What is it like to be a vegetarian/vegan?

[Celista]

At this point I am confused what we talk about...I might just have lost track of it with several conversations and replies going back and forth.

My claim would be that one should be able to live healthily and get all the nutritions with basic foods (unprocessed) and no supplements. But should one chose a rigid lifestyle on ethic principles (in my book: vegan), it is no sin to take supplements.

My point was that regardless of diet, it is difficult to hit *all* of your nutritional requirements via just food, mostly due to loss of nutrient density in the soil/farm animal diets/water purification methods.

Try tracking your meals for a week and see.

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You have hurt me this day and the wound is deep........../sigh

Haha Bacon is delicious, honestly when I was eating a bunch of red meat/bacon I didn't feel bad while doing so. But every time I swap back to being a vegetarian, I feel better.

I honestly don't miss meat when I don't eat it, I should work on learning new vegetarian recipes so I don't get bored with meals (which has happened in the past). My fault as there are a ton of decent recipes out there.

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Before I went vegan I didn't eat veggies, fruits or beans.

Now that I'm vegan, I don't eat straight veggies, fruits or beans.

People don't really understand what a vegan diet is these days. they think it is all kale and quinoa. Truth is, there are vegan versions of practically everything.

For example...here's a newer product, called the Beyond Burger. It's made by Bill Gates' vegan company:



I've had this. If cardboard is a 1 and a real burger is a 10. This is an 8.5.

There are A LOT of vegan products now. I could not have been vegan more than a decade ago.

The only hard part is eating out.

Damn, I should give that a try. I'm not a big fan of faux meat products (mostly soy, expensive, mediocre taste) but that looks promising.

[breadisfunny]

My point was that regardless of diet, it is difficult to hit *all* of your nutritional requirements via just food, mostly due to loss of nutrient density in the soil/farm animal diets/water purification methods.

Try tracking your meals for a week and see.

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Haha Bacon is delicious, honestly when I was eating a bunch of red meat/bacon I didn't feel bad while doing so. But every time I swap back to being a vegetarian, I feel better.

I honestly don't miss meat when I don't eat it, I should work on learning new vegetarian recipes so I don't get bored with meals (which has happened in the past). My fault as there are a ton of decent recipes out there.

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Damn, I should give that a try. I'm not a big fan of faux meat products (mostly soy, expensive, mediocre taste) but that looks promising.

but don't you miss a nice big juicy flavorful well seasoned steak?

[Celista]

but don't you miss a nice big juicy flavorful well seasoned steak?

Nah. I mean, I'm not super strict obviously, if I wanted one I would go eat one...

[breadisfunny]

Nah. I mean, I'm not super strict obviously, if I wanted one I would go eat one...

you know you want one. so juicy so tasty....

[Celista]

you know you want one. so juicy so tasty....

*yawn* that one doesn't have enough marbling..I go all in when I eat a steak...

Best steak I ever had was a wagyu ribeye, then kobe beef.

[AlphaOut]

Is it hard to shop? I think I could do it, but have no idea where to get protein from. I love tortilla chips & salsa..which I could easily make a daily part of my diet.

I don't think I could go hard like a vegan but vegetarianism seems doable.

You have to remember that meat is the commonly known source of protein, but often not the best source of protein. Lentils, Quinoa, various nuts and seeds and much more provide proteins. A common direct meat protein replacement would be foods such as mushrooms, red kidney beans and black beans. Theres plenty more sources of clean, full protein as well. Most people just eat meat for the taste (lets be honest), disregarding any real nutritional value. The people that think you actually "need" meat to be healthy are completely wrong on so many levels. I'd look up Frank Medrano if you need any motivation.

[Bloodwolf]

the ex went vegan and forced it on me, I did it for like 7? months and because she was also all about organic and gluten free the grocery bills were absurd and I lost about 40lbs in the process, I went from almost 6'3 and 190 to 150lbs. Dumped her, regained 30lbs in the first month.

If you can do it for your own means, but all means do it. Most of the food wasnt that bad but for my activity levels it wasn't anywhere near enough fuel for my body without costing $400+ a week for food

Your ex seems to be a really ignorant person. Although I have to say that you can easily eat around 3000 calories a day in a vegan diet without spending more than 240€ a month. I can tell you that because I'm astudent living on a vegan diet for 3 years. I'm 6'2 and 190 lbs. Not a problem to gain weight with 6 days of training per week. But yeah if it doesn't work for you there is absolutely no need to force it.

[Azadina]

Large salad, sandwiches, soups, veggies, pasta, burgers, rice/beans, sushi, tofu stir fry...really possibilities are endless. Look up recipes online or get a good cookbook.

I don't eat faux meat so I can't recommend tofurkey or similar products.

I might need a cookbook, because of those, I love salad, but I do like lil bit of tuna or chicken in it too. Sandwiches I want with few thin pepperoni slices, then all the other things like cheese and lettuce. Veggies I have in chicken dinners most often, pasta I put sauce on; which is made of chicken & veggies & food cream, or some beef, tomato paste and beans in chili sauce.

So while I like most of those, it never ends up strictly veggy meal Today I was thinking of tortillas, another mostly veggy thing I made, but like salad it's not entirely. The sauce with beans is going to have small amount of beef in it. :/

[phantomlink]

Your ex seems to be a really ignorant person. Although I have to say that you can easily eat around 3000 calories a day in a vegan diet without spending more than 240€ a month. I can tell you that because I'm astudent living on a vegan diet for 3 years. I'm 6'2 and 190 lbs. Not a problem to gain weight with 6 days of training per week. But yeah if it doesn't work for you there is absolutely no need to force it.

Ya, all depends where you live and the price of food vs the income you bring in. It would have been sustainable if it wasn't for the organic/natural method imo, by the time I left that relationship and counting the stuff I had to leave behind, I was about 8k in the hole trying to support it all. It even got to the point in the gym where a 240lb deadlift was becoming a hassle and that was an early sign for me. I just tried it because part of me wanted to support and see if it would work, but I knew there was no way I'd get my way in the end

[dextersmith]

Haha Bacon is delicious, honestly when I was eating a bunch of red meat/bacon I didn't feel bad while doing so. But every time I swap back to being a vegetarian, I feel better.

I honestly don't miss meat when I don't eat it, I should work on learning new vegetarian recipes so I don't get bored with meals (which has happened in the past). My fault as there are a ton of decent recipes out there.

Don't you miss meat lovers pizza, wings, and kfc? I think bacon is overrated. I can forego meat at breakfast but get really pissy at other meals. I can't stand vegetables but do like most starches. I can't have just meat though.

[zenkai]

Is it hard to shop? I think I could do it, but have no idea where to get protein from. I love tortilla chips & salsa..which I could easily make a daily part of my diet.

I don't think I could go hard like a vegan but vegetarianism seems doable.

I'm not either but I do focus on healthy greens and protein, but I also stay away from high sugar fruits, starchy veggies like corn and potatoes since they turn into sugar. I stay away from anything processed like sugar, bread, and I also try to stay away from wheat because unlike some people claim, I really do have a slight allergy.

That being said it sucks when you're not at home, it's easy to shop and buy what I need but when I go out of town to visit friends and family or get stuck at a work lunch thing my choices are limited and I try to make the best of it.