It is time to go vegetarian

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If I understand Farm Subsidies, some of them are paid to farmers to leave their fields fallow.

For some, this is true. For many "farmers," though, having a field to leave fallow is entirely optional. They still get the subsidies.

[Raineyrocks]

I'm on a vegetarian "diet" because just I don't like killing animals.
:broc:

I was a veggie for 16 years and just started eating meat again a few months ago.  I guess it will be easy for me to go back but damn those beans do nasty things to my household environment.

[dalebert]

Was it really environmentalists or corn growers that fueled the fire?  ... I guess they already had a great lobby having gotten corn syrup into everything.

Yeah, you're probably right. Still, I bet there was a spin campaign to convince people it was good for the environment also. Afterall, it's not oil, right?

[dalebert]

I'm on a vegetarian "diet" because just I don't like killing animals.
:broc:

I eat meat because I just can't bring myself to eat cute little dancing broccollies.

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And you've never been traumatized until you've heard a carrot scream...

[cathleeninnh]

I was a veggie for 16 years and just started eating meat again a few months ago.  I guess it will be easy for me to go back but damn those beans do nasty things to my household environment.

How can a 16 year veggie even stomach eating meat?

Cathleen

[Raineyrocks]

I was a veggie for 16 years and just started eating meat again a few months ago.  I guess it will be easy for me to go back but damn those beans do nasty things to my household environment.

How can a 16 year veggie even stomach eating meat?

Cathleen

I had a really bad craving for beef for the past 3 years so I figured perhaps my body was trying to tell me I was missing something that beef had and I decided to have some and will until my body no longer craves it which is starting to happen already.  I had no idea I was pregnant with my second son and I had this intense craving for eggs, (usually I don't like eggs), so I ate them until I no longer craved them and in the meantime found out I was pregnant so I'm figuring my body needed something that eggs have.

If your asking from a moral standpoint it does bother me that's why I don't intend to do it for the rest of my life.  I eat free range, organic beef but I still have no craving for any fowl so I don't eat that, it was just beef.

[cathleeninnh]

No, I couldn't imagine your taste buds or guts being able to tolerate it after so long. I have never had cravings, so I don't really understand wanting something you haven't had in so long.

I don't really have a moral issue with eating meat, but then I don't have to kill them. I have participated in hunting deer and butchering them as well as butchering a hog. Some tasks are distasteful, but there's no lingering guilt.

Some things don't make sense to me the way livestock is raised. It takes a lot of feed to raise a calf for slaughter, and only so much protein as a result. Is it all worth it?

Cathleen

[Lloyd Danforth]

I believe it takes 22 pounds of soybeans to make a pound of beef.

[dalebert]

How can a 16 year veggie even stomach eating meat?

I think that's a myth. I started eating meat again after 3 years as a veggie and never had any problems.

[cathleeninnh]

So if a vegetarian gags over a bite of meat, it is really a psychological revulsion?

Cathleen

[Lloyd Danforth]

Not that I have anything against meat, but, quiting it for these stated lengths of time, and starting up again is akin to stories of people who start smoking again after many years.

[dalebert]

Not that I have anything against meat, but, quiting it for these stated lengths of time, and starting up again is akin to stories of people who start smoking again after many years.

Not really. It actually takes a lot of effort to smoke. It's expensive and there are places that don't allow it and people may shun you or not date you for smoking. Only about 20% of the population smokes so you're kind of a maverick to be a smoker. It's really not a good analogy.

I was vegetarian back when I was a liberal trying to rebelliously partake of the non-conformist (and oddly very conformist) lifestyle. Like many liberals, I was convinced by my peers of how guilty I was supposed to feel for the prosperity I was enjoying. My decision to be vegetarian was based on a set of morals that have changed drastically since then, for the better I think. For me to continue to be vegetarian now makes no sense. It feels much more like progress to me to have freed my mind from that kind of rigidity in my lifestyle.

If one does feel it's necessary to be vegetarian, it's definitely possible to eat a very healthy diet if you are conscious of eating the right things and avoiding the wrong things. Problem is that takes a lot of planning and effort because most of the population is not vegetarian. For one thing, restaurants have limited vegetarian options. Sure, I could always find SOMETHING, but I like having more choices that are actually more appealing to me. Overall I didn't go to the necessary effort, and so I was essentially what some call a cheese sandwich vegetarian. I was substituting a lot of dairy and starch in my diet rather than healthier substitutions. I was slowly and steadily gaining fat and losing muscle tone all while working out three times a week.

All in all, just not for the modern me. If eating meat in moderation takes a few years off my life, I'm fine with that, and even that's arguable.

[Raineyrocks]

Not that I have anything against meat, but, quiting it for these stated lengths of time, and starting up again is akin to stories of people who start smoking again after many years.

Not really. It actually takes a lot of effort to smoke. It's expensive and there are places that don't allow it and people may shun you or not date you for smoking. Only about 20% of the population smokes so you're kind of a maverick to be a smoker. It's really not a good analogy.

I was vegetarian back when I was a liberal trying to rebelliously partake of the non-conformist (and oddly very conformist) lifestyle. Like many liberals, I was convinced by my peers of how guilty I was supposed to feel for the prosperity I was enjoying. My decision to be vegetarian was based on a set of morals that have changed drastically since then, for the better I think. For me to continue to be vegetarian now makes no sense. It feels much more like progress to me to have freed my mind from that kind of rigidity in my lifestyle.

If one does feel it's necessary to be vegetarian, it's definitely possible to eat a very healthy diet if you are conscious of eating the right things and avoiding the wrong things. Problem is that takes a lot of planning and effort because most of the population is not vegetarian. For one thing, restaurants have limited vegetarian options. Sure, I could always find SOMETHING, but I like having more choices that are actually more appealing to me. Overall I didn't go to the necessary effort, and so I was essentially what some call a cheese sandwich vegetarian. I was substituting a lot of dairy and starch in my diet rather than healthier substitutions. I was slowly and steadily gaining fat and losing muscle tone all while working out three times a week.

All in all, just not for the modern me. If eating meat in moderation takes a few years off my life, I'm fine with that, and even that's arguable.

When I was a vegetarian and went out to eat I always knew what I'd be eating according to the restaurant; eggplant parmesan , pizza or sides of veggies with fries.   Your right Dalebert you really have to be careful what your eating, I had a bad iron deficiency,(yes I tried iron and black strap molasses),  now I feel a lot better eating beef.  Cigarettes are more of a habit and addiction than meat, in my opinion anyway.  It took me 3 years to make the decision to start eating meat again with cigarettes I'd be smoking again the next day if I felt like it.

[Raineyrocks]

I was a vegetarian for a number of years.  Was in the best health I had ever had.  Thinking about going back to it...

I had my good years but I must have been doing something wrong.    I ate a lot of TVP, (texured vegetable protein), which now I know is genetically modified soy but you can buy the non-gmo tvp.  The things I've read about too much soy though was really scary too.  Out of 5 kids I was a vegetarian for the last 2 and without talking about their personal info they both have mild deformities that have been found to be linked to eating too much soy.
I'm not sure how long I'm going to keep eating beef but if I go back to a vegetarian diet I want to find a better one.