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Any vegetarians?
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I think you mean "veggies", not "vege's".
I've been a vegetarian for fifteen years, around half my life. I consume a bit of dairy food (milk mainly, a few eggs and a bit of cheese as well). I avoid gelatin(e) like the plague - it's found in lots of sweet stuff. Also on my avoid list is wine and other forms of booze that use animal products in their production, such as isinglas (used to get rid of particles in wine).
Ironically, I'm not a big fan of vegetables. I prefer pasta and the like.
I've been a vegetarian for fifteen years, around half my life. I consume a bit of dairy food (milk mainly, a few eggs and a bit of cheese as well). I avoid gelatin(e) like the plague - it's found in lots of sweet stuff. Also on my avoid list is wine and other forms of booze that use animal products in their production, such as isinglas (used to get rid of particles in wine).
Ironically, I'm not a big fan of vegetables. I prefer pasta and the like.
My partner (who worked at PETA at the time) and I were vegan for about a year, and I had pretty much the same weight loss as you. It's amazing how the body responds when it's fed more unproccessed foods (not that you have to be veggie or vegan for that...)jamesmcd said:
Been a vegetarian for 35 years not vegan but don't eat much dairy.Nouvelle Zelande is my home country.
Yes I am
Been a veggie for about 18 years (possibly more, I can't quite remember!) and was a strict vegan for 5 of those years. Now *that's* hard work, especially when eating out with friends. Thank god for Thai food!
I do eat eggs these days (occasionally) though I never used to. I eat limited amounts of cheese, only drink skimmed or soya milk. When I turned back from vegan to veggie I was most definitely lactose intolerant! And I'm pretty strict about food labelling and ingredients... no fish sauce in my papaya salad please... no gelatine, no animal rennet, blah-dee-blah blah... slightly less strict than I used to be on the isinglass front but I don't really drink a lot of wine anyway.
Something that really pisses me off are people who eat fish (or better still chicken) and claim to be vegetarian.
Been a veggie for about 18 years (possibly more, I can't quite remember!) and was a strict vegan for 5 of those years. Now *that's* hard work, especially when eating out with friends. Thank god for Thai food!
I do eat eggs these days (occasionally) though I never used to. I eat limited amounts of cheese, only drink skimmed or soya milk. When I turned back from vegan to veggie I was most definitely lactose intolerant! And I'm pretty strict about food labelling and ingredients... no fish sauce in my papaya salad please... no gelatine, no animal rennet, blah-dee-blah blah... slightly less strict than I used to be on the isinglass front but I don't really drink a lot of wine anyway.
Something that really pisses me off are people who eat fish (or better still chicken) and claim to be vegetarian.
I know someone who thinks just that.dietcokevanilla said:Something that really pisses me off are people who eat fish (or better still chicken) and claim to be vegetarian.
I was vegetarian for a period of about 2 years in college, largely due to the disgusting meat "products" that were available at the cafeteria. I think prison inmates were provided with better meat than we were.
Bacon and filet mignon are a couple of the reasons why I'm not anymore, however.
Ooooh, and sashimi (especially tuna).
Sorry, I'll leave this thread now.
dietcokevanilla said:Something that really pisses me off are people who eat fish (or better still chicken) and claim to be vegetarian.
I've been told, by many vegetarians, that fish isn't considered "meat". I don't understand why, because they were living as well but whatever. My girlfriend is a vegetarian (not nearly as long as any of you have been) and she started because she went to Africa to help build a school in Mali, and the experience made her become a strict vegetarian the moment she returned home. At least our dates have gotten cheaper
. Her father is in the seafood business, so she eats a lot of seafood and fish though. I am commonly mistaken as a vegetarian because I don't eat a lot of meat, at all, but that is only because I'm not a big fan of it, not because of where if came from...
D34th said:
that's crap, whoever says that is wrong, or is just ignorant or weak. you are NOT vegetarian if you eat fish, but "pescetarian". eating fish is as bad as eating meat in every way.
as for me, well, i started out about a year and a half ago by cutting out meat, then fish, and i'm now trying to be vegan as much as possible, it's rather difficult when your wife is a fantastic chef/pastry chef.
itcheroni said:
That's definitely what I noticed.
I am not vegan nor truly vegetarian (although the meat I consume is very seldom), but I often cook a lot for my giflriend and her sister, who is one of the most strict vegans I've ever met.
Vegan/vegetarion meals are much more expensive, in both the resteraunt and home preparation.
It's a shame really, because it is essentially a situation where only moderately well-off folks can truly eat healthy.
dietcokevanilla said:Something that really pisses me off are people who eat fish (or better still chicken) and claim to be vegetarian.
It pisses me off even more when restaurants tell you or your friends over the phone that they serve vegetarian options, then after booking you turn up to find they assumed you eat fish. Especially problematic in France
Nous ne mangeons pas les viandes, ni les poissonsI've been fully veggie since October 1991, but before that I'd already cut out all red meat for a couple of years. Still eat some eggs and dairy, and I'm not overly fussy on the animal products in alcohol bit, but I mostly eat fruit, vegetables, pulses and carb heavy stuff like bread and pasta. My partner has also been veggie for four years now, although it was a friend of ours from Italy who finally converted him. Being veggie is really easy these days.
evoluzione said:
Why? The Japanese eat tons of the stuff and have one of the highest life-expectancy rates in the world... or are you referring to an ethical argument instead?
Blue Velvet said:
ok ok, not EVERY way, but mostly. i agree about the life expectancy thing in Japan, (although Osaka (i think) it is rapidly dropping because of all the fast food the younger gens are now consuming, and that city had the highest life-expectancy in the world), and whilst fish is generally "good" for you, the way fish is being caught/farmed these days is worrying, the levels of mercury in fish are rising, and there are more health problems arising too, partly because of bad farming (polluting) and over fishing (too complicated to get into the whole eco thing right now). it's getting more and more difficult to find good, fresh, wild "locally" caught fish these days. food companies have managed to turn/are turning the oceans into a huge factory farm of sorts.
evoluzione said:
Ah, OK. I was just curious as to your reasoning... I tried being a vegetarian for about 6 months a long time ago but it was really hard, especially living in 80's New Zealand, land of the Sunday roast and not many other veggie options. My willpower wasn't up to it in the end...
Last year a statistic was released that nearly 90% of the world's fish stocks had disappeared over the past 20 years, due entirely to factory trawling. And the Japanese have the cheek to say it's the whales that are the threat to fish stocks?
Basically, unless we ban all factory and bottom trawling now, there will be virtually no fish left in the seas within a human generation. The oceans need some time to recover.
Basically, unless we ban all factory and bottom trawling now, there will be virtually no fish left in the seas within a human generation. The oceans need some time to recover.
Just out of curiosity, do people mainly choose to be vegetarian for health reasons or because of the moral issues of eating meat?
I, like BV, tried it and it just wasn't for me.
As for my meat consumption, I only eat fish or seafood that is "OK" on the Monterey Aquariums Ocean Watch list (nothing farmed except approved sources - usually Tilapia or Catfish), and for red meat and chicken (red meat is very rare for me), I always try to get free range chickens and beef without added chemicals, animal feed etc.
In other words, I do the best I can to be a clean eater and consumer. It's the best it is going to get.
Probably both.
As for my meat consumption, I only eat fish or seafood that is "OK" on the Monterey Aquariums Ocean Watch list (nothing farmed except approved sources - usually Tilapia or Catfish), and for red meat and chicken (red meat is very rare for me), I always try to get free range chickens and beef without added chemicals, animal feed etc.
In other words, I do the best I can to be a clean eater and consumer. It's the best it is going to get.
max_altitude said:
Probably both.
max_altitude said:
Depends on the person. My girlfriend's sister is vegan entirely for moral reasons. Any health benefits are just "extras."
I personally tried to cut down, and eventually eliminate meat from my diet for a 50/50 of both reasons.
I'm still working on it, being a broke college student makes natural/vegan food hard to acquire. But I'm getting there
Like iGary, the only meat I do eat is as "clean" as I can find it. Amish chicken, locally caught fish (or that I've caught myself), things like that.
I'll put my hand up as well. Converted to vegetarianism in my early twenties and love it. Have no hankering nor intention of ever going back. I think it's made me appreciate food much more - I'm not sure whether it's the new flavours, searching our better ingredients, taking more care in preparation, pschological, or a combo of all of them, but it's struck a chord with me.
During my teens I was vehemently against the whole idea of vegetarianism. It's funny how attitudes change as you learn more about the world....
Max_Altitude mine was a moral decision.
During my teens I was vehemently against the whole idea of vegetarianism. It's funny how attitudes change as you learn more about the world....
Max_Altitude mine was a moral decision.
I'm vegetarian and have been for 16 years. I became vegetarian for moral reasons but increasingly the health reasons have become more important for me.
max_altitude said:
My old co-worker always said she became a vegetarian because she didn't want to eat anything with a face or a family, and that food was just a way to get cheese into her mouth. I can't say that she was the healthiest eater because she didn't like to eat veggies all that much, but she did all right. With that said, I'd say it was probably mostly for the moral reasons with possibly a bit of health reasons for her.
max_altitude said:
It started off as an ethical thing, but it gradually became more about health. There's also the slightly worrying mental trait that I'm actually disgusted by meat now and just can't bear the thought of putting it in my body. Just thinking of eating chicken or a bacon sandwich actually makes me nauseous.
Strangely enough though, I have no problem wearing leather or suede. Hypocrisy?
I did it for the experience. I had always wondered if it would be difficult to switch from a "Fast Food Nation" diet (having managed a McD's for 10 years, 70% of my weekly meals came from there) to a vegan diet.max_altitude said:
It wasn't as hard as I thought, I lost a crap load of weight, and I was amazed at how many cool new flavors/textures I got to try.
I've been thinking hard about going back to a vegan diet, and this threads pretty much motivated me to do it.