Vegetarianism..

I have been a vegetarian for over 23 years. It does not automativally mean 'healthy' or balanced diet or weight loss. My diet in the early stages was atrocious...... I still ate processsed foods, lots of carrot cake (yum), too much cheese and bread etc. It was all due to little knowledge, lots of eating out and mindless eating. I did not have a weight issue then but I was in my twenties After a year or so I had done enough 'research', started cooking more at home and tried out more foods (like quinoa, kale, other grains/vegetables and nion-dairy sources of protein). I tend to gain 10, 20 or 30 pounds if I don't get a moderate amount of exercise, eat out of boredom/frustration etc and eat out a lot for longer periods of time. In a nutshell - whatever your individual needs and reasons for weight loss or diet changes are, do your 'research......remember vegetarianism and other 'diets' are really not short term diets but lifestyle changes.

I'm not a scientist. But here is a true fact. I knew three vegetarians in my life. Two died at age 38, and the other died at age 43.
I know I won't risk it.

That's like saying "I know two people who own a vacuum cleaner and they both died early".

I think eliminating dairy has more health benefits than eliminating meat.

I'm not a scientist. But here is a true fact. I knew three vegetarians in my life. Two died at age 38, and the other died at age 43.
I know I won't risk it.

I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous. Haha
Well, everyone i've ever known that's died ate meat (;

as for going veg. I think it's important to listen to your body and do it gradually. It takes knowledge and time to get into it. Good luck!

I'm a vegan, but I started out as a vegetarian. It's one of the best things that I ever committed to. Will suggest if you decide to become a vegetarian that you be careful about the dairy. I found that when I first started that nearly everything I eat had cheese on it. Just because its vegetarian doesn't make it healthy. Vegan is the same way for that matter.

I have been a vegetarian for a year and then started to eat meat once a month or so (i was pregnant and blamed it on the cravings).

I was trying to loose weight then and I will say it was not easy to loose weight especially eating out was a little difficult because it diificult to find healthy veg meals unless if it a veg friendly place. if I was eating meat it would have been easy to just order a grilled chicken.

All that said I lost 20 lbs in a span of 9 months. It just takes a little more effort to come up with new ideas initially. We also don't need exorbitant amount of protein.

Being vegetarian was "Totally Worth it" My skin felt way better. I ate a lot of veggies. over all I felt a lot better.

I suggest take it slow and cut down gradually. My attitude was "I am choosing not to eat meat but I can have it whenever I want helped me". If i restrict myself that is the first thing i want to eat

I do believe cleaning up your diet is not just being vegetarian but definitely plays a big part.

Every step in the right direction is good.

I have a real bug bear with people who call themselves vegetarians and eat fish. If you eat fish you are not a vegetarian, you are a pescatarian or a meat reducer. I've been vegetarian for over twenty years and still find restaurants that think if you are vegetarian you can choose from the fish menu. No I can't, I'm vegetarian!! Rant over.

THIS.

I always want to say "I don't eat animals... what part of that is confusing?"

Try Paleo rather... Seriously...

Much healthier for you than vegetarianism and easier to maintain and actually is based on scientific proof and blood markers etc than morals as vegetarianism is...

I tried being a vegetarian, and you know what? It sucked... I didn't miss meat, not at all, however do you realise that if you are actually REALLY into fitness how hard it is to get all the protein you need without getting all those excess carbs?

I am all for vegetarians when they do it FOR THE MORAL SIDE.

Claiming your doing it to be the healthier person and hoping for direct weight loss is wrong... Last I checked cookies were on the list.. Now is that healthy? Or chocolates.. Or Sweets etc....

That is why I am all for vegetarians when they do it for only the moral aspect.. Them I respect..

Claiming it can clean your diet is incorrect... the bad habits people have while not being vegan etc can still persist... I mean really... Pasta isn't exactly the best option all the time, nor is rice, and soya... man... don't even get me started on that stuff... It is actually BAD for you, rather use lentils, eggs and maybe a bit spice etc mush together and fry and make lentil burgers... Simple and much healthier than soya anyway...

Losing weight is about food choices. If you enjoy your meat, you aren't really going to stick to it come party evening when people tempt you (And yes... they REALLY do tempt you...) I do feel sorry for the animals, however my performance dropped when I changed diet (And yes wasn't a quick change, it was over 8 months so my body did have time to adapt)

Seriously, look into paleo, it is a lot better in the long run of things, I mean, tracking and finding out what it did to blood markers for certain illnesses, your hormones, insulin etc, that kind of made me think about it, and I am going paleo at the end of september when I got my marathon as a golden rule is as most racers will tell you, you shouldn't change what has worked before the race (i.e. don't try new things)

I can't seem to stick to any type of diet/eating plan/lifestyle so I was thinking of giving vegetarianism a shot. What are you peoples thoughts/opinions on this?

Why not just eat a healthy, balanced diet? Being vegetarian, or cutting out entire food groups, takes dedication and a serious amount of effort regarding planning meals, etc. to ensure proper nutrition. Unless you have some moral reason or health concern for wanting to cut out meat, it seems silly.

I was vegetarian for over 10 years. It was hard. I didn't do it right and I ate a ton of crap, and gained weight. And knowing what I know now about health and nutrition, I doubt I'll ever go back to that lifestyle. I'll eat less meat than a lot of people, but I'll never cut it out completely. Humans evolved eating meat. It's supposed to be part of our diet.

If you're not sure of it I would suggest trying to start out slowly. Make a meatless meal or designate one or two nights a week meatless, see how you like it. If you do then go ahead and increase the weekly meatless days. If you're doing this mainly for health reasons and not for the animal rights aspect of it I don't see a need to really go with a vegetarian title, that way sometimes if you crave bacon you can have a piece without feeling guilty about it lol

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