CALLING ALL VEGANS, VEGETARIANS, AND RAW VEGANS!!

My girlfriend is a vegetarian (used to be vegan, but she was having a hard time getting all her nutrients) and I tried it for 2 weeks as an experiment. It wasnt too bad because I go entire days already without eating meat. I wouldnt want to ever become one full time because it is such a hassle when dining out or at get togethers and such....but I respect everyone who decides to take up that lifestyle.

I am an animal lover as I'm sure most of you are, but I do believe that animals are on this earth to eat. I think animals, just like fruits and vegetables, supply humans with a lot of things that are important to health. I'm not into taking vitamins to get nutrients that I can get from eating actual food. (Please don't try to argue with me....my girlfriend is going to school for public health and nutrition, so I've heard it all. haha) That being said, I strongly disagree with the way that a lot of animals are "processed" or whatever you want to call it, and I do try and eat organic and local meat as much as possible. I'm not trying to start an arguement or anything.....as I totally understand why people would become vegetarians/vegans because of these reasons. Does anyone have any other reasons they choose that eating habit? Just curious.

Anywho....if any of you still want to be friends, even tho I am a carnivore, I will be happy to support you in all your fitness and nutrition endevors! I also cook veggie/vegan meals for my girlfriend a lot, so maybe we can share some recipies. I'm always looking to try new things!

I can totally respect your choice. Personally, I find it very difficult to find a farm that would meet my own personal standards for humane treatment - even for things like dairy and eggs. Even the small-ish, local farms are pretty big and there are problems inherent in mass production. I went back and forth between vegetarian and vegan a lot of times before I finally settled on vegan - and I would research the heck out of farms and try to choose the best possible, but even then it just didn't sit right with me. On dairy farms, calves are taken away from their mothers at birth (or a few days after), and even the organic family egg farms that I found bought their chicks from hatcheries, who kill all of the male chicks at birth.

I feel healthiest when eating vegan anyway, so I've just come to a place where I'm okay with getting my vitamin B-12 from nutritional yeast and/or a supplement.

I think it's great that you are considering the issues and trying to make informed choices - and eating a lot of plant based meals!

I want to be your weight loss buddy. Let's motivate each other.