vegans/vegetarians?
 

Anyone here a vegan/vegetarian?

One of my best friends from high school has been for years. I started getting more interested lately - just wanted more info. The "best" site I could find, though, was PETA's, and frankly it's a little scary. I get the impression they want me to hurt people who wear fur.

Anyway, I'm looking for more info - on how people got started, how hard it was for them to maintain "responsible" diets (i.e. make sure they were getting things like protein, B12, etc.) and why they made the decision to switch.

there's plenty of great, interesting websites that promote veganism! I'm not vegan, but I've been looking into it!

One that's not (to me anyways) as "in your face" as Peta's is veganoutreach.org

Also, as far as diet and nutrition goes, try the Alternative Chicks forum at 3fatchicks.com

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=121

It's a diet site, but they have a forum for vegetarians/vegans, and it's definetely helpful. They post all sorts of recipes, different ideas, and tips that will help you get in all the nutrition you need. Actually, whether or not your a vegan, this site is a GREAT site in general when it comes to information about healthy eating:)
Hope this helps some!

I did Pesco for awhile (eats fish, milk & eggs) and then semi after that (chicken, fish, milk, eggs).

Other types:
Lacto (Drinks milk)
Ovo (Eats Eggs)
Lacto-Ovo (eats eggs & milk)
Vegan - no meat, eggs, milk, etc and no leather.

I think it would be easiest to start at semi and "work you way down" to whatever level you want to be.

Oh, an vitamins are you friends, as is tofu.

I've been a vegetarian for 13 years, and what I do is take a multivitamin every day. Besides that, I try to drink two large glasses of milk for the protein, use the Barilla protein pasta, and eat tofu in my morning smoothie at least five times a week. That seems to work well for me. I'm almost anemic, but I was that way before I became a vegetarian, so I think it's just how I am.

I stopped cold turkey one day, and it was very hard. I had cravings for meat for three or four years at least. However, I was motivated, so I worked through it. And it's getting easier to eat out and to buy good vegetarian products. Hopefully you have a good supermarket near you.

This is a pet peeve of mine -- there is no such thing as a semi-vegetarian. You either are a vegetarian or you aren't. Personally, and I'm sure I'll get slammed for this, I don't think "pesco" qualifies either. It bugs when someone thinks I eat fish or chicken because people are running around calling themselves vegetarians when they're really not -- "Oh sure there's a vegetarian option" and it turns out to be chicken. The fish thing doesn't bother me as much as the "semi" though -- if you eat chicken and fish, what do you possibly gain from calling yourself a semi-vegetarian?

As you may have guessed, I gave up meat because I'm a hippie liberal who loves the cute widdle animals. I never was a big fan of meat, so I don't miss it at all.

I haven't eaten meat for -- I don't know, 12 or 13 years now, so I'm out of the loop in terms of resources. I will say that Vegetarian Times is a great magazine, and the Moosewood Cookbook has a lot of great, basic recipes. I think the Vegetarian Resource Group might be helpful, but I haven't looked at the site for a while.

Re: vegans/vegetarians?
 

B12 should never be an issue - the average multivitamin contains something like 400%+ of your %DV . . . however, you may want to spend some time comaparing vitamins, as desired intake varies WILDLY (for instance, I actually take Centrum Silver - I don't really want the extra iron).

For protein, it completely depends on how much you want to take in - for many, I'd imagine general vegetarian options (beans/legumes, tofu, etc) can easily meet your needs, with some planning.

Why do you care if someone who calls themself a vegetarian eats chicken or fish? There's not some exclusive vegetarian club that only accepts lacto-ovo and stricter vegetarians. It's not like someone saying they're a Delta Zeta when they're not, or claiming to be a Doctor when they're not.

Side note: I had a roommate who what a tree-hugging liberal vegetarian who used to eat chicken noodle soup and feed the chicken to her cat.

I generally don't, but I really wish there was an easy term for my diet, because having to explain to people what I will and won't eat is a pain.

I eat fish and free-range poultry, but no mammals. I'm a mammal, so I'm not going to eat other mammals, that's creepy to me - too closely related. I hate birds, and they are more distant, so I'm not really weirded out by eating them, but I still have a problem with killing them in disgusting ways, so I'm picky about that. Fish I just don't really have a big issue with at all. They are really distant from me. I guess I am horribly speciesist ...

So yeah, try getting into that convo everytime someone tries to convince you to "just eat the damn hamburger" or "but you ate that chicken at your house last week" ...

:rolleyes:

It makes sense to me!

Thank you valkyrie. Very well said. I "experimented" with vegetarianism about 15 years ago and kept cravings for chicken and barbeque beef in the summer. I was anemic then and still am no matter WHAT I EAT. I have been thinking about this again and try to have days where I am meat free. I have found a wonderful deli/restaurant nearby that also has a website with some links too. www.everlastinglife.net

I care because when there are people running around calling themselves vegetarians when they eat chicken, it results in people who don't know better thinking that vegetarians eat chicken. That's stupid and it makes life harder for the real vegetarians who belong to the exclusive club.

Also, vegetarians don't eat chicken noodle soup. If you eat chicken broth, you're not a vegetarian.

I've been a vegetarian for about six months now. In middle/high school, I didn't eat any red meat. I ate meat again for the first few years of college, then went totally vegetarian (but not vegan). It was actually really easy for me to switch over, but then again, I was almost always too lazy to really cook throughout college anyway, so I was eating a lot of pasta and grain-based stuff to start with. It really depends on what you were eating before you switch over -- some people have absolutely no cravings and no problems, others find out that they just can't do it. It was really easy for me, but I know other people who found it a lot more interesting.

One word: VITAMINS. I tend to be really lackadaisical about taking mine, and that leads to being tired all the time. I also find it difficult, strangely enough, to make sure I'm eating enough veggies beyond salads -- I love fruit, but vegetables aren't my favorite thing, so I have to go out of my way every couple days to make sure I get in some broccoli.

I think veganism is a much, much bigger commitment than vegetarianism. Finding something vegetarian-friendly can be a little tricky at some restaurants, but most of them are pretty good. Being vegan basically entails a total lifestyle change that can be tougher to adjust to -- it's hard to go out to eat, it's hard to eat at friend's houses if they aren't vegan, you have to check the labels of almost everything you eat.

And valkyrie, you and I have had this conversation before, but I don't think that it's the label semi-vegetarian that's the problem -- people are just stupid. I know plenty of people who have no clue what the term "semi-vegetarian" means, but they ask me why I don't eat chicken or fish or shrimp. They keep telling me, "It's not like real meat!" Uhhh . . . it an animal that was alive, how is it not meat?

I do not eat red meat by choice. I don't know if there's a specific term to identify me or not, but I'm not a vegetarian by any means. I adore chicken and seafood, and occassionally will eat pork.

Not that any of you are physicians :) but, but those of you who are vegetarian/vegan do you take OTC vitamins or a prescribed vitamin. Can you recommend an OTC vitamin for those of us who don't eat red meat?

What exactly is the definition of "red" vs. "white" meat? I've never really been able to figure that out; it seems like it's different depending on who you ask.

Beef (I believe lamb & goat too) - Red Meat
Chicken/Pork/Duck/Quail/etc. - White Meat

It's just the color that it is before cooking.

I take Viactive multivitamins -- they're chewable chocolate things. They were the ONLY vitamins I found at the grocery store that didn't contain gelatin. It is amazing how much stuff has gelatin.