The Vegetarian & Vegan Thread

[Ella]

Lately I've been considering becoming a vegetarian, but I'm thinking of first giving up red meat and then giving up fish etc. I love meat but I want to start a healthier diet, and especially give up red meat for health reasons. I feel exhausted all the time even though I take vitamins everyday, eat plenty of fruits and get plenty of sleep and I'm pretty sure it's because of red meat. Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[Bonchic]

I use to be sleepy all the time and I think part of the reason was my diet and no exercise. But now I try to walk at least 4 miles a day and I take vitamins and no red meat. I try to get 9 hours of sleep and I feel great now! I think if you're thinking about becoming a vegetarian that if you really do like meat then you should start the process slowly that way you don't feel deprived of anything. Start looking for meat replacement food. I found that Gardenburgers are alot better than Boca's imo and Boca has great pizza, lasagne and sausages! So just look around and I'm sure you'll find it's easier than you think! If you need any advice or help this is a great place to ask!

 

[Artemis]

Lately I've been considering becoming a vegetarian, but I'm thinking of first giving up red meat and then giving up fish etc. I love meat but I want to start a healthier diet, and especially give up red meat for health reasons. I feel exhausted all the time even though I take vitamins everyday, eat plenty of fruits and get plenty of sleep and I'm pretty sure it's because of red meat. Has anyone else experienced this?

That's one of the reasons why my mom because a vegetarian. She had constant headaches, fevers, and could barely get through the day. Yogis say that meat, comming from a dead animal, has negative energy which lowers you "life force" if you eat it and also contains toxins (who know WHAT they feed farm animals these days); all of this slows down your metabolism and vitality and makes you feel lethargic. So yes, cut out the red meat and substitute it with something else. Fish is a good alternative but be careful with all the mercury and pesticide poisoning going on

 

[DressageChick]

I use to be sleepy all the time and I think part of the reason was my diet and no exercise. But now I try to walk at least 4 miles a day and I take vitamins and no red meat. I try to get 9 hours of sleep and I feel great now! I think if you're thinking about becoming a vegetarian that if you really do like meat then you should start the process slowly that way you don't feel deprived of anything. Start looking for meat replacement food. I found that Gardenburgers are alot better than Boca's imo and Boca has great pizza, lasagne and sausages! So just look around and I'm sure you'll find it's easier than you think! If you need any advice or help this is a great place to ask!

Yeah gardenburgers>>>>>>boca burgers. I also really like eating imitation chicken fingers or whatever but I forget which brand I get for that.

 

[Bonchic]

this is what I'm talkin about when I said gardenburger

 

[Missoni~Heiress]

im a vegitarian... i feel so pure inside

 

[sea of stitches]

i nearly ate meat the other day it my boyfriend was eating this sandwich with bacon and melted cheese grilled it looked so delish! i really wanted to take a bite

thankfully i didnt

there is the most delicious nutritional yeast cheese sandwich (that even non-vegans like) in the new farm vegetarian cookbook!! i never even like grilled cheese before this. it is pretty unhealthy though. if you are looking for something healthier, i think there's a decent cashew cheese on vegweb that would work. i add tomatoes and crumbled herbed tofu to make it a little healthier (and i eat a salad). if you lived in america, you could get tempeh bacon which is very, very yummy.

i do feel way healthier being vegan rather than vegetarian, but i take that in part to a growing interest in vegetables. people can be healthy or unhealthy on any diet. i try to stay away from processed foods in general, but i L-O-V-E vegenaise. i try to eat as much organic as possible and i am learning not to beat myself up if i eat something processed once in a while. i think the point is doing what one feels comfortable with, while educating themselves as much as possible. we are lucky to have choices!

i am trying to eat more living foods. but it's not going super well as i have yet to make any concrete plans (jeesh, it can take a lot of planning if i want my meals to be as varied as they are now.) for now, i think it is fine just to eat predominately vegetables, cooked or not.

oh, and omega 3, you can get from flaxseeds and flax seed oil. and b12 you can get from seaweed, especially laver. i've heard you can get it from nutritional yeast too, but i am slightly skeptical on that.

if anyone wants any advice or help, feel free to pm me, food and fashion are my favorite things to talk about!

 

[june gloom]

when i first stopped eating meat, i got horrible headaches. i don't know if it was from the change in my diet or because of stressful situations, or possibly a mixture of both. i'm just glad my family stocks up on the bottles of 200 advils. i became a vegetarian at the beginning of this year. it's always something i wanted to do but never put in effect. there are some things that i do miss, but it's not the end of the world. it's a little hard sometimes because i'm a naturally picky eater to begin with and i wiped out a good number of options but i'm always looking for something to try. i don't know, i guess i felt hypocritical for loving animals and yet eating them. i didn't like the taste of some of a lot of meat, either. especially burgers, yuck. i'm so glad i don't have to eat them for dinner anymore. i've never touched seafood in my life, either.

my parents have been mostly supportive, except sometimes they can be evil! "go ahead, just have a little.. i won't tell anyone!" i got that all day on my birthday. i haven't given in, which is surprising and i'm glad. i never used to eat a lot of fruits but i'm trying to add more healthier items into my diet.

i don't think i could ever be a vegan, though. for those of you that are, i'm proud. being a vegetarian has opened some of my friends up to considering it. taking certain meats out of your diet slowly worked well for me.

 

[Sweets]

i love love love love love my vegan diet

 

[fashionista-ta]

well I've just heard of PETA people who like throw stuff on people's fur while they're walking down the street (nyc) or whatever I dunno like I said no offense to those who are! I actually love soy milk it's soo good! This week I'm cutting out all meat except fish and next week it'll be the dairy which I think will be a little harder because like everything has some kind of dairy product in it! And who knows I may still eat some dairy stuff. How long does it take for the Peta starter kit to get to me does anyone know?

Just wanted to say ... please be careful with the fish. I just read an article by Daphne Zuniga (I take so many magazines I'm not sure where--O?? Organic Style??) about how she ate only fish as her meat and ended up with mercury poisoning. It can happen pretty easily. It would be fine to eat just fish if our oceans weren't so polluted, but they are ... basically what helps is eating young fish. I switched back from albacore tuna to chunk light for this reason. The younger the fish, the less mercury buildup in its body.

 

[Melisande]

Hi Fashionista-ta, that is very interesting information about young fish. I will keep that in mind.

I used to be strict macrobiotic vegan for 1.5 years. "Ovo-lacto" for another year and a half, and now I eat some fish. I agree about labels not being good. A person could eat no veggies and nothing but cheese and eggs and call herself "ovo-lacto", or gorge on seafood and be "pescetarian". For me now, I still enjoy eating "mostly vegan" 95 % of the time but don't stress over ingesting dairy/fish.

I grew up and live in Japan...home of sushi... where every single dish, even veggies, is cooked with fish products. Vegetarianism is practically unknown here. I found that keeping up my lifestyle was becoming extremely stressful for myself and others...being invited to people's homes, eating out, asking persistantly about ingredients...too often it was a choice between being a big burden to others, or eating fish occasionally. (I also love my sushi too much to give it up for life .)

For me, the basic line to eating anything ethically is really, really savoring it, not taking more than we need, and being thankful for and worthy of the life and bounty being offered up. And that goes for vegetables too.

 

[cupkate]

^i've noticed any time i look at ingredients for japanese or thai food it always has some sort of fish oil in it. i'm sure that is hard to get around living there.


and good for you guys who can go strictly vegan. vegetarian was super easy for me, happened by accident even. but i just can't make the leap to vegan. and i won't until it happens easily.

 

[fugfashion]

I'm vegetarian but my mother thinks it's crazy that I want to be vegan
Vegans what should I do ?

 

[DressageChick]

I'm vegetarian but my mother thinks it's crazy that I want to be vegan
Vegans what should I do ?

Yeah, I currently eat only fish as meat, and my mom thinks its crazy for me to give up fish as well. I'll probably just wait until I'm on my own to become vegan.

 

[fugfashion]

^ I think i'll do the same ...

 

[Amelia]

Oh...I see. I'm a vegetarian but my parents are great. They're both doctors and they respect my opinions. Do you know that meat isn't very popular in my home?I know that I'm not a vegan, but I'm not ready for that now. I think that I'll do that in the future. Now besides meat I don't eat fishes (IMO THEY'RE STILL MEAT AND I CAN'T UNDERSTAND HOW CAN EVERYBODY TELL THAT THEY AREN'T ) and everything with pectin, gelatine and others ingredients which were made by animals. I'm a vegetarian because I love animals. They're a part of my life! I can't stand that they're killed. It's awful for me. It't not that I want to be different. I was very conscious when I decided to be a vegetarian. It was 2 years ago. I won't change my mind. Never. I'm very healthful and nobody can tell me that this 'diet' isn't good for me. I won't change my mind even if somebody tell me that it's not good for my body. It is. And it will be!

 

[urd]

I'm a vegeterian and I highly recommend it

 

[indie]

I started being somekind of vegetarian when I was 13 . I don't eat red meat and chiken etc but I do eat fish (mostly tuna ) sometimes. Because of my age and considering the fact that I don't eat so healthily everytime and not getting the proteins etc I take iron pills and multivitamins weekly. I'm working on my veggie diet.

I think it's funny to call *** "veggies". Yeah I'm a tomato and my friend there is cucumber.

I buy my leather stuff always second-handed. I'd like to be vegan when I'm older.

 

[Annabel]

I "officially" became a vegan today, although I am not really telling anyone. My parents worried when I became a vegetarian a few months ago and I don't want them to worry even more (especially considering the fact that it is perfectly healthy, and they have nothing to worry about). But I am very excited! I just bought "How it all Vegan" and made an enormous pot of spicy vegetable soup . Can anyone recommend some good literature on the health benefits of being a vegan? Not that I haven't researched pretty thoroughly, but I'd like to have something scientific to assuage my parents' fears when I do tell them.

 

[Bonchic]

congrats annabel! I hope to go vegan one day too!