Should I stay vegetarian?

dwilliamca wrote: »

That is certainly a personal decision and depends on whether you are doing it totally for environmental/animal welfare reasons or health benefits. I eat all kinds of meat/poultry/fish and eggs and consider it healthy for me even though I know our food doesn't always come from the best environments. I have a friend who has been totally vegan for at least 15 years and his primary reason is because of the way animals are mistreated in the industry. It is a strong conviction of his that I respect. I always cook vegan meals while he is visiting the family, but it is very difficult trying to create meals with enough protein and learning to make sauces and without cheese or eggs. He's taught me a lot like using nutritional yeast and pine nuts to imitate cheese sauce. Although he is a vegan chef by trade, he even struggles with it because of the high cost of protein/amino acid supplements that he ends up having to use to stay healthy. Actually he is extremely thin and not what I'd call real healthy looking, but that I guess is in the beholder's eye. Last time he stayed here he actually started eating eggs laid by my somewhat free-range chickens, which are healthy and happy and that made life much easier on me. If you decide to re-introduce animal products, do it slowly. It may take your body awhile to adjust.

janejellyroll wrote: »

pandagreek wrote: »

czmiles926 wrote: »

I've been vegetarian (I eat fish about once a week so technically I'm pescetarian) for over a year now but I'm not sure if I should stay vegetarian. I'm starting to feel like I'm denying myself things that I would enjoy because of a label I gave myself.
I stopped eating meat and gelatine when I started university to reduce my environmental impact. But I suppose it was also a way of me embracing the new indepence that came with living away from home for the first time.
It was also a good excuse to get out of eating some of the awful meat dishes my mum makes when I came home during the holidays.
My vegetarian friend has taken a break from being vegetarian at the moment.
If I did stop being vegetarian I would still use Quorn instead of meat in my cooking as I prefer it (0% chance of gristle). I would probably only eat meat when I go to fast food outlets because that's when I feel the most like I'm missing out.
Am I weak for not sticking to it though?
I suppose this is more of a philosophical question than a nutrition question, but oh well,I wanted to hear some other opinions.

You should always eat the way that you feel convicted to. As somebody who has looked into becoming a vegetarian and looked at the health benefits, there are some nutrients that you can only receive by eating meat. Taking supplements are great and easy however it does not compare to the actual nutrients that we receive from actual animal proteins.

What essential nutrients are only found in meat?

janejellyroll wrote: »

psuLemon wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

pandagreek wrote: »

czmiles926 wrote: »

I've been vegetarian (I eat fish about once a week so technically I'm pescetarian) for over a year now but I'm not sure if I should stay vegetarian. I'm starting to feel like I'm denying myself things that I would enjoy because of a label I gave myself.
I stopped eating meat and gelatine when I started university to reduce my environmental impact. But I suppose it was also a way of me embracing the new indepence that came with living away from home for the first time.
It was also a good excuse to get out of eating some of the awful meat dishes my mum makes when I came home during the holidays.
My vegetarian friend has taken a break from being vegetarian at the moment.
If I did stop being vegetarian I would still use Quorn instead of meat in my cooking as I prefer it (0% chance of gristle). I would probably only eat meat when I go to fast food outlets because that's when I feel the most like I'm missing out.
Am I weak for not sticking to it though?
I suppose this is more of a philosophical question than a nutrition question, but oh well,I wanted to hear some other opinions.

You should always eat the way that you feel convicted to. As somebody who has looked into becoming a vegetarian and looked at the health benefits, there are some nutrients that you can only receive by eating meat. Taking supplements are great and easy however it does not compare to the actual nutrients that we receive from actual animal proteins.

What essential nutrients are only found in meat?

B12

You're right that it's only found in animal products (or supplements), but it's in eggs and dairy in addition to meat.

There is no nutrient, to my knowledge, that is only found in meat.

janejellyroll wrote: »

psuLemon wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

psuLemon wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

pandagreek wrote: »

czmiles926 wrote: »

I've been vegetarian (I eat fish about once a week so technically I'm pescetarian) for over a year now but I'm not sure if I should stay vegetarian. I'm starting to feel like I'm denying myself things that I would enjoy because of a label I gave myself.
I stopped eating meat and gelatine when I started university to reduce my environmental impact. But I suppose it was also a way of me embracing the new indepence that came with living away from home for the first time.
It was also a good excuse to get out of eating some of the awful meat dishes my mum makes when I came home during the holidays.
My vegetarian friend has taken a break from being vegetarian at the moment.
If I did stop being vegetarian I would still use Quorn instead of meat in my cooking as I prefer it (0% chance of gristle). I would probably only eat meat when I go to fast food outlets because that's when I feel the most like I'm missing out.
Am I weak for not sticking to it though?
I suppose this is more of a philosophical question than a nutrition question, but oh well,I wanted to hear some other opinions.

You should always eat the way that you feel convicted to. As somebody who has looked into becoming a vegetarian and looked at the health benefits, there are some nutrients that you can only receive by eating meat. Taking supplements are great and easy however it does not compare to the actual nutrients that we receive from actual animal proteins.

What essential nutrients are only found in meat?

B12

You're right that it's only found in animal products (or supplements), but it's in eggs and dairy in addition to meat.

There is no nutrient, to my knowledge, that is only found in meat.

So its not naturally found in plant based foods, so it requires supplementation or fortified foods to get it unless you eat animal products, which meat, eggs, and dairy all are.

I agree that it's not naturally found in plant based foods, that's just a basic fact.

The specific comment I was replying to was: "there are some nutrients that you can only receive by eating meat." I don't consider that to be factually accurate (unless you consider eggs and dairy to be meat, which is different than how most people are using the word). Lacto-ovo vegetarians (which is what OP probably is) are eating eggs and dairy so they're receiving B12 in their diet.

So if someone wrote "there are some nutrients that you can only receive by eating meat," I wouldn't challenge that statement (except perhaps to point out that one *can* receive those nutrients though supplementation, so even then eating animal products isn't *required* for meeting nutritional needs). It's singling out meat specifically as a source of nutrition that cannot be found elsewhere -- that's what I'm questioning.