To quit my vegetarianism and become a hypocrite instead?

[OverTheHammer]

Became a veggie back end of June. Had wanted to do it for years but always thought it would be too difficult. Anyway after watching numerous PETA videos the guilt got too much and I became a veggie. I've since shared PETA videos on Facebook trying to encourage others to follow suit.

Anyway it was piss easy at first and I was telling everyone how easy it was but 2 months later I'm struggling. I've totally lost my appetite. The thought of anymore quorn makes me feel sick. I'm anaemic and never even thought about how vegetarianism would effect my (already extremely low) iron levels. I've also joined a gym and am struggling to eat enough calories to actually keep me going.

My appetite has always been dodgy, I'm also a fussy eater, a shit cook and busy person so can't be faffing every night making lentil this and lentil that ...

Most of the recipes I look at call for meat. Restaurant veggie choices are limited and shit - it's just so fucking difficult.
Then to top it all off, I watched a video last night showing how chickens are mistreated when used solely for egg purposes. I still eat eggs. So really, I'm a hypocrite anyway aren't I?

WIBU to go back on everything I've been saying these past two months and just start eating meat again?

Do what you think right. And if anyone disagrees, well, what goes with Gomorrah?

I've since shared PETA videos on Facebook trying to encourage others to follow suit.

I stopped reading here.

I'm anaemic and vegetarian. I manage my iron levels with beetroot, dried apricots, spinach, and dark chocolate.

YAB a teeny bit U if you've gone in guns ablaze with PETA videos, especially as they are an incredibly hypocritical 'charity' themselves.

As others have said, eat ethically, locally, seasonally, and what you want, I'm sure no one will really take much notice. People are usually much keener to make you justify why you don't eat meat than why you do.

You could read 'The Blood Group Diet' by Peter D'Adamo. It explains that blood groups work best with different diets. It is an old book but interesting whether you believe it or not.

Also consider how you combine foods as some vitamins and minerals are absorbed better with others consumed at the same time and some are not.

As PPs have said... eat whatever makes you happy.

I am one of those controversial types (please don't bite me) who loves animals, but continue to eat meat.

I personally think if your not going to go vegan, What's the point? The dairy industry is equally as "cruel".

Plus it won't change anything. Somebody else will eat that steak you didn't buy etc

Going vegetarian doesn't mean you have to eat quorn, just eat vegetable based dishes.
Ive gone plantbased vegan and don't do any food with quorn products and yes sometimes it's difficult to think of meals but I love it.
I eat so many vegetables, and have helped a lot of my health problems, my body has never had so many nutrients. It's just changing your mentality, that was what was hardest for me

If you feel you would feel healthier going back to meat- then do! If you stay veggie you never have to eat quorn ( it is the devils work IMO) or lentils. There are plenty of decent veggie ready meals - tortellini and pasta sauce for example that are super quick and easy to make, GoodLife bean burgers or nut carrot burgers, veggie fajitas. If you do feel you need to eat lots of lentils and beans then tinned cooked lentils are great and make a good base for shepherds pie or bolognaise. Vegetable fajitas and stir frys are quick and easy too as is an omlette.

There are lots of fantastic and quick veggie recipes online - the Jamie Oliver site has a massive section and I'm sure if you ask in the Food/Recipes section on here people will only be too happy to suggest their easiest favourite meals.

If you worry about iron - get tested and take some Spatone or Floradix supplement (easy on the stomach)

Also, there is such a thing as amazing veggie food. I was at a wedding recently at a very fancy multiple Michelin-starred place and a couple of the veggie courses were acknowledged by pretty much everyone to be better than the meat versions. (If you ask 'How did they know' it's because most people there were foodies who know each other quite well, and enough extremely excellent wine had been consumed that people were enthusiastically asking to taste each other's plates!!)

I was vegetarian for two years and then I started eating meat again due to low iron levels. I would like to be vegetarian again but it's not really practical right now. I am careful about where the meat I eat comes from - it's a sort of compromise.

Sorry for the double post but i also just watched 'what the health' on netflix and I found it very interesting

Oh, also I never ate quorn and I hate beans. There are lots of great veggie recipes around, but my experience was that it took longer to make good food and I had to relearn how to cool.

You should do what you want to do and not worry about others.

Me and DH have been vegetarian for over 30 years. We rarely eat quorn but loads of lentils, chickpeas, beans, nuts and veg. There are so many recipes and many of them are quick and easy to make.

I find vegetarian meals much more interesting than meat based ones. I love salads with lots of spinach and I add sunflower seeds, chopped nuts, raisins, chopped apricots, pumpkin seeds, apple.

Eating out can be a bit dull but we really only eat out either in indian restaurants (who usually do loads of lovely veggie meals) or Italian restaurants.

Neither of us take any supplements and are both healthy. DH hasn't had a cold for about 15 years and I rarely get one. In fact when one goes round at work I am usually the only one that doesn't catch it.

It's the quirn you need to give up. Horrible stuff! I've been veggie for years and never use a meat substitute as they are highly processed and bad for you. Get a couple of veggie cookbooks and learn to cook! Nothing easier than a tray of lovely roasted vegetables.

if your not going to go vegan, What's the point?

Whilst I am vegan, I've never really understood this argument. I am happy when people say they are cutting down, buying higher welfare meat or going veggie.

Don't quit. I completely sympathise will all of your reasons for wanting to, but since when was anything worth doing easy? I have to disagree with those who are saying "you have one life do what you want" because as you are already very aware yourself having (by the sound of it) become veggie for ethical reasons to do what you want when the consequence is such enormous pain and suffering for animals is a very arrogant way to think (sorry). There is so much more to vegetarianism than quorn (although the quorn "chicken" nuggets and "fish" fingers are yum!) Lentil bolognese is high protein, easy to make in batches and then freeze and delicious. Alternatively there are lots of bean chills, fresh green soups etc that are all high in protein. I don't enjoy cooking either but i don't see why animals should suffer just because i'm a bit lazy in the kitchen so every now and then i cook big batches of the above high protein items and then have them with salad, veggies, roasted sweet potato, pasta, bruschetta, garlic bread, jacket potato, sweet potato fries, roasted veg anything i want basically. Or peanut sesame noodles with garlic and broccoli? It becomes much easier when you prep in advance. If you manage to keep it up for a while you will probably start to find the taste/smell of animal products quite repellant anyway. I used to find the smell of bacon very tempting but now because of the psychological connotations I can't bring myself to go anywhere near it and I'm very thankful for that. Vegetarian food is experiencing a really exciting time in contemporary haute cuisine. Take yourself out to a nice vegetarian restaurant and allow yourself to feel excited by the all the options out there :) It's very natural to have a moment of self doubt but just ask yourself if the price is really worth it?

YWNBU...because steak it lovely

My new favourite food is paneer. I'm quite sad that I got to 43 years old before I tried it, but I'm going to make up for it from now on.

Last time I went out for a curry, I had onion bhajis and a paneer and vegetable balti with a garlic naan. It was fab and not shit food at all. I'm not vegetarian btw.

I have been a vegetarian for 40 odd years and only had anaemia after I was very ill.
I am now vegan

Our bodies do not absorb iron very well from vegetarian sources. Red meat is the best source of iron but should be eaten along with food high in vitamin C

Well I must be the exception. I was continually ill as a meat eater. 5 1/2 stone, ill after every meat meal.
The moment I was in charge of what I ate and put 2+2 together and stopped eating meat was the day I felt like a huge weight had lifted off my shoulders. Couldn't ever go back to eating meat.

I've been a veggie for nearly 30 years since school. It is much easier than in the 80s.

Twenty years ago The Sunday Times published an indepth magazine on vegetarianism?
It concluded that we are indeed hypocrites. That the only way to avoid any form of animal cruelty is to live naked on a mountain top and drink stream water

I concede this whenever I get the usual grilling from.carnivores over my personal and private choice. It doesn't impact on them and my views are kept to myself.

Do what you want regardless of others, who will always have an opinion. I know I will never eay meat. yet I cook it for my kids. Or buy a leather sofa or bag, yet my kids' school shoes are leather. We are all hypocrites, and I do not preach for that very reason.

Don't beat yourself up about it OP, just find a balance for your health, lifestyle and ethics that works best for you and don't worry about putting a label on it.

The thing that really annoys me is the subset of vegetarian and vegan mentality that is completely 'all or nothing' i.e. no recognition of people's efforts to reduce meat/dairy consumption, or make higher welfare/sustainable choices. A minority of people loudly think that unless you give meat/dairy up totally, then you are just as bad as someone that gives no thought at all to what they eat. All they are doing is discouraging people from even starting to make changes.

Do whatever you feel is best for you, be prepared for a few snide comments though as you did yourself no favours with peta videos & trying to convert others-that in itself is out of order as what other people choose to eat has fuck all to do with you.
Try eating less meat & ensure what you do have is higher welfare.

Am I the only person who likes Quorn? I don't live off the stuff though I am a meat eater (was previously a vegetarian for 15 years though) but occasionally I love a quorn burger, in fact I had a lemon and pepper one yesterday and thought it was bloody delish!

I am not and never will be a vegetarian.

However, if its something you believe in I think you should give it one last push to see if you can makes it work for you. In your situation I would eat a lot of mushrooms as a meat replacement instead of quorn which I think is crap. Mushrooms are filling and for lack of a better word 'meaty'.

Re the egg issue, buy from a small local seller on the market and make sure they're free range.

Foods that are easy, filling, calorific and don't require a good cook.

• omelette/frittata
• jacket potato with beans and cheese, salad on the side

-cheese/beans/mushrooms/poached or scrambled egg on toast -veg soup with garlic bread

• you could make chilli or casserole with all the usual ingredients and mushrooms orquorn instead of meat.
• get the big field mushroom and stuff with rice, could also use peppers or beef tomatoes
• again big mushrooms, fried whole in garlic butter, serve in a ciabatta roll like a burger or steak sandwich with usual trimmings

-nachos using cheese, guacomole and salsa

if your not going to go vegan, What's the point?

Whilst I am vegan, I've never really understood this argument. I am happy when people say they are cutting down, buying higher welfare meat or going veggie.

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Me too. It's like saying, "If you're not going to be completely perfect, why bother trying to be a reasonably good person?" Feels like an excuse not to even try, to be honest.
I'm veggie but I haven't the will power to go vegan. I also donate to charities but I'm not selflessness enough to give away all my worldly funds to charity. I recycle but I'm not prepared to go completely green by giving up my car. I suppose I'd rather be inconsistent and do some good stuff than consistent and not make any effort.

As a (mostly) vegan who does hard exercise 4-5 times a week and still manages to be fat, I don't understand how you are not able to eat enough calories to get you through a gym session.

It's clear from your op that you are going to go back to meat, you seem to have convinced yourself you have to. That's fine, but be orepared2for some comments after pushing peta on everyone for months. I don't eat animals for ethical reasons, but I rarely agree with the things peta do.