Any vegetarians here?

[tigre86]

Just wondered if there were any fellow vegetarians on the forum.

[coyt]

i am hello!

[Greenport ferals]

::Raises hand::

[Arianwen]

I'm not a vegetarian but I won't eat anything that isn't free range and I love lots of veggie food.

[October]

About 5 years ago I gave up mammals. I don't eat anything but chicken and turkey, and let me tell you I'm really sick of chicken and turkey at this point. It was a compromise with myself because I do need protein and want to be able to order things in restaurants, but I don't want to help create a demand for cows or pigs.

[cinderflower]

Originally Posted by October

About 5 years ago I gave up mammals. I don't eat anything but chicken and turkey, and let me tell you I'm really sick of chicken and turkey at this point. It was a compromise with myself because I do need protein and want to be able to order things in restaurants, but I don't want to help create a demand for cows or pigs.

you probably already know this but factory farmed chicken and turkey is treated just as inhumanely and raised in even more disgusting circumstances than beef or pork. this includes dairy cattle (factory farmed) but you can read.

if you need protein sources, wheat gluten is acceptable for human beings, as is soy. nuts are high in fat but you can include small amounts to supplement, and there are many ways to combine vegetables and create a complete protein. quinoa is one grain that stands alone.

vegetarianism/veganism is not anything to be approached haphazardly, because a person can make themselves ill and deficient in a lot of areas if they don't do a lot of the nutritional homework. (and if they don't want to and would rather eat mcribs and hot pockets instead, i don't care LOL. they don't tell me to eat steak and i don't tell them what to eat.) i only mention alternative protein sources because you are apparently interested. if you don't care, never mind.

37 yr. vegetarian, and i have lapses of veganism. or i should say i try to eat vegan as much as possible but sometimes i feel like eating ice cream or pizza. as far as i am concerned, tofutti is not an acceptable substitute for ben & jerry's and i have yet to find a soy cheese that is edible.

i don't think "cheating" on dairy cows a couple of times a year is the end of the world, but i wish i could say that i didn't do it. i don't really do it for moral, ethical or spiritual reasons so that is probably how i am able to live with myself. (<----sarcasm)

if i liked honey, i would have no problem eating it without feeling bad for the little bee slaves. nor will i stop using burt's bees lip balm because it's the best i've found in 20 years. just because it contains beeswax, it is not PETA approved.

[tigre86]

^ Don't forget beans! Beans are an excellent source of protein. Since I'm not a vegan, I also eat greek yogurt to get protein. I've had no real problems getting enough protein in my diet. I think that's one of the myths of being a vegetarian. I initially gave up red meat too (for health reasons mostly) but I eventually took it all out of my diet. Meat just doesn't agree with my body so I don't miss it. I advocate a balanced diet more than a vegetarian one (though I think it'd be great if everyone went meatless at least once a week!).

Great to meet other vegetarians here! I know some vegans believe that it's wrong to own a cat or dog because you're still supporting the meat industry. Really depressing thought so I'm glad to see I'm not alone in being a cat lover as well as a vegetarian.

[Arianwen]

I won't touch factory farmed products with a barge-pole. Luckily local farms are still very "natural" - there's no battery farming in miles of me and even the dairy farming involves cows grazing and then coming in to be milked. Unfortunately, I don't know how long that will stay the case. A friend of mine (now deceased) rescued some former battery chickens and you would not believe how hard it was to get them acting like normal chickens - they all made it in the end.

[Whaler]

count me in, i went vegetarian years ago.

many years ago, before going vegetarian i was, for ethical reasons, only eating white meats that free range. i then started doing some real in depth research on diets since i wanted to increase my running times as well as my endurance during long runs. after doing the research (only from peer reviewed papers since there is lots of nutritional opinion out there) the thing that became obvious was that a true vegetarian, or even better a vegan diet was what would fit the bill.

within the first year i chopped 30 seconds off of my "maximum" mile. within less than 2 years i knocked another 15 seconds off and was able to keep my maximum going for over 4 miles. before going vegetarian i could maintain my maximum for only about 2 miles. additionally, i was able to physically bounce back so much faster. on my day that i run twice i used to only be able to do a mellow 6-7 k on my evening run but now i was able to go for 10 k while increasing my speed.

as far as protein, it has already been pointed out that is a moot point. with the level of activity i have, along with the fact that i am 6'2" i need to consume a minimum of 90 grams of protein a day and i achieve that without a problem.

Originally Posted by cinderflower

vegetarianism/veganism is not anything to be approached haphazardly, because a person can make themselves ill and deficient in a lot of areas if they don't do a lot of the nutritional homework.

not sure what you mean specifically. if you are referring to calcium, vitamin d and b12 then yes, i agree. although if you do eat a somewhat diversified diet it really isn't an issue.

and i have yet to find a soy cheese that is edible.

yup, that is exactly what keeps me from being vegan. although some of the real high grade rice cheese and almond cheese is pretty good every once in a while i gotta have a mozzarella/tomato/pesto sandwich.

[AdoptAnAngel]

Originally Posted by cinderflower

i have yet to find a soy cheese that is edible.

Hi Cinderflower,

This isn't soy-based but have you ever tried Daiya? It seems to be the most popular "cheese" among vegans where I live. I have yet to try it myself but from what I hear, it actually melts, too. Daiya - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I admit: I'm no longer vegetarian. I was for 8 years, but seafood eventually got to me. Mussels, crabs and shrimp. I know it's shellfish of me but what can I say.