Thinking about becoming a vegetarian...

[Anonymous]

I'm a veg PP and wanted to note that vegans are more likely than vegetarians to have nutritional deficiencies. If the OP is considering vegetarianism for ethical reasons, just reducing the amount of meat she consumes won't cut it. I would also say that I haven't found it to be a challenge to eliminate all meat products, at least when cooking at home. In restaurants it is more difficult, certainly, but more and more places are becoming vegetarian friendly. I do eat some fish occasionally, so that helps.

17:38, try the vegetarian tasting menu at CityZen. Absolutely out of this world.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks so much everyone for your thoughtful responses. In truth, I eat very little meat now... only chicken and very rarely turkey. No beef, pork, lamb or fish. I've always been a bit squeamish about meat, even as a child. I can't really think about what I'm eating or I don't get past the first bite. So it's basically a combination of my squeamish nature and my love of animals. Ethically I have absolutely nothing against eating meat (we're basically designed to be carnivores, after all) but I just have a hard time with it personally. That Sara Palin video with the turkey nearly did me in... I ate only veggies at Thanksgiving! My family laughs at me... Years ago on my honeymoon in Hawaii there were chickens hanging out everywhere and I swear I didn't eat chicken for about 6 months afterward. Anyway, I have some thinking to do and I appreciate all of the helpful input.

[Anonymous]

What starts as not eating things that obviously look like animals, can easily become an obsession about avoiding anything that comes from dead animals or animals-to-be. It is a slippery slope that points to veganism - not that it is bad, per se, but it is just a path that is very hard to live by & makes you feel like every waking minute is spent reviewing ingredient lists and avoiding restaurants.

After being a mild to extreme veg for 27 yrs, I find that I'm just not able to make it out of the mental pit - I am grossed out by dead animals. I can't even remember a time in my life when I ate a piece of cheese without worrying about rennet, or spent hours trying to bake a cake with no eggs, or walked 20 extra blocks to the bagel store that wiped its knives clean in between orders. What a boring thing to be obsessed with!

Thank goodness DS is a carnivore with a tolerance for veggies! I think he'll have a much happier and easier time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What starts as not eating things that obviously look like animals, can easily become an obsession about avoiding anything that comes from dead animals or animals-to-be. It is a slippery slope that points to veganism - not that it is bad, per se, but it is just a path that is very hard to live by & makes you feel like every waking minute is spent reviewing ingredient lists and avoiding restaurants.

After being a mild to extreme veg for 27 yrs, I find that I'm just not able to make it out of the mental pit - I am grossed out by dead animals. I can't even remember a time in my life when I ate a piece of cheese without worrying about rennet, or spent hours trying to bake a cake with no eggs, or walked 20 extra blocks to the bagel store that wiped its knives clean in between orders. What a boring thing to be obsessed with!

Thank goodness DS is a carnivore with a tolerance for veggies! I think he'll have a much happier and easier time.

Some of us vegetarians are a little more easygoing about it than this, PP! And certainly for all of us it's not a slippery slope that points to veganism. But to each his own. We've told our DS he can eat meat whenever he likes, and he's welcome to eat it with his friends. He doesn't like it. He seems pretty happy and easygoing, too. But as I said, to each his own. If the OP is considering going veg, though, I think she should be aware that it doesn't have to be a grim, obsessive thing. I even eat fish now and then. As long as it's one of the "good choices" on my seafood watch card, that is.

[Anonymous]

I've been a vegetarian for a long time and I don't think it's difficult at all. It depends on your reasons for doing so I guess. After a while it becomes a lifestyle and you don't think about it. I don't crave meat at all -- I don't even like the "fake meat" items because they taste too much like meat! I do eat dairy and eggs and wild caught salmon. My friends all think that the reason I am so healthy is due to my choices in eating. Good luck to you whatever you decide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What starts as not eating things that obviously look like animals, can easily become an obsession about avoiding anything that comes from dead animals or animals-to-be. It is a slippery slope that points to veganism - not that it is bad, per se, but it is just a path that is very hard to live by & makes you feel like every waking minute is spent reviewing ingredient lists and avoiding restaurants.

After being a mild to extreme veg for 27 yrs, I find that I'm just not able to make it out of the mental pit - I am grossed out by dead animals. I can't even remember a time in my life when I ate a piece of cheese without worrying about rennet, or spent hours trying to bake a cake with no eggs, or walked 20 extra blocks to the bagel store that wiped its knives clean in between orders. What a boring thing to be obsessed with!

Thank goodness DS is a carnivore with a tolerance for veggies! I think he'll have a much happier and easier time.

I am curious: what is "rennet" (or who?) and why the knives must be wiped between orders in a bagel store?

Tia.

[Anonymous]

01:01 here. Rennet is a coagulant for milk - used to process most cheeses -- it is taken from the stomach lining of an animal. And if you don't like/eat fish, having someone else's lox all over your bagel from an unclean knife is gross. Yes these are obsessive things, but they are so ingrained in my brain, I cannot stop thinking about it all.

Of course, being veg doesn't spell the end to your life - I think it is a great move for someone who *can* be flexible.

But if your reasoning is "I can't eat an animal" (as OP suggested she/he was becoming more & more uncomfortable with), it is a small jump from not eating chickens to not eating chicken embryos, from not eating fish to not eating gelatin (made from fish & other animal skin & bones), etc.

[Anonymous]

I'm a PP and I have to disagree with the slippery slope PP. If you have that sort of personality, then yeah, I suppose taking meat out of your diet can lead to veganism and obsession about bagel knives.

But the rest of us just don't eat meat and lead normal lives. And though I'm a vegetarian for animal-humane reasons, I still try to be a sane person. If I'm dining at someone's house and they put sausage in the pasta sauce, I just eat around the sausage. It serves no purpose to be that militant and to make people feel bad about their dining choices.

[Anonymous]

I was a vegetarian for 4 years, but started feeling ill. I went to a nutritionist, who told me that because of my type O blood type, it was very difficult for my body to get enough of the proper nutrients without eating meat. Immediately I started eating meat, and within a few days felt better. Yes, I get grossed out by eating animals, but I try not to think about it. I don't eat beef, lamb or pork because I can't stand the though of eating those animals, but eating chicken, turkey and fish doesn't bother me so much. And I do feel better, so that reinforces my feeling that it was the right decision for me. I know some vegetarians who are very healthy, and others who are really sickly looking. I'm sure it depends on your body as to whether you can do well nutritionally as a vegetarian.