Are you vegetarian ?

[Rastko Pocesta]

Vegan is the closest to my diet, but I am actually fruitarian.

[Cimmerianbloke]

Hitler was evil
Hitler was vegetarian
Vegetarians are evil...

[clark85]

I am, at least most of the time.

[hope]

I have been a vegetarian all my life, I have never liked the idea of meat. It`s not because of religion rather that I could never get past the fact that I viewed it as a "dead thing" on my plate! I haven`t suffered any effects good or bad because of being vegetarian. However I like dairy produce like yoghurts, cheese and milk of course.
I don`t have any problems with anyone who isn`t vegetarian, it`s just a personal choice for me:)

[Franco]

I'm not vegetarian because the human being is omnivorous by nature so in some way vegetarian diet might not be fully healthy. Furthermore the existence of coeliac people probably means that the human being's body is better suited to processing meat than vegetals. If I'm not mistaken vegetarians don't even eat eggs, which could be the perfect suplement for they protein lacking diet. If we all were vegetarians those animals that are not eaten by human beings would end up being killed by other predators with lower position in the food chain anyways, so why not using them. In some way that they serve for human food gives them more dignity.

[Nugget]

Hi Marc,

Veganism seems more to be a caprice than a reasonable choice, since it is not healthy for human to live with low protein diets or avoid any animal products.

But I understand why vegetarianism is popular. It's not good either to eat only meat (you know like having a beefsteak for breakfast). Balance is the most important. If someone doesn't eat meat then they should eat a lot of dairy products, eggs, beans, etc.

I personnaly stopped eating beef in (or from) developped countries since the mad cow disease. I know there has been no cases in the US or Australia yet, but even if there was I think Americans would try hard to conceal it to preserve their economy. What's more there's been cases in Canada and when I came to Japan everybody was sure it would never happen to Japanese beef ; one month later, the first BSE case was found - and there has been several cases in all the country since then. As cows in Hokkaido and Chiba aren't related, it means there was already BSE before, maybe for several years, but that nobody had tested it or discovered it (even when tested, it's not that easy to trace BSE in a cow. Best proof, a vet commited suicide in Hokkaido for failing to trace it for several years and thus endangering people's life).

As long as I am in Japan, I don't miss beef at all. There is so much fish and seafood that I am content. But in Europe that would be tougher to live without beef at all and just live on pork and chicken. The alternative is kangaroo or emu meat.

"...reasonable choice..." is a subjective concept. There are plenty of reasons to make the well-thought choice to be a vegetarian (semi or vegan), including health issues, metabolic disorders, concerns over meat safety and quality, environmental issues related to ranching, slaughtering and processing, antibiotic resistance, feed quality, meat hormes and so much more. Additionally having a meat-free diet does not automatically equal low protein since there are many sources of protein from non-meat sources like quinoa. I've been a vegan for twenty-seven years. I am 4th degree blackbelt, run marathons at a decent seven minute mile, road cycle centuries, hike, ski, play tennis...in other words, my vegan diet has not been detrimental to my health. Before committing myself to cancer research I was a Dietitian. There are pros and cons to all dietary choices. it is not our task in life to like the personal choices of others, we should simply respect their choices and embrace our differences.

[LeBrok]

What supplements are you taking in relation to vegan diet, vitamin B12?
Do you have healthy children, and if, are they vegan too?
Do you think that millions of years of our evolutionary past in regards to environment and food, our ancestors consumed, means nothing when arbitrarily picking your diet?
Do you think that parents should respect choices of kids in selecting their own food?
Do you think we should respect a dietary choices of people who love to eat paper kleenexes for example?

Do you know that even our vegetarian relatives, the chimpanzees, hunt other monkeys and eat their meat on monthly bases? They also eat various bugs and ants. It can easily point you that there are not, and shouldn't be, primates of strict vegetarian diet.
Evolutionary science tells us that if being a vegan was and is superior and more beneficial to our health and survival than meat eating in conjunction with other food groups, then a million years everybody would become vegetarian. Well, it never happened, and on contrary, from mostly grazing vegetarians, like chimps, we became hunter-gatherers with big meat appetite.
But I guess, it doesn't mean much to you...

[FBS]

I find it very interesting when vegetarians claim that only meat used to be alive, salad was not a living thing?

[Nugget]

What supplements are you taking in relation to vegan diet, vitamin B12?
Do you have healthy children, and if, are they vegan too?
Do you think that millions of years of our evolutionary past in regards to environment and food, our ancestors consumed, means nothing when arbitrarily picking your diet?
Do you think that parents should respect choices of kids in selecting their own food?
Do you think we should respect a dietary choices of people who love to eat paper kleenexes for example?

Do you know that even our vegetarian relatives, the chimpanzees, hunt other monkeys and eat their meat on monthly bases? They also eat various bugs and ants. It can easily point you that there are not, and shouldn't be, primates of strict vegetarian diet.
Evolutionary science tells us that if being a vegan was and is superior and more beneficial to our health and survival than meat eating in conjunction with other food groups, then a million years everybody would become vegetarian. Well, it never happened, and on contrary, from mostly grazing vegetarians, like chimps, we became hunter-gatherers with big meat appetite.
But I guess, it doesn't mean much to you...

LeBroc, clearly your personal opinions versus open mind are infiltrating your posts, since this is your second response to one of my posts that rambles your beliefs and leaves little room for the personal choices of others. In fact, I have to wonder whether or not you meant to respond to a different post since your response does not relate to my post. Your questions have no relevance to my posting, which was responding to a generalized posed question. I actually said that there are pros and cons to every dietary choice. As I said to you in response to your response to one of my other posts, there is no right or wrong when expressing opinion. There is agree or disagree, but not right or wrong. You label yourself as a citizen of the world, in order to be just that, you have to open your mind to the world, not just your world.

[Nugget]

I find it very interesting when vegetarians claim that only meat used to be alive, salad was not a living thing?

It is intereesting when "life" is given as a reason, since as you said, everything is alive in some way, I guess it is just a quick or simplified response to much more complex personal feelings/beliefs.

[hope]

I find it very interesting when vegetarians claim that only meat used to be alive, salad was not a living thing?

Not in regards to having lungs, heart, brain, blood etc. I think this is the difference some vegetarians like myself would make between meat and lettuce.

[LeBrok]

LeBroc, clearly your personal opinions versus open mind are infiltrating your posts, since this is your second response to one of my posts that rambles your beliefs and leaves little room for the personal choices of others.

As I said to you in response to your response to one of my other posts, there is no right or wrong when expressing opinion. There is agree or disagree, but not right or wrong.

You got me wrong, I'm very much for personal choices, and off course, for free opinion. Just don't tell us that there are no consequences of choices, that choices can't be good or bad, and without consequences to our health, well being, or consequences in social settings (with me not agreeing with your opinion about vegetarian choices).

In fact, I have to wonder whether or not you meant to respond to a different post since your response does not relate to my post. Your questions have no relevance to my posting, which was responding to a generalized posed question.

And yet you responded. :) Too bad you decided not to respond to my legit questions. If not from your point of view, but these are good scientific questions, that explore health consequences, and touche the issue of right and wrong choices.

I actually said that there are pros and cons to every dietary choice.

No argument here. I was arguing that from evolutionary point of view, (and what evolutionary science can tell us), the Vegan choice is wrong. I was also very surprised that as scientists (your claim) you decided to ignore this argument completely?!

LeBroc, clearly your personal opinions versus open mind are infiltrating your posts...
You label yourself as a citizen of the world, in order to be just that, you have to open your mind to the world, not just your world.

Again, your free to your opinion and I'm free to mine, and we both can voice our opinions and have a civilized discussion on any subject, and we should be willing to consider the other point of view (primarily by using constraints of logic). This is tolerance, inclusiveness and open-mindedness, the way the ideas should flow, and I love it. I'm not sure why, oh why, you have this underlying concept that others, and I in particular, have to agree with you and say "yes' to your choices and opinions, and even stop thinking about consequences and science.
Why do you think that a person that expresses her/his opinion cannot be open-minded at the same time???

[LeBrok]

Not in regards to having lungs, heart, brain, blood etc. I think this is the difference some vegetarians like myself would make between meat and lettuce.

I have been a vegetarian all my life, I have never liked the idea of meat. It`s not because of religion rather that I could never get past the fact that I viewed it as a "dead thing" on my plate! I haven`t suffered any effects good or bad because of being vegetarian. However I like dairy produce like yoghurts, cheese and milk of course.
I don`t have any problems with anyone who isn`t vegetarian, it`s just a personal choice for me:)

Hope, you are the most honest vegetarian on this forum.

[JFWR]

No. Meat is too damn tasty to give up.

[flupke]

I am an Omnivorous like my ancestors have been for hundreds of thousand years.
Therefore I eat and enjoy meat; but I assume killing other animals.
for me to be veggy or animal right activist is just a new fashion for human beings; we are part of nature let's assume it. We must eat living things to live; nature's law.
That said I abhor unjustified animal slaughter. I also treat my hens very well, until I quickly sacrifice them with respect and gratitude. Then I go and fetch the onions, carrots and leeks I help growing in my garden and end their life by slicing them and boiling them with my hen's body. Then my family gathers and we all thank Nature for letting us eat and live.

[LeBrok]

It actually sounds very romantic. :)
Welcome to Eupedia flupke.

[Barrister]

I have been a vegetarian and vegan at points in the past, for about 1 year each, at a time. It was because gradually i found myself unable to come to terms with factory/industrialized farming methods. And i thought myself unworthy to eat a piece of meat that i had not killed personally. This made me feel cowardly.

Gradually, i found that this diet, did not help my metabolism at all and seemed to make me gain weight surprisingly. Later on i was doing some research and saw the relationship between Type O blood (I'm O-) and cholesterol/heart disease, as well as the relationship between blood type and the quantity of gastric acid produced. My blood pressure was slightly higher eating a vegetarian/vegan diet, because it was filled with whole grains and fruits and vegetables as well as nuts and seeds and did not really do me very well. Now i eat alot of red meat, and greens, and other vegetables and fruits and i feel great on it. Funnily enough, my mother who is a Type A blood, actually prefers eating vegetable/grain matter, and has alot of digestive troubles if she eats meat. This approach seemed sensible to me, and for the past 3-4 years has been working great.

[onkarsingh]

I am pure vegetarian. It is very difficult for me to eat other creatures of our world .

[LeBrok]

I am pure vegetarian. It is very difficult for me to eat other creatures of our world .

That's ok, more meat for us. :)

[Grubbe]

No, I am not a vegetarian. I have read somewhere that it is difficult to be a vegatian if you have not grown up with it, and that if becoming a vegetarian as an adult, you can have a craving for sugar and sweets. I knew a vegetarian once, who was just "mad" for cakes and ice cream etc., and he was a vegetarian after he grew up, so I suppose there is something to this sugar craving thing. And look at Adolf Hitler, who also became a vegetarian after he turned 40 - he was extremely fond of cream cakes as well.

[Gurka atla]

No but recent movies have made lose appetite on meat

[JamesWalker]

No I am not a vegetarian - never will be one. I just love meet

[Cambrius (The Red)]

I don't eat meat or fish every day. Have tow veggie days per week.

[Sile]

I am 50-50 between meat and vegetables, breaking it down further to,
- meat ( 25% fish 25% meat and poultry, no lamb as I have an allergic reaction to it)
- pasta once a weak
- risotto twice a week

My sister was vegetarian for 15 years and finally got an illness which hospitalized her and she was forced to eat red meat twice a week as other forms ( pills, tablets etc ) did not suffice.

[Twilight]

I'm not a vegetarian, I can't really remember a time when I was picky to tell you the truth. :/