Vegetarian/Vegan

[Deliverpooh]

Lately, I've been eating less and less meat.

I find it easier than I expected, since there are many options now. I also feel healthier. Is anyone here vegetarian or vegan?

 

My favourite food is avocados

[sallycinnamon]

I was a vegetarian for a short time when I was 17-19 years old but my weight dropped from around 53/52 kg to 45 after not eating meat for about one year, I wasn't really well so I decided to eat it again. I have never eaten much meat in my life before or after it, but I need a little.

I eat more veggies and fruits since I was a vegetarian. And I like fish a lot, too, that's something we don't eat here often at all (probably only around Christmas time).

[mewana]

Many of my friends are vegan, and they eventually persuaded me to become vegetarian (Sometimes I cheat with the rare fish once a month though so not fully fledged). For my whole life I haven't really been that excited about eating meat (Fried Chicken as an exception), so making the transition, especially surrounded by vegan friends, was not the most difficult for me. I don't know about ever making the transition to veganism though, b/c I love cheese/cake/cheesecake with a dying passion.  

[axelnojutsu]

I’ve been vegan for almost 2 years now 

 

Currently I’m looking into zero waste and trying to limit myself to local products as well, but I do love myself some mango or avocado sometimes so it’s still a work in progress  

[Deliverpooh]

13 hours ago, sallycinnamon said:

I was a vegetarian for a short time when I was 17-19 years old but my weight dropped from around 53/52 kg to 45 after not eating meat for about one year, I wasn't really well so I decided to eat it again. I have never eaten much meat in my life before or after it, but I need a little.

I eat more veggies and fruits since I was a vegetarian. And I like fish a lot, too, that's something we don't eat here often at all (probably only around Christmas time).

I didn't know you would lose that much weight of it, but it's not good of course if you're already quite slim. 

Do you get your fish from a market?

 

6 hours ago, axelnojutsu said:

I’ve been vegan for almost 2 years now 

 

Currently I’m looking into zero waste and trying to limit myself to local products as well, but I do love myself some mango or avocado sometimes so it’s still a work in progress  

Wow, you're doing really well. I'm also trying to buy less food that comes in plastic. It's quite ridiculous how much there is surrounding our food. I love avocado too and eat quite a lot of it. It's really the thing that helps me the most in the change towards becoming a vegetarian, as it shows me that you have really delicious food that is not meat.

10 hours ago, mewana said:

Many of my friends are vegan, and they eventually persuaded me to become vegetarian (Sometimes I cheat with the rare fish once a month though so not fully fledged). For my whole life I haven't really been that excited about eating meat (Fried Chicken as an exception), so making the transition, especially surrounded by vegan friends, was not the most difficult for me. I don't know about ever making the transition to veganism though, b/c I love cheese/cake/cheesecake with a dying passion.  

I have a lot of vegan and vegetarian friends. They were smart in just cooking delicious meals or suggesting we go to vegetarian restaurants. It showed me how much good food there is without meat.

[SparkleSalad]

I've been vegan for... over 10 years?... and vegetarian for... if I say it I'll remember how old I am.  I've never been skinny in my entire life, though.

 

[glilikoi]

I haven't eaten red meat or chicken in years, but I'm not vegan since I still have seafood and dairy sometimes.

 

For me, it kind of changes depending on where I'm located. In Europe I don't really eat seafood because it's expensive and feels "unnecessary", there's vegetarian options everywhere these days. But if I'm in Asia I do eat seafood because there often isn't a plant-based option if I have to eat out. In the past I've even had meat semi-accidentally if I ordered something I thought was vegetarian but it turned out to have bits of meat. Conversely, in Europe I have more dairy like yogurt and quark, but in Asia I replace that with soy products like tofu and soy yogurt.

 

I think it's OK to be flexible depending on your environment, I don't want to be too dogmatic, but in the future it would be nice to cut out animal-based foods completely. I used to have an eating disorder when I was a teenager and more strict with my (vegetarian) diet, so that's another reason I want to avoid limiting myself too much.

 

The reason I want to avoid animal-based foods is basically environmental, I just think the way we produce and consume meat/dairy these days is not sustainable. With seafood, I think  it basically depends on the species and the catching method. I can't really justify eating dairy to myself, I guess it's practically just as bad as eating meat from an environmental perspective. It's just part of my culture so whenever I go home I want to eat some quark and stuff like that. I do sometimes feel like a hypocrite because of it 

 

Anyway looking at the bigger picture, I think there's definitely been an increase in societal awareness of vegetarianism/veganism and the issues with meat production and consumption. That's definitely a positive development, although global meat consumption is still going up. I think we should collectively try to reduce the amount of meat consumed, and that doesn't necessarily mean everyone should go vegetarian. If people just had a little bit less meat (mainly in the rich countries where meat consumption levels now are sky-high), that would already be good. The so-called "flexitarianism" is a trend I like a lot, although some of my friends think it is ridiculous and not good enough. I guess the way you judge flexitarianism depends on whether you are more concerned about the environmental or ethical side of things. 

[sallycinnamon]

2 hours ago, Deliverpooh said:

I didn't know you would lose that much weight of it, but it's not good of course if you're already quite slim. 

Do you get your fish from a market?

 

I have a lot of vegan and vegetarian friends. They were smart in just cooking delicious meals or suggesting we go to vegetarian restaurants. It showed me how much good food there is without meat.

 

No, we don't really have fish markets here and those few ones are very expensive (in general, fish is more common in those European countries which have sea, so we're not one of them...) I buy fish in supermarkets but not often at all. 

 

I wish I had more vegan/vegetarian friends, I'd go with them to vegetarian restaurants or we could cook together and then I'd learn more about vegetarian foods. Sadly I never cook at home when I'm alone, all I can do is a bowl of salad probably (apart from baking because I love sweets a lot  ) 

[robin]

I would say I am semi-vegetarian? It’s a mix of different factors for me. For religious reasons I only eat very specific (halal) meat. Pork is out of question and beyond religious markers I don’t eat chicken and I try not to eat beef either as those are basically mass produced. If I eat meat I eat lamb and since it’s halal I know of where it lived and where it came from (suppliers are family friends) and I can eat it with a good conscience. Also, I only eat lamb like once a month, basically whenever I visit my family. (My mother insists LOL) Otherwise I live pretty much vegetarian. During study abroad I was properly vegetarian, basically. I am not into seafood at all so if I eat it I eat it when I am vacationing by the sea where it’s fresh (and I am forced to). I could never cut out the dairy tho... I know it’s bad but  Non-dairy milk is expensive and I can’t live without melted cheese!

 

I am very far from eating healthy tho lol

 

eta: I am not super strict about the no chicken/beef rule tho... If a friend specifically bought halal chicken to make biryani so that I can also have some, too, I am not going to refuse obviously. LOL

[robin]

On 8/15/2018 at 2:44 PM, glilikoi said:

I haven't eaten red meat or chicken in years, but I'm not vegan since I still have seafood and dairy sometimes.

 

For me, it kind of changes depending on where I'm located. In Europe I don't really eat seafood because it's expensive and feels "unnecessary", there's vegetarian options everywhere these days. But if I'm in Asia I do eat seafood because there often isn't a plant-based option if I have to eat out. In the past I've even had meat semi-accidentally if I ordered something I thought was vegetarian but it turned out to have bits of meat. Conversely, in Europe I have more dairy like yogurt and quark, but in Asia I replace that with soy products like tofu and soy yogurt.

 

I think it's OK to be flexible depending on your environment, I don't want to be too dogmatic, but in the future it would be nice to cut out animal-based foods completely. I used to have an eating disorder when I was a teenager and more strict with my (vegetarian) diet, so that's another reason I want to avoid limiting myself too much.

 

The reason I want to avoid animal-based foods is basically environmental, I just think the way we produce and consume meat/dairy these days is not sustainable. With seafood, I think  it basically depends on the species and the catching method. I can't really justify eating dairy to myself, I guess it's practically just as bad as eating meat from an environmental perspective. It's just part of my culture so whenever I go home I want to eat some quark and stuff like that. I do sometimes feel like a hypocrite because of it 

 

Anyway looking at the bigger picture, I think there's definitely been an increase in societal awareness of vegetarianism/veganism and the issues with meat production and consumption. That's definitely a positive development, although global meat consumption is still going up. I think we should collectively try to reduce the amount of meat consumed, and that doesn't necessarily mean everyone should go vegetarian. If people just had a little bit less meat (mainly in the rich countries where meat consumption levels now are sky-high), that would already be good. The so-called "flexitarianism" is a trend I like a lot, although some of my friends think it is ridiculous and not good enough. I guess the way you judge flexitarianism depends on whether you are more concerned about the environmental or ethical side of things. 

 

I think so, too. If everyone just reduced their meat intake it would make such a big difference!! I guess I am also flexitarian? lol first time I hear the term 

[Deliverpooh]

On 8/17/2018 at 9:37 AM, robin said:

 

I think so, too. If everyone just reduced their meat intake it would make such a big difference!! I guess I am also flexitarian? lol first time I hear the term 

If I look back at how I ate when I was younger, I'm like 'wow, I ate way too much meat". It's not necessary or good to eat that much at all, but it's how I was raised