Eating meat v Vegetarian

Hey there! I have been a lacto-ovo vegetarian for almost 15 years now. I stopped eating meat "cold turkey" one Christmas when I was young and I saw my mother with her hand up a turkey's *kitten*. I thought it was a shameful disrespectful act. It was not easy as a young teen in an impoverished household with unsupportive parents but I stuck to my guns and made it! Lacto-ovo means I still eat/drink products that can contain milk/eggs but not fish (just a preference of mine). Really, you might could get tangled up in the plethora of terms and rules and you will get asked many many times why you choose your diet and WHY (the worst but it never ends) but ultimately, you need to remember what you do is for you. If you want to eat white meat one day a week, then do it.

To answer your question on whether or not eating animals is cruel, it's objectively unethical to support the factory farming industry. Some vegetarians argue that while transitioning you can/should buy organic and homegrown meat because it's 1. more humane 2. healthier (not loaded with weird sh**) and 3. brings you closer to your food source. It's up to you to determine whether it's cruel or not. To me, I think it is. I think the factory farm industry, as the only means of supporting people's desire for an affordable meat source at the demand of millions of people per day, is obscenely cruel. Underpaid, undereducated, underappreciated workers forced to work in the confines of these buildings surrounded by millions of dirty, diseased, terrified animals as their job. There are undreamable offenses that occur in slaughterhouses that I would never want to know about.

Transitioning can be difficult for many people as they believe a veg diet is restrictive. Let me tell you that is further from the truth than anything. Your dietary world is actually opened wide open as you realise the magnitude of protein sources that can supplement ANY dish you already love. My partner eats meat and we always cook together: my protein source is prepared separately from his meat protein is all. It works well for us. (as an example, I am able to eat DONAIRS, butter chicken, chicken alfredo, tacos and burritos, spaghetti and meatballs and anything else that runs meat as it's base)

Being a vegetarian doesn't mean you are committing to some heavenly ladder to veganism. You may find that you never want to wean off milk. There is unspeakable cruelty that occurs in the milk industry, and the egg industry too but some vegetarians, while aware and opposed to it, may always consume them. What matters is that you care for yourself and be well.

My favorite book on the matter is titled, "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer (yes, he wrote Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close). It is well researched, easy to read, and looks at consumerism as a whole. It is thought provoking and I think even if you decide to continue to eat meat it might be worth looking into. It is one of my favorite books and I recommend it to everyone (not only people who agree with vegetarianism).

If you have any more questions I would be glad to help!

I found this transition very easy. Firstly I began by cooking the same meal at home e.g. Pasta with meatballs and substituting the meatballs for veggie sausage. The change is minimal because you're used to the taste but its veggie.

Once you've done one home cooked dish then try another and I went from one veggie meal (normally on a weekend) to a veggie lunch mid week. Bit by bit I experimented more and more.

What's really ace is visiting a Vegetarian restaurant, that's like finding a new partner there's so much to discover. This single act, opens your taste buds to so many possibilities and it's an eye opener.

By this time you'll find Veggie foods taste great and you'll be be encouraged to eat more. I was a 'flexitarian' for years before making the switch. Funnily enough I ate at a veggie restaurant last night and there were so many in there trying out foods.

By being experimental you can always switch (to a meat dish) if you want however you'll soon find out for yourself that a) You won't always feel hungry b) You get more than enough protein c) No you won't faint because you haven't had enough nutrients d) Veggie foods taste great e) Your body thanks you for it and f) You'll look hotter than a day in July. << This rocks my boat.

Bear in mind there are fat vegetarians and fat meat eaters, so try to eat healthy regardless of your choice. Oreos are vegan... Can you imagine my body shape if all I ate were Oreos. Being vegetarian / vegan has nothing to do with poor eating habits, if you eat crap now, you'll do the same as a vegetarian / vegan.

If you can take small minor steps and do what I did, base all your decisions on taste. When I ate meat if I didn't like a dish it was because it tasted crap. I approached veggie / vegan foods in exactly the same way. Some people just can't cook no matter what ingredients they have, others are magicians. I'm down with the magicians So remember start with one home cooked dish and go from there.

I am actually in the reverse position.

At age 17 I stopped eating meat. My thought process was that if you put the animal in front of me, I couldn't kill it and I didn't want someone else to do the work for me. I did it slowly, first cutting out the items I didn't like to eat (pork, red meat). Then I cut the few items that I enjoyed. It made the transition easier.

I was vegetarian for over a decade. After a while, you don't even think about it. It's your diet and your decision, so you can choose where you set your limits. Some vegetarians don't eat meat products. Others don't eat byproducts as well. The only issue I had over the years was keeping up with my iron.

A few months ago, I decided to take a trip to Thailand. I was concerned with getting sick from eating byproducts (as I had before not watching my diet here in the states) and started integrating meat back into my diet. My thought process has changed and yours may do the same. Just let your mind and body dictate your choices and you'll be fine.