Calling all Vegetarians

Cnick946 · Post by **Cnick946** » 19 Jan 2009 10:54

Can I get some insight from people who actually are vegetarians? I've searched the web a bit, and I've looked at some discussions already on here, but I haven't found what I'm looking for.
I've decided to become a vegetarian, but I don't want to lose all of the complete proteins associated with meats from animals.
Do you feel better?
Or do you feel worse?
I'm just looking for some insight from some vegetarians because I want to do this right.

mc · Post by mc » 19 Jan 2009 11:18

Below is a list of every topic you've started since you joined modified.

15 of 25 (the bolded ones) would be WAY MORE APPROPRIATE on a board that has SOME TOPICAL RELATION to what you want to talk about. 16 out of 25, if you count the thread about the imaginary computer virus, but I'm leaving that unbolded because if it was a real virus, that would have been helpful. If you seriously want to know more about being a vegetarian / diabetic athlete / user of VLC media player, why would you post about it on a forum where the majority of the users aren't here to talk about that or help about it? do you realize that there are other internet forums out there where the answers you'll get to these questions will be a lot more helpful and pertinent to your life, and not only that, the questions will be appreciated and respected instead of resented?

on top of that, at least 5 of the 10 (the italicized ones) footbag-related topics you started could have been resolved without making a topic by reading *1 post* that I made that is stickied in a topic by Kyle Hewitt (I believe) in the FORUM INTENDED FOR BEGINNERS, WHERE YOU POSTED ALL THESE QUESTIONS.

am I asking you to do anything differently? no.

am I telling you to do anything differently? no.

am I implying that you should do anything differently? that's arguable.

I just thought you should have a look at those statistics.

---------------------------------------

Calling all Vegetarians

Complex Numbers help

Training Tips for Diabetics

Mac -VS- PC

Georgia Footbag scene?

Valkyrie

The Wrestler

Sanuk Sandals

New Years Resolution

Good Novels

Trigonometry Help

Room of Mirrors

Sister Hazel

Panels matter why?

Favorite T.V. Shows

VLC Player

Ironman Triathlon

New Computer Virus, Watch out!

Good Cardio?

Starting out

Practice Techniques

Good choice of starter footbags

Dumb, yet I need to know

Best Footbagging shoes

Ga shredders?

Cnick946 · Post by **Cnick946** » 19 Jan 2009 11:31

Wow, thanks for pointing these out because I know realize how annoying it would be to be asked all of these questions that aren't pertinent to footbag. I also realize it is a waste of space.
I'll take this advice and try to remember it in the future.
I probably should find another thing to do at night than sit around a post random things.
Thanks.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 19 Jan 2009 13:45

Hi Corey,

I disagree with Matt and have enjoyed many of the topics you've started. Some have perhaps been a little trivial or discussed previously on the forum but the same can be said of probably 90% of topics on the forum these days. When I started playing footbag I asked hundreds of questions. Of course there weren't forums like this then, but I'm sure I annoyed a lot of people. Never the less, asking questions (about anything) is the best way of learning, and I believe that knowledge is the most important thing people can have.

I also hate post modern deconstructions rather than merely addressing the topic at hand.

Vegetarianism is a big issue, and since I'm now late for work, I won't comment right now but will in half an hour or so. I'm not a vegetarian although I've dramatically cut down my meat consumption and am working towards possibly becoming one.

Blue_turnip · Post by **Blue_turnip** » 19 Jan 2009 14:01

But Matt, how else is he going to grind up post count?

Cnick946 · Post by **Cnick946** » 19 Jan 2009 14:37

Post count, Shmost count.
Thanks Jeremy.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 19 Jan 2009 14:37

Returning to the issue on hand.

My research in the past has convinced me that it's very difficult, if not impossible, to get all the amino acids and fatty acids that are ideal from a purely vegetarian diet in a digestible form in significant quantities. Never the less it's certainly possible to be far more healthy than the average person and live until you're 100 being completely a vegetarian, so the losses are not that significant. Indeed a vegetarian diet where you're attempting to eat well is probably far better than the majority of people's diets (which is why vegetarians have higher life expectancies than non-vegetarians overall but lower life expectancies than people who eat nutritional and balanced diets - sorry I've forgotten the source for this but you can probably google it).

My reason for reducing my meat intake considerably and considering (for a long time) vegetarianism is largely due to concerns about the environment and social justice. For those reasons I do not indiscriminately eat plant material either, but try to know where it was from and how it was grown. In many instances, especially if you live in a place of some agricultural significance, it can be far better to eat local meat than imported vegetables - although "better" is subjective of course. In a typical supermarket sardines have a much lower carbon footprint than many of the available vegetables.

So for me, there's much more to it than just eating healthy food (although certainly tasty and healthy food is usually a priority).

That said, the key thing is just to remember the food pyramid and try to meet that - lots of grain and carbs (bread, potato, rice etc.), less but significant fruit and vegetables (apples, avocado, salad, etc.), less but still significant protein (eggs, cheese, nuts, beans etc.) and a small amount of sugar, salt and oil etc. I don't remember the recommended amounts but I'm sure it's on google.

Cnick946 · Post by **Cnick946** » 19 Jan 2009 14:40

That was one issue I wanted to be sure about, not getting enough protein in my diet.
I guess one big problem I've had is letting my family and friends know. I guess I should wait a little longer and see if I stick with it. I'm just skeptical as to what they will think about it.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 19 Jan 2009 14:53

I haven't told my housemates, and I still eat any food that they cook for me (or that anybody else cooks for me

), but whenever I have a choice I always either choose a vegetarian option or something I deem to have a low environmental impact - like I often make a spaghetti bolognese using wallaby mince, although I don't know if that would be a good option (or easily available) outside of Australia. I guess it depends a lot on your situation and philosophy. You might not need to tell anybody at all.

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 19 Jan 2009 15:50

Considering your other post about diabetes, seems like any dramatic or long-term dietary changes ought to be run past your doctor.

Cnick946 · Post by **Cnick946** » 19 Jan 2009 17:36

yeah. As matt said, it would be better to ask this question somewhere else, not that these responses aren't good or anything

Drew · Post by **Drew** » 19 Jan 2009 19:47

I am vegetarian and have been my entire life. 'Til about 15 or 16 years old I just felt like a picky eater who didn't like meat. I used to be chubby and lil overweight due to eating more candy than should've. Then I lost it all eating better and exercising some. For some time I was really pretty thin, much less than I would've liked to be.

Now I'm still vegetarian and have added a bunch of muscle weight. I love peanut butter and eat a lot of it, it provides me with good protein. I also eat eggs pretty much every day which helps. Being vegetarian and trying to add muscle weight was surprisingly difficult, but definitely possible. It's unfortunate that eating healthy is more expensive than eating unhealthily.

I enjoy being vegetarian, every day I eat salads, pastas and dairy. I don't worry too much about eating unhealthily because I stick to my routine, and also exercise 4+ days a week for a couple hours each time. Been trying to add more weight lately so calories intake has been pretty high and have added some pounds.

Not sure I've answered any of your questions, but I feel great and have never felt better. I'm pretty healthy being vegetarian. Though it sounds like you're interested in opinions of people switching TO vegetarianism so I don't really know about that.

mtoolan · Post by **mtoolan** » 19 Jan 2009 20:11

I'm kind of in the same boat as Jeremy. I approach it from both a health and environmental standpoint. I'll still eat whatever is cooked for me but if I have the choice I'll choose a vegetarian meal, and I try to encourage my mom to use less meat. This annoys my dad quite a bit. I've been eating meat my entire life but we had to choose a topic in english class to write about for the semester, and I chose it as my topic since of few of my friends are vegetarian and I've had an interest in seeing what it was all about. So I've written four or five papers on different aspects of it. This pretty much made the decision for me, and ever since I've been eating less and less meat.

As for the protein question, I don't know a whole lot about that but I was told by a few people that as long as you eat dairy and eggs and such pretty regularly you should be alright. I also know that some vegetarians still include fish in there diet, so this might be another way to go. I'm not sure whether this is true or not but from some research on my own it seems like this is close enough to true. Now if you were to go vegan, then I would worry a bit more.

QuantumBalance · Post by **QuantumBalance** » 20 Jan 2009 01:08

I eat meat about once a month-ish. Sometimes a shrimp.. or a bite of chickin although not lately, the last meat I had methinks was in dim sum.

Mostly vegetarian burritos
vege thai food <--- OH MY GOD!
PBnJ
sauted veges with random sauces.
etc etc

Hmm I dont drink milk, the only eggs I would eat would be in a breakfast burrito with bacon and potatos and ketsup.. thats rare but MMMMMMMMMM DELICIOUS!

Feel fine

Been quite a few years now

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 20 Jan 2009 01:56

Farmed shrimp is highly environmentally damaging, has very high carbon emissions and kills 5 people every year in the US from food poisoning, not to mention the high chance of it containing carcinogens, dioxins, furans and pcbs. I've cut it completely from my diet unless I'm absolutely sure that it's caught wild - which means only if I either know the people who caught it or am 2 degrees of separation away from them (about 30% of fish including shrimp that says it's wild caught sold at commercial fisheries is actually farmed). Beef is better for the environment and healthier. The only farmed seafood that is safe to eat and not destroying the environment are shell fish and caviare (and presumably sturgeon).

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 20 Jan 2009 02:14

I've been a vegetarian from age 19-22, then a vegan until 24, and since then moved back to vegetarianism (I'm nearly 27 now).

I don't think vegetarianism had any negative effect on my health, although it's hard to tell since it's been a long time. Predicting how I'd be right now if I ate meat is impossible.
I do know that my diet has varied and expanded ever since I became a vegetarian.

I started vegetarianism for ethical and environmental reasons. I'm not sure about the health impact it has so I don't consider it a reason, though as I've mentioned I'm not complaining.
I do know that my blood tests show sufficient B12 (I even had to stop taking supplements), low LDL levels and good HDL levels.

As opposed to the previous posters, I don't eat meat at all, due to the fact that I'm not really attracted to it anymore. I think meat lost the appeal about 3 years into my vegetarianism, which of course makes my dietary choices super easy to maintain.

[edit] - a side effect of my vegan days is that I can't stand the taste of cow milk. I completely replaced it with goat milk and soy milk, but I do eat cow milk products like cheese and yogurt, replaced with goat milk products where possible since they taste better!

Cnick946 · Post by **Cnick946** » 20 Jan 2009 03:09

Thanks to everyone for the replies

colefieldhouse22 · Post by **colefieldhouse22** » 20 Jan 2009 17:13

A couple of tips:

1) I am generally pretty terrible at making sure I get enough protein, so I opt for protein enhanced drinks and snack bars. It's always best to get it in more natural ways, but for the lazy vegetarian such as myself, it works.

2) When I started trying to be vegetarian I would replace meat with, oh say, cookies. Because those are vegetarian, right? So anyway, just be sure to keep eating healthy.

Cnick946 · Post by **Cnick946** » 20 Jan 2009 19:14

Thank you Adrienne! That was my main worry. It isn't the best protein ever, but I do eat a lot of peanut-butter!

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 21 Jan 2009 22:50

Ever liked making omelettes? Experimented with different sauces that utilized eggs? Practiced baking?

The egg is your friend, Corey. It is probably the most useful ingredient in any kitchen, next to salt I guess.

Also, LENTILS rock!