem for me is my roommates, who aren't quite as focused on diet change as I am. They buy a lot of the type of stuff that I used to eat, and it's all horribly tempting.

This is where I'm at: Trying, but just can't make that final leap. I know I'd lose a lot of weight and clear up a lot of health problems, but it just isn't easy. And, frankly, it's cheaper (a big issue right now) and easier to eat meat and junk that it is to eat fresh produce and scratch cook everything.

 

[Captain X]

In recent months I've been kind of trying to change my diet, too. I'm not completely cutting out meats, but I have cut back big time on beef and pork. Now I mostly try to eat chicken (which isn't hard for me, since chicken has always been my favorite meat) and fish, and I've been adding a larger amount and a more varied selection of fruits and vegetables than the old mainstays.

That's more of the ticket than cutting meat out completely. Unless you're real active, you only need a little meat in your diet to stay healthy, and chicken tends to be less fatty than beef or pork depending on how it's prepared (obviously deep fat frying it wouldn't be a good).

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

Eating meat is a billion dollar industry. From farming to transporting to distribution, culinary schools, restaurants, etc. That supports a lot of families. If everyone quit eating meat, would we have great athletes? How exciting would football, baseball, basketball, and the Olympics be (especially football with scrawny vegetarians) ???

Also, animals would no longer be raised for slaughter. So if there are no more ranches, then there are no more cows, etc., except for milk. Who here wants to contribute to the extinction of animals that we eat (pigs, for example) ???

 

[Orintho]

Consult a nutritionist first and ensure that you will be eating according to a healthy plan.

 

[TheBrew]

I read through most of this thread... and I am a bit flabbergasted by some of the statements here.

First off, I have been a vegetarian for eighteen years. That means I have not (and will not) consume anything with a face. That includes fish, gelatin and certain types of cheese that use cow's stomach to process. And I am, according to my family physician, in excellent health and nutritionally stable. My choice has not effected my health in a bad way at all. In some cases it has helped me. Actually my diabetes is more easily managed and my odds of getting colon cancer has dropped to less than 1%. My immune system is in much better shape than it used to be too.

I am also quite saddened by several posters complete lack of respect when it comes to another poster's beliefs. I became a vegetarian, not because of a health issue, but because of a moral obligation I felt that I had to follow. The rest of you may not understand that but I don't care. To be blunt, I don't think it is anyone's damn business. My choice is my own and I have never felt the need to justify it to anyone. And I am not going to start now either. So to that end, Tachyon Shield you should follow your heart. Sometimes doing something doesn't require a reason. Sometimes belief can not be quantified.

As for your questions about health, I would suggest consulting a nutritionist. They can help you make a safe, comfortable transition without endagering your health.

To be fair, if I didn't think vegetarianism was silly, I would be one. Of course, if you didn't think that you can't morally eat animals, you would eat them.

I, however, am not going to judge the reasons why people become vegetarians. It is simple a life style that I don't feel is for me. However, I am not going to judge the content of your character because you are vegan. Like many things, it is a personal preference and you don't need me or anyone else telling you what how you choose to live is wrong and vice-versa.

Just don't be holier-than-though about it (not saying that you are). It is much easier to have people join you on an even surface than to haul them up a mountain.

 

[Lookingglassman]

Shoot em, shock' em, slit their throats...none of it matters to me except when I am frying that steak or chicken or roasting some pork that the end results is a juicy piece of meat then I am happy. I love vegetables, but I aint giving up meat because of some animal suffering. Tough luck they werent born human.