Back to Vegetarianism..

ARL337 · #1 Jun 8, '12, 5:32 am

Hello, I used to be a semi-vegetarian about 8 years ago. I had only done it for about 2 years but I was in my young 20's and I wasn't doing it right. I ended up just eating a lot of junk. I've been wanting to go back to being a vegetarian for awhile now and I finally decided to just do it. My husband is not a vegetarian and I don't think he would ever become one...would make it much easier for me :-/ But I would never force him to do something he doesn't want to do. He enjoys cooking so we may just have to eat separate meals, but on the nights that I cook I will have to find some delicious vegetarian meals to make the hopefully he will enjoy as well. I am glad I found this group. Hoping to get the support and tools I need to keep up with this. I'm having trouble deciding if I will become an actual Vegan, or just cut out meat (poultry, fish, meat, etc). It may be hard for me to cut out all animal products so I figure for now I'll start with just meat and maybe gradually become more vegan.

creationlover · #2 Jun 8, '12, 10:01 am

ARL337,

Thanks for your post! We are all here to encourage one another and give support to one another. What are your reasons for adopting this lifestyle?

Peace!

ARL337 · #3 Jun 9, '12, 8:44 am

I am doing it for 2 reasons, my love for animals (it breaks my heart to think of the cruelty at factory farms) and to live a healthier lifestyle :-)

sugarytwinkle · #4 Jun 10, '12, 8:34 am

Whatever you decide, good luck!

4elise · #5 Jun 10, '12, 8:36 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by ARL337

I am doing it for 2 reasons, my love for animals (it breaks my heart to think of the cruelty at factory farms) and to live a healthier lifestyle :-)

We have threads on resources here as well - but this one is especially good for http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/

FelixatFifty · #6 Dec 15, '12, 12:44 pm

My wife and I have been"lacto-ovo" vegetarians for over 20 years, meaning we eat no meat, fish or poultry, but we do imbibe eggs and milk products like cheese, sour cream, etc. We went full vegan for about 3 years, but we did eventually go back to being regular vegetarians. Being full vegan is a very difficult discipline living here in the USA, especially in a small town (which we do), You can never, ever, eat out at a restaurant, for example. Whereas, as egg and cheese-friendly vegetarians, we can always find great vegetarian options on just about any menu anymore. Even Taco Bell recently came out with a vegetarian menu, offering culinary wonders like the "potato soft taco" (yum). My recommendation is to go vegetarian for a few years, then decide if you think full vegan is for you. Trying to do too much at once is setting yourself up to fail altogether. Don't do that!

4elise · #7 Dec 15, '12, 4:29 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by FelixatFifty

My wife and I have been"lacto-ovo" vegetarians for over 20 years, meaning we eat no meat, fish or poultry, but we do imbibe eggs and milk products like cheese, sour cream, etc. We went full vegan for about 3 years, but we did eventually go back to being regular vegetarians. Being full vegan is a very difficult discipline living here in the USA, especially in a small town (which we do), You can never, ever, eat out at a restaurant, for example. Whereas, as egg and cheese-friendly vegetarians, we can always find great vegetarian options on just about any menu anymore. Even Taco Bell recently came out with a vegetarian menu, offering culinary wonders like the "potato soft taco" (yum). My recommendation is to go vegetarian for a few years, then decide if you think full vegan is for you. Trying to do too much at once is setting yourself up to fail altogether. Don't do that!

It is so true - I meet people all the time who say - "well I don't know how you do it (as they eat a burger) I could never give up cheese!!" my reply is 'then don't' - do whatever you can do - it all helps! For me the dairy was easy - but it was fish - that was the hardest and last to go for me.

Also true - eating out options are limited - I went out with someone once and asked for the 'bacon, lettuce, tomato and avacado sandwich - hold the bacon - and the person with me said - oh put the bacon on the side, and I'll add it to my sandwich - they felt like we were getting cheated if we didn't get all we were paying for!

true I guess but made me sigh on the inside!

We all do what we can - there should be no vegetarian or vegan police - God bless you!

FelixatFifty · #8 Dec 16, '12, 9:10 am

It's actually great how much things have changed in the restaurant world in the last 20 years or so. When I first went vegetarian way back when, I lived in St. Louis. I went to Taco Bell with friends (I have always loved their food), and asked the teenager working the counter to make me two tacos using re-fried beans instead of the meat. She smiled and said, "so you want re-fried beans AND meat on your tacos?" I said, no, leave the meat off. Put re-fried beans on instead. She looked at me like I was an alien being speaking a foreign language. "I don't understand," she said. "The meat comes with it. I can add ingredients, but I can't leave things off..." Really? I'll pay for the meat, I just don't want it. You can keep it and sell it again to somebody else! "I... I..." she stammered. Finally she had to call a manger to get permission to make the switch... Things were very different back in - what, 1981, maybe? Now everybody knows what a vegetarian is an even caters to us. It's been a long battle, but I think we won!

FelixatFifty · #9 Dec 16, '12, 9:12 am

I think it was 1983, actually... Math was never my strong suit...

Rafaela · #10 Jan 13, '13, 5:01 am

I would personally like to go vegetarian as well. Experiencing some trouble though. I do not like the animal 'factories' and think that there are great options in vegetarian diet. However to the hiccups: A) I have a three year old whom is difficult feeder. Her favorite: fish sticks and chips. B) although my husband would probably get veg with me, I'd have problem with my folks. My dad is a hunter of wild game. This means that there is always plenty of meat for meal. These days he has moved more to fishing, and cooks fish very well. While I might get away with not eating meat, to say no to fish that he has prepared would be not well looked upon. We do stay there couple weeks around Christmas and another couple of weeks in the summer most years.

Questions:
1) Tasty recipes for three year old?
2) Can one be vegetarian, only to lapse when visiting my parents??
3) I personally imagine that my most difficult thing is to get rid of fish; can one be vegetarian and still occasionally ie. once a week eat fish? Wouldn't that be more ''Mediterranean diet''?

Struggling with conscience and diet here..

But at the moment milk, eggs and cheese are non-negotiable. Mamma mia! I can't imagine life without them. Need help!!

4elise · #11 Jan 13, '13, 9:44 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rafaela

I would personally like to go vegetarian as well. Experiencing some trouble though. I do not like the animal 'factories' and think that there are great options in vegetarian diet. However to the hiccups: A) I have a three year old whom is difficult feeder. Her favorite: fish sticks and chips. B) although my husband would probably get veg with me, I'd have problem with my folks. My dad is a hunter of wild game. This means that there is always plenty of meat for meal. These days he has moved more to fishing, and cooks fish very well. While I might get away with not eating meat, to say no to fish that he has prepared would be not well looked upon. We do stay there couple weeks around Christmas and another couple of weeks in the summer most years.

Questions:
1) Tasty recipes for three year old?
2) Can one be vegetarian, only to lapse when visiting my parents??
3) I personally imagine that my most difficult thing is to get rid of fish; can one be vegetarian and still occasionally ie. once a week eat fish? Wouldn't that be more ''Mediterranean diet''?

Struggling with conscience and diet here..

But at the moment milk, eggs and cheese are non-negotiable. Mamma mia! I can't imagine life without them. Need help!!

I take my lead from my daughter to answer these questions - she has been vegan WAY longer than my husband and I - she said she has often been told "I could be vegan, except I couldn't give up (fill in: cheese or fish or bacon or .....)" - Her reply is simply, then give up everything else -

I know for me personally fish was the last to go - I gave it up as I researched issues of sustainability, pollution, etc. in commercial fishing - or farmed fish. And then it became easy. So if you want to look into that do - if not, of course that is fine too --- some people assume vegetarians eat fish (confusing to me -- since it is an animal) ---- and 'technically' those who eat fish are called 'pesceterians' --

On the issue of 'occasionally eating' because of hospitality, family issues, not wanting to seem ungrateful for the efforts of those we love - well - I am sure you would get different answers from people here -
I have to travel internationally for my work - and often people present me something that includes meat or fish - and I may be able to avoid it, sometimes I can not - people have made real efforts, and it would be seriously rude - so I take as little as I can to not draw attention and then move on - you may chose to do the same -

For your daughter - my granddaughter LOVES just little cubes of tofu - can't get easier than that - she is 16 months old - she eats beans, we do veggie burgers and break one up for her, --- you could try 'shake and bake tofu - this is my 'fish sticks' ---

One movie I saw a couple weeks ago that really blew my socks off - and I recommend it is Forks Over Knives ---

I think we all do what we can, when we can. Recent reports have shown that 'flex-a-terians' - those who chose vegetarian or vegan part of the time are having a GREATER impact on factory farms than the committed vegetarians and vegans which remains a pretty steady % in the population.

You are very WELCOME here - and we have lots of other resources we are happy to share - please feel free to ask questions!

Rafaela · #12 Jan 16, '13, 5:08 am

Forks over Knives rocks!!! Thank you so much!! I have to show this to my husband.

4elise · #13 Jan 16, '13, 7:40 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rafaela

Forks over Knives rocks!!! Thank you so much!! I have to show this to my husband.

I know!! I was blown away by this movie!

ARL337 · #14 Feb 18, '13, 8:13 am

It's been awhile since I posted this thread. Just wanted to add that I ended up just going full vegan and it was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. The hardest part is the eating out. We do have 1 restaurant not too far from us that offers a full vegan menu so I enjoy going there but the service is terrible. I'm also not too far from New York City so on important dates my husband will take me into NYC for a nice vegan meal as there are a good amount of vegan restaurants there. My husband did not become vegan but he fully supports me and loves the meals I cook. I definitely want to see Forks Over Knives. Maybe if my husband watches that he will start eating less meat and dairy.
I really enjoy a lot of the recipes in "The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone. I also love the recipes in "skinny ***** in the kitch" cookbook. Dr Neal Bernard also has some good books on vegan eating. Since going vegan my health has improved so much and I feel great. A lot of people close to me have seen this change and are always asking for meal ideas to try and cut back on meat and dairy.

4elise · #15 Feb 18, '13, 6:32 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by ARL337

It's been awhile since I posted this thread. Just wanted to add that I ended up just going full vegan and it was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. The hardest part is the eating out. We do have 1 restaurant not too far from us that offers a full vegan menu so I enjoy going there but the service is terrible. I'm also not too far from New York City so on important dates my husband will take me into NYC for a nice vegan meal as there are a good amount of vegan restaurants there. My husband did not become vegan but he fully supports me and loves the meals I cook. I definitely want to see Forks Over Knives. Maybe if my husband watches that he will start eating less meat and dairy.
I really enjoy a lot of the recipes in "The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone. I also love the recipes in "skinny ***** in the kitch" cookbook. Dr Neal Bernard also has some good books on vegan eating. Since going vegan my health has improved so much and I feel great. A lot of people close to me have seen this change and are always asking for meal ideas to try and cut back on meat and dairy.

How wonderful to hear from you! Just keep being a great vegan cook - and it may eventually make non-vegan food less appealing - that is what happened - husband has also been vegan I think for about 5 years -- we were at the market and near the meat section - he said he couldn't stand the smell anymore - yes - Forks Over Knives blew me away - and I don't usually advocate these kinds of movies but wow!

God Bless!