Any vegetarians here?

[Greenport ferals]

I followed a vegan diet for 9 months before going back to vegetarian. Unless I brought food with me, it was tough to find anything to eat. I missed being able to grab a slice of pizza.
For a cheese substitute, I used nutritional yeast, which is a lot better than it sounds.
I agree with Whaler, you can perform well on a vegetarian diet. I used to race bikes (road and mountain) and discovered most of the top athletes never ate red meat. They ate a lot of pasta.

[Mitts & Tess]

I am. Tofu is a good source of protein. Ive notice there are a lot more choices on menus when dining out then when I started on this journey. I hate how friends stress when having me over to eat since I'm vegetarian. I'm not a big eater to begin with so I don't mind just having the vegetable.

A old neighbor of mine is having a party and mentioned he has now become a vegetarian. He is looking forward to see what I'm bringing. I'm going to bring a quinoa dish. Excellent source of protein too. I need a lot of protein since I'm a runner.

Trader Joes is a great store to find lots of vegetarian items to buy!

[maggie23]

just became a vegetarian myself 4 months ago and actually it was BECAUSE i am a cat lover now that i did it. i realize my cats do eat meat so i AM still buying the stuff unfortunately, but it is only for them. for my part, after falling in love with cats, i became really sensitive to the cruelty to animals in general and found myself having a really hard time eating an animal anymore. so after my husband told me a few more things he saw in some horrible documentary (from farm to frig), i cut meat out of my diet completely. also ended up cutting out most dairy for the same reasons. so, even though i'd like to be a better vegan, too, i must admit i am not a purist and do stray. i.e. i do eat honey (i don't REALLY see how we're exploiting the bees by eating their "waste"), and i'm afraid i still eat chocolate that has milk products in it.

i've even gone so far as to give away a leather jacket because i didn't want to appear a TOTAL hypocrite. but i have other items made from leather and suede that i bought years ago and i will just use till they fall apart. i will do my best to avoid buying these things in the future, though. i just try to do my tiny little part, but try to stop myself from doing any preaching because it is just so...preachy! ha ha!

[Arianwen]

Bees die in honey production. It is however wonderful stuff - I use it in a lot of my remedies.

I live in a farming area - I have been known to get back to my car to find a lamb's liver on my front seat (not since my father died since I hate the stuff) but the animals have a natural life until they are killed - very different to intensive farming. I will not touch any meat that is factory farmed and actively campaign against it. My butcher only supplies meat from local farms.

[tigre86]

^ Kudos to you for being a conscious carnivore! The real problem I have with the meat industry is the treatment of the animals on commercial farms. They don't live happy or healthy lives..which I think affects the quality of the meat itself. I hope there's a change regarding that in the future...

i've even gone so far as to give away a leather jacket because i didn't want to appear a TOTAL hypocrite.

While I understand the sentiment (some people are very judgmental about how vegans/vegetarians live), I don't think owning a leather jacket makes you a hypocrite. You bought it before you changed your lifestyle and I don't see anything wrong with keeping those things. It's worse to be wasteful than to own leather (imo at least). I admire your dedication and love for animals though! I only buy meat for my cats too (I refuse to do a raw diet though...just can't stomach the thought of making food for them). It's natural for them to eat meat.

Tofu is a good source of protein. Ive notice there are a lot more choices on menus when dining out then when I started on this journey. I hate how friends stress when having me over to eat since I'm vegetarian. I'm not a big eater to begin with so I don't mind just having the vegetable.

Not a fan of tofu. But maybe that's just because I don't know how to properly cook it, lol. I'm glad there are more options for vegetarians than there used to be, it'd be boring to get stuck eating salads all the time. I've also found that a lot of places are willing to take the meat out of a dish if you just ask. And people are always worried about what I will eat too, lol. We're not aliens, we like potatoes too.

It's really cool to hear about all the vegetarian athletes here. So many people think you need protein from a meat source to have the strength and energy to do that which clearly isn't true.

[marie73]

I've given up vegetables and fruit. When I ate salads, I could hear the little cherry tomatoes screaming. And I won't even go into the awful details about what happened when I peeled an orange.

[Whaler]

Originally Posted by tigre86

It's really cool to hear about all the vegetarian athletes here. So many people think you need protein from a meat source to have the strength and energy to do that which clearly isn't true.

it is amazing how many "best in sport" athletes are vegetarian/vegan when you consider that only 3 percent of the american population follows a vegetarian diet.


the thing with protein is that all whole foods contain protein;
fruit - 6.7%
nuts and seeds - 11%
grains - 13%
vegetables - 22%
beans - 28%

*protein given as a percentage of calories

also, when you factor in that the "need to combine proteins" myth is not true (as admitted by the person that started the myth - Frances Moore-Lappé) it is easy to see how you get more than enough protein on a vegan diet.

[Mitts & Tess]

Originally Posted by marie73

I've given up vegetables and fruit. When I ate salads, I could hear the little cherry tomatoes screaming. And I won't even go into the awful details about what happened when I peeled an orange.

You had to add humor! Now I will not look at a cherry tomatoes without laughing. I eat them as snacks on the run!

I'm definitely a limited vegetarian. I could never do vegan being raised in Wisconsin, I'm addicted to cheese, and any milk product! I do what I can to end suffering of animals. There are limits for me. I wear leather shoes, have leather seats in my car, etc.

[LunaTheHimmydoll]

I am vegan, myself. I was a vegetarian for seven years and just went vegan this past summer.

[Greenport ferals]

Originally Posted by Arianwen

Bees die in honey production. It is however wonderful stuff - I use it in a lot of my remedies.

It is wonderful stuff. Good beekeepers are careful not to squash any bees when working the hives. I loved my bees and would never hurt them. My partner and I had 55 hives at our height of production. The only times bees would die was inadvertently, when they clung to the frames and went along for the ride to the honey house. We used air pressure to remove as many as we could as we worked each hive, but couldn't get them all.

We always left the bees more honey than we thought they'd need for the winter. If they didn't make enough for their own needs, we fed them.

Even as a vegan, I would not feel hypocritical about eating honey. The relationship between bees and beekeepers can be beneficial to both.