Just became a Vegetarian...

[ChristineLS]

I'm not a vegetarian because I get anemic really easily... I'm a nutrition nut but I've learned that all the rich leafy greens in the world don't get me enough iron, and I still need a multivitamin. Humans were made to eat meat. But not as much as the American diet has in it. We only eat meat maybe twice a week for ethical reasons. If we had more money, we'd get the grass fed beef, but it's so expensive.

I don't like how processed the meat is. Like, it's not that an animal is being killed that makes me queasy, they will die somehow. It's the chemicals and hormones that make it into the food that frighten me. And frighten is the right word. I'm very picky about the origins of the food that I eat. It's just easier to be a semi-vegetarian (and cheaper) than it is to worry about what other stuff I'm eating.

I also don't eat food with a lot of preservatives in it, or chemical ingredients that I don't know what they are, I avoid stuff with high fructose corn syrup, I don't eat candy save really dark chocolate, and I make most stuff from scratch. Yep, I'm a little nutty, but I'm healthy and strong so I figure I must be doing something right.

[KMS]

DH and I are predominantly vegan and have been for years. As I started pursuing my degree in nutrition I got more and more interested in the lifestyle and then became completely veg with changing ethical beliefs. I'm not a closeminded person and I don't associate myself with PETA or any of those groups, I just have a particular way of looking at the world around me and I catch heck for it a lot living in Texas! We all have different moral beliefs concerning so many different areas of life and I think it's also important to remember that we can all achieve health whether we eat animal derived products or not.

[scarymary48]

I accidentally watched that video a few years ago, and spent the next 8 monhs as a vegetarian. Not for ethical reasons- I simply could not stomache the thought of meat for that amount of time. I'm very squeamish.

I put on a lot of weight, because whenever we went anywhere like BBQs, a triva night we go to once a week at a tavern, or even just out shopping, all I could find for myself to eat were chips (fries). I seriously put on 20kg, which is maybe 40-odd lbs or there abouts, in that 8 months. In the end it was the fact that I could no longer eat doughnuts that undid me (cooked in animal fat), and I caved one hungover saturday morning. Oddly, I don't think I've actually eaten a doughnut since that day, I'm not a huge fan, but when I couldn't eat them...I craved those things like crazy.

Now I'm back to normal. We eat meat almost every day, but probably only eat red meat two or three times a week. I'm also back down to a nice healthy weight. Usually when you go veg you lose weight and gain health- I puffed out and looked like hell. I guess I'm just meant to be a meat eater!

[allielaurent]

Originally Posted by ChristineLS

I'm not a vegetarian because I get anemic really easily... I'm a nutrition nut but I've learned that all the rich leafy greens in the world don't get me enough iron, and I still need a multivitamin. Humans were made to eat meat. But not as much as the American diet has in it. We only eat meat maybe twice a week for ethical reasons. If we had more money, we'd get the grass fed beef, but it's so expensive.

I don't like how processed the meat is. Like, it's not that an animal is being killed that makes me queasy, they will die somehow. It's the chemicals and hormones that make it into the food that frighten me. And frighten is the right word. I'm very picky about the origins of the food that I eat. It's just easier to be a semi-vegetarian (and cheaper) than it is to worry about what other stuff I'm eating.

I also don't eat food with a lot of preservatives in it, or chemical ingredients that I don't know what they are, I avoid stuff with high fructose corn syrup, I don't eat candy save really dark chocolate, and I make most stuff from scratch. Yep, I'm a little nutty, but I'm healthy and strong so I figure I must be doing something right.

Anemia's a big problem for me too. I had major problems before I gave up most meat. Now that I only eat chicken and turkey (and sometimes go over a week without any meat at all), my doctor has me on iron pills. Yuck.

[Nekochanpurr]

Doesn't really bother me, i guess.. I get my meat when its cheap and on sale.. Can't really afford to care where it comes from. ::Shrug::