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Vegetarianism, pescetarianism, and so on

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Carciofus Is that cake frosting? from Alpha Tucanae I Since: May, 2010
Is that cake frosting?
#1: Feb 26th 2012 at 1:03:32 PM

I've long had a bit of interest in reducing my intake of meat — in part for animal welfare reasons, but mostly for ecological and health reasons — and I think I'll finally give it a try.

For now, I'll take it easy: meat no more than once per week, fish when I feel like it, and, of course, no restrictions whatsoever on milk or eggs (I don't actually eat eggs all that often anyway, however).

Question: from a nutritional point of view, this should be pretty safe, right? Should I pay special attention to have enough fish, milk, eggs and legumes to get enough proteins, or is this pretty much guaranteed given an otherwise reasonable diet?

More in general, perhaps we could use a thread to discuss vegetarianism, semi-vegetarianism and other dietary variants...

edited 26th Feb '12 1:05:39 PM by Carciofus

But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.
ACrackInTime Since: Aug, 2012
#2: Feb 26th 2012 at 1:05:51 PM

I'm a pescetarian, and have been for several months now. As long you ensure that you get your iron from leafy vegetables, like cabbage and spinach, and your protein from nuts, you should be fine.

Oh, and if you're thinking about cutting out meat, don't go cold turkey.

edited 26th Feb '12 1:07:06 PM by ACrackInTime

kay4today Princess Ymir's knightess from Austria Since: Jan, 2011
Princess Ymir's knightess
#3: Feb 26th 2012 at 1:08:37 PM

AHAHAHAHA!

Yes, join us vegetarians! Become one with the tofu!

~isn't contributing anything useful at all~

edited 26th Feb '12 1:09:07 PM by kay4today

Carciofus Is that cake frosting? from Alpha Tucanae I Since: May, 2010
Is that cake frosting?
#4: Feb 26th 2012 at 1:11:41 PM

Thanks! So I'll increase my intake of leafy vegetables. I don't often eat nuts, but I don't dislike them either, I'll give them a try.

Oh, and if you're thinking about cutting out meat, don't go cold turkey.
Do you mean meat as in "fish and land animals", or as in land animals only? If it's the latter, I plan to reduce it to once per week for now (and I'll probably never stop it entirely: refusing to have lamb at my grandma's Easter lunch would be an unforgivable offense tongue ).

And if it's the former, for now I'm definitely going to keep eating fish.

But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.
ACrackInTime Since: Aug, 2012
#5: Feb 26th 2012 at 1:13:42 PM

I mean just land animals, like red meats and white meats. I did, and my body did not react well to it.

Carciofus Is that cake frosting? from Alpha Tucanae I Since: May, 2010
Is that cake frosting?
#6: Feb 26th 2012 at 1:17:54 PM

Thanks! Could you give me some more details?

What possible symptoms should I pay attention to?

But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.
ACrackInTime Since: Aug, 2012
#7: Feb 26th 2012 at 1:20:51 PM

Well, I started getting really bad cravings for meat, and often found myself walking to the fridge to get some meat. I was shaky and my stomach kept gurgling. But then, I did it the slow way. I cut out the red meats and only ate chicken, whilst also replacing my turkey slices with Quorn. I also started eating some vegetarian meals that were high in iron, and then stopped eating chicken. Now, I haven't touched meat in months.

But it also takes high will power. The first weeks of living off Quorn were hell.

edited 26th Feb '12 1:21:55 PM by ACrackInTime

Carciofus Is that cake frosting? from Alpha Tucanae I Since: May, 2010
Is that cake frosting?
#8: Feb 26th 2012 at 1:27:34 PM

Oh. That's worrying. I hoped that, since I could have fish as much as I wanted, no such problems were likely...

Oh well, we'll see what happens.

Become one with the tofu!
I must admit, I am not a fan of tofu. I'm OK with soy — I actually kind of like it, it has an interesting flavor — but tofu seems utterly bland to me...

But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.
ACrackInTime Since: Aug, 2012
#9: Feb 26th 2012 at 1:28:43 PM

If you truely want to cut down your meat intake and become a healthier person, then do it.

Good luck! ^_^

edited 26th Feb '12 1:28:55 PM by ACrackInTime

Mukora Uniocular from a place Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: I made a point to burn all of the photographs
Uniocular
#10: Feb 26th 2012 at 2:18:26 PM

Personally, I only eat chicken, fish, and occasionally hotdogs... and pepperoni, I guess, but can we really count that as meat?

Not for any health reasons, I just can't stand beef or pork.

"It's so hard to be humble, knowing how great I am."
Carciofus Is that cake frosting? from Alpha Tucanae I Since: May, 2010
Is that cake frosting?
#11: Feb 26th 2012 at 2:24:33 PM

I suppose?

As an aside, the name "pepperoni" never fails to confuse me — in Italian, it*

just means "bell peppers", not the spicy salami which is sometimes put on pizza (which would be "salame piccante" or "salame al peperoncino", perhaps).

Weird.

But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.
Exelixi Lesbarian from Alchemist's workshop Since: Sep, 2011 Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
Lesbarian
#12: Feb 26th 2012 at 2:26:33 PM

One question. Why? More specifically, why, for the love of the gods, would an apex predator reduce itself to subsisting on the same diet as the livestock it should be consuming whenever it likes?

Mura: -flips the bird to veterinary science with one hand and Euclidean geometry with the other-
Mukora Uniocular from a place Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: I made a point to burn all of the photographs
Uniocular
#13: Feb 26th 2012 at 2:27:10 PM

Because beef is icky.

"It's so hard to be humble, knowing how great I am."
kay4today Princess Ymir's knightess from Austria Since: Jan, 2011
Princess Ymir's knightess
#14: Feb 26th 2012 at 2:33:01 PM

And because I feel (maybe irrationally) bad for eating animals.

EDIT: Stupid wording is stupid. I mean, I feel bad for eating food products from animals that have been treated like shit before being killed...

edited 26th Feb '12 2:41:38 PM by kay4today

Falkon Lord of the Avians from the Sky Since: Feb, 2012
Lord of the Avians
#15: Feb 26th 2012 at 2:37:57 PM

If you decide to totally cut meat(land, air, and aquatic), you should know that you'll need to get a B-12 supplement, as it's only natural source is from animals.

Just thought I'd mention it.

LoniJay from Australia Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
#16: Feb 26th 2012 at 2:41:33 PM

Because it's bad for the environment, too.

Now, one meat I would like to eat more of to get around this issue, and that is kangaroo. Our country is full of the things, they eat native pasture, and they don't produce as much methane (to my knowledge, anyway).

Sadly I am not really in control of the sort of meat I am fed, and my family refuses to try it.

Be not afraid...
Carciofus Is that cake frosting? from Alpha Tucanae I Since: May, 2010
Is that cake frosting?
#17: Feb 26th 2012 at 2:41:54 PM

[up][up][up][up] Well, if there are health benefits, that alone should be reason enough for me. I kinda like being in this universe, and if something can make it more likely that I will be around longer and in better health I should probably start looking into it. Same reason why I don't smoke, basically.

Then there is the matter of ecological damage, of course.

But perhaps, yet another reason is that I don't much like to see myself as an apex predator. I don't think that it is evil to eat animals or anything; but still, I prefer to see myself as an apex being — one of the masters of Earth, one of the stewards of creation. This does not necessarily imply vegetarianism, of course; but it does, I think, imply a certain degree of benevolence towards lower creatures and a certain desire to avoid them suffering.*

I never ate meat for the purpose of emphasizing my supremacy to cows, I have nothing to prove from that point of view; but if anything, going a little out of my way in order to prevent suffering would be a better way to express the difference between my role and a non-sapient being's.

But I am rambling. For now at least, I'm not really going vegetarian, I'm just trying to go towards semi-pescetarianism. And to be honest, I may or may not fail. We'll see.

[up][up] Not likely for now, but thanks, I'll keep it in mind. Do you know if this also applies to ovo-lacto-vegetarians or only to straight vegans? I heard that if you can have eggs and milk, you generally do not need supplements, but I don't know anything for certain here...

edited 26th Feb '12 2:55:08 PM by Carciofus

But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.
MarkVonLewis Since: Jun, 2010
#18: Feb 26th 2012 at 3:34:12 PM

Well, Carc, I wish you luck.

Myself, I could never go vegetarian mostly because I refuse to do so; I like hamburgers and such too much.

Falkon Lord of the Avians from the Sky Since: Feb, 2012
Lord of the Avians
#19: Feb 26th 2012 at 4:14:33 PM

[up][up] Cow milk contains B-12. Chicken eggs have it too, but apparently there are also things in it that reduced absorption into the body, so I'm not sure whether or not that is a viable source. Those are the only natural sources other than meat that I know of.

edited 26th Feb '12 4:15:21 PM by Falkon

TheWesterner Malicious from The Land of Fools Since: Oct, 2011
Malicious
#20: Feb 26th 2012 at 9:29:23 PM

I look down on all of you. Except for the people who just don't like the taste of meat or can't eat it.

edited 26th Feb '12 9:30:02 PM by TheWesterner

I was wondering why frisbees got bigger as they got closer then it hit me.
Gabrael from My musings Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: Is that a kind of food?
#21: Feb 26th 2012 at 9:50:27 PM

I would recommend a full physical before you go too heavy on this as well as regular check ups along the way. I am anemic, taking shots and everything. I used to not eat beef or pork for religious reasons, but due to the problems other tropers have mentioned above, my diet didn't help my condition, it aggravated it. So I had to work with my doctors to find a good balance between getting enough of the right kind of meat because not all supplements process well for my needs.

"Psssh. Even if you could catch a miracle on a picture any person would probably delete it to make space for more porn." - Aszur
TheWesterner Malicious from The Land of Fools Since: Oct, 2011
Malicious
#22: Feb 26th 2012 at 9:54:46 PM

@Carc Things don't suffer when they're dead just saying.

I was wondering why frisbees got bigger as they got closer then it hit me.
Carciofus Is that cake frosting? from Alpha Tucanae I Since: May, 2010
Is that cake frosting?
#23: Feb 26th 2012 at 10:07:50 PM

No, but they do when they are dying — or when they are being raised in less-than-humane conditions.

In any case, this is not my main motivation at the moment.

But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.
TheWesterner Malicious from The Land of Fools Since: Oct, 2011
Malicious
#24: Feb 26th 2012 at 10:09:36 PM

How do they kill the animals, anyways? I'm hoping it's humane. I'd still eat the animals even if it wasn't though.

I was wondering why frisbees got bigger as they got closer then it hit me.
Carciofus Is that cake frosting? from Alpha Tucanae I Since: May, 2010
Is that cake frosting?
#25: Feb 26th 2012 at 10:15:40 PM

Let's be generous and say that they try to be humane. Actual practice, well, varies.

But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.

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