Vegetarians and vegans. Controversial Topic

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  • simplyeater
    simplyeater Posts: 270 Member
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    I am a long-time vegetarian (now vegan) and would never presume to tell someone else what to eat. I decide what I eat and you can decide for yourself. Ahhh freedom! Sorry you had such a bad run-in, we're not all angry crazies:)
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    I've been a vegetarian for 19 years, since I was 11 y/o. I have plenty of personal reasons, but the deciding reasons were the not wanting to eat my pets line of reasoning.

    I would never, ever in a million years approach a stranger and evangelize vegetarianism! It is none of my beeswax what other people eat!

    People who try and convert others to vegetarianism are obnoxious and insane. Nobody is going to make that huge lifestyle change because someone approached them. I will tell others about it if they're interested, and I try to be as helpful as possible to people considering vegetarianism, specifically about how to get enough protein and eat a balanced diet, but I have no interest in lassoing converts.

    Edit to add- I just read the end of the OP post again, and wanted to add that vegetarian diets are no more inherently healthy OR UNHEALTHY than an omniverous diet. You can do either one and be perfectly healthy.
  • V3ggieL0vinGinger
    V3ggieL0vinGinger Posts: 235
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    I'm a vegan. I don't eat meat simply because I think it's wrong to eat animals of any kind. They don't eat us so why should we eat them? This being said, I don't judge people who do eat meat. There are a few reasons that I took the next step to be vegan, one of them being that I'm extremely lactose intolerant. I also believe that it is a more sustainable way to eat and it's better for the environment. I really can not understand why someone would actually go up to a complete stranger in a restaurant and start ragging on them about the way they eat. We all have different diets and we're all entitled to our own opinions.
  • theladyy
    theladyy Posts: 176
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    Being a educated fellow

    :laugh:

    But anyway, I agree with you. Meat itself isn't unhealthy, (especially if it was just smoked ham...it's only about 75 cals. for 5 slices of the packaged black forest stuff), it's how it's cooked that can make it unhealthy. As far as the 'killing animals' thing, well, I love animals too, but I'm certainly not giving up meat just because of that.

    It's funny that she brought god into it though, since my ultra religious relatives believe the opposite of what she said.
  • suziecue66
    suziecue66 Posts: 1,312 Member
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    Today, after I left the gym I stopped at Jimmy Johns to get a snack. I ordered a #1 which is Applewood Smoked Ham and provolone cheese garnished with lettuce, tomato, and mayo. I sat down minding my own business enjoying my snack. Like a the normal American Male that I am, I take really big bites of my food. Of course their might be a string of lettuce hanging from my mouth or drops back onto tray. Well while doing this I'm approached by a very bitter lady.

    "That is so gross" was the first words out of her mouth. At first I was going to say something like "get off my nuts if you don't like the way I eat" but before I could say anything she wasn't talking about the way I eat food. She was referring to my meaty sandwhich. She says to me, "How can you eat that stuff, its disgusting, unhealthy, and just plain wrong. People kill animals for you to eat, god didn't put us on this planet to kill everything" (that wasn't word for word but its the same damn gibberish she was spouting at me)

    Being a educated fellow I smiled real big and just knew this was going down right then and there.

    My response "What makes you think that this is unhealthy? Because its high in calories? My food is cooked to kill the germs that might be harmful to me. As far as taste goes I believe its very good and I might just get another."

    "I'm a vegetarian and vegetarians are just more fit and healthier than those who are not" she said.

    Again I smile real big "Lady I'm 5'4" 160lbs, I can run 2 miles in under 13 minutes and at that pace I can maintain a heart rate of 150bpm and a dead rest heart rate of 52bpm. My blood pressure is 116/75. I can benchpress 205lbs. I go to the gym 4 days out of the week. I eat all the nutrients my body needs. Without sacrificing my size. If I were like you and eat only veggies I would be a puny twig that can be pushed over by a strong wind. I like my chances of being healthy without being a vegetarian. I like having protein in my body, it allows me to do hard labor work without being strained, and if I am strained I can recover very quickly. If I were you I'd start eating meat so you can be healthier than you are now"

    Baffled and stunned this lady was forced into retreat.

    I finished my meal and I walked over to her and her friend. I reach into my wallet and I pull out a trainers card from a gym. I said trainers and nutrionists do not recommend being a vegetarian, neither do doctors. Here is card for a trainer at my gym if you wish to learn more about why your not healthy give him a ring... And I left

    Brilliantly done!!!
  • theladyy
    theladyy Posts: 176
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    They don't eat us so why should we eat them?

    ....yes they do. They might not farm us like we do them, but they do eat us occasionally.
  • Love4MN
    Love4MN Posts: 60
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    I'm so glad you had an awesome comeback. That lady needed to mind her own business.
  • theladyy
    theladyy Posts: 176
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    People who try and convert others to vegetarianism are obnoxious and insane. Nobody is going to make that huge lifestyle change because someone approached them.

    It usually has the opposite effect, actually. (for me anyway)
  • daisyverma
    daisyverma Posts: 234 Member
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    I have been a vegetarian since I was 5

    Being an animal lover I could never understand how someone can kill a living breathing being to fill their stomachs when there are plenty of fruits veggies nuts legumes etc etc for one to eat

    However those are my beliefs and I have a right to my lifestyle

    Same goes for those that eat meat...all my friends eat meat and we always chose restaurants that accommodate both our lifestyles and choices ie some eat halaal or kosher etc etc

    My only issue is that the meat made is not cruelty free

    The animals know they are about to die and begin crying out..that's like killing an animal twice

    There is so much demand due to pure wastage and it's the animals that suffer
  • V3ggieL0vinGinger
    V3ggieL0vinGinger Posts: 235
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    They don't eat us so why should we eat them?

    ....yes they do. They might not farm us like we do them, but they do eat us occasionally.

    Haha, well I meant farming. Although, if one attacked me, I'd eat it :P A couple weeks ago on a bike ride I was attacked by a grouse! No joke, a grouse. It flew like a basketball into the back of my head. I was only partly joking when I said I would've eaten it hahaha.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    If I were like you and eat only veggies I would be a puny twig that can be pushed over by a strong wind. I like my chances of being healthy without being a vegetarian. I like having protein in my body, it allows me to do hard labor work without being strained, and if I am strained I can recover very quickly. If I were you I'd start eating meat so you can be healthier than you are now"

    I said trainers and nutrionists do not recommend being a vegetarian, neither do doctors.

    Extracts only included as I do not know how to bold (sorry)

    Ok - what she said was totally rude and out of order - BUT, please see the extracts above from your post. I am a vegetarian and am not puny in any way, nor am I unhealthy because of it. There are many professional athletes that are vegetarians. I have never had a trainer or a doctor say anything about me being a vegetarian being unhealthy.

    I do however, really get annoyed with 'holier than thou' vegetarians because they are the catalyst for exactly the type of statement you have made in the extracts shown above from your post.
  • SuperVegan8
    SuperVegan8 Posts: 78 Member
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    Wow - Let me start by saying, I'm vegan. How i choose to eat is my business and how that lady carried on is not ok.

    Quite frankly im sure arguments can be made for meat and non-meat eating diets (some things are good/bad for you in both diets).

    Im vegan for (MY OWN) ethical reasons (and i understand others have different morals, values, priorities) and i feel alot better since making the switch, HOWEVER - i dont believe this is just because im no longer eating meat/animal products, i think its more to do with eating more fresh fruit, veg and making things from scratch so i know whats in them (it also stops me buying that occasional muffin in the cafe at work because they're not vegan etc).

    In saying that - vegans can be healthy - i run marathons, lift weights, i play contact sports (and im performing better than before), train almost every day of the week and i have loads of energy. The key differance i think is that i dont cram it down peoples necks, im happy to joke with people and infact my partner is a meat eater (her choice is her choice and i respect that).

    i did laugh when i read this bit "I'm a vegetarian and vegetarians are just more fit and healthier than those who are not" she said. - im not sure her logic here. I dont think either diet is absolutely better than the other as there are so many variables- both meat and non meat diets contain junk foods it just depends what you choose to eat. For the record the institute of sport here in Australia have many successful athletes that are vego.

    I think the key here is that people should make their own decisions, feel empowered by their decisions and then let others make their own decisions. After all - we all have a brain (or do we)?
  • thelovelyLIZ
    thelovelyLIZ Posts: 1,227 Member
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    Vegetarians like that are why most vegetarians and vegans get a bad name. What you eat is your own business, and no one has the right to tell you how to eat.
  • suziecue66
    suziecue66 Posts: 1,312 Member
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    Every one should make their own choices. But as a meat eater I don't feel its wrong to kill animals for food - particularly when you don't have an emotional attachment to them. Others believe strongly that it is wrong.
  • cheshirequeen
    cheshirequeen Posts: 1,324 Member
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    i am personally vegan. everybody has a right to what they want to eat. my reasons for being vegan are my business and whoever eats/doesnt eat animals is their business. people at work never give me crap for being vegan as i would never for their beliefs. would i want everybody to be vegan, of course, but reguardless of your belief, being it food wise, religion, war, etc. my personal philosophy is dont shove your beliefs down my throat and we will get along just fine. if people would think, would your parents be proud of you if you did this certain thing, as in being extremely rude and preachy, 95% of things that are bad wouldnt happen.
  • love4fitnesslove4food_wechange
    love4fitnesslove4food_wechange Posts: 6,897 Member
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    Today, after I left the gym I stopped at Jimmy Johns to get a snack. I ordered a #1 which is Applewood Smoked Ham and provolone cheese garnished with lettuce, tomato, and mayo. I sat down minding my own business enjoying my snack.


    DAMNNNN! If that's a "snack" --what's a meal? Eating like a boss. **love it** haha
  • turbophoenix
    turbophoenix Posts: 152
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    Meat is murder... Tasty, tasty murder.

    Okay, not my quote but I still love it ;)
  • katesnewbody
    katesnewbody Posts: 62 Member
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    Watch the documentary "Forks over Knives" and actually absorb the staggering scientific evidence that animal matter makes us sick. Then maybe we'll talk.

    That being said, people who approach other people and berate them for what they are eating really, really need to find something more constructive to do with their lives.
  • springermad
    springermad Posts: 242
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    I personally dont eat a lot of meat, the only meat I will have is chicken and I will only have it once to twice a week, I try to force myself to eaat fish twice a week and for the rest of the time its pure veggie for me, I dont eat a lot of meat because it makes me feel sick and causing my illness ( adrenal tumour) to flare up and when that happens I am hospitalised which is not good. the other reason i do not eat meat is because I feel sorry for the animals.

    I personally do not have a problem with anyone eating meat at all, I cook it for my family and have no problems with them eating it, when I eventually have children I will not force them to be veggie I will allow them to make their own choice, we all have a choice and mine is to avoid it, even if it didnt set my tumour off I doubt very much I would be a big meat eater.
  • naomi8888
    naomi8888 Posts: 519 Member
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    I reach into my wallet and I pull out a trainers card from a gym. I said trainers and nutrionists do not recommend being a vegetarian, neither do doctors. Here is card for a trainer at my gym if you wish to learn more about why your not healthy give him a ring...

    I don't know about doctors not recommending being vegetarian and really they don't get mch nutrition training anyway. And as for trainers, I'm sure some educate themselves in nutrition to some extent but really what do they need to do to get qualified? Here in Australia I think it's just a six week course. I wouldn't count on them to be experts in nutrition...

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