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A call to the people out there, vegans and not: I've heard both sides of being a vegetarian. One that it's better for your health and one that it's not and ultimately leads to frailty toward the tail end of life because of certain nutrients missing, or something. I don't care about the moral side of being a vegan, but I would like to hear facts or personal stories. Which is accurate? Is it bad or good for you? Do you eat fish or seafood in place of other bigger flesh-bearing animals? Have you suffering negatively in any way? Just curious. o.o

Edit: Added neutral choice.

Um, How bout an 'Other'?

I think eating meat is pefectly natural and very well do love my meat (pats belly full of beef.). Yet I have no problems with vegetarians and so far do not know of any bad side effects.

I do dislike excessive preachers who beleive meat is a sin and run around around with stuff that just sounds like B.S., I as an animal and enviromental lover eat animals, even the fact that bovine are one of my favorite animals I do eat them, I just find it natural and good.

Sometimes I do feel remorse for the fact on how some animals are raised, which is why my favorite place for meat it a butcher directly behind my now old house, the cows are very well cared for, and I've seen these cows too, not to mention the food there has no crap added to them. Unfortuanly at the same farm seen the chickens and cows, the chickens fighting a stepping on each other in one little pen, same with those poor pigs.

Luckily, if you drive across Ohio sometime, you'll see rolling hills of cow pastures, which mean there are places here to get some good beef, without the remorse.

So far I do also know my Uncle whos a vegitarian, but only for a weight loss deit, hes going strait back to making us real hamburgers when hes done.

Edit: Sorry, I talked about vegetarism as a whole, not just health benefits. Yet as I've said, I couldn't care here. Vegans can still get protein with other things. I will stick to my meat none the less, I think it is good.

Llamas are herbivores:
Edit 2: Scratch That:
(Sorry for the Ketchup on his face, I was bored.)

To each thier own, I say.

I have mixed feelings about eating meat...yet continue to do so anyway. (Just ate beef a moment ago).

If you want to go Vegitarian...good for you. That's good Karma, I suppose. I've considered doing so myself, but am just too darn fond of Steak, Ham, Chicken, etc. to give it all up that easily.

In an ideal world, I would say that one should not have the right to eat anything they are not willing to hunt down, kill, skin and prepare with their own hands. (Otherwise, you have as much right to that meal as any other natural predetor does.) But since this is not an ideal world, and it would not be practical for everyone to go out and hunt thier own dinner, I'm stumped. It's a tough call.

If you feel happy and healthy eating a strictly vegetarian diet, then Go For It. Fewer animals will be heartlessly slaughered in pens and "slaugherhouses" that way.

i'm not a veggie head. nore i'm a rabbit. i'am wolf and i EAT MEAT!!!!

I've never tried going vegitarian for several reasons:
1. I really, really like meat
2. I don't like many vegetables
3. Even if I did like veggies my system doesn't handle them too well
4. I feel better when I eat lots of meat
5. Lack of meat makes me feel lousy
6. Insane blood cravings can't be gotten rid of with celery

Yeah, I'm a carnivore bordering on vampire.

It's really a personal decision.... though on a related note, researchers are getting close to figuring out how to mass produce organically grown meat in a lab.

Anyhow, I personally wouldn't go for it. I love animals and all, but I don't consider it murder to kill one for food. For you to live other livings things must die, it's an invariably and inescapable law of nature.

However treating your food with respect is very important to me. I'll never EVER leave meat to spoil if I can help it. I mean, that animal died that I might live, how disrepectful would it be if I simply let its sacrifice go to waste?

Well, I'd feel guilty that's for sure.

I like some vegatibles like carrots and uhhhh carrots but Im more of a meat person cause my mom makes meat for us almost everynight.

WolvenOne wrote:However treating your food with respect is very important to me. I'll never EVER leave meat to spoil if I can help it. I mean, that animal died that I might live, how disrepectful would it be if I simply let its sacrifice go to waste?

Well, I'd feel guilty that's for sure.

And that, I whole heartily agree. I HATE to waste food, it happens, but that is where I just get sad. I ate a hamburder and 3 quarters of another just around an hour ago. I thought Dad may wrap it up so I can eat it when I get the muchies before bed time, it wasn't much burger there, but he threw it away and I feel very bad. There was also another burger, I hope atleast that one is in the Fridge right now.

I'm not a vegitarian, but I do respect them. I tried to once for a short while, but McDonalds sweet, sweet song lured me back I'm not a heavy meat eater, I dont chow down on it everyday or anything. I too hate to see meat go to waste, an animal did have to die for our food after all.
I HATE the way most farm animals are treated; its disgusting and cruel. I recommend reading the book 'Dominion'. It is about that kindof stuff and animal rights in general. A very good book.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... ce&s=books

What about this option:

It can be both good and bad depending on the balance of your diet. If you decide to eat all junk food (highly possible if you just didn't eat meat, but still ate things that had animal products in them) obviously a vegetarian diet would not be good. BUt, on the other hand if you took being vegetarian as an oppurtunity to actually have more vegetables/whole grains/good stuff etc in your diet, than of course you'd probably be healthier.

Then again, that also applies to people who eat meat! So, yeah...

ps, I did try vegetarianism once. It just didn't work for me (for whatever reason). I respect those who prefer not to eat meat and animal byproducts.

~Snowy

Depends how you balance your diet yes. I eat fish so really I'd be a .. lacto-egg eating fish eating vegetarian? Really makes no sense. But my fish I hunt myself humanely. My eggs come from a friend who treat the chickens with compassion and name them and stuff. My milk is dodgy but I try get Western Australian stuff because we have a lot of laws here.

What I think the issue is today is mass production. 'Free Range' is a bunch of crap unless from a local farm. Cows that are butchered are treated with utter cruelty, the cows farmed for milk are worse treated. I don't like the idea of eating baby animals. But I think some people are overly fanatical and I avoid those wherever possible.

What's kinda funny is humans aren't even weaned. We also drink milk [myself included sadly] from another animal.

It also depends on the blood group sometimes. Mine is A and I think that means we're naturally vegetarians. But as I said before I kill my fish cleanly and fast before I gut or scale them. Back in the old old medieval days or hunter gatherer days, we slaughtered only what we needed to feed. Like nature intends. Even our farm animals without mass production were far better treated [People only had to feed themselves and swap at markets and such]. That would be perfectly acceptable. I don't find stuffing male calves of dairy cows into a tiny container, unable to move for a few weeks, and then slaughtered [this helps them stay tender] acceptable I find it barbaric they have souls too and they have a life to live. I don't find ripping beaks off chickens acceptable either or amputating diary cows while still awake. The environmental degredation of mass production of any kind is also disgusting. Population rise can't help either and how many tonnes of food we waste a day in each country is horrible and we're all culprits...I try feed every bit to my dog [if acceptable for his health] or I eat it or use it for garden scraps or something or give it to someone to take to work the next morning.

So yeah that's my story mass production makes us evil! What makes an 'evil' werewolf, is the human side.

Silverclaw wrote:I too hate to see meat go to waste, an animal did have to die for our food after all.

I agree with that. Before I fully reverted to vegetarian, any meat I couldn't bare to eat went straight to someone else. Wasting it is just as bad as eating it in fact it's worse. You can't just throw it out and say you did a good thing. The damn animal is already dead! If the dog or someone else can get some nutrients out of it, then the better it is.

Meats just so darn tasty. I agree with ya Vuldari unfortunately if I took a bow went outback and brought back dinner then my mom would probably have me evalutated. lol

I know many vegetarians and it depends entirely on what their particular metabolism does to begin with.

For my example, if I went veggie I'd be in even worse shape than I am now. If you follow the "eat right for your type" model, I'm an O-neg so I need meat. Conversely I do try to limit my intake of not just beef but fatty meats in general and I favour organic free-range, which is healthier (and these days, competitively priced). I also down a lot of rice and fruit; not much of a vegetables fan. If I had to, I'd have an easier time going fruitarian.

For another example, I have a Buddhist friend who's full-blown vegetarian. But he swears by alfredo, drinks beer like soda, and has a gut like a horse. He eats more parmesan than eggplant or mushrooms.

I also know vegetarians who are so uptight about it that while cholesterol won't get them, hypertension certainly will. They've just traded one flavour of heart attack for another.

By the same token, I know vegetarians who really are vegetarians, not pasta-terians, aren't out to prove anything, don't sweat it and eat a well-rounded, varied, meat-exclusive diet. So far, none of them have dropped dead.

Here's an interesting bit of irony: when I went to culinary academy, the best student in the Butchery class was a card-carrying veggie. She told me, "I keep thinking I should be ill everytime I walk in there, but I never do. It's just another part of the curriculum."

erm... not a clue... i've just eaten meat all my life. personaly, i don't care about the health issues involved and eating meat sure as hell ain't immoral, meat tastes good, and as long as the animal that i'm eating was not killed brutaly. i'm fine with it.

i don't see how people can say "humans weren't ment to eat meat" if humans weren't meant to eat meat, why are our teeth built for eating meat? but i guess that's a matter of opinion just like everything else....

though on a related note, researchers are getting close to figuring out how to mass produce organically grown meat in a lab.

augh.... that's just not right. don't know why, i just can't imagine myself eating artificial food....

Myself, I am an Omnivore who loves both meat and plants for food, and think a well rounded diet should include both, or whatever.

I like patio furniture. Yum!!

Figarou wrote:I like patio furniture. Yum!!

Wow... That came out of left field.

Never tried it, but the veggies I know are looking really pale, and not-healthy after some months.

I can't do without meat.

Lupin wrote:

Figarou wrote:I like patio furniture. Yum!!

Wow... That came out of left field.

Nope....from the 50 yard line.

Figarou wrote:Nope....from the 50 yard line.

You can't have patio furniture on a football field, it'd get knocked over!

Lupin wrote:

Figarou wrote:Nope....from the 50 yard line.

You can't have patio furniture on a football field, it'd get knocked over!

Thats the idea.

If you know what you're doing and do some research, you can be quite healthy. One of the reasons vegitarians tend to be healthier is that people who are health-conscious are more prone to being vegitarian than the general population.

But, you can eat crap and still be a vegitarian. Dr. Atkins beat that premise to death.

I describe myself as "effectively vegitarian" because of my ethical principles, but I've recently discovered outlets where I can get non-tortured meat. Still, I subsisted on a vegitarian diet for ten years, including my years in medical school and residency, some of the most strenuous years of my life. And, I got through it quite well.

I became a vegitarian once to lose weight. The pounds can come off quickly if you avoid greasy foods, meat and exercise.

I may have to do that again because I gained a pound or 2

Figarou wrote:The pounds can come off quickly if you avoid greasy foods, meat and exercise.

Well, at least I'm good at doing one of those three: avoiding exercise...



-- Vilkacis