Vegetarianism

[Two_Sheds]

I'd just order my own, and pay separately.

There are no veggie friendly restaurants in the WHOLE TOWN ! This is deepest darkest Norfolk

I'll just have oxo gravy on my mash!

Bisto instant is veggie - we don't have it often, but use the "chicken" flavour when we do

I used to drink pints of so good soya milk

You can make your own, if you can be bothered, and if you're in the south you can grow soya beans too

[Two_Sheds]

. I watched Gary Rhodes around India and I'm afraid I do not remember the region/ religion, but they never ate meat.

According to this, 40% of Indians are veggie, but I'm sure that will decrease with increased affluence and wider adoption of a more Western style of living

[Two_Sheds]

Cutting down on meat is the compromise, maybe 3 days a week with NO meat

We have "meat-free Mondays" - he doesn't even notice. When he does have meat now, it tends to be as a garnish or flavouring: we don't do meat-and-2-veg anyway, we have curries and stews and things, stuffed with veg and beans (home grown)

... which makes me halfway ok in my book, but still not all the way ok.

None of us is all the way OK, we just do our best with what we have

veggies have much lower incidences of bowel and colon cancer

OH's brother (who hates veggies, gays & foreigners) has just been diagnosed with diverticulitis, but will not change his meat-heavy diet, will not eat vegetables

Going veggie costs money ....I can easily spent £60 on fresh food for just me and OH.

For a week? That's not so much. It's cheaper than buying meat: a bag of lentils is what, 69p? That will last you ages. You don't need to buy specialist foods, just eat good quality fruit, veg and pulses

fish style fingers. Its even shaped to look like the "real" thing.

Fish don't have fingers

[Tam]

Most soya grown ends up as cattle fodder, which seems rather stupid.

[Two_Sheds]

Yep. We might as well eat the soya ourselves, cut out the middle man (cow)

[taff]

OH's brother (who hates veggies, gays & foreigners) has just been diagnosed with diverticulitis, but will not change his meat-heavy diet, will not eat vegetables

A sort of relative who had to have an operation for piles, because they only eat meat and potatoes..after having this highly embarassing thing done because of the amount of straining going on from a veg free diet, have they changed their way? Have they eck as like. And it's not the gender or age you'd expect either.....too much info?

[veggiechicken]

Originally Posted by veggiechicken
fish style fingers. Its even shaped to look like the "real" thing.

[QUOTE=Two_Sheds;901965]
Fish don't have fingers

Pity! They would have come in Handy!!

[its hilly]

My main problem with a nice healthy diet including plenty of pulses is...err...excessive wind. And before anyone else says it, no that's not just a load of hot air .
For what it's worth Snadger I would imagine that there are perfectly good arguments health and welfare wise for both veggie and meat.
If you want to know the pluses and minuses of it healthwise ask a dietician. No ask two, one veggie and one not, that way you can build up a less biased opinion.
But I think that at the end of the day most of decide what, how and when we eat for a mix of things, not all for health or compassion reasons. I think the idea of cutting meat one or two days and seeing how you find it is a good one.
Unless your main reason for starting to look is animal welfare/compassion, in which case you already have half an answer.
Really thought provoking thread Snadge

[zazen999]

Fake bacon, chicken style fillets, beef style burgers,even fish style fingers. Its even shaped to look like the "real" thing. Yuk to it all. Give me a good honest to goodness, no pretence vegetable burger any day - but these are sadly hard to find ready made. Most of what is on sale is mass produced gloop. Emergency only food in my humble opinion.

I like the quorn fillets. So ner. I've even been known to have a veggie bacon buttie every now and then [not often mind]. And the odd veggie hot dog [nom].

But the rest - just don't fancy it. Each to their own and all.

[buzzingtalk]

an important thing to remember is that being vegan/vegetarian does not always equate to being healthy! granted, you don't see many overweight vegans (but if you could see me, you'd be able to see a very plump vegan!) but just like anything, food can be abused. I have met vegans that are so militant that they forget to look after themselves, skinny little anemic rats with no energy and bags under the eyes. this is the veggie equivalent of a morbidly obese person feasting on smakky d's thrice daily; its not big, and its not clever. everything in moderation

the trick with veggie/vegan food is in your spices and herbs; I have a whole kitchen cupboard (double) full of spices (only spices!!) and an abundance of fresh and frozen herbs. I am lucky enough to have been bought up party by indians so have a knack when it comes to curry; mine are totally fat free, healthy, full of just veg and spice. Nowt else. make a massive pot of that, or some stew, soup or a tagine, and freeze it. veggie food freezes very well and (someone might argue against me here) but i have never had a problem freezing/defrosting and getting even a hint of a sicky tummy.

Trick with it is to learn how to cook. Without recipe books, without instructions. get a feel for the seasons, ingredients and herbs/spices...learn how to veganise everything...i eat the same meals as most other people (except for meat and two veg meals, bleugh, boring!) i make vegan lasagne (that my dairy and meat eating freinds love!), make my own pitta and naan bread (to get around lactose in supermarket brands, also to save lots of £££), I also make scrambled tofu for brekkie which is just as lovely as eggs. I make cakes, brownies and chocolate truffles...quiche, pizza...you just have to learn to do it all from scratch as there isn't much in the way of prepared meals or simple instructions. its an absolute pleasure and if you like cooking (like i do now!) then its lovely trying to make up new recipes.

even if your not veggie its worth giving some meals a go, can be delcious alternative to meat

[Snadger]

Excellent stuff buzzing talk. I did wonder about whether lack of meat/fat/dairy products etc would naturally make you slimmer and you've answered that question for me. Thanks for the reply.

[Two_Sheds]

My main problem with a nice healthy diet including plenty of pulses is...err...excessive wind.

Some people experience wind when they start eating pulses, but this is something that ... er... passes as you get used to them, as your body adjusts. It's like anything - when you first start drinking alcohol it's a bit yuk but you stick at it and come to like it. As an example.

I did wonder about whether lack of meat/fat/dairy products etc would naturally make you slimmer

If you simply swap those for pulses/soya, then yes it will. If you fill up on biscuits and crisps, then no it won't

As for looking like a thin anaemic rat - you won't. I'm the same dress size as I was 25 years ago, although after 40 it does get harder to keep the spare tire off. I've never been anaemic or weak, I could cycle 100 miles in a day if I trained, and I can build muscle if I try to - what I'm saying is you really don't need meat to be fit, strong & healthy

[Alison]

I know heathy vegetarians (inc vegans) and unheathy ones, the same as I do for meat eaters. We don't eat that much meat and fish and what we do eat will always be ethical. When out I often eat veggie as I don't know the source of the meat or will chose lamb which tends to have a better life than, say chicken. It's about a lot of things to me. Animal welfare is one, environmental considerations too but health comes into it too. Most of us in the west eat far more protein than we need, and in many cases far too much processed protein. I love food and love cooking, experimenting with flavours and textures. Eating a wider range of seasonal produce enables me to do this and to be honest I find a slab of steak rather boring and samey - not to mention very expensive.

[Tam]

I haven't read everything on this stream, but on the environmental side there are many arguments for not eating animal products - mainly it would cut down on the huge plantations (many on the site of previous rain forest) given over to growing soya for cattlefood. Macdonalds were apparently keen on this - I don't know if they have seen the errors of their ways. I have been vegan for many years and
enjoy my food, thanks to marrying a super cook.

[Helgalush]

As for looking like a thin anaemic rat - you won't. I'm the same dress size as I was 25 years ago, although after 40 it does get harder to keep the spare tire off. I've never been anaemic or weak, I could cycle 100 miles in a day if I trained, and I can build muscle if I try to - what I'm saying is you really don't need meat to be fit, strong & healthy

Absolutely. One of the links I put in my earlier post was to videos (Making the connection - Vegan Society) about going veggie (well, vegan in this particular case) and the environment and health but the video I didnt mention was ch2 in which they interview Fiona Oakes, a vegan marathon runner. I think I am right in saying she has won a few marathons and is also a retained fire fighter. She runs 15-20 miles 5 times a week.

What I didn't know until I just googled her name was that she also runs her own animal sanctuary where she looks after hundreds of animals by herself. Clearly she is an incredible and determined woman, but also goes to show that not eating meat or dairy doesn't make you a weakling

PS I read that adding herbs to beans helps with the digestion - winter/summer savoury or parsley supposed to be good ones.