Any Vegetarians/Vegans?

[gekko513]

I'm not a vegetarian, but I often choose vegetarian meals over meat dishes when I have the choice. The cafeteria at university seems to be making more effort when it comes to the veggie meals, so they often look like the better tasting choice, and I'm rarely disappointed. I also try to reduce my dependancy on meat since the production makes for very inefficient use of farm land compared to vegetables.

 

[MattyB]

Further Advice + Ultimate Recipes

So having a prefectly good vegetarian diet yet being 1.5 stone (21lbs) underweight and ill a lot of the time was a good thing?

When I was a veggie my girlfriend (at the time) was a nutritionist, so she kept a very close eye on what I ate.

That doesn't sound good, but my advice stands. Did you consult someone with experience of vegan nutrition? Most professionals have not trained themselves in this specialism. Vegetarian diets are far from perfect, it usually means cheese.

http://www.veganhealth.org is the best resource I know of. It is a specialist nutritionist's site.

The assumption that a veggie/vegan diet is great for everyone is also incorrect.

No it isn't. It has been a very long time since a study has found a problem. On the contrary, vegans are repeatedly found to have excellent health. It has even been a while since the animal agriculture industry funded an opposing study.

If this was not the case it seems strange that once I started eating meat and fish again I was a healthy weight and was rarely ill and felt a lot better in myself.

Glad you are feeling better but are you sure it was merely re-adding meat? I did hear of a similar case that turned-out to be crone's disease. This is not a comment on your case, just the result of a previously similar case.

As for ethics. My health was more important.

That's an individual choice, but largely academic according to evidence. I hope I never have to make that choice.

I suggest we don't continue with this. I could present mountains of evidence but what often happens is that these exchanges degenerate when evidence is presented. I suggest we talk about Thanksgiving recipes.

My recommendation would be Isa Chandra Moskowitz' Veganomicon. That is absolutely the last word in vegan cooking. If you go to Erik Marcus' site http://www.vegan.com you will find a link.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I'm going to invent a holiday for the rest of us...

m2b8.com

 

[bc008]

well i have been a vegetarian since day one.
here is my timeline

age 1-6 just didnt like it taste wise
6-10 the tought of eating something that was warm and had life coarsing through it was weird to me

10-current realized that we life in a society where we dont need to rely on meat as our main food source.

for thanksgiving i eat everything but the turkey!

 

[bartelby]

No it isn't. It has been a very long time since a study has found a problem. On the contrary, vegans are repeatedly found to have excellent health. It has even been a while since the animal agriculture industry funded an opposing study.

Like I said, it doesn't suit everybody. I know a couple of other people who were advised to change from a vegan/veggie diet for health reasons.

That's an individual choice, but largely academic according to evidence. I hope I never have to make that choice.

I suggest we don't continue with this. I could present mountains of evidence but what often happens is that these exchanges degenerate when evidence is presented. I suggest we talk about Thanksgiving recipes.

My recommendation would be Isa Chandra Moskowitz' Veganomicon. That is absolutely the last word in vegan cooking. If you go to Erik Marcus' site http://www.vegan.com you will find a link.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I'm going to invent a holiday for the rest of us...

The other thing I don't like about vegetarians, and especially vegans, is that they tend to have a huge superiority complex. Vegans look down upon lacto-ovo-vegetarians who in turn look down upon pisco-vegetarians.

Eat what you want but don't preach about it. How would veggies like it if everytime they had a forkful of nutroast a meat eater tutted?


Where I work there are a few vegans and they are, without doubt, the most annoying, judgemental and generally whining pillocks I've come across.

 

[MattyB]

Like I said, it doesn't suit everybody. I know a couple of other people who were advised to change from a vegan/veggie diet for health reasons.

Agreed, but it is a preference. As I mentioned I have coached people who have had this advice and it has never been a VEGAN diet that caused the problem in my experience. Most doctors and nutritionists have no direct experience and rely on old information or societal prejudices, that's why I recommended the site I did.

The other thing I don't like about vegetarians, and especially vegans, is that they tend to have a huge superiority complex. Vegans look down upon lacto-ovo-vegetarians who in turn look down upon pisco-vegetarians.

As another point this is true, but where in my text is there evidence that I think that way?

Don't Mac users look down on Windows users?

Don't people tend to do this?

Eat what you want but don't preach about it. How would veggies like it if everytime they had a forkful of nutroast a meat eater tutted?

Preach? If you look at what I said I was helping you. You had said that you were clean but had to revert. I was intending to give you hope.

Where I work there are a few vegans and they are, without doubt, the most annoying, judgemental and generally whining pillocks I've come across.

That is a personal, anonymous attack. I wonder why people judge you.

m2b8.com

 

[bartelby]

Preach? If you look at what I said I was helping you. You had said that you were clean but had to revert. I was intending to give you hope.

That is a personal, anonymous attack. I wonder why people judge you.

m2b8.com

Did I ask for your "help"?
NO, especially as you're not qualified in any way to dole out advice on nutrition.
Was I unclean?
NO, and thanks for the insult.

I have plenty of hope and you're beginning to sound psuedo-religious now.

It's not just me they act like prats towards.


Life's to short to deny yourself pleasures like a nice very rare steak.

 

[aristobrat]

My recommendation would be Isa Chandra Moskowitz' Veganomicon. That is absolutely the last word in vegan cooking.

Ah, cool -- I'll have to check that out.

I'm totally in love with her other book:

 

[scotthayes]

So is beef, pork, fish, lamb, turkey, veal, duck, rabbit, deer, buffalo, kangaroo, snake, horse, and even pigeon.

But otherwise, I'd definitely consider it. *thumbs up*

hmmmmmmmm... Sounds like my fridge (apart from the snake)

Here's a thought. If I have somebody over for dinner who is a vegi, I always make sure I cook something vegi for them, even make sure that anything that has come in contact with the meat doesn't touch their food. When I go to a vegi's house for dinner all I get is vegi food...

 

[.Andy]

I'm a healthy vege of ~5 years. Before that I was waxed an waned for about 3 years doing a few months at a time before it all got too hard - my partner at the time was a omnivore so I had to cook two meals.

But the last five years has been fantastic. I don't miss meat at all and my diet and cooking has improved out of sight. I've found being vege has really enthused me to branch out using different vegetables, pulses, beans, and flavours etc that I otherwise wouldn't have. I also have branched out into baking my own breads which has been great. I give my food far more thought these days and am in the best shape of my life physically. Never looked back!

 

[MattyB]

The End

Did I ask for your "help"?
NO, especially as you're not qualified in any way to dole out advice on nutrition.
Was I unclean?
NO, and thanks for the insult.

I have plenty of hope and you're beginning to sound psuedo-religious now.

It's not just me they act like prats towards.


Life's to short to deny yourself pleasures like a nice very rare steak.

As I mentioned, I'm no qualified but I referred you to someone who is. The American Dietetic Association has published studies showing that the vegan diet is suitable for all stages of life and they license the person I referred you to is a member. From your use of the word 'pillock' and 'prat' I gather that you are, like me, UK resident. I haven't searched the UK governing body but the GB government is very encouraging in many places.

The 'clean' comment is just vegan humour, sorry if it offended you. To use the term 'cold turkey' wouldn't be appropriate so we mined the lexicon of drug rehabilitation for another term.

Hope is a universal concept. We all have some. I was trying to help, your post gave me the impression that you wanted to follow an ethical diet but felt you couldn't.

When you say 'act like prats' do you mean that they ask for animal-free meals in your presence? Or do they just annoy you because you can't argue with the logic?

I have referred you behaviour and use of insults to Arn.

m2b8.com

 

[bartelby]

I have referred you behaviour and use of insults to Arn.

m2b8.com

Where have I insulted members of MR?

Insults. Direct personal insult of another member, i.e., "You are an idiot." and all the variations. Why? Because this isn't grade school. People should be able to discuss or even dispute other's posts without insulting people. And the only purpose of a post like this is to incite other people. You may dispute somebody's opinion, but not attack/flame the person who stated it. There are a lot of other non-direct-personal insults that won't necessary get you banned instantly, but depending on the context/nature may lead to post editing, post deletion, warnings, or time-outs. They include telling people to shut up, or being extremely or repeatedly rude or sarcastic. Bottom line -- don't try to piss off others. Although we do not read Private Messages sent between forum members, the rules for appropriate and inappropriate content apply to them as well.

 

[edesignuk]

MattyB, bartelby, do the thread a favour and let this little disagreement die. I don't want to go through the thread deleting half of it's content. So if you could both just leave each other alone that would be just spiffy kthxbai

 

[aristobrat]

Here's a thought. If I have somebody over for dinner who is a vegi, I always make sure I cook something vegi for them, even make sure that anything that has come in contact with the meat doesn't touch their food. When I go to a vegi's house for dinner all I get is vegi food...

I know that all analogies suck, but to be the same, you'd need to have excluded veggies entirely for your diet, life and kitchen for your act of "cooking something veggie for them" to mean the same thing as them cooking something with meat for you.

I have some veggie friends that are physically repulsed by the site of raw meat. I'm guessing veggies don't elicit the same reaction from you?

 

[adrianblaine]

I know where bartelby is coming from. It comes off as arrogant when the food you are eating/serving isn't "good enough" for them to eat. It is hard not to appear that way even if you aren't trying to act or feel that you are better than anyone else. Like other people said, life is short, eat what you want. Just remember, too much of a good thing CAN kill you...

 

[strieck]

To the OP:

My girlfriend has been vegetarian since she was 7 (almost 20 years now) and vegan for the last two years. She gets a Tofurky every year for Thanksgiving and loves it. I think the "meat" of a Tofurky is disgusting, but the stuffing is very good.

 

[Queso]

I don't think it's unusual in the Mac community which seems to have a high proportion of geniuses, left-handers, ethical eaters and alternative sexualities.

All the proof you need right here, especially the genius part

 

[dops7107]

Over the last few months I have gradually turned vegetarian, but I don't think I can quite qualify myself as one just yet. For example, my housemate made a chicken sandwich which she wasn't going to eat because she was ill, and it was just going to be thrown away, so I ate it. But I don't buy meat in supermarkets or restaurants.

The dilemma will be at Christmas time, when I go home and we always have turkey. It is a free-range turkey that my parents have even visited at the local farm (I can't say for sure if they picked it out, but they may have done), so I am confident that it was a happy turkey. So in all likelihood I'll eat it. Currently I am finding it difficult to be absolutist about eating meat, but I am certainly finding it easier than I thought to live without it. Veganism however is another step I haven't yet considered. Maybe in time, but I like pizza too much...

 

[Sirus The Virus]

I could never do the vegetarian thing. I just love cooking on my grill too much.

I like my grill too. You can still use it, homemade grilled veggie burgers are the best!

 

[AmbitiousLemon]

I tried making my own vege burgers once and it wasn't pretty. what is your recipe?

 

[EricNau]

The dilemma will be at Christmas time, when I go home and we always have turkey. It is a free-range turkey that my parents have even visited at the local farm (I can't say for sure if they picked it out, but they may have done), so I am confident that it was a happy turkey. So in all likelihood I'll eat it.

Dead turkeys aren't usually happy, especially when they're being eaten.

 

[ucfgrad93]

I could never do the vegetarian thing. I just love cooking on my grill too much.

While you can grill vegetables, I agree with you completely.

 

[PowerFullMac]

Im a vegetarian, im in the UK so I dont celebrate thanks giving but I am having nut roast, bread sauce, gravy and mashed potatos for Christmas dinner

 

[AmbitiousLemon]

Im a vegetarian, im in the UK so I dont celebrate thanks giving but I am having nut roast, bread sauce, gravy and mashed potatos for Christmas dinner

Here in the states we refer to a nut roast as rocky mountain oysters and they're not vegetarian... oh wait are you thinking of a different kind of nut?

 

[foidulus]

Wwsjd?

Well, the only meat Steve eats is fish, according to the Wikipedia page anyway

I tried that for a while, but eventually found it too hard to keep up at college. Recently I have decided that I only eat meat when going out(which includes lunch), so I'm half vegetarian(morningstar farms is awesome!), but maybe I should go back to living like Herr Jobs again

 

[Applespider]

Maybe in time, but I like pizza too much...

Not entirely sure why liking pizza stops you being veggie? Surely pizzas are one of the easiest things to make veggie so long as you get non-rennet cheese?

For the record, I'm not veggie. I enjoy meat too much to not want to eat it although I do have a few veggie meals each week since I also enjoy veg and pulses.

If I invite vegetarians around to eat (unless it's a special occasion like Christmas/Thanksgiving), I'll make entirely veggie food so that everyone eats the same. It's easier than cooking multiple dishes. Last year, when I had a friend's veggie partner to cater for, I think I bought a vegetarian kiev for him and then he ate the sides etc with us.