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[CornBurrito]

Pretty much. It's nice for whoever wants to go that route, but there's nothing normal or natural about vegans and vegetarians. The only time humans didn't eat meat is when they didn't have access to it (or some religious restriction forbidding consumption of an available supply).

Not eating meat is natural since any human behavior is by default natural.

Natural is like the dumbest word. Not eating meat is an unusual behavior for humans, but unless you think humans aren't animals crafted by evolutionary processes how can you justify calling any behavior humans partake in unnatural? Religion and other ideologies that forbid certain actions are natural.

 

[liliththepale]

Sorry for misunderstanding it then.
I must repeat myself, though, maybe I was raised by bad meat cookers, or had limited acces to the "fancy stuff", however:
a. I do not feel it is truly superior in taste to its alternatives, and indian dishes seem to agree with my position
b. Even if it were superior, the morality (or lack of it) attached to the food's generation would not allow me to eat it. Even if I were actively missing on some superior tingiling in my taste senses.

That's perfectly fair for you to say. You'll probably make up part of the remaining 16% of vegetarians who stick to it, especially if most resume meat consumption with the first year or less.

Nah, never had meat.

Thank you for answering

 

[Origami Superman]

Been veggie for about 14 years now. Honestly the only negative thing about it is the endless shitty jokes and ridicule I get from non-veggies. Of course and obviously, that's not every meat eater, but it has gotten to the point where I do everything I can to not reveal my lifestyle.

 

[rjinaz]

Anecdotal but I have two-step sisters that were vegetarians in their youth, because their mother was. My Step-Father was not. One lasted until high school but ultimately failed I assume due to peer-pressure. The other lasted until about 26 but stopped once she got married and her husband was not a vegetarian.

It still kind of amuses me because the one that stopped when she got married was really on a high-horse about it.

Anyway, I have actually considered going vegetarian myself and may do it some day if alternatives become tastier.

 

[thepotatoman]

Yea it was an iron deficiency. Lost some hair, corners of my mouth were always cracked and red. Not a good look, but I admit I didn't supplement and it was my own fault.

Ah, yes. Iron is the other thing you really have to pay attention to. Unlike B12, you usually can get by without supplements if you eat enough nuts, beans, and leafy greens, but if your body is bad at absorbing it, or you can't find enough iron rich vegetarian options that you'd actually eat, then iron supplements are a good idea too.

I just tend to focus on B12 first, because that one is kind of a 100% must through supplements or fortified foods, and it's not because vegetarian diets are unnatural.

I'm not sure if there's really anything else vegetarians or vegans need to worry about. Omega-3 is difficult to get, with flaxseed and walnuts as the solution, but the effects of not getting enough omega-3 isn't really disastrous either, as far as I know.

It's funny that people worry the most about protein, when I can't find any medical evidence of that being a problem at all with a vegetarian or vegan diet. Protein deficiencies only really seem to affect people that are severely under eating, such as those in severe poverty or people suffering from anorexia. I guess bodybuilders and athletes still need their protein powder, but that's not really different from bodybuilders and athletes that eat meat and still use protein powder.

Not that I'm trying to force specifically you into anything, just pointing out some things I've learned overtime to help anyone reading this topic and thinking about making the switch.

 

[Samara]

I often spend days eating just like a vegetarian. Falafels, rice/beans, ceviche, oatmeal, zuchinni lasagna and more. Not a fan of cow milk. I can see why some would fall back. Sometimes substituting ingredients just taste awful . Then you use a bit of this and that and next thing you know you're eating full eggs/ meat.
I think having a few days of no meat could be interesting for some.

 

[Ryman]

I've been an almost-vegan (I'll eat oysters, but that's it) for about 6 years and have never been tempted to consume any other animals products for a long time. Starting out it was difficult to change my diet, but the longer I practiced veganism the more habitual it became. My parents were surprised when I told them I was a vegan (senior year in college) but now they have no problem with it.

 

[dude]

btw, does everyone miss the fact the main reason for regression has nothing to do with quality of food or how hard it is to abstain? It's actually because of lack of support and peer pressure by meat eaters:

Why so much failure? For Green it has to do with “a lack of social support from partners or family, and a dislike for being seen as ‘different’ by their friends and social peers based on their dietary preferences.”

We have posts on this page calling vegetarianism a "poor existence", for god's sake.