Vegetarian and/or vegan members of BYC!

[Boyd]

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I admire your courage for becoming vegetarian even though your parents don't approve! I'm sure that makes it more difficult for you, but I also bet it feels good to be making a good moral choice for yourself.

It's good to know that some people DO get chicks and ducks and then realize they don't want to eat meat any more... I have a hard time understanding how someone can look an animal in the eyes and then eat that animal, but...different strokes for different folks, as they say.

It's silly that your cross country coaches don't like your choice when there are successful vegetarian/vegan runners.

Mmm, I love strawberries and Italian and Asian food, too!

One of my favorite things is vegetable sushi--I just love it! I wish it wasn't so expensive or I'd eat it every day and be super-healthy.

Also, it's great that your friends are being supportive! It's great having friends who don't question your vegetarianism. I have a few vegetarian friends, and then the rest of my friends are all really cool with me being a vegetarian.

I'm going to disagree and say Emz is too young to make that much of a moral choice.....

Not healthy for kids growing up to isolate themselves to a smaller group of foods. JMHO

 

[mrbstephens]

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I admire your courage for becoming vegetarian even though your parents don't approve! I'm sure that makes it more difficult for you, but I also bet it feels good to be making a good moral choice for yourself.

It's good to know that some people DO get chicks and ducks and then realize they don't want to eat meat any more... I have a hard time understanding how someone can look an animal in the eyes and then eat that animal, but...different strokes for different folks, as they say.

It's silly that your cross country coaches don't like your choice when there are successful vegetarian/vegan runners.

Mmm, I love strawberries and Italian and Asian food, too!

One of my favorite things is vegetable sushi--I just love it! I wish it wasn't so expensive or I'd eat it every day and be super-healthy.

Also, it's great that your friends are being supportive! It's great having friends who don't question your vegetarianism. I have a few vegetarian friends, and then the rest of my friends are all really cool with me being a vegetarian.

I'm going to disagree and say Emz is too young to make that much of a moral choice.....

Not healthy for kids growing up to isolate themselves to a smaller group of foods. JMHO

I disagree! Many children are raised vegetarian and are extremely healthy. I just hope that EMZ is educating herself about nutrition. Be careful and get your protein and calcium.

 

[SilverPhoenix]

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I'm going to disagree and say Emz is too young to make that much of a moral choice.....

Not healthy for kids growing up to isolate themselves to a smaller group of foods. JMHO

I disagree! Many children are raised vegetarian and are extremely healthy. I just hope that EMZ is educating herself about nutrition. Be careful and get your protein and calcium.

I was raised vegetarian and I'm perfectly fine! Certainly not dying or anything. The fact that vegetarians have a longer lifespan than meat eaters on average says something about the health of being vegetarian.

 

[JP33]

I'm not saying its impossible to eat a 100% vegan diet and be healthy your entire life, but many it seems cannot achieve this state.

If you decide to go vegan, for heaven's sake do your homework and consult with a medical doctor/nutritionist that specializes in animal free diets.

Best of luck, happy eating & have fun on your journey!


...JP

 

[Boyd]

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Didn't know they had any long term studies on this because it's only been popular for the last 100 or so years. Just quick pointed question... born vegetarian I have no problem with. I go vegetarian off and on for differing lengths of time

But many of the younger aged teenage girls I know of that try to go Vegan or vegetarian for a "moral" reason end up sick. Thats why I have a real fundamental problem with folks encouraging this lifestyle when almost NONE of the kids actually study nutrition and what you have to add to your diet to remain healthy.

PS, I work with lots of teens. I am qualified to know.

 

[saddina]

When done correctly, it can be quite healthy. I think Boyd's concern is when young people, whose bodies are still forming, decided to not eat meat, but also do not take that time to balance out thier food needs. If it's done with an eye towards nutrition and balance, it's vegitarianism, if it's just refusing to eat meat, it's picky eating.

Saddi who raised 2 vegan children, till thier uncle took them out for pancakes, and they discovered bacon.

 

[Boyd]

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[AngieChick]

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Actually, the majority of India's population is vegetarian, and has been for generations. It's really just in the states that it's only become popular for the past 100 years.

We are vegetarian, and consequently have raised our children as such. However, because we are all veggie we are well stocked and all meals are well rounded as well as vegetarian. It would be very challenging for a teen ager, who is beholden to what their parents cook and buy to get a nutritious diet. There are many wonderful meat eating parents who respect their children's convictions (even though they may be different then their own) and take it upon themselves to study up and make sure that their child has adequate vegetarian options available to them at meal times. So yes, in principle I agree with you that it is especially challenging for teens to have a healthy vegetarian diet, but I do think that some of the responsibility should be shared within the family.

1. I have been a vegetarian since I left home 19 years ago. DH has been one his entire life.

2. Why a vegie? My reasons have changed through the years. My issue is with big meat industry and big factory farming's overall (generalizing) treatment of livestock. The industry also has major impacts on the environment, food security and on the feasibility of small farmers that I have issue with. I have no problem with the death of animals as long as they have been treated humanely in life. In fact, at this point if the rest of my family weren't vegetarian I would probably eat meat if I knew where it came from. We are fortunate enough to know people who raise animals for meat and could easily buy some. But, alas I am but 1 in a family of 4. DH is pretty grossed out by the thought of eating meat, so oh well.

3. Having chickens hasn't changed my beliefs, it's just brought some extra joy into my life and eased some of the discomfort that I had eating eggs from unknown sources.

4. Being vegetarian has forced me to be much more creative in my cooking. I do love food. My favorites are: broccoli quiche, an egg and home made croissant with some veggie bacon (stop gagging meat eaters! It's really pretty tasty), or maybe some eggs florentine with hollandaise sauce, fresh ravioli, fresh buttered bread, nice home made carrot soup with fresh buttered bread, I could go on and on. Did I mention that I love food?

 

[dacjohns]

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Even though they may be vegetarian in theory they are not totally vegetarian in actuality. Many vegetarians from India suffer from protein deficiency when leaving India. The crops in India aren't harvested and processed as strictly as in the "West" so the consumers get protein in the form of insects and other impurities in their food.

 

[AngieChick]

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Even though they may be vegetarian in theory they are not totally vegetarian in actuality. Many vegetarians from India suffer from protein deficiency when leaving India. The crops in India aren't harvested and processed as strictly as in the "West" so the consumers get protein in the form of insects and other impurities in their food.

I wonder if this has more to do with eating a variety of whole grains in India versus more processed grains here (ie: removal of the bran and with it most of the nutrients)? Or is the cause of protein deficiency income related? I would assume that one of the results of poverty in vegetarians is the same as in meat eaters: malnutrition. I would love to see some studies of this issue if it is indeed a widespread problem? The people from India that I know, many of whom regularly make trips back home, have never suffered from protein deficiency here or in their home country. However, they are all middle and upper income. Although, I think that they would have noticed insects on their veggies just like people here do. If this is a true correlation, than people who eat strictly from their own gardens should have naturally higher protein.

I can tell you that DH spent several years as a child in Bangladesh as a vegan, returned to the states as a vegan and only turned vegetarian as an adult (adding in cheese/eggs). Never did he or anyone he grew up with who were vegetarians suffer from protein deficiency, he grew up around hundreds of vegetarians. His parents were very mindful of making sure that they were providing complete proteins, for example; beans and brown rice versus just beans. If you look at the traditional Indian diet, there is a lot of that type of food coupling happening.

To OP: sorry for the hijack!

Emzyy: make sure that you are combining your foods well, okay? Maybe do a bit of research into how to do this and ask your folks to pick up certain ingredients for you? Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. A good book is The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook, in addition to some fabulous recipes there is a nutrition section in the back with some good info. It's an old hippie book, but they raised many hundreds of healthy happy vegetarian kids there (a commune) so they were obviously doing something right.