vegetarian? pros & cons.

forgotten_child

Ive just become a vegetarian, some poeple agree with me and some people dont, i have been hearing both sides..the pros and cons..

can anyone give me any info on becoming a vegetarian?

am i harming myself or am i eating healthier?

jlew24asu

why did you decide to become a vegetarian ?

pjtaper

my advice is to go to qdoba and get a vegetarian buritto...

surferdude

forgotten_child wrote:

Ive just become a vegetarian, ....am i harming myself or am i eating healthier?

Who cares. Are you enjoying what you eat and staying relatively healthy? If so, who cares what others think. Everyone's body is unique and what it takes to keep it healthy and happy will be different.

Dirtie_Frank

Con-No meat for you

Pro-More Meat for Me

failedpersephone

I think what you wre asking involves the misconception that you will not get the "right" amount of protein from a vegetarian diet you do not need to eat meat to get protein (that was hard for me to NOT turn into a cawk joke) Soy and microbiotic mushrooms provide ample protein.

vegetarians can still eat junk food, and convenience foods and stuff that is bad for them...be careful about eating too much starch and sugars...and cheese.

truly though your reasoning behind changing your diet matters more than what people on a message board can tell you about eating properly.


eat veggies, and fruit, limit empty foods and drink plenty of water...that seems to be a good diet.

Urban Hiker

failedpersephone wrote:

I think what you wre asking involves the misconception that you will not get the "right" amount of protein from a vegetarian diet you do not need to eat meat to get protein (that was hard for me to NOT turn into a cawk joke) Soy and microbiotic mushrooms provide ample protein.

vegetarians can still eat junk food, and convenience foods and stuff that is bad for them...be careful about eating too much starch and sugars...and cheese.

truly though your reasoning behind changing your diet matters more than what people on a message board can tell you about eating properly.


eat veggies, and fruit, limit empty foods and drink plenty of water...that seems to be a good diet.

^^^^ Exactly.

But, if you want some facts and shit to quote to people, I advise investing in a (or a few) good book(s).

http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Vegetarian-Complete-Adopting-Healthy/dp/1570670137

Yoyoyo

Animals are so damn tastey. I bet you eat some flesh within a week.

soulsinging

pro- you get the rest of your life to be snooty and condescending to people with normal diets

con- you spend the rest of your life nibbling fuckin rabbit food while we enjoy the tasty stuff

who's_pearljam?

soulsinging wrote:

pro- you get the rest of your life to be snooty and condescending to people with normal diets

con- you spend the rest of your life nibbling fuckin rabbit food while we enjoy the tasty stuff

Man,,,, I've never given someone a hard time about eating meat and I don't know many people who have, but all vegetarian threads seem to have a comment about that!

Pro: I haven't eaten meat for a long time and I feel great, have more energy, kicked cancer, and I don't have to clean beef fat off the cutting board.

Con:
-Rabbit food jokes , although so far there aren't any links to a picture of a steak yet in this thread. Mark my word, though!
-Going to the restaurant and having your friends, the meat eaters mock you for not eating meat while they tell me that vegetarians have a high and mighty attitude and then they'll tell the waitress or waiter to just bring some rabbit food to me.
Some veggies DO have an attitude, but none of my friends do.

-Going to a restaurant and having the choice of a spinach salad or a portabella burger. I always ask the server to tell the chef to get creative if they're not too busy and sometimes they come up with some good stuff!
Things ARE getting better in restaurants, though.
The only thing I miss are chicken wings. I don't miss steak or beef at all.



Protein isn't a huge problem for a veggie if you eat right and it's not that hard to eat right.
There are 8 amino acids that we need out of protein. Some are available in whole grains like whole wheat, brown rice, quinona, oats, barley etc.
The other aminos that aren't available in them are available in legumes like beans, lentils, soybeans, tofu, nuts etc, so if you have some grains and nuts/ beans/ split peas etc, then you should be fine.

The worldwide meal of rice and beans is a complete protein and there's probably a good reason!
In India, rice and lentil and nuts.
Toasted flax seed, ground up in a coffee grinder for a second, has alpha-linolenic acid which is hard to find without meat, and you can put it in bread, yogurt, cereal. Tastes great.

http://www.vegsoc.org/info/protein.html

Then you need iron which is available in whole grains, spinach and,,,, well, here's a list;
http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/iron.htm


I think the only thing that's hard to get is vitamin b-12 from veggies, so you should take a supplement but other than that, a varied diet will keep you going.

I had cancer really bad around 6 years ago, and survived it, and my body seems to be a friggin experiment to all the doctors. They've studied me like I'm some sort of a science project and I have good iron, good blood, good cholesterol, so even they can't tell me that I'm not getting the right things in my diet!



Once you get used to it, I think it's easier to cook as a veggie than it is for a meatie. It's just different, but I find myself experimenting with all different types of foods.

I'm STILL working on a good vegetarian chicken wing though! I think it'll work with stuff called seitan. It's a wheat product, and I just made some myself last week. It's not that hard to make and it has a texture of chicken. I'll put up the method as soon as make a better batch. It's pretty fun to make.


So when I get that worked out, I'll invite soulsinging over for dinner and we'll pig out. THEN he'll see!

soulsinging

who's_pearljam? wrote:

Man,,,, I've never given someone a hard time about eating meat and I don't know many people who have, but all vegetarian threads seem to have a comment about that!

Pro: I haven't eaten meat for a long time and I feel great, have more energy, kicked cancer, and I don't have to clean beef fat off the cutting board.

Con:
-Rabbit food jokes , although so far there aren't any links to a picture of a steak yet in this thread. Mark my word, though!
-Going to the restaurant and having your friends, the meat eaters mock you for not eating meat while they tell me that vegetarians have a high and mighty attitude and then they'll tell the waitress or waiter to just bring some rabbit food to me.
Some veggies DO have an attitude, but none of my friends do.

-Going to a restaurant and having the choice of a spinach salad or a portabella burger. I always ask the server to tell the chef to get creative if they're not too busy and sometimes they come up with some good stuff!
Things ARE getting better in restaurants, though.
The only thing I miss are chicken wings. I don't miss steak or beef at all.


So when I get that worked out, I'll invite soulsinging over for dinner and we'll pig out. THEN he'll see!

yeah, i really have nothing against vegetarians, i just love poking fun at them. i think you've been round here long enough to remember my swooning over a vegetarian i met overseas once, hehe. they do cook some mean meals.

i just don't have the patience, discipline, or effort to stick to any sort of diet. i'm more concerned about the health effects of the tonnage of hershey's products i consume annually. once i figure that one out, ill consider thinking about my meet.

breath_girl

I've been a lacto-ovo vegetarian for 10 years. At first I put on weight from not doing it right. Too much cheese and carbs. I'd recommend doing as much research as possible to get it right from the start.

In regards to soy I've been reading a lot of bad press lately. Apparently the soy we get in North America is not ideal because it's not fermented. Fermented soy is hard to find. I've been cutting back on that and trying to be a bit more creative with beans and legumes.

At times it's challenging but I have no regrets. My skin has never been better and I feel great.

Best of luck.

One other thing... have fun at family dinners. You just may become the center of attention.

who's_pearljam?

soulsinging wrote:

yeah, i really have nothing against vegetarians, i just love poking fun at them. i think you've been round here long enough to remember my swooning over a vegetarian i met overseas once, hehe. they do cook some mean meals.

i just don't have the patience, discipline, or effort to stick to any sort of diet. i'm more concerned about the health effects of the tonnage of hershey's products i consume annually. once i figure that one out, ill consider thinking about my meet.

It's funny, I'll eat natural whole grain homemade bread with locally grown organic spinach and handcrafted seitan and fresh fruit,,, then



wing down a couple of snickers bars and a margarita so whadooI know?


Man, so many things have happened since we sat there in New York, Fat Black Pussycat! Stellar night. Once I get those fake chicken wings right, come on by and we'll have to catch up!
I was just thinking about that night we all got together when that dude was yelling at me across the table poking me in the chest. I forget his name but that was a real, "uhhh, nice to meet you ,too" moment!

lalalalaaaaaaaa

forgotten_child wrote:

Ive just become a vegetarian, some poeple agree with me and some people dont, i have been hearing both sides..the pros and cons..

can anyone give me any info on becoming a vegetarian?

am i harming myself or am i eating healthier?

I'm not a vegetarian, but I think you'd only be harming yourself if you weren't getting all the essential amino acids that are found in animal protein. But as long as you're getting those, I think you should be fine. I might eventually become vegan myself, but it's difficult. I guess the only con is inconvenience due to more limited protein choices.

RolandTD20Kdrummer

I dropped red meat and pork 99% of the time. Both have been recently linked to higher rates of cancer with regular consumption. Bacon is now considered cancer food in any quantity, as with excess alcohol consumption. I substitute organic soy milk (quite delicious) for milk, and don't eat any other dairy products except powdered whey isolates (pure protein...miraculous).

Basically no red meat, chicken and seafood only. That's as vegan as I can get and sustain it longterm.

JaneNY

forgotten_child wrote:

Ive just become a vegetarian, some poeple agree with me and some people dont, i have been hearing both sides..the pros and cons..

can anyone give me any info on becoming a vegetarian?

am i harming myself or am i eating healthier?

I don't really have any cons for you. You can be perfectly healthy as a vegetarian. I'm a vegan and happy with it. I guess each person has to do research and decide for themselves, but it works or me.

Drowned Out

Urban Hiker wrote:

But, if you want some facts and shit to quote to people....

I recently started seeing a vegan woman, and she has an answer to absolutely EVERYTHING I throw at her. You guys study this shit just for those moments, I KNEW it!

I have to admit that her knowledge and perspective have begun to change my viewpoint (tho I am lightyears from giving up meat).

halszka123

I was thinking about this, specially when I came back from the slaughter. All what i could do was really care about eating ALL meat which I buy - the death is cruel, so we shouldn't throw it away - that was alive and died for feeding us.

Maybe someday I'll stop to eat meat, but I can't imagine, how can I live without animals' aminoacids ?

onelongsong

forgotten_child wrote:

Ive just become a vegetarian, some poeple agree with me and some people dont, i have been hearing both sides..the pros and cons..

can anyone give me any info on becoming a vegetarian?

am i harming myself or am i eating healthier?

have you ever seen a healthy looking veggie? they look like death warmed over to me.

i had a stepson that had PKU. it's a disease where the liver cannot process animal protien. every nutritionalist we talked to said he has to stay completely veggie; but a veggie diet will not give him enough protien so he had to take a supplimental protien. here's a link for pku that may have some nutritional information for you. good luck with it. i know lots of people who've tried a veggie diet but couldn't stay with it because of fatigue from lack of protien.
http://www.webmd.com/search/search_results/default.aspx?query=PKU&sourceType=undefined

onelongsong

i'll post some nutritional information for you.

Martin Marchello at the Carrington Research Extension Center has found that grassfed bison have as much as four times more selenium (an essential trace mineral) than grainfed bison. Eating just three ounces of grassfed bison, for example, can give you over 100 mcg. of selenium, which is several times the daily minimum requirement.
Most of the selenium research has focused on its potential to reduce the risk of cancer, but a 1990 study found that selenium also promotes a sunnier disposition! In this study, volunteers were given either 100 micrograms of selenium or a sugar pill. Those who were given the selenium noticed an improved mood in just two weeks. Eating a small portion of grassfed bison on a daily basis should produce the same results.
Benton, D. and R. Cook (1990). "Selenium supplementation improves mood in a double-blind crossover trial." Psychopharmacology 102(4): 549-50.

onelongsong

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States, with one out of every two adults burdened by excess weight. To help trim the fat, Procter and Gamble has given us Olestra, "the no-fat cooking oil with the full-fat flavor." There are a couple of problems with Olestra. First, it cuts down on your body's absorption of beta-carotene and vitamin E. Second, it can cause "bloating, cramping, nausea, and loose stools or diarrhea."
Nature has given us a healthier alternative to weight control—eat meat from animals raised on fresh pasture. Meat from grassfed animals has about half the fat as meat from grainfed animals and significantly fewer calories. It also gives you a bonus supply of vitamins E, A, D, and beta-carotene.
Burton P. Koonsvitsky et al, "Olestra Affects Serum Concentrations of Alpha-Tocopherol and Carotenoids" J of Nutrition, Vol. 127 No. 8 August 1997, pp. 1636S-1645S.