Are you vegetarian/vegan?

**bridge** · 06-07-2006, 05:15 PM

If so.....

How long have you been?

Is you SO/Family also?

Why do you choose this lifestyle? (Health, animal rights, religion, etc..)

I am really mulling this over......
I really have been trying to follow a vegetarian lifestyle in the last month.
Mostly because I think it is best for the earth, the animals, and ME.
But I seem to have all these questions and thoughts that go thru my mind.
I also have a hard time since my SO is quite the carnivore.

**EmilyD** · 06-07-2006, 05:41 PM

I am working on becoming a vegetarian.

I made it two months once

My main reason for going vege is my health, animal rights are a concern as well. When I am practicing, I am lacto-ovo and really doubt I could go vegan.

My main problem is dh and his refusal to eat anything healthy. I get tired of fighting it and give up for a while then go back. It means two different meals every time I cook, so most of the time I use frozen meals for him.

bg · 06-07-2006, 06:05 PM

My husband and I are primarily vegetarians, but we are non fussy vegetarians because its a pain to be vegetarian in social situations like weddings, parties. Most of our friends are vegetarians. Actually, I think 90% of our friends are vegetarians.

Growing up we had meat only once a week and while we were primarily vegetarians, we identified with the non-vegetarians.

As an adult, I dabbled with veganism for a month (last summer) and gave up because one can get into infinite regression in being vegan (vegan shoes for example, or honey or sugar) and it takes a lot of planning to having consistently good vegan meals and with school and FT work it wasn't easy. I also dislike much of the literature about veganism. I don't like to read about veganism and see GIANT pictures of cow udders or a pig close up.

I tried vegetarianism and veganism because I thought it would be a good idea to try it out. It began like my idea to give up T.V. - what if there was no meat or butter, could I deal with it without turning into someone really cranky? Although during my 30 days as a vegan I really did learn alot about the environment and so on.

Clean up as a vegetarian is easy (no fatty stuff to be scrubbed off the cutting board - for example). Even though I occasionally eat non-vegetarian meals, I refuse to eat certain meats because I dislike the taste or how it looks: turkey, pork in any form, sausages, certain sea food - especially anything that looks like a cockroach.

**Darlene** · 06-07-2006, 06:41 PM

No, on both of those but Jack & I are eating way less meat especially when the kids aren't around. We're trying to cut back on fat & calories and it's really helped. We do enjoy cheese & eggs etc.too much to get rid of those but meat consumption is way down. My new veggie friend is Eggplant, it really helps me in losing weight.

**Englishlady** · 06-08-2006, 03:18 AM

I have been Vegetarian for about 30 years and Vegan for about 16.

I am an ETHICAL Vegan, it is NOT for health reasons, although it has to be said that I am not fat and my cholesterol levels are below average.

Milk is breast milk for baby cows and I don't know anyone that would put breast milk on their cereal, so why do humans put the breast milk of a different species on theirs???? ~ that's the way I loook at it

It is much cheaper to eat veggie/vegan although it is perfectly possible to eat MORE fat/& calories if you substitute too much cheese for meat.

My husband was not Veggie when we met and I never tried to change him, he has told me that he felt less comfortable eating meat in my company as my love of animals was ( and still is) a big part of who I am.

He decided one day to give it up and he went right from carnivore to Vegan almost overnight!! I am very proud of him and I don't know many guys who could do that.
He loves my cooking and we eat healthily and enjoy what we eat.

Yes, it IS hard to eat outside the home, and that is why we are not able to eat out very often, but on the plus side we are saving a bundle of money, are not fat and I don't feel a hypocrite when I go alll melty over cute lambs.

You have to decide what is right for you and your life and lt's like being overweight, unless you can be truthful to yourself, you will never succeed.

I don't have the luxury of any veggie (let alone vegan) friends, but it doesn't bother me, I comfort myself with the fact that I am not eating myself into an early grave and paying a lot of money to boot!

They say you are what you eat, well that makes me a bit of a cow!!

**Englishlady** · 06-08-2006, 03:18 AM

As in cows eating grass I should say!

**Scattymum** · 06-08-2006, 05:13 AM

Originally Posted by bridge

If so.....

How long have you been?

Is you SO/Family also?

Why do you choose this lifestyle? (Health, animal rights, religion, etc..)

.

I have been a vegetarian for about 20 years, I dont eat fish, meat or milk no one in my family or any of my friends are but it really doesnt bother me. DH and the kids all eat meat although we have veggie days, I am lucky that my kids will opt for veggies all the time - they both love cucumbers, carrots, red pepper etc... I know alot of my friends think I am wierd but they accept me for who I am, if I am having dinner with them then I have whatever they are but without the meat.

I originally gave up meat because i hated the texture and taste of most of it - I also gave up because of ethical beliefs. Its a personal desision - if you feel its right for you then do it!

**Sara Noel** · 06-08-2006, 09:48 AM

I could easily change my eating. I just asked Gabe yesterday again if he'd be willing to make some changes. It "ain't" gonna happen with him. He's a diehard meat guy.

I'd like to implement some changes just for me, but time is a major luxury lately.

I have a moderate intolerance to dairy and could cut that out completely, although I would miss cheese.

I definitely am not a meat lover. I spend half my time battling a weak stomach when handling and cooking it. At one point, I had cut red meat and would get stomach problems if I did eat it. Through the years, I have been able to tolerate it again and we eat red meat at least once a week now.

My biggest problem is I don't eat seafood of any type, so what the heck would I eat. lol

**canadian gardener** · 06-08-2006, 10:15 AM

I was moving in that direction at one time, but found my health took a nose dive.

Turned out I was allergic to legumes (soy, peanuts, lentils, green peas, beans both green and dry, TVP, tofu)

and that I'd sensitized my thyroid gland by soy protein so I ended up with a chronic thryoiditis which I now take medication for.

If you are atopic or have a tendency to develop allergies (atopic) then it may be a bit risky to start taking all your proteins from one source (legumes) since soy and legumes are one of the potent allergenic trigger foods.

something I wish I'd known before I started on my experiment was that there is a real spike in thryoiditis and a lot of indications that the increase in soy foods may be to blame.

women as they approach menopause are more susceptible to thyroiditis, and a lot of natural health practioners are recommending using a lot of soy products to reduce hot flashes. Unfortunately this can make the tendency to thyroiditis even worse.

Just keep it in mind, and watch out for the symptoms. I had no idea about that, although I did know that I'm easy to get new allergies, so I really have no excuse for my ending up with a legume allergy.

Symptoms of thyroiditis are fatigue, swollen or painful thryoid gland (base of neck) and a slew of other minor symptoms which just make life a bit miserable.

I had severe fatigue and increasing arthritis for several years before the thyroid gland swelled up.

**PINKDUCKY** · 06-08-2006, 01:06 PM

I have been a vegetarian since 14, I started for ethical/ecological reasons. Through the years it has been more now for ecological and health reasons, I find more and more that it just makes sense for the planet and my body. Dh has been a vegetarian for about a year and a half and he does it mainly because he said he sees a difference in his running stamina and it even helps with his weight lifting. I don't know if thats psychological but whatever helps! He's very health concious so the change wasn't that far a jump.
We do, however, eat some fish here and there but not too often. We don't eat a lot of dairy, maybe organic yogurt once in a while or organic eggs on the weekends.

My children eat whatever I cook but I allow them to eat anything they want (nutritiously of course!) when we go out to eat or if we are at other peoples houses. I think its important that they make their own choices and not feel different from other kids, a happy meal is such the treat every once in a while! They know mom and dad don't eat meat and they know why so we just guide them as much as possible. I think its important especially in the formative years to not deprive them of that B12, I know there are supplements but I wouldn't know how much is enough and I would feel horrible if they had some kind of deficiency on account of my lifestyle. I also don't like the sound of antibiotics or hormones in my food so that is even more reason to keep to a non-meat menu.

**PINKDUCKY** · 06-08-2006, 01:17 PM

Something to ask though, when I was pregnant with ds I had the meanest craving for chicken, not just chicken though it had to be Dixie BBQ chicken! With lots of sauce! Does anyone know why I would crave something I know I wouldnt eat now?? My dh thinks its because my body needed the extra iron for the baby... or the baby was taking away mine so I needed to replace it. Or I just wanted something salty! Sorry for getting off the subject, just thought I'd ask!

**camismommy** · 06-09-2006, 08:25 AM

My 6 1/2 year old daughter and I just went vegetarian 7 weeks ago. It was not that hard because we really only ate chicken for meat anyway. We made the switch together for ethical reasons mostly but also to be healthier . Now that she has labled us "veggies" she feels the need to eat more vegetables and whole grains so we are not overdoing it with the soy. I make sure we are taking in the proper amount of vits and mins by also taking our daily vitamin.
My husband just eats whatever I make and only orders meat in restaurants. He thinks what we are doing is great.
We both feel great and are happy with our choice!