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Vegans or Meat-eaters or on the Fence?
I am just wondering what your food backgrounds are like.
It seems... that there is a move toward "being green" and eating less meat definitely has a positive impact on the environment...
I know it is something that most people don't think about, but I wanted your input. If you are a meat-eater would you ever change? If you are vegan, what made you go vegan?
It seems... that there is a move toward "being green" and eating less meat definitely has a positive impact on the environment...
I know it is something that most people don't think about, but I wanted your input. If you are a meat-eater would you ever change? If you are vegan, what made you go vegan?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Oats on -
One year I decided to "give up" meat around the time of lent because my family is Catholic blah blah blah so I decided to give it a go and be vegetarian for a few months.
Frankly it wasn't much different than my normal diet. Cooking meat takes time and effort if you don't want just plain ground beef all the time. It was a fun trial but in the end I went back to my carnivorous ways after about 3 months. Eating out was a pain in the ass. I sympathize for any vegetarian forced to eat at Applebee's.
These days I mostly eat grains, oats, rice, fruit, and occasionally (maybe 2x a week) I'll have meet with an entree. I seem to be healthier on this diet than the midwestern baby-boomer diet of Meat, Veggies, Potato at every meal. My mom cannot fathom a meal without meat. It blew their mind when I substituted eggplant for chicken in a stir-fry.
Vegan - too extreme for me. And I've known a lot of raw-foodists as they called themselves. No offense, but they were all fat because they ate too many sugars with fruits and such...
I'm all about balance. Humans are omnivores, as our dental structure would suggest. I think a diet composed mainly of natural grown foods supplimented with the occasional meat would be ideal. I think the key to any meal, however, is the size. Studies show that a meal 1/3 the size of a typical American meal is not only sufficient but beneficial.
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Permalink Reply by Tatiana on -
I disagree that humans are omnivores just because of our dental structure... I think that we are made to be "flexible" and adaptable to any environment. If we have to eat meat, then we can survive just fine, but if we don't we are fine too.
Vegan is kind of extreme. I do have a hard time eating out, but it's awesome too, cause what better way to stop eating out, right? =)
Oh - I can totally sympathize, my mom about flipped out when I told her that I was vegan... yeah. She's "old-school" Mexican and was so confused... and maybe even slightly "hurt" that I would do that, since she loves to cook so much!
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Permalink Reply by Britt on -
I'm a meat-eater, but I've considered becoming a vegetarian, the only thing is...I like steak and burgers too much to let it go. Along with other things that I'd have to give up if I did so. Even though I'm not a vegetarian, I don't eat a lot of meat anyway.
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Permalink Reply by heather on -
I'm a vegetarian, more for health and environmental reasons than for animal rights. I don't eat a lot of milk or eggs on their own, but I will eat them if they're baked into something and I can't taste them. I could never be vegan though, because I love cheese far too much, and there are no decent vegan replacements for it. But I do what I can to minimize my animal product consumption when it comes to things (like eggs!) that I don't really like anyway.
I don't think it's necessary or even possible for everyone to cut out meat or animal products (some bodies adjust to the lack of meat better than others), but I do think it's possible and would be really environmentally beneficial if everybody cut back on their meat consumption. Americans eat far more meat than is necessary or healthy for them, and it would make a big difference for the environment even if people just cut back from eating it everyday to eating it a few times a week. Meat consumption doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing thing. You can make a big difference in the environment (and your health!) by eating it less often but still enjoying steak and burgers when you really want them.
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Permalink Reply by Cox on -
I've been vegetarian for roughly 8 months, which wasn't a huge adjustment because I was what I call a "cheap meat eater" to begin with - chicken, ground beef, hot dogs. Healthy, right? I watched Earthlings, which I highly recommend if you can sit through it, which is what pushed me to give up my beloved hot dogs and chicken tenders.
Choosing to be vegetarian at the least is a decision I had to research the first few weeks, I had to ask myself how I could make up for the vitamins I wasn't going to be getting. My friends affectionatly refer to me as the squirrel because I eat so many varieties of nuts as a result. I still wonder about B-12, but I think I'm eating healthier overall on a daily basis.
Eating out can be difficult, especially at sporting events. Stadiums and ball parks rarely ever have vegetarian options that go beyond french fries or cheese pizza.
Fortunately, I work for an environmental non-profit where many, many of my co-workers are vegetarian or vegan. I'm always trying new foods or being told about great vegan places to try in DC.
I don't think, at this point, I could go back to consuming meat. There are times, though, that I feel like a fake since I still wear leather, suede, the whole deal. For me, I don't want to consume meat that has been overly-processed and genetically modified. I buy almost everything organic and try to watch myself, if its an unnatural color - I don't want it in my body! bye bye doritos..
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Permalink Reply by Tatiana on
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I live really close to Chicago, and I read that the White Sox Stadium (Cellular Field) is the most vegetarian/vegan friendly in the country... and I it was!
I don't think I could go back to eating meat either.
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Permalink Reply by David Stehle on -
I eat a lot more fish and chicken than I do red meat. Red meat is just harder to digest and overall, not the best for you (increases your chances of colon cancer, etc). So I don't really stay away from meat for "vegan reasons", I do it just because it's healthier for me not to eat it. Of course that doesn't mean I don't enjoy the occasional burger or steak on the grill now and then.
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Permalink Reply by Andhari on -
I'm never really a vegetarian, more over a vegan but the way I eat 80% of the time has tendency to be semi vegetarian. I eat stuff like simple pasta or mac n cheese or noodle with eggs usually, and they're pretty unhealthy I try to incorporate more veggies.
Sometimes I eat chicken or seafood though. This is why I can't say I'm a vegetarian.
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Permalink Reply by cooper on -
I'm a Piscivore and I do drink Milk. I grew up with one parent a vegan and one not so much, though my dad didn't eat much meat. I don't know any other way, really meat is not something I want to eat most of the time considering what's in it. I eat a pretty healthy diet usually whole grains, fish and a lot of various bean concoctions from lentils to black beans. I still can't make a very good black bean soup though, so if anyone has an easy tasty recipe ass it on.
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Permalink Reply by Tatiana on
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My blog is new, but I am putting some vegan/vegetarian recipes on there... also, try fatfreevegan.com
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Permalink Reply by Cee on -
I don't think I could ever be a vegan. I wouldn't be able to enjoy anything!
I once worked with a vegan - and I mean TOTAL vegan. She wouldn't even wear leather. She wouldn't eat anything - if someone brought cookies that were made with eggs or milk she wouldn't eat them... if we ordered a pizza in the middle of the shift, she wouldn't have a slice (cheese which is an animal product I guess).
I dont know how she did it!
I could never do that.
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Permalink Reply by Erini CS on -
A good number of people who know me thought that I was a vegetarian... Yeah, I'm sort of a wildlife nerd, but I do like some meats... Being vegan would take too much effort for me. Even peanut butter has animal products in it. (My mom told me this, I haven't actually looked it up to be sure...)
I gave up meats for about 6 months last year and the only reason behind it was because I was bored with it... I'd go to a steak house with my family and my favorite part of the meal was the broccoli. So other than when some people cooked for me, etc, I just took a break from meat. It honestly didn't change too much of my diet anyway. I personally would rather spend money on nice juices and fruits & veggies rather than on meat... Though recently I have purchased some pork and fish.
I'd rather buy local if I could, but living in Chicago makes that extremely challenging. I don't buy much fish for this reason though, plus over-fishing is a big issue to me.
Honestly right now though... I don't make many meals at home. I just sort of scavenge, and found that I prefer snacky things like chips and popsicles. That or I'll just have juice. I've been getting breakfast at work, and I bring lunch there (or buy veggie sushi) and those are my main meals for the day. Generally by the time I get home, I don't want a meal.
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