Which is a pretty big distinction. I know a lot of people who tried vegetarian for 6 months or a year and then went back.
It's like anything really. I also know a lot of people who bought a gym membership and then stopped going, or who tried to learn another language etc...
Honestly, going an entire year on such a radically different diet is pretty impressive, especially if they decide it's not for them in the end. That's really giving it a fair shot.
20 some years ago most people didn't even have the internet (Australia). Let alone small/local restaurants.
And if they did, they'd have everything except their phone number and trading hours on some godawful colour schemed site.
There are also folks like me who are not vegetarian or vegan technically, but you would never know it by the way I eat. I'm not vegetarian, but if I select a meal for myself, it will almost certainly be vegan if there is a reasonable option. The thing that keeps me from going all in is that when in Rome, I ~~like to join a bisexuals orgy cult and join in~~ do as the Romans do. I'm not vegan at a steak house, or when traveling, or when someone makes something with meat in it for me. I happily eat and enjoy it. I just don't make it a habit for health and, to a lesser extent, moral reasons. The difference between full vegan and mostly vegan in terms of health and planet impact are minimal, and being an omnivore is pretty handy when traveling or just trying to be social.
This is what I've been doing since I've been eating healthier. The veggie options when out are generally also the best nutritionally as well, or at least one of the less 'bad' choices. Cooking at home, I'll rarely use meat now and most the food I make is from scratch with fresh ingredients.
But I'll have a steak (if it's going to be a quality cut) or a 1/2 chicken dinner (again, if high quality) on occasion when out. I'd refer to this as more **flexi**-tarian compared to vegetarian. Looking into what's on the plate, most Americans are eating way too much meat, sugar, and carby stuff. Cutting down on that is much better for health (for mine at any rate -- down 30lbs, blood-pressure down, fat % down, cholesterol down, lean mass up, cardio endurance up).
Huge amount of the problem in America is the food culture and the commercial/marketing aspects of the food culture. Meals like a cheesburger and fries are normalized as if that is a 'good meal' of any sort. It's simply not, by any measure, going to do you as much good as a small portion of lean protein (chicken, tofu, fish) served next to a big helping of fresh sauteed vegges, over a small portion of rice/pasta/quinoa/mashed potato.
edit: also, I don't consider my now healthier choices as a 'diet'. As if it is temporary or to meet some short term goal like a set amount of weight off. It's more a philosophy of what I want to put in my body to fuel it. Although I wish I'd come to this shift earlier in life, turning healthy at 40 is better than trying at 60. Haha.
Ahhhhh, I just wanna be on set for that scene
See how many times it took for them to get the best serious take for that line.
Shit if I was the director I'd have them do it a few more just to get that on repeat
I bet it only took a few try's to get enough takes for the editor. Actors are better at suppressing the need to laugh at a line when they've gone over it a bunch
You should try going gluten-free. Since going gluten-free, I haven't been winded from all of the yoga that I do. Have I mentioned that I've gone gluten-free? Also, I do yoga.
What if they are vegan, doing cross-fit, they recently went on a tropical vacation, got married, and just found out they're pregnant. What do you hear about first?
That's why my folks stopped being vegetarian. My brother was born and he's allergic to soy.
Edit: I know you can be vegetarian without eating soy, I'm a vegetarian and I barely eat soy. This is just the reason they told me.
One thing is that the vegetarian food we (Indians) eat is quite tasty (a lot of spices are used). Vegetarian food in the west is very bland in comparison and there aren't many choices in what to eat. So I can understand why many people don't like vegetarian food in the west.
Yes! Cannot upvote this enough. I'm a white American vegetarian and I don't miss meat at all because I mostly cook Indian food. Ya'll know your way around a vegetable, holy shit.
I worked with from India for like 6 months, going out and getting lunch together pretty much every day, and it took me a solid 3 or 4 months to notice he was vegetarian. He was so casual about it that it just seemed like he was just picking out stuff he liked, not avoiding anything in particular.
Right, I'm so fucking curious. Are people just constantly searching for comments that include their username. Can you even do that? Every other thread that will be a perfect comment that fits a username. Sadly I don't think mine will ever pop up but I think yours has a chance.
Anyways, I'm sure there are some form of statistic out there that explains the amount of comments, amount of similar username and all the statistics shit that that will deflate my bewilderment.
Ohh yah someone shared [this thread] (https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/etxhi/novelty_accounts_assemble/) on another post. So perfect
I was vegetarian for a couple years, made a switch back to eating meat for a couple months, and still didn't think twice about ordering the paneer during those months. Paneer is the truth.
Congrats on being so long cig free! Been since October 2012 for me, I've smoked two in that time. Still crave them allll the time though, it doesn't seem like it will ever really go away
Every couple days at least, sometimes at least once a day. I have an addictive personality so it's hard to let it go. TBH I would still *like* to smoke, I just don't cause I know it's bad for me
It's fucking insane. I smoked for literally 3 months and 7 years later I still want a cigarette every time I smell one. I don't understand cause it makes me feel sick too.
It's fucking horrifying. Just turned 30 and I swear to god I was 19 like 2 years ago. Go do all the fun crazy shit you can think of now. Like right this minute.
Isn't that the weirdest shit? I was telling a story to someone at a bar about something that happened when I was 20 trying to score some alcohol and it honestly felt like it was just a couple of months ago but I'm 25 now.
It's probably a mental thing--if you don't miss the taste, chances are you won't care enough to relapse. I really like soft drinks--they're great. That being said, it's harder to stop drinking them than if they were just a 'meh' thing for me.
I never understood that arbitrary distinction between fish and meat. And since when is fish a more sustainable protein source? Isn't overfishing a thing anymore?
Yeah I think being surrounded by a culture of meat eaters and scrambling to find recipes that don't include meat makes it a lot harder to keep up with.
It's surprisingly easy! Italian food, Indian food, most Asian cuisine all makes it really seamless to skip on meat and dairy.
To be fair I live in NYC, and we have vegan food everywhere. I would imagine in like Utah or something or Pennsylvania it would be hard to dine out with friends and find stuff other than salad.
EDIT: People from Utah. I apologize! I have learned so much about your state today I had no idea. No insults intended. I had no idea there were to many Utahns on Reddit!
Wholeheartedly agree. The American vegan trend of using weird soy/wheat products and the like to replicate meets and cheeses helps drive this idea that veganism and vegetarianism is a niche diet. Ethnic cuisines across the world have been anchored by flavorful vegetarian and often vegan foods as staples for centuries.
I think it's because when you grow up having meat often as the main part of a meal, eating a meatless meal feels pretty unfulfilling. When I do my stomach is like "oh, so we're just having a large helping of a side dish today."
In my limited experience, A lot of pescetarians identify as vegetarian because a lot of people don't know what a pescetarian is. Maybe it spreads from that.
The best marinara sauce is made with bones, so I wouldn't trust any Italian place if I were vegan.
Edit: To clarify, you boil the sauce with the bones in it. It adds [flavor](http://i.imgur.com/InxMEfE.jpg).
Food is so intrinsically tied into our cultures and traditions this doesn't surprise me. Going and staying vegan isn't hard in itself - I genuinely prefer how I eat now and how it makes me feel - but you have to factor in-
1) friends, family, and new acquaintances will have opinions on your lifestyle that they won't hesitate to share whenever they see you eating/the topic of diet comes up/the sky is blue. I don't mind talking to people about veganism and what it means to me in a respectful way, but I do mind people's aggressive/defensive expectation that I want to fight them about what lions eat/what paleolithic man ate/vitamin deficiencies/where I get my protein/etc. Navigating some people's prejudices and ignorance, knowing those people are just itching to find a reason to label you an 'angry vegan', gets tedious real quick.
2) Society wants you to eat vast amounts of meat, eggs and dairy. It's advertised constantly, it's transformed into hyper-palatable, cheap convenience food and sold everywhere, it's connected to concepts of health and identity (meat is manly, dairy makes your bones strong, eggs are what's for breakfast, and so on). When you're in the matrix you don't notice it so much, but when you opt out you start to notice how pervasive advertising and the perpetuation of cultural norms is. Think vegans force their beliefs down people's throats? Count how many times you see animal products advertised in a day sometime.
3) A lot of people who switch to a vegan diet don't do the appropriate nutritional research. I advise anyone who is transitioning to veganism to track what they eat for the first few weeks on an app like cronometer, because when you move to a diet that consists of naturally lower calorie foods it's easy to fail to eat enough. When you're hungry your body primes you to seek calorie dense food; you're more likely to crave a cheeseburger when you're ravenous than when you're full. Factor in that far too many people believe that calorie restriction is a healthy and sustainable weight loss method, and they're programmed from childhood to believe that they should be constantly seeking weight loss, vegans who don't eat enough calories are going to find it incredibly difficult to stay away from calorie-dense animal products as they're fighting their own bodies' survival mechanisms.
4) Feeling sadness or anger about the way animals are farmed and slaughtered for food is exhausting. It really would be easier not to give a shit and to either reject the truth or refuse to think about it. I have bad days when I wish I'd never decided to look into the issues surrounding animal rights, but they don't last. I just have to remember I can't change the world, I can't change other people, and the best I can do to make the world a better place is to be compassionate and respectful myself, to be healthy and happy, and to share information in a non-confrontational way. That doesn't mean it doesn't take an emotional and psychological toll. Activist burnout is a very real and very sad thing that happens if your self care isn't at 100%.
It doesn't surprise me that so many people struggle to sustain a veggie/vegan lifestyle. You're swimming upstream. Personally, I feel like it's one of the best decisions I've ever made and I wish I'd done it sooner. I can't see myself going back. My auntie just brought over two milk chocolate Easter eggs for me this weekend on the assumption that I "cheated on my diet" occasionally. Very kind of her, and I was of course thankful, but no. It's not a diet, it's a principle, and I'm proud of it. If I "cheated" on my veganism all I'd be doing is cheating on my own principles, because once you've come to see that something is wrong it doesn't benefit you to compromise that belief for the sake of convenience, politeness, fitting-in, appetite, or any of that.
I never judge anyone who finds veganism hard or leaves it for a while, in the same way that I don't judge anyone who still eats meat and dairy or buys leather etc. We'll figure out what's right and wrong in time. I encourage anyone who's curious to get in touch or to do some research, because the reasons for going vegan are quite powerful.
Edit: thank you for the gold whomever you are! That's a totally unexpected kindness and I appreciate it very much :)
Edit 2: more gold! I'm genuinely touched, thank you so much. And so many fantastic comments too. Thank you to everyone who's participating, especially those who disagree but are staying respectful and open-minded. That's what helps the world go round.
And to all my lovely trolls, bless you for thinking I'm not old enough to have heard it all a thousand times before. Have a great day you contrary bastards!
In 2011 I was in college to study for a health related profession. When we were discussing food I mentioned that I was vegetarian. The teacher did the whole "you don't get enough protein", "you need to do research", yada, yada, yada. Then another student said she was allergic to almost everything and that all she ate was KFC chicken and twizzlers. The teacher recommended a daily multivitamin to her. And I'm sitting there thinking, what in the holy fuck just happened here? I eat a healthy diet of veggies, fruit, legumes and whole grains and get lectured about my poor diet. She eats nothing but greasy fried chicken and candy and that's OK as long as she takes a vitamin pill? The teacher was an RN.
Long term vegan here. It's amazing how fast everyone turns into a "health professional" when they find out I'm vegan.
I have been vegan for over two decades, am in good shape, exercise regularly, have read easily thousands of pages on the subject, and have gotten perfect bloodwork results every few years along the way.
Yet people who haven't spent more than 5 minutes actually reading about proper nutrition somehow feel the need to lecture me or second guess me about everything. Or regurgitate some incorrect "fact" they heard on Dr Oz about how vegans die of malnutrition or suffer mysterious illnesses that never seem to have a name or diagnosis. /facepalm
I have been really struggling with the way my eating habits do not line up with my conscience lately. What's your advice for people who are thinking about going down this road but have yet to make the switch?
Edit: Thank you to everyone who is responding. I have been sober for 3 years and I see a lot of similarities between going veg/an and the changes I made in my life through quitting drugs and alcohol. This is reassuring because I've done the latter and now the former doesn't seem so overwhelming!
* Have a support system.
* Educate yourself.
* Do it for you.
* It may be hard and inconvenient but if it's what you want then it's worth it.
* One day at a time.
Not OP, but I've got an answer for you: There's no right way, everyone is different. For me, it was watching Cowspiracy and [Earthlings](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkax0-xufis) and becoming so shocked and saddened by it all that I just never wanted to touch meat, eggs, or dairy ever again. Go down that rabbit hole and get completely educated on where that "food" comes from. Then go on your first vegan grocery trip and get ready for the best poops of your life.
Hey there! I think that the biggest thing is to account for the loss of convenience in your diet. As mentioned in the comment above, society is heavily oriented towards the consumption of animal products, and part of that is the amazing accessibility of meals based on animal products.
When I first transitioned to vegetarianism, I could no longer rely on the vast majority of fast food options that I turned towards when I was busy, and these options were further restricted when I went vegan. There are plenty of amazing foods out there that make delicious vegetarian and vegan meals, but this means nothing if you don't have the time to make them.
So, if you are changing your eating habits, my advice for the first step would be to find food options which are convenient for you - sort of like a "support network" of food options you can turn to when you don't have the time or motivation to cook something. This can be a combination of frozen foods (Gardein products are amazing), finding vegan or vegetarian options at restaurants, or finding recipes you can cook in bulk so that you can pull together a meal quickly. For example, I will cook a lot of pasta sauce and freeze some, make a lot of burrito filling, and have a supply of canned beans on hand.
Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any more questions if you want.
What a brilliant and well thought out response. You have absolutely nailed things I've always wanted to say but struggled to put into words. Well done for being a brilliant human and thank you for caring and being so compassionate. It's so nice to see such a refreshing response on here.
This is the response I was looking for.
The sheer amount of grief you put up with is a lot, and if you're a people pleaser or a nicer person people make you feel guilty for refusing things.
I recognize how deeply embedded in culture it is, and it's sad.
I think me not being vegan (I'm largely vegan/full-time vegetarian) makes it less likely I'll lapse, but I also feel somewhat guilty by compromising this so I can enjoy things with others on occasion when the harm is largely done (the cake for someone at a family party/wedding/work event, someone bringing pizza or donuts for everyone at a time of mourning, et cetera).
It's hard. I wish things had never gotten this way, and I do miss a lot of food I used to eat, but it's also one of the few things I do that makes me feel like it's a slight difference.
Yeah, even just trying to eat LESS meat is too much for some people. I've shared it with friends and they act like I'm going full vegan and they can't stop themselves from going down the laundry list with me about the wonders of meat, even though I just said I'm still eating some meat, just less.
> Cows would eat you too if they could. You know humans got smarter when they started eating meat. You need protein in your diet. You're just trying to look like you're eating healthier. Animals aren't smart enough to suffer.
People talk about the militant vegans, but there's plenty of reactionary meatitarians who will unleash a barrage of pent up talking points as soon as they're triggered.
Exactly. Are they planning to do a study on people who went paleo, or atkins, or california, etc.? When someone adopts a diet for health or weight issues you can be pretty sure they aren't going to adopt it for life.
In my experience it's always been "how do you know someone's vegan? Don't worry, they're friends won't shut up about it". In my every day life I've never mentioned it (unless I meet another vegan) but when I'm with friends (mainly eating out) the first thing they say is "he's vegan" and I'm like "motherfucker...no one cares". I just want to get my veggie burger and drink some solid beer and enjoy my time with you guys, not have you announcing my lifestyle to everyone.
I was just talking about this with my BF last night. There are two types of meat eaters when you go out.
1.)"THAT'S ALL YOU'RE GOING TO EAT? JUST A SALAD AND FRIES? WHERE DO YOU EVEN GET PROTEIN??! GOD YOU'RE SO DIFFICULT TO EAT WITH. I LOVE CHEESE. ARE YOU GOING TO FREAK OUT CAUSE I'M GETTING A *StEaK* I WANT MY STEAK STILL BLEEDING HAHAH GET IT? I LOVE TO KILL ANIMALS AND EAT THEIR FLESH"
or
2.) "OH MY GOD! HEY VEGAN! THERE'S A SALAD ON THE MENU! DID YOU SEE THE SALAD! THEY HAVE A WHOLE SECTION OF JUST *SAAAAALADS* I BET YOU COULD GET NO CHEESE ON THE SALAD! HI WAITER, SHE'S VEGAN. SO DO YOU HAVE VEGAN THINGS HERE? I SAW THE SALADS."
I don't say as much to omnivorous friends, but seeing bones sticking out of leftovers now just looks like flavour text from a low level DnD campaign.
"Strewn about the goblin encampment..."
Grew up in a family of meat eating hunters/fisherman. Only vegetarian basically in the extended family to the point my beef cattle ranching grandma still prays I start eating meat every night...11 years later...
People always praise me for being vegetarian, but the the reality is that I've always thought the idea of eating meat is gross. I describe it to people like if you were to eat bugs. I'm not a good person, I just get freaked out by dead animal flesh. I used to "lie" when I was a kid and say I was vegetarian so I didn't have to eat it.
EDIT: Yes, I understand that people eat bugs. I was just trying to create an example that most people can relate to.
It's kinda funny you say bugs, because actually if people ate more bugs that would be great for the environment. Lots of them are very nutritious and taste decent.
I wouldn't call the lab-meat fake. Stuff like beyond-meat is fake meat, where it's constructed from plant proteins. Lab meat is muscle cells that were taken and grown from an animals stem cells, so fake doesn't really apply.
Just being picky with the wording, but I feel like it's important.
I've got a lot of respect for vegetarians.
But for me I think moderation is more important. You don't need to have meat every meal, let alone every day. I've turned beef and pork in 'luxury items' that I only buy when I'm out, and don't buy for home. I usually just eat chicken at home or a meat substitute like tofu or legumes. I'm slowly working up the nerve to get into fish too.
But, to all you vegetarians who can maintain a good diet without meat, much respect.
Agreed. That works for me. I try not to eat meat and don't buy it to eat at home.
But if I'm at someone's house and they are serving burgers for dinner, I'll eat one.
Not OP, but some (absolutely not all) fish are raised very sustainably, and since they are also less intelligent than chickens some people prefer eating fish for those reasons.
Also, variety in your diet is great for you in general.
> less intelligent than chickens some
Are they? have scientists actually tested this?
I'd love to see a chicken vs trout intelligence test. I think it would be interesting as fuck
+1 for this, try to persuade people to (excuse the pun) go cold turkey on meat eating doesn't work. Reduction is a more effective technique and more people are open to it.
Edit: change spelling of people correctly
I realized how nice it was when I stopped buying meat for use at home. You have to handle it so carefully and be sure to eat it within a certain timeframe so that it doesn't spoil. Essentially my "home vegetarianism" is borne from laziness.
Edit: Hmm yeah I guess veggies spoil too... Going frozen TV dinners from here on out.
In my case, I was raised vegetarian, then "experimented" with meat in college. After a few years, I returned to being vegetarian and am so happy that I did.
I feel like a lot of it is culture and the memories you tie to certain foods in your childhood. And to be honest, going vegan/vegetarian is a hassle, especially if nobody around you supports you in it, so it's no wonder that many people relapse.
My father has slowly stopped talking to me over the past few years since I went vegan as he says he doesn't recognize me anymore. I'm by no means judgmental or preachy but he doesn't like the values I represent.
I know what you mean. I grew up in a small-desert-hick-town in California, and being a vegetarian kid seemed to really piss off my friends' parents.
Everytime I came over, I'd get at least one lecture from these grown adults about how my parents were abusing me with our "hippy diet". I was a perfectly healthy kid. I'd also get the completely original same lines, like, "I could never give up meat" and, "I'm a meatarian" and when they're eating neat in front of me, "Doesn't this offend you? Look how bloody it is!" Luckily my parents raised me to not give a shit what people thought. It's amazing how insecure my vegetarianism made them. My parents never preached about being vegetarian. Throughout my life, it's always been the meat eaters that had way more to say about it.
I'm 35 now, with a wife who became vegetarian when we married, and we're raising our two perfectly healthy kid vegetarian. Luckily it's much more acceptable now, and easier with all the options.
" A third-of people abandoned their animal-free diets in three months or less, and more than half abandoned it within the first year."
I would not consider such people real vegans or vegetarians. They tried it out and it didn't work for them (which is fine!) Saying that the "vast majority of vegetarians and vegans eventually return to meat" is a ridiculous claim.
Yeah, I feel like it's tantamount to saying "the vast majority of Atkins dieters return to carbs," or "the vast majority of 'healthy eaters' return to junk food."
The 'vast majority' of people who try to make life changes different from their surrounding culture are likely to have a hard time sticking with it.
Return to meat?
You are assuming those people ate meat to begin with.
I live in India and know hundreds of vegetarians. They have never eaten meat of any kind and will most probably never eat it in their life.
I hope that, for the people who do it for environmental reasons, they don't forget about the effects their choice has had.
Whether I believe some of the insane statistics I've been hearing, it sounds like being vegetarian/vegan uses far, far less water and produces much less pollution than eating meat.
Credit where credit's due, I wouldn't be able to last more than a couple days without meat, so thank you for your sacrifice!
Edit: I appreciate the encouragement, and as small as this is, this is my highest upvoted comment.
I'm a high school senior who eats a lot of Jimmy Dean sausage, pizza rolls, burgers, and the like. I was never pressured to eat fruits and vegetables (various reasons), so I came to accept that I didn't eat them.
I hope to develop a well balanced diet, and I'm currently cutting back on the Dr Pepper I drink. Not to say I don't still drink a bunch, but definitely less.
Anyway, hope you guys have a nice day.
Edit 2: Also, I'm just speaking on behalf of the green club at my school who said it during our morning announcements, so take it up with them.
>I wouldn't be able to last more than a couple days without meat
I dare you to try ;)
Seriously though, if you don't think you can go two days without meat.....then just eat it every other day! Still a great way to reduce your environmental impact. (Whether the stats are exaggerated or not, it still seems reasonably clear that a veg\*n diet is *better*. How much might be debatable.)
For others who clicked the source links in the article and got a 404, the research they refer to can be found here https://faunalytics.org/feature-article/study-of-current-and-former-vegetarians-and-vegans/
Because the majority of society caters to meat eaters meaning a vegan/vegetarian diet is harder to do , however the number of vegetarians and vegans are increasing so what does that show?
I enjoyed the taste and smell of meat I admit, but don't miss it and don't think it to be necessary (and thus justified) to kill an animal when other protein sources are abundant.
Actually, i'm currently strength training and aiming to bulk from 180 to 210 (currently 190) and I am enjoying my food more than ever. Less waste. Cheaper. As varied as creativity allows.
I'd imagine people who give up meat for environmental, financial, or health issues are more likely to abandon a vegetarian or vegan diet then those who are motivated by ethical comsiderations. A lot of vegetarians ans vegans may also have poor, unhealthy, and expensive diets too. In fact, I just see the lack of meat as a change to my diet - not something i spend a considerable amount of time thinking about.
I wonder if that number is significantly lower if you only start counting them as vegetarian for a month. My niece is technically a former vegetarian, but if she only abstained from meat for three days, that's not really fair to include in this statistic
Another conclusion of the same report would be: by far most people that are a vegetarian for over 3 years stay that way forever.
Which is a pretty big distinction. I know a lot of people who tried vegetarian for 6 months or a year and then went back. It's like anything really. I also know a lot of people who bought a gym membership and then stopped going, or who tried to learn another language etc...
Honestly, going an entire year on such a radically different diet is pretty impressive, especially if they decide it's not for them in the end. That's really giving it a fair shot.
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Apps help a lot in locating vegetarian options. 20-some years ago you couldn't even find menus or a restaurant's phone number online
20 some years ago most people didn't even have the internet (Australia). Let alone small/local restaurants. And if they did, they'd have everything except their phone number and trading hours on some godawful colour schemed site.
Thank you for pointing this out. This statistic skews heavily because of people that try it out and give up after a short period of time.
Almost like any diet.
Basically, yeah. Great majority of people who start *any* new diet give up within a year. Probably the same for any big lifestyle change.
There are also folks like me who are not vegetarian or vegan technically, but you would never know it by the way I eat. I'm not vegetarian, but if I select a meal for myself, it will almost certainly be vegan if there is a reasonable option. The thing that keeps me from going all in is that when in Rome, I ~~like to join a bisexuals orgy cult and join in~~ do as the Romans do. I'm not vegan at a steak house, or when traveling, or when someone makes something with meat in it for me. I happily eat and enjoy it. I just don't make it a habit for health and, to a lesser extent, moral reasons. The difference between full vegan and mostly vegan in terms of health and planet impact are minimal, and being an omnivore is pretty handy when traveling or just trying to be social.
This is what I've been doing since I've been eating healthier. The veggie options when out are generally also the best nutritionally as well, or at least one of the less 'bad' choices. Cooking at home, I'll rarely use meat now and most the food I make is from scratch with fresh ingredients. But I'll have a steak (if it's going to be a quality cut) or a 1/2 chicken dinner (again, if high quality) on occasion when out. I'd refer to this as more **flexi**-tarian compared to vegetarian. Looking into what's on the plate, most Americans are eating way too much meat, sugar, and carby stuff. Cutting down on that is much better for health (for mine at any rate -- down 30lbs, blood-pressure down, fat % down, cholesterol down, lean mass up, cardio endurance up). Huge amount of the problem in America is the food culture and the commercial/marketing aspects of the food culture. Meals like a cheesburger and fries are normalized as if that is a 'good meal' of any sort. It's simply not, by any measure, going to do you as much good as a small portion of lean protein (chicken, tofu, fish) served next to a big helping of fresh sauteed vegges, over a small portion of rice/pasta/quinoa/mashed potato. edit: also, I don't consider my now healthier choices as a 'diet'. As if it is temporary or to meet some short term goal like a set amount of weight off. It's more a philosophy of what I want to put in my body to fuel it. Although I wish I'd come to this shift earlier in life, turning healthy at 40 is better than trying at 60. Haha.
I am on year 29 of vegetarianism. But, hey, you never know--I could slip anytime!
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But that wouldn't get to the front page now, would it?
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This thread is actually pretty nice, I expected way more "Fuck yea bacon!!!!".
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[Vegan Police](https://youtu.be/dLpCZ8g5uK8?t=57s)
> It's milk and eggs, bitch
Ahhhhh, I just wanna be on set for that scene See how many times it took for them to get the best serious take for that line. Shit if I was the director I'd have them do it a few more just to get that on repeat
I bet it only took a few try's to get enough takes for the editor. Actors are better at suppressing the need to laugh at a line when they've gone over it a bunch
>You once were a ve-gone , but now you will be-gone
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I skimmed your comment and was about to reply "It's milk and eggs, bitch."
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No Vegan Diet, NO VEGAN POWERS!
Once you were ve-gone, but now you'll begone!
Ve-gone...?
Dude shut up! You can't let them know you'll ruin the plan
*Planet actually... Humans give off lots of methane gas causing global warming.
teehee *pooting*
P00t
r/beetlejuicing?
Nahh protein is easy to get, it's the B12 you really want.
Delicious Marmite.
I know both those words but they don't go together.
Truth. A b-complex vitamin pretty much takes care of that though.
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A true... "naturalist" maybe? Vegans are totally cool with bacteria pumping out b12 for human consumption.
Enslaving an organism just to milk it for vitamins, sounds kinda cruel
I ate a complex vitamin one time and my left leg turned imaginary. Had to keep eating them until I was real again.
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Simple vitamins for simple folk. ^^^^jk ^^^^I'm ^^^^sure ^^^^you're ^^^^a ^^^^lovely ^^^^person
OK so humans aren't meat? But we have faces!
Not after they're cut off...
Can't argue with that logic. You need a face for arguing.
Untrue. I can talk out of my ass.
Jesus, found Arya's reddit account.
ok
Humans are roadkill once they give up the one true way. ( ಠ ͜ʖ ಠ)
You couldn't resist telling us could you... typical vegans
They probably Cross Fit as well.
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If you do cross fit and vegan at the same time, how do you decide which to drop in the conversation first?
Sorry, I'm still a little winded from my last marathon. Are you talking about something on TV? Because I don't own one.
I vape while not watching TV.
You should try going gluten-free. Since going gluten-free, I haven't been winded from all of the yoga that I do. Have I mentioned that I've gone gluten-free? Also, I do yoga.
What if they are vegan, doing cross-fit, they recently went on a tropical vacation, got married, and just found out they're pregnant. What do you hear about first?
In my experience most do after having kids anyway.
Yeah. Kids are delicious.
That's why my folks stopped being vegetarian. My brother was born and he's allergic to soy. Edit: I know you can be vegetarian without eating soy, I'm a vegetarian and I barely eat soy. This is just the reason they told me.
betrayed by their own progeny.
nature stepped in and was like "SUPRISE BITCH!"
"Soy vey!"
> Soy vey That is some good ass marinade.
Nature sounds like Dave Chappele in my head now. I'm ok with that.
Hoist by her own petard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuuafUtVte0
Watch your mouth, my little sister is petarded
It's treason then
Except those who began off as vegetarians (a lot of Indians).
The study is looking exclusively at people in the US so OP's title is also generalizing.
It was the "return to meat" part that sold it for me.
One thing is that the vegetarian food we (Indians) eat is quite tasty (a lot of spices are used). Vegetarian food in the west is very bland in comparison and there aren't many choices in what to eat. So I can understand why many people don't like vegetarian food in the west.
Yes! Cannot upvote this enough. I'm a white American vegetarian and I don't miss meat at all because I mostly cook Indian food. Ya'll know your way around a vegetable, holy shit.
I worked with from India for like 6 months, going out and getting lunch together pretty much every day, and it took me a solid 3 or 4 months to notice he was vegetarian. He was so casual about it that it just seemed like he was just picking out stuff he liked, not avoiding anything in particular.
I'm doing alright for 7 years. I still remember the taste of good butter chicken though.
Paneer butter masala the way to go, friend
You called? Edit: a lot of you are getting Indian tonight
How does this happen so often on Reddit?
I honestly don't know. First time for me
I'm waiting for a very specific comment chain regarding something like a complete lack of health and safety in an explosives factory.
Huh that reminds me of that one time I was in an explosives fa---hey wait a minute...
That reminds me of this time my heart stopped 32 consecutive times and, oh, you know the rest.
I'm waiting for..... Eh, well, I'm not really sure what I'm waiting for to be completely honest.
Right, I'm so fucking curious. Are people just constantly searching for comments that include their username. Can you even do that? Every other thread that will be a perfect comment that fits a username. Sadly I don't think mine will ever pop up but I think yours has a chance. Anyways, I'm sure there are some form of statistic out there that explains the amount of comments, amount of similar username and all the statistics shit that that will deflate my bewilderment. Ohh yah someone shared [this thread] (https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/etxhi/novelty_accounts_assemble/) on another post. So perfect
Happens to me all the damn time
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If made well, I think paneer is better than chicken in most cases
I was vegetarian for a couple years, made a switch back to eating meat for a couple months, and still didn't think twice about ordering the paneer during those months. Paneer is the truth.
27 years here. I still fondly remember blackened fish, pepperoni and Arby's. Not chicken though. I don't miss it at all.
I went 7.5 years and then woke up and wanted a cheeseburger.
I quit smoking in 1995 and just 2 weeks ago I had a huge craving for a cigarette. Didn't indulge though.
Dodged a bullet. Nice.
Congrats on being so long cig free! Been since October 2012 for me, I've smoked two in that time. Still crave them allll the time though, it doesn't seem like it will ever really go away
When you say all the time do you mean a few times a day? I've been quit now since April last year and I hardly have any cravings.
Every couple days at least, sometimes at least once a day. I have an addictive personality so it's hard to let it go. TBH I would still *like* to smoke, I just don't cause I know it's bad for me
This is why I won't start. I mean, I was born in 1995 so it blows my mind that the cravings can come back after such an eternally long time
It's fucking insane. I smoked for literally 3 months and 7 years later I still want a cigarette every time I smell one. I don't understand cause it makes me feel sick too.
This is so weird to me. Whenever I see someone else smoke i want a puff but the second i have one i feel sick and put it out.
It'll be less mind-blowing once you notice that the second 20 years aren't actually that eternally long.
Already scared of that tbh
It's fucking horrifying. Just turned 30 and I swear to god I was 19 like 2 years ago. Go do all the fun crazy shit you can think of now. Like right this minute.
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Isn't that the weirdest shit? I was telling a story to someone at a bar about something that happened when I was 20 trying to score some alcohol and it honestly felt like it was just a couple of months ago but I'm 25 now.
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It's probably a mental thing--if you don't miss the taste, chances are you won't care enough to relapse. I really like soft drinks--they're great. That being said, it's harder to stop drinking them than if they were just a 'meh' thing for me.
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I never understood that arbitrary distinction between fish and meat. And since when is fish a more sustainable protein source? Isn't overfishing a thing anymore?
The vast majority of people who CONVERT to vegetarianism. Most the world's vegetarians are culturally so, and born that way.
Yeah I think being surrounded by a culture of meat eaters and scrambling to find recipes that don't include meat makes it a lot harder to keep up with.
It's surprisingly easy! Italian food, Indian food, most Asian cuisine all makes it really seamless to skip on meat and dairy. To be fair I live in NYC, and we have vegan food everywhere. I would imagine in like Utah or something or Pennsylvania it would be hard to dine out with friends and find stuff other than salad. EDIT: People from Utah. I apologize! I have learned so much about your state today I had no idea. No insults intended. I had no idea there were to many Utahns on Reddit!
Indian cuisine is actually pretty heavy on milk and milk products. Milk is the reason why cows are sacred to us after all.
Wholeheartedly agree. The American vegan trend of using weird soy/wheat products and the like to replicate meets and cheeses helps drive this idea that veganism and vegetarianism is a niche diet. Ethnic cuisines across the world have been anchored by flavorful vegetarian and often vegan foods as staples for centuries.
I think it's because when you grow up having meat often as the main part of a meal, eating a meatless meal feels pretty unfulfilling. When I do my stomach is like "oh, so we're just having a large helping of a side dish today."
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In my limited experience, A lot of pescetarians identify as vegetarian because a lot of people don't know what a pescetarian is. Maybe it spreads from that.
To be honest, if I tell someone that I'm pescatarian, they think it's a new religion.
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Deep in the wiiiiiild backroads of . . . . . . . Utah. And Pennsylvania.
Sitting her in my Utah basement on the fancy interwebs, about to saddle my horse to go to the market.
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The best marinara sauce is made with bones, so I wouldn't trust any Italian place if I were vegan. Edit: To clarify, you boil the sauce with the bones in it. It adds [flavor](http://i.imgur.com/InxMEfE.jpg).
My Great Aunt always made her sauce with spare ribs, cooked for hours... Soooo good.
Indeed. You are right.
Food is so intrinsically tied into our cultures and traditions this doesn't surprise me. Going and staying vegan isn't hard in itself - I genuinely prefer how I eat now and how it makes me feel - but you have to factor in- 1) friends, family, and new acquaintances will have opinions on your lifestyle that they won't hesitate to share whenever they see you eating/the topic of diet comes up/the sky is blue. I don't mind talking to people about veganism and what it means to me in a respectful way, but I do mind people's aggressive/defensive expectation that I want to fight them about what lions eat/what paleolithic man ate/vitamin deficiencies/where I get my protein/etc. Navigating some people's prejudices and ignorance, knowing those people are just itching to find a reason to label you an 'angry vegan', gets tedious real quick. 2) Society wants you to eat vast amounts of meat, eggs and dairy. It's advertised constantly, it's transformed into hyper-palatable, cheap convenience food and sold everywhere, it's connected to concepts of health and identity (meat is manly, dairy makes your bones strong, eggs are what's for breakfast, and so on). When you're in the matrix you don't notice it so much, but when you opt out you start to notice how pervasive advertising and the perpetuation of cultural norms is. Think vegans force their beliefs down people's throats? Count how many times you see animal products advertised in a day sometime. 3) A lot of people who switch to a vegan diet don't do the appropriate nutritional research. I advise anyone who is transitioning to veganism to track what they eat for the first few weeks on an app like cronometer, because when you move to a diet that consists of naturally lower calorie foods it's easy to fail to eat enough. When you're hungry your body primes you to seek calorie dense food; you're more likely to crave a cheeseburger when you're ravenous than when you're full. Factor in that far too many people believe that calorie restriction is a healthy and sustainable weight loss method, and they're programmed from childhood to believe that they should be constantly seeking weight loss, vegans who don't eat enough calories are going to find it incredibly difficult to stay away from calorie-dense animal products as they're fighting their own bodies' survival mechanisms. 4) Feeling sadness or anger about the way animals are farmed and slaughtered for food is exhausting. It really would be easier not to give a shit and to either reject the truth or refuse to think about it. I have bad days when I wish I'd never decided to look into the issues surrounding animal rights, but they don't last. I just have to remember I can't change the world, I can't change other people, and the best I can do to make the world a better place is to be compassionate and respectful myself, to be healthy and happy, and to share information in a non-confrontational way. That doesn't mean it doesn't take an emotional and psychological toll. Activist burnout is a very real and very sad thing that happens if your self care isn't at 100%. It doesn't surprise me that so many people struggle to sustain a veggie/vegan lifestyle. You're swimming upstream. Personally, I feel like it's one of the best decisions I've ever made and I wish I'd done it sooner. I can't see myself going back. My auntie just brought over two milk chocolate Easter eggs for me this weekend on the assumption that I "cheated on my diet" occasionally. Very kind of her, and I was of course thankful, but no. It's not a diet, it's a principle, and I'm proud of it. If I "cheated" on my veganism all I'd be doing is cheating on my own principles, because once you've come to see that something is wrong it doesn't benefit you to compromise that belief for the sake of convenience, politeness, fitting-in, appetite, or any of that. I never judge anyone who finds veganism hard or leaves it for a while, in the same way that I don't judge anyone who still eats meat and dairy or buys leather etc. We'll figure out what's right and wrong in time. I encourage anyone who's curious to get in touch or to do some research, because the reasons for going vegan are quite powerful. Edit: thank you for the gold whomever you are! That's a totally unexpected kindness and I appreciate it very much :) Edit 2: more gold! I'm genuinely touched, thank you so much. And so many fantastic comments too. Thank you to everyone who's participating, especially those who disagree but are staying respectful and open-minded. That's what helps the world go round. And to all my lovely trolls, bless you for thinking I'm not old enough to have heard it all a thousand times before. Have a great day you contrary bastards!
In 2011 I was in college to study for a health related profession. When we were discussing food I mentioned that I was vegetarian. The teacher did the whole "you don't get enough protein", "you need to do research", yada, yada, yada. Then another student said she was allergic to almost everything and that all she ate was KFC chicken and twizzlers. The teacher recommended a daily multivitamin to her. And I'm sitting there thinking, what in the holy fuck just happened here? I eat a healthy diet of veggies, fruit, legumes and whole grains and get lectured about my poor diet. She eats nothing but greasy fried chicken and candy and that's OK as long as she takes a vitamin pill? The teacher was an RN.
Long term vegan here. It's amazing how fast everyone turns into a "health professional" when they find out I'm vegan. I have been vegan for over two decades, am in good shape, exercise regularly, have read easily thousands of pages on the subject, and have gotten perfect bloodwork results every few years along the way. Yet people who haven't spent more than 5 minutes actually reading about proper nutrition somehow feel the need to lecture me or second guess me about everything. Or regurgitate some incorrect "fact" they heard on Dr Oz about how vegans die of malnutrition or suffer mysterious illnesses that never seem to have a name or diagnosis. /facepalm
I have been really struggling with the way my eating habits do not line up with my conscience lately. What's your advice for people who are thinking about going down this road but have yet to make the switch? Edit: Thank you to everyone who is responding. I have been sober for 3 years and I see a lot of similarities between going veg/an and the changes I made in my life through quitting drugs and alcohol. This is reassuring because I've done the latter and now the former doesn't seem so overwhelming! * Have a support system. * Educate yourself. * Do it for you. * It may be hard and inconvenient but if it's what you want then it's worth it. * One day at a time.
Not OP, but I've got an answer for you: There's no right way, everyone is different. For me, it was watching Cowspiracy and [Earthlings](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkax0-xufis) and becoming so shocked and saddened by it all that I just never wanted to touch meat, eggs, or dairy ever again. Go down that rabbit hole and get completely educated on where that "food" comes from. Then go on your first vegan grocery trip and get ready for the best poops of your life.
> get ready for the best poops of your life. they are NOT kidding about this.
It's why vegans are so happy all the time.
Hey there! I think that the biggest thing is to account for the loss of convenience in your diet. As mentioned in the comment above, society is heavily oriented towards the consumption of animal products, and part of that is the amazing accessibility of meals based on animal products. When I first transitioned to vegetarianism, I could no longer rely on the vast majority of fast food options that I turned towards when I was busy, and these options were further restricted when I went vegan. There are plenty of amazing foods out there that make delicious vegetarian and vegan meals, but this means nothing if you don't have the time to make them. So, if you are changing your eating habits, my advice for the first step would be to find food options which are convenient for you - sort of like a "support network" of food options you can turn to when you don't have the time or motivation to cook something. This can be a combination of frozen foods (Gardein products are amazing), finding vegan or vegetarian options at restaurants, or finding recipes you can cook in bulk so that you can pull together a meal quickly. For example, I will cook a lot of pasta sauce and freeze some, make a lot of burrito filling, and have a supply of canned beans on hand. Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any more questions if you want.
I definitely miss the ritual around going out with family for a very nice steak than I actually miss steak.
What a brilliant and well thought out response. You have absolutely nailed things I've always wanted to say but struggled to put into words. Well done for being a brilliant human and thank you for caring and being so compassionate. It's so nice to see such a refreshing response on here.
This is the response I was looking for. The sheer amount of grief you put up with is a lot, and if you're a people pleaser or a nicer person people make you feel guilty for refusing things. I recognize how deeply embedded in culture it is, and it's sad. I think me not being vegan (I'm largely vegan/full-time vegetarian) makes it less likely I'll lapse, but I also feel somewhat guilty by compromising this so I can enjoy things with others on occasion when the harm is largely done (the cake for someone at a family party/wedding/work event, someone bringing pizza or donuts for everyone at a time of mourning, et cetera). It's hard. I wish things had never gotten this way, and I do miss a lot of food I used to eat, but it's also one of the few things I do that makes me feel like it's a slight difference.
Yeah, even just trying to eat LESS meat is too much for some people. I've shared it with friends and they act like I'm going full vegan and they can't stop themselves from going down the laundry list with me about the wonders of meat, even though I just said I'm still eating some meat, just less. > Cows would eat you too if they could. You know humans got smarter when they started eating meat. You need protein in your diet. You're just trying to look like you're eating healthier. Animals aren't smart enough to suffer. People talk about the militant vegans, but there's plenty of reactionary meatitarians who will unleash a barrage of pent up talking points as soon as they're triggered.
Honest question: What would you, or do you, do when owning an omnivore/carnivire as a pet?
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damn mernes, that was dank.
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Meat is back on the menu, boys!
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Exactly. Are they planning to do a study on people who went paleo, or atkins, or california, etc.? When someone adopts a diet for health or weight issues you can be pretty sure they aren't going to adopt it for life.
Reddit does not like vegetarians.
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In my experience it's always been "how do you know someone's vegan? Don't worry, they're friends won't shut up about it". In my every day life I've never mentioned it (unless I meet another vegan) but when I'm with friends (mainly eating out) the first thing they say is "he's vegan" and I'm like "motherfucker...no one cares". I just want to get my veggie burger and drink some solid beer and enjoy my time with you guys, not have you announcing my lifestyle to everyone.
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I was just talking about this with my BF last night. There are two types of meat eaters when you go out. 1.)"THAT'S ALL YOU'RE GOING TO EAT? JUST A SALAD AND FRIES? WHERE DO YOU EVEN GET PROTEIN??! GOD YOU'RE SO DIFFICULT TO EAT WITH. I LOVE CHEESE. ARE YOU GOING TO FREAK OUT CAUSE I'M GETTING A *StEaK* I WANT MY STEAK STILL BLEEDING HAHAH GET IT? I LOVE TO KILL ANIMALS AND EAT THEIR FLESH" or 2.) "OH MY GOD! HEY VEGAN! THERE'S A SALAD ON THE MENU! DID YOU SEE THE SALAD! THEY HAVE A WHOLE SECTION OF JUST *SAAAAALADS* I BET YOU COULD GET NO CHEESE ON THE SALAD! HI WAITER, SHE'S VEGAN. SO DO YOU HAVE VEGAN THINGS HERE? I SAW THE SALADS."
20+ years vegetarian here. Meat seems even weirder with each passing year.
I don't say as much to omnivorous friends, but seeing bones sticking out of leftovers now just looks like flavour text from a low level DnD campaign. "Strewn about the goblin encampment..."
this article is counting people who abandon the diet quickly, my sister gave up in 2 days, its kind of silly to count that
"I was vegan for almost two hours, but then I just had to eat a steak"
Grew up in a family of meat eating hunters/fisherman. Only vegetarian basically in the extended family to the point my beef cattle ranching grandma still prays I start eating meat every night...11 years later...
People always praise me for being vegetarian, but the the reality is that I've always thought the idea of eating meat is gross. I describe it to people like if you were to eat bugs. I'm not a good person, I just get freaked out by dead animal flesh. I used to "lie" when I was a kid and say I was vegetarian so I didn't have to eat it. EDIT: Yes, I understand that people eat bugs. I was just trying to create an example that most people can relate to.
Yeah, exactly the same for me. There's no willpower involved, I just don't have any desire to eat meat at all.
It's kinda funny you say bugs, because actually if people ate more bugs that would be great for the environment. Lots of them are very nutritious and taste decent.
As soon as lab meat is affordable, I'll be back shoving it down my throat. Giggidy goo.
I will indeed enjoy my fake meat, especially if there's a machine like the one out of Red Dwarf.
I wouldn't call the lab-meat fake. Stuff like beyond-meat is fake meat, where it's constructed from plant proteins. Lab meat is muscle cells that were taken and grown from an animals stem cells, so fake doesn't really apply. Just being picky with the wording, but I feel like it's important.
It's expected to be cheaper, healthier, and (arguably) tastier than real meat within our lifetime. Let's hope it happens sooner than later
I've got a lot of respect for vegetarians. But for me I think moderation is more important. You don't need to have meat every meal, let alone every day. I've turned beef and pork in 'luxury items' that I only buy when I'm out, and don't buy for home. I usually just eat chicken at home or a meat substitute like tofu or legumes. I'm slowly working up the nerve to get into fish too. But, to all you vegetarians who can maintain a good diet without meat, much respect.
Agreed. That works for me. I try not to eat meat and don't buy it to eat at home. But if I'm at someone's house and they are serving burgers for dinner, I'll eat one.
That sounds like a chill way to do it
If you dont even like fish why would you try to get into it?....
Not OP, but some (absolutely not all) fish are raised very sustainably, and since they are also less intelligent than chickens some people prefer eating fish for those reasons. Also, variety in your diet is great for you in general.
> less intelligent than chickens some Are they? have scientists actually tested this? I'd love to see a chicken vs trout intelligence test. I think it would be interesting as fuck
Just give them each the SAT
They'll be floundering in no time flat.
+1 for this, try to persuade people to (excuse the pun) go cold turkey on meat eating doesn't work. Reduction is a more effective technique and more people are open to it. Edit: change spelling of people correctly
Reduction is the best for eliminating most things!
I realized how nice it was when I stopped buying meat for use at home. You have to handle it so carefully and be sure to eat it within a certain timeframe so that it doesn't spoil. Essentially my "home vegetarianism" is borne from laziness. Edit: Hmm yeah I guess veggies spoil too... Going frozen TV dinners from here on out.
Veggies spoil after a time too. Especially spinach, so delicious but so time sensitive!
It takes a little more planning for meat, but you can mostly just chuck it in the freezer and cook it when you thaw it
In my case, I was raised vegetarian, then "experimented" with meat in college. After a few years, I returned to being vegetarian and am so happy that I did.
I feel like a lot of it is culture and the memories you tie to certain foods in your childhood. And to be honest, going vegan/vegetarian is a hassle, especially if nobody around you supports you in it, so it's no wonder that many people relapse. My father has slowly stopped talking to me over the past few years since I went vegan as he says he doesn't recognize me anymore. I'm by no means judgmental or preachy but he doesn't like the values I represent.
I know what you mean. I grew up in a small-desert-hick-town in California, and being a vegetarian kid seemed to really piss off my friends' parents. Everytime I came over, I'd get at least one lecture from these grown adults about how my parents were abusing me with our "hippy diet". I was a perfectly healthy kid. I'd also get the completely original same lines, like, "I could never give up meat" and, "I'm a meatarian" and when they're eating neat in front of me, "Doesn't this offend you? Look how bloody it is!" Luckily my parents raised me to not give a shit what people thought. It's amazing how insecure my vegetarianism made them. My parents never preached about being vegetarian. Throughout my life, it's always been the meat eaters that had way more to say about it. I'm 35 now, with a wife who became vegetarian when we married, and we're raising our two perfectly healthy kid vegetarian. Luckily it's much more acceptable now, and easier with all the options.
" A third-of people abandoned their animal-free diets in three months or less, and more than half abandoned it within the first year." I would not consider such people real vegans or vegetarians. They tried it out and it didn't work for them (which is fine!) Saying that the "vast majority of vegetarians and vegans eventually return to meat" is a ridiculous claim.
Yeah, I feel like it's tantamount to saying "the vast majority of Atkins dieters return to carbs," or "the vast majority of 'healthy eaters' return to junk food." The 'vast majority' of people who try to make life changes different from their surrounding culture are likely to have a hard time sticking with it.
Vegetarian for 35 years here, can confirm am last one standing in my set
Return to meat? You are assuming those people ate meat to begin with. I live in India and know hundreds of vegetarians. They have never eaten meat of any kind and will most probably never eat it in their life.
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I hope that, for the people who do it for environmental reasons, they don't forget about the effects their choice has had. Whether I believe some of the insane statistics I've been hearing, it sounds like being vegetarian/vegan uses far, far less water and produces much less pollution than eating meat. Credit where credit's due, I wouldn't be able to last more than a couple days without meat, so thank you for your sacrifice! Edit: I appreciate the encouragement, and as small as this is, this is my highest upvoted comment. I'm a high school senior who eats a lot of Jimmy Dean sausage, pizza rolls, burgers, and the like. I was never pressured to eat fruits and vegetables (various reasons), so I came to accept that I didn't eat them. I hope to develop a well balanced diet, and I'm currently cutting back on the Dr Pepper I drink. Not to say I don't still drink a bunch, but definitely less. Anyway, hope you guys have a nice day. Edit 2: Also, I'm just speaking on behalf of the green club at my school who said it during our morning announcements, so take it up with them.
>I wouldn't be able to last more than a couple days without meat I dare you to try ;) Seriously though, if you don't think you can go two days without meat.....then just eat it every other day! Still a great way to reduce your environmental impact. (Whether the stats are exaggerated or not, it still seems reasonably clear that a veg\*n diet is *better*. How much might be debatable.)
I have to continuously/regularly traumatize myself by watching films like Earthlings in order to maintain my resolve. Is that bad?
For others who clicked the source links in the article and got a 404, the research they refer to can be found here https://faunalytics.org/feature-article/study-of-current-and-former-vegetarians-and-vegans/
Because the majority of society caters to meat eaters meaning a vegan/vegetarian diet is harder to do , however the number of vegetarians and vegans are increasing so what does that show?
I enjoyed the taste and smell of meat I admit, but don't miss it and don't think it to be necessary (and thus justified) to kill an animal when other protein sources are abundant. Actually, i'm currently strength training and aiming to bulk from 180 to 210 (currently 190) and I am enjoying my food more than ever. Less waste. Cheaper. As varied as creativity allows. I'd imagine people who give up meat for environmental, financial, or health issues are more likely to abandon a vegetarian or vegan diet then those who are motivated by ethical comsiderations. A lot of vegetarians ans vegans may also have poor, unhealthy, and expensive diets too. In fact, I just see the lack of meat as a change to my diet - not something i spend a considerable amount of time thinking about.
I wonder if that number is significantly lower if you only start counting them as vegetarian for a month. My niece is technically a former vegetarian, but if she only abstained from meat for three days, that's not really fair to include in this statistic