Help With Becoming a Vegetarian

MRnotlob606

I have Recently Decided to become a Vegetarian, My reason for becoming Vegetarian is because I want to live a healthier lifestyle and also to live in more harmony with nature as the killing and consumption of animals is not an ethical path for me to subscribe to.I need some guidance and would like to hear of your experiences.


I would be grateful and very receptive of your feedback and opinions.

chinacup

MRnotlob606 wrote: »

I have Recently Decided to become a Vegetarian, My reason for becoming Vegetarian is because I want to live a healthier lifestyle and also to live in more harmony with nature as the killing and consumption of animals is not an ethical path for me to subscribe to.I need some guidance and would like to hear of your experiences.


I would be grateful and very receptive of your feedback and opinions.

My first port of call would be to research how your going to get the nutrients you will be missing out on. Things like coq10, creatine, b12, fish oils are all found in animal products and help with energy/brain health. Start talking to people who are clued in like dieticians, nutritional experts, even health food store workers who will obv be biased but will recommend supplements and whole foods. But the most important thing is to be a healthy vegetarian. Look up common deficiencies and get educated. I'm 5 years a vegetarian and only now learning the basics of nutrition. I did a night course on holistic health and have gotten "nutrition for dummies" out to get motivated I felt great for the first 6 months of being a veg but managed to get an iron deficiency as well as a few others and it took a long time for my body to recover. Other than that its been great, meals are cheaper I have less guilt and don't have to worry about the negative health effects from eating too much meat. What I would say to you is be aware of the drawbacks before you start and you'll be better armed to do it successfully! That's my 2cents if you have any more questions along the way it might be good to sign up to a good health forum and post any other qtns along the way here too. Good luck and welcome to the club

Benny_Cake

It's probably a lot easier than you think! If I could suggest one thing - learn a couple of tasty vegetarian recipes. I found that meat always upped the tastiness level of any meal, so when I gave it up I found things a little bland, until I forced myself to try new things in the kitchen. There are some good recipes at BBC Good Food, for example. With regard to nutrition, eat plenty of fresh fruit and veg, supplementing with beans, nuts and pulses. The Quorn and Linda McCartney can be convenient too, but don't over-rely on them. The mince is good for spaghetti bolognese or chilli though. Best of luck with it.

blatantrereg

Meat is a good source of protein, iron, zinc, magnesium. Replace it with vegetable foods that are good sources of these. Vegetarian omega 3 supplemnentation is advisable (DHA). No other supplementation is necessary with a good vegetarian diet. Vegans need vitamin B12 too.

Thai and Indian cuisine have lots of vegetarian dishes, and dishes that work very well without meat.

chinacup

Just want to say that although I said health shop staff will suggest supplements, that doesn't mean actually taking them all! A very good quality fish oil and plenty of legumes, some soy, nuts and sprouts and you'll be flying it Maybe a b complex every couple of months. I use them more for the odd time when you let things slip and need a boost.

blatantrereg

arf91 wrote: »

A very good quality fish oil

Fish oil isn't vegetarian. It's fish.
You can get vegetarian DHA supplements which are just as good. They are made from algae.

chinacup

blatantrereg wrote: »

Fish oil isn't vegetarian. It's fish.
You can get vegetarian DHA supplements which are just as good. They are made from algae.

Lol thank you for stating the obvious..Not everyone is that strict but ya, an omega oil supplement then

j@utis

MRnotlob606 wrote: »

I have Recently Decided to become a Vegetarian, My reason for becoming Vegetarian is because I want to live a healthier lifestyle and also to live in more harmony with nature as the killing and consumption of animals is not an ethical path for me to subscribe to.I need some guidance and would like to hear of your experiences.

Unless you're going to grow your own veggie food in the most sustainable way yourself (in this case you still need animals to fertilize your soil), you're not saving the planet at all. Commercial agriculture is a murderer of entire ecosystems, it drains rivers dry and turns soils into dust. And you think the grain on your table is innocent? Lol, don't be so naive my dear.

Just Like Heaven

It's not just vegans that suffer B12 deficiency, lots of vegetarians and even 5% of meat eaters suffer deficiency. It becomes more difficult to absorb as you age and some recommend that everybody over fifty takes a supplement.

You don't have to take a supplement, especially as a vegetarian rather than vegan but you should keep an eye on it. If you intend to eat things like cereals keep an eye out for ones fortified with b12, I think some milk companies fortify their cow's milk with it too. For supplements something like 1000 mcg twice a week is grand, alternatively aim for 2-3mcg per day from food. It's just better not to rely on only one source for it.

I'd say that and a form of omega-3 in the DHA form as mentioned above are the most important things first to address initially.

blatantrereg

j@utis wrote: »

Unless you're going to grow your own veggie food in the most sustainable way yourself (in this case you still need animals to fertilize your soil), you're not saving the planet at all. Commercial agriculture is a murderer of entire ecosystems, it drains rivers dry and turns soils into dust. And you think the grain on your table is innocent? Lol, don't be so naive my dear.

Feeding a troll here I know, but anyway.

Growing crops to feed animals to feed humans is less efficient than growing crops to feed humans. The whole process is repeated unnecessarily. It also requires a lot more land. Also there is a significant amount of greenhouse gasses released as a direct result of animal farming. Cow farts are one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gasses. The UN's position is that using animals as a source of food in the way humans do as a whole is not sustainable, and recommend global adoption of an octo-vegetarian diet. I.e.: No animal foods exept eggs.

Insect consumption would be a lot less damaging environmentally than other meat consumption. The idea grosses out most people though, even while they think lobster, crab and prawns are luxury foods. Not hugely dissimilar from insects really. Woodlice are crustaceans.

j@utis

But to grow crops you need animals to fertilize your land. Using artificial fertilizers destroys the soils. And those fertilizers come from oil, gas, coal, mostly oil - all these are non-renewable sources and we're gonna run out of them eventually. No oil = no grain, no wheat, no corn, no soy, no humans. Sounds brilliant! I can't wait for that day to come (I won't be around then of course but still, I feel good about it).
Your mentioned cows could be very green if they let roam free and graze on the grass in the fields as they've evolve to. The problem is this traditional way of farming wouldn't be enough to feed the population numbers we have now.

blatantrereg

I don't think you are correct in saying that synthetic fertilizers are generally produced from oil and coal. From what I can see it appears to be from different types of rock. Plant compost, chicken litter, human urine are some example sources of organic fertilizers that don't involve farming animals except chickens for eggs. It might be a little simplistic to say that inorganic fertilizers are bad and organic are good in any case.

Cows are not green, regardless of whether they are treated humanely before slaughter or not. Their farts make up about a quarter of the production of methane in the world, which is a greenhouse gas. Their diet does effect how much they fart to a point, but only up to a difference of about 20%.

missmyler

Firstly well done in choosing to become a vegetarian and secondly if you do decide to eat meat at some stage please don't think you have failed. I have tried many times and realised due to my lifestyle (canivore boyfriend, eating out a lot) it wasn't possible or very very difficult.

However I then decided to make my diet 80-90% vegetarian and this worked out much better for me. I don't eat meat for breakfast or lunch, straightaway that makes me a 66% vegetarian ( it's what I tell myself anyway) and then I only have meat for my dinner 2 or 3 times a week. So basically out of an average 21 meals I only eat meat for 2 or 3 of them.

Google tells me Irish people eat an average of 100kgs of meat a year (dont quote me however)

If I do buy meat I always buy free range (I am aware it's not always as good as the ad's like to portray) and I don't eat pork because from what I have seen most pork isn't free range. Plus I have a strange love for pigs, they can play football! Because I don't eat as much meat as the average person the extra cost for free range is ok.

I am only saying the above because I know so many people who have tried to become vegetarians and failed. The key for me was cutting down drastically and being very conscious about where my meat comes from. However, In an ideal world for me restaurants would only have veggie options, my boyfriend would get a new found love for spinach and broccoli and people would eat nut roast for sunday dinner.

--LOS--

MRnotlob606 wrote: »

I have Recently Decided to become a Vegetarian, My reason for becoming Vegetarian is because I want to live a healthier lifestyle and also to live in more harmony with nature as the killing and consumption of animals is not an ethical path for me to subscribe to.I need some guidance and would like to hear of your experiences.


I would be grateful and very receptive of your feedback and opinions.

Ok bear with me here, this is not intended to be judgemental/critical/ w/e. As one of my favourite vegan personalities Mary Mattern from Nom Yourself says, 'before I was vegan I was not vegan'.

I also have the same sort of motivations as you. The core of my beliefs lies with recognising speciesism, acknowledging we are all animals and respecting all animals alike by rejecting slavery. Also recognising the difference between lessening harm and the very idea of using animals at all. I was vegetarian for about 6 years before I was vegan. Veganism may be understood as a way of living that seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practical, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to animals for any purpose. If you don't wish to subscribe to the killing and consumption of animals then you must first realise that being vegetarian, you'll still be eating animal products and supporting the use of animals. If this is something you can reconcile then that is your choice. Perhaps you have thought about this already or perhaps it will be some food for thought.

My reasons for not being vegan earlier? I was still ignorant to some issues whilst being vegetarian, especially concerning the milk and egg production industry. I did not know for example that the egg industry grounds up live chicks for their unfortunate luck of being born male, something which also occurs in 'free-range' egg production. I was also too focused on lessening suffering versus the idea that it is speciesist to use animals at all regardless of whether I'm causing additional harm (by eating animal products that are going to be thrown out anyway for example). I also assumed it would be hard! This is a huge misconception for a lot people, it is easy! The hardest part is educating yourself, becoming familiar with the non-obvious animal ingredients in food, but soon enough you'll be scanning a food label like a pro. Besides that though food is actually one of the easier things, it's sometimes harder to dress veg*n than eat veg*n. People have this notion that it is an extremist belief, it's the opposite, torturing, exploiting and murdering animals for the sake of our taste buds is extreme, this is why being vegan is easy imo. I actually think being vegetarian is harder for this very reason, because you are practising a hypocrisy that you have to reconcile. I only wish I made the change earlier, but, we are forever learning, evolving and changing, and I'm not about to punish myself or anyone else for that. Change is good, change at an individual level is what makes change in the world. This is sometimes a sensitive issue on this forum because we are a vegan and vegetarian community and we all have our different reasons for being vegan or vegetarian. But since your reasons are in line with a vegan philosophy you might appreciate my feedback

There is a wealth of information online and it can be intimidating for new vegans/vegetarians. VeganKit is a great, accessible site to start with regardless of whether you're considering veganism/vegetarianism. I hope this forum is also a source of help to you, best of luck!