Any Vegetarians?

[Keana]

I'm a vegetarian and have been for about 7 years. Maybe about 10 in total. I tried when I was much younger and didn't do it very well. Mostly side salads and french fries... For the last 7 years I have been much better at it. It's much easier these days! Lots more products for us to buy at any grocery store and more places to eat out. I started because I have never liked the taste of meat. It tastes completely gross and sits around in your system like a dead (literally dead) weight. My favorite vegetarian is Indian Veggie, or Buddhist Vegan foods. I am not a vegan, I eat eggs and cheese but don't like milk, and no fish.
Bye, Keana

[Dale]

I guess I might as welll "out" myself too.
About eight years, personal ethical/spiritual reasons, my wife and kids are not.
The others have said it all; have a mixed diet, suppliment with eggs, cheese, milk, peanut butter etc... It's not that hard really.
My personal advise would be to refrain from being preachy. Nobody likes a zealot

[andsoitgoes]

I'd like to second what Dale said. Preachy vegetarians just end up getting smacked by those who aren't. It accomplishes nothing, I'm not a pastor and there ain't no way I'm going to try and "convert" people.

I do, however, speak my mind when someone asks or speaks ignorantly about being vegetarian. Then, and ONLY then, will I get a bit more... "vocal"

I'd like to touch on a few other factors:

- Again with protiens, Omega 3 and 6 from Flax are very complete, and a dietician will validate that, so again - go see them if you're at all concerned.

- Be open to trying weird, weird stuff. My wife *HATED* tofu when she "joined the fold", but now she loves it. Try everything once, if you've had Sushi I'm there is little in vegetarian meals that will make you raise an eyebrow... except for Vegan cheese. My girls love it, I won't touch it with a 20 foot pole.

- It is INSANELY easy to buy veggie now. Safeway, Save-on, Superstore, etc - all of these stores have either sections, or in the case of Superstore, an entire line of vegetarian products (Superstore's PC Veggie Chilli is AWESOME)

- Look into ethnic dishes. You'll find huge selection of Indian cuisine, Mexican, Thai, etc. Lots of tastiness!

[BC564]

As a meat eater.....Can I ask a maybe ignorant/silly question? What would ethical reasons be...I'm just curious......And sorry Im not try to offend anyone but just dont understand.

[justinl]

there are ethical motivations behind many of the vegetarians and vegans due to malpractice and mistreatment of the animals that supply us with our meat. Have you ever seen the state animals are kept in and how they are treated? It is not a pretty sight.

Others just don't like the taste of meat. that simple. It's like how some people don't like fish (yes i know that's meat, it's just more common than not liking beef for example).

Still others do it for religious purposes.

[BC564]

I totally understand the religious reasons.....and the different religions and different kinds of meat.....maybe im not understanding being raised on a farm? I have no idea..... I am just really not understanding the ethically or morally part....again....sorry for being dumb on the subject

[andsoitgoes]

Originally Posted by BC564

I totally understand the religious reasons.....and the different religions and different kinds of meat.....maybe im not understanding being raised on a farm? I have no idea..... I am just really not understanding the ethically or morally part....again....sorry for being dumb on the subject

Not a problem - I know for me it's the killing of another living thing to eat it. It's not a necessity to survive or even thrive, and I can look towards eating other things that provide my body the same as, say, a chicken or fish would.

The "thing" that finally pushed me over the edge was deboning a salmon. I have a friend who is native, and I was able to buy a full salmon for $10. Problem is that it needed to be deboned, and also still had its head on it.

The entire process pushed me in an avenue I was already travelling, and it became clear that eating animals was not what I ever wanted to do again, if I could at all help it. I love all animals (well, maybe not spiders or mosquitos ) and I personally see no need to kill them for food, or have them killed for me.

Does that help a bit?

[justinl]

lol don't worry about it BC564. You don't have to agree, just respect them in that they have their own opinions.

imagine you're a cow for a moment. Your entire life consists of sitting crammed with other cows in a stall with the occassional roam in a field. some cows are not fed well. Many end up eating their own dung because their stalls are not cleaned out. getting branded by a red hot iron in the ass sucks. your teats hurt because you are forced to produce a ridiculously unatural amount of milk. every week or so you're hooked up to a machine that sucks the milk out of you. eventually you stop producing milk and you are moved to the slaughter house where you will be killed and sliced apart for food.

not a very pleasant story is it? I still eat meat but am still thouroughly disgusted by the practice.