Vegetarianism

[AlwaysSpoiled34]

Thinking about changing my diet. How many of you are vegetarian? It is very ethical diet and can be very healthy.

I believe the term is "meat reducer" for someone who only eats meat occasionally/would like to eat less.
Quorn came about from a competition to produce a cheaper protein source to feed the growing population as back in day it was realised that the world couldn't sustain producing meat for the numbers that want to eat it.
Anyway british skittles contain something banned in america and so are not allowed as a food product in the USA but I'd still eat them too.

What is your experience what? :)

I'm a believer of highest-welfare you can afford meat, as such we have less meat, but well cared for meat (as it's expeeeeeeensive)

Americans ban all sorts of weird things. and allow all sorts that are banned elsewhere.

So just because they 'ban Quorn in some States' doesn't mean it's bad for you. It's not as if the US FDA is the world authority or anything!

:)

It is very ethical diet - not if you eat dairy. I'm veggie and very conscious that really the only truly ethical diet would be veganism IMO.

can be very healthy - so can a diet including meat. It is easy to be an unhealthy vegetarian.

If you want to be veggie, go for it. Not sure why we all need to know here though

Dh and I have recently changed our diet.

A few weeks ago he was in hospital with a perforation on his bowel and risked having a colostomy bag due to Diverticular Disease. Thankfully ,due to a fantastic Dr he avoided that and is < touches wood> fine but we've drastically cut down our meat consumption and massively increased our vegetable and pulse/ grain intake.

I've bought Hugh FW's veg recipe book and we've really enjoyed the food. Stocking up the cupboard on different ingredients has proved expensive but they'll last a while before I have to restock .

I'm not missing meat atm so I'll carry on with dh eating the same way.

OP, YANBU to wonder why people eat so much meat. Eating meat every day is a relatively new thing historically. There's no evidence it's any healthier than a balanced veggie diet and plenty of evidence that's it's very bad for the planet.

I have been veggie for most of my life - I very rarely express these views in RL as most people I know eat meat and I don't want to be a food bore, but I actually think the idea of eating meat is gross!

Anyway, agree with PPs that the dairy industry is also pretty bad (although not responsible for deforestation and climate change to anything like the same extent) so buy organic wherever possible (although still not perfect, it's a step in the right direction).

The key to a healthy veggie diet is just variety, although I don't think it necessarily works for everyone. Do what you think is right!

Have you seen what's in American food? Its the other way found its more likely to be on sale in the states and banned here.

As quorn is not banned here I will go for it being a perfectly legitimate form of nurishment!

OP, I have been a vegetarian for 32 years. You can eat a very healthy and enjoyable diet if you are veggie - I cook from scratch almost every evening, but most of those meals only take me half an hour or so. There are plenty of good veggie cookbooks out there and also plenty of veggie recipes on the internet. You don't have to eat meat substitutes - I almost never touch quorn or tofu as I don't like them very much and don't see the point in eating something that is supposed to resemble meat.

Ethically, it's not as good as being vegan, because there is still cruelty in dairy farming and egg production. But the meat industry is an enormous contributor to global warming, so being vegetarian is a very good step to take in that respect.

Surely any food is ethical so long as it meets your ethics ? If you objected to the killing of plants, you wouldn't eat them for ethical reasons, or the clearing of huge swathes of natural habitat to grow crops, or whatever.

I can't go into it unfortunately.

I've been veggie for 35 years. Not bothered about [quorn] meat replacements. so far me toenails haven't dropped off and I'm very healthy.

AlwaysSpoiled34 I just noticed this thread.
If you wish to go vegetarian do so. It is a natural diet. Read about it and plan, or go to market stalls and select what you like. There are plenty of dishes that are varied and tasty. There are no so strict meat eaters however. Some people might eat a little meat 1-3 days a week with more vegetables. Mediteranean diet is like that and people at home eat 3 days a week very little meat and the rest is vast amount of vegetable dishes. It depends also on metabolism. Some cultures observe long cycles of vegetarian diet alternating with little meat. I do vegetarian diet for weeks in a year.