Vegetarian thoughts.

[MrMadison]

any vegetarians in the house? care to share some insight into the specifics of the diet and how it works, benefits and drawbacks, etc?

[Dave B]

South Park did a whole episode about how it gives you vaginitis

[PatsNats28]

I'm a vegeterian.

Benefits: Not killing animals
Drawbacks: I don't get as much protein, I've never had stuff like hot dogs, but I have had chicken before, and it sucks going without it... I still know the date I last ate meat, it feels like forever (10/28/06).

[sportsfan882]

Not killing animals is the only reason you don't eat meat?


I don't know if I could do it since I like chicken and steak so much. I don't eat hamburger and most other meats though.

[KnorrForYourMoney]

Not killing animals is the only reason you don't eat meat?

Oh, what a stupid reason.  God, can you wrap your mind around anything that doesn't fit in with your world view?

[sportsfan882]

Oh, what a stupid reason.  God, can you wrap your mind around anything that doesn't fit in with your world view?

I'm not criticizing. I was just curious. Vegetarianism kind of appeals to me.

[KnorrForYourMoney]

Well yeah, people do it to prevent animals from being killed, plainly and simply.

It is good that people do it for that reason since sometimes animals are kept in kind of crappy conditions before being slaughtered en masse.  I never could, though.  I'm so dependent on meat in my diet.

[tomterp]

Well yeah, people do it to prevent animals from being killed, plainly and simply.

It is good that people do it for that reason since sometimes animals are kept in kind of crappy conditions before being slaughtered en masse.  I never could, though.  I'm so dependent on meat in my diet.

It would be a good thing if there were standards for the care of animals that ensured humane conditions. 

To me, the meat is the centerpiece of most meals I'm interested in, and I tend to add side dishes complimentary to the main course, which is nearly always meat.  We eat a lot of seafood, so I include that in the expansive meat definition. 

My brothers' wife will eat seafood, but not farm animal type meats.  There are many variations of dietary preference, and it can become a real chore to try to conform a meal to the varying tastes if you are serving a large group, say for a holiday meal.  I fixed a lobster chowder for thanksgiving, but realized the recipe called for chicken broth, so subsituted seafood stock.  After going to a lot of trouble to prepare the chowder, the neither of the intended beneficiaries ate any.

Next time I'm just fixing it the way I want and if they don't want it, they can have carrot sticks left over from the appetizer tray.

[MrMadison]

i am thinking more in terms of health reasons, not PETA reasons.

[MrMadison]

soxnats - do you eat pasta?

[blue911]

i am thinking more in terms of health reasons, not PETA reasons.

I would recommend seeing a Dietitian or Nutritionist. Also, Salty might have some good ideas.

[Obed_Marsh]

I was a vegetarian for nearly a decade. A vegan for a couple years. The memory is not fresh for brand names of tasty stuff but the rest should be good.

I had better energy levels, less excess weight, and believe it or not better sleep if I have the right mix of vegetarian diet. I think that the right mix of diet is somewhat individual, somewhat universal so you results may vary. In my case, its just eat as much vegetable protein as possible. Keep in mind you do need multiple types of vegetable protein to catch up on amino acids or take GNC suppliments that aren't vegetarian.

Cons are travel sucks to some parts of the country (South, Midwest, Upper Midwest) and countries (Korea, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Jamaica), Lonely planet travel guides are veggie friendly and help.

Another con is there insecure asshats out there who will treat you as an ambassador for freaks and will never stop talking about how much they like eating meat, killing animals, torturing bunnies, and complaining about every conceivable variation of rabbit food once they find out your vegetarian or vegan. 

Be prepared to say no thank you often as people try to force meat on you. Restaurants will take getting used to before you know what is vegetarian. Be sure to ask: is there Crisco, fish, meat, or pork in it? Is there any animals in the soup stock? Uses butter? As dumb as it sounds certain parts of the county seem to think fish or pork is not animal meat.

Trader Joe's, the world food isle at Giant and Shoppers food mart, and for the occasional strategic item Fresh Fields is your fiend. Any indinian grocery is great, try all variations of appa.

Go to Vienna, VA. Two places you must experience is Amma's Vegetarian Kitchen and Sunflower. Explore the menu than figure out how to cook it. You'll be happier. There is a restaurant out by the White Flint mall which was the three best affordable veggie places when I was looking for such things.

Don't overdo soy. High levels do weird things with estrogen levels. That said the jalapeno baked soy nuts at TJ's are the bomb.

Take vitamin B-12 supplements.

PM me if you want cookbook suggestions. I won't be home for awhile and cannot recall the titles and authors offhand.

PROTEIN IN LEGUMES: Garbanzo beans, Kidney beans, Lentils, Lima beans, Navy beans, Soybeans, Split peas

PROTEIN IN GRAINS: Barley, Brown rice, Buckwheat, Millet, Oatmeal, Rye, Wheat germ, Wheat, hard red, Wild rice

VEGETABLE PROTEIN: Artichokes, Beets, Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Green peas, Green pepper, Kale, Lettuce, Mushrooms, Mustard green, Onions, Potatoes, Spinach, Tomatoes, Turnip greens, Watercress, Yams, Zucchini

PROTEIN IN FRUITS: Apple, Banana, Cantaloupe, Grape, Grapefruit, Honeydew melon, Orange, Papaya, Peach, Pear, Pineapple, Strawberry, Tangerine, Watermelon

PROTEIN IN NUTS AND SEEDS: Almonds, Cashews, Filberts, Hemp Seeds, Peanuts, Pumpkin seeds, Sesame seeds, Sunflower seeds, Walnuts (black), Hemp seeds

Also here's a decent summary from the Mayo clinic.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vegetarian-diet/HQ01596

[spidernat]

To me, the meat is the centerpiece of most meals I'm interested in, and I tend to add side dishes complimentary to the main course, which is nearly always meat.  We eat a lot of seafood, so I include that in the expansive meat definition. 

[MrMadison]

thom - thanks for the rundown.

that link you gave mentions a Vegetarian Diet that includes Eggs and Milk products like Cheese.

I don't see any mention of Pasta anywhere though. I would think that Pasta would be ok, seeing as it is mostly flour and eggs.

[sportsfan882]

My favorite food is rice and I pretty much eat it everyday for at least 1 meal (sometimes 2). Love it.

But I still eat chicken and/or steak at least once a week. Can't give it up. too good.

[Obed_Marsh]

Pasta is good. Italian, Indian, Thai, Ethiopian and Tibetan are my favorate veggie foods. Somtimes pasta has eggs sometimes it does not but if your at the store just read the ingredients.

If you're just getting started I wouldn't worry about eating eggs, cheese, butter until your body gets used to veggie food.

[spidernat]

All the vegetarians I know eat pasta. As someone else posted, you won't get as much protein or iron but you can always supplement those things into your diet. One of my best friends and his wife are vegetarians plus I had a girlfriend who was a vegetarian so I would go vegetarian for a couple of days at a time and I was always hungry during those days (other vegetarians have told me they too get hungry a lot). The good thing is that you definitely get to eat a lot more vegetables and fruit. The bad thing is that your menu options are significantly limited. You could always opt to not go completely vegetarian but limit the number of times you eat meat per week.

[spidernat]

My favorite food is rice and I pretty much eat it everyday for at least 1 meal (sometimes 2). Love it.

But I still eat chicken and/or steak at least once a week. Can't give it up. too good.

sportsfan, you would do just fine in Asia and Latin America. 

[MrMadison]

All the vegetarians I know eat pasta. As someone else posted, you won't get as much protein or iron but you can always supplement those things into your diet. One of my best friends and his wife are vegetarians plus I had a girlfriend who was a vegetarian so I would go vegetarian for a couple of days at a time and I was always hungry during those days (other vegetarians have told me they too get hungry a lot). The good thing is that you definitely get to eat a lot more vegetables and fruit. The bad thing is that your menu options are significantly limited. You could always opt to not go completely vegetarian but limit the number of times you eat meat per week.

that's an interesting thought.  you think that would necessitate simply eating more often?

anyhow, I'm not really at the point where I'm deciding "I'm definitely going to stop eating meat and chicken". I'm more or less, just fishing for information.

I asked about Pasta simply because it is my favorite thing to eat. I love Pasta dishes. I could do without cheeseburgers and steak(I don't eat a lot of steak anyway) and such, but I dunno if I could live without pastas.

my main concern is losing about 15 pounds and getting back into shape, just incase I can find a way back into the military.  I weight 200 pounds, the Navy Recruiter says I need to weigh 190, but I'd like to get down to 185, and stay there.

I started working out again (and man I'm SORE as HELL), and I am looking at ways to change my eating habits (I'm considering cutting meat out of my diet, but I've also considered intermittent fasting, simply eating once a day instead of 3 times, or just trying to change my diet to a more healthy but not vegetarian diet).

I never paid serious attention to what I eat before, so I'm not sure exactly how I want to go about this.

[GburgNatsFan]

I was a lacto-ovo-vegetarian (not vegan) for about five years. A less drastic approach might be to limit the quantity of animal products you eat to and ounce or two ounces per meal. That'd give you more than enough protein and limit the downside of eating too many animal products (cholesterol, an overabundance of protein, etc.).

Ethically, I don't have a problem with eating animals, and I never understood drawing a distinction between higher order animals and lower order ones. I would like to see animals treated ethically, and would (am) willing to pay more (and eat less) for it.

I always ate pasta, and didn't get too wrapped up in whether there was Crisco or a trace of animal product in the food. But I know plenty of people who do.

that's an interesting thought.  you think that would necessitate simply eating more often?

anyhow, I'm not really at the point where I'm deciding "I'm definitely going to stop eating meat and chicken". I'm more or less, just fishing for information.

I asked about Pasta simply because it is my favorite thing to eat. I love Pasta dishes. I could do without cheeseburgers and steak(I don't eat a lot of steak anyway) and such, but I dunno if I could live without pastas.

my main concern is losing about 15 pounds and getting back into shape, just incase I can find a way back into the military.  I weight 200 pounds, the Navy Recruiter says I need to weigh 190, but I'd like to get down to 185, and stay there.

I started working out again (and man I'm SORE as HELL), and I am looking at ways to change my eating habits (I'm considering cutting meat out of my diet, but I've also considered intermittent fasting, simply eating once a day instead of 3 times, or just trying to change my diet to a more healthy but not vegetarian diet).

I never paid serious attention to what I eat before, so I'm not sure exactly how I want to go about this.

[Dave B]

I dont think meat is a real culrit of weight gain. burgers, and chicken fingers obviously do. 

I think THINK, protein (mainly found in meat) is a hunger suppressant. That could be why vegetarians are hungry.

There are so many empty calories (like they wont stop huner, they just add calories) out there: soda, mayo, sour cream.  For a lot of people just cutting those out would help.

I really have no formal or informal training in this matter though. I'm just doin the math

Chicken or steak is fine. Chicken or steak with gravy or some sort of sweet chinese sauce probably not so much

[KnorrForYourMoney]

I dont think meat is a real culrit of weight gain. burgers, and chicken fingers obviously do. 

I think THINK, protein (mainly found in meat) is a hunger suppressant. That could be why vegetarians are hungry.

There are so many empty calories (like they wont stop huner, they just add calories) out there: soda, mayo, sour cream.  For a lot of people just cutting those out would help.

I really have no formal or informal training in this matter though. I'm just doin the math

Chicken or steak is fine. Chicken or steak with gravy or some sort of sweet chinese sauce probably not so much

Agreed wholeheartedly.  Everything you said is 100% right.

If you're thinking of becoming a vegetarian for health reasons, I'd say don't do it unless you're at least going to eat fish.  Just become a pescetarian.

[spidernat]

Agreed wholeheartedly.  Everything you said is 100% right.

If you're thinking of becoming a vegetarian for health reasons, I'd say don't do it unless you're at least going to eat fish.  Just become a pescetarian.

I knew someone once who was a vegetarian/pescetarian and he had to be rushed to the hospital because he was lacking too many important nutrients. He probably wasn't doing it right.

I just had a very large trout stuffed with mushrooms and spinach and doused in lemon juice with a large serving of rice. It was magnificent. sportsfan would've at least loved the rice.

that's an interesting thought.  you think that would necessitate simply eating more often?

Well in my case my girlfriend would make these huge salads that had 18-20 different vegetables (and sometimes she would just add tuna to mine  ) and they would fill me up nicely. The problem was that within two hours I would be starving again. So it was, eat more salad, repeat every two hours.

or just trying to change my diet to a more healthy but not vegetarian diet).

This is your answer.

[PatsNats28]

soxnats - do you eat pasta?

yeah i do. and i eat eggs too, which is another thing certain people do. no seafood, and i do drink regular milk

Pasta is good. Italian, Indian, Thai, Ethiopian and Tibetan are my favorate veggie foods. Somtimes pasta has eggs sometimes it does not but if your at the store just read the ingredients.

If you're just getting started I wouldn't worry about eating eggs, cheese, butter until your body gets used to veggie food.

Yeah I eat Indian food often seeing as I'm Indian

Italian works, cheese pizza is main thing at parties which is good because it is vegetarian.

[MrMadison]

i 've been eating veggie-ish meals for the past day or so just to see if i could deal with it tastewise. havent gotten around to trying any 'substitutes' like soy stuff though.