Catholic Vegetarians/Vegans

[PhuturePriest]

Who here is a vegetarian/vegan? What was your reason, and how difficult was the process for you?

[Not A Real Name]

Ex vegan/juicer here.  My reasons were based off of animal cruelty as well as environment reasons. It was difficult to go from the standard American diet to a vegan diet, however, I am thankful for the experience.  Taught me a lot about discipline.   

[Peace]

I was for 2 years during college. It was pretty easy actually. I just stopped eating meat. My diet didn't change much otherwise.

[Anomaly]

I'm a part time vegetarian.  Many days and most meals I don't eat meat.   I do it to better my health.  Nothing wrong with most meats, in reasonable portions.  I've been trying to eat more fruits and vegetables.  

It's pretty easy as I like almost all foods and like the adventure of trying new things.  Doing it part time takes the pressure off and getting into discussions with vegans and PETA nuts. I'm not making some moral statement or being a fanatic. 

If you're thinking of becoming vegetarian or vegan, do it gradually. There are a million veggies and ways to season and prepare them.  I remember you're a picky eater so give yourself time to find food, seasonings and ways of preparing it that fits your lifestyle and taste buds. 

[Benedictus]

I'm Vegetarian. Mostly for ethical reasons (environmental and animal) but also for personal well being. There's growing resources and awareness these days, so the transition isn't too difficult in most western countries.  Once you know meat consumption isn't necessary and that it's mostly continued on in society via conditioned [and usually unquestioned] acceptance then it becomes easier to reevaluate if it's really something that fits with your values and principles. 

There's also a growing interest in animal welfare and in philosophy/theology in this area too. Catholic Concern for Animals is one org that looks at welfare issues but there's also ones like the Christian Vegetarian Association. Other belief systems have an interesting input too, if looking at it from a multi faith and secular perspective. 

[Selah]

Pescatarian. 

[Not A Real Name]

I would just like to add that the only reason for why eating meat in this day in age is not considered "necessary" is because we can supplement B-12 and other nutrients.  If we lacked the supplements then an omnivore diet would be the optimal choice for human health.  Primitive man was not a vegetarian/vegan.  Had he been we probably wouldn't be here today having this conversation. 

[Benedictus]

20 minutes ago, Not A Real Name said:

I would just like to add that the only reason for why eating meat in this day in age is not considered "necessary" is because we can supplement B-12 and other nutrients.  If we lacked the supplements then an omnivore diet would be the optimal choice for human health.  Primitive man was not a vegetarian/vegan.  Had he been we probably wouldn't be here today having this conversation. 

That's true for Vegans in terms of B12. But Vegetarians that include eggs, diary and a mix of veggies don't have that problem. It's also likely that pre pesticides B12 amounts in ground veggies was higher too.

Vegetarians have always existed, once the circumstances made it a choice. The earliest humans were lucky if they survived long enough to worry about food choices, so they had different priorities. Many probably died from meat consumption too,  the Bible banned pork for obvious practical reasons. Science, knowledge and safety have made things far easier for us-  we can make more informed choices with confidence.

[Socrates]

Proud member of PETA here.  

That's People Eating Tasty Animals.

[Benedictus]

15 minutes ago, Socrates said:

Proud member of PETA here.  

That's People Eating Tasty Animals.

If there are advanced aliens out in the multiverse you better hope they're not omnivores who take that sentiment of yours to mean it's fair in equal measure that you be their lunch. 

Edited August 14, 2016 by Benedictus

[He is Risen!]

I'm a vegeterian about 95% of the time because 1. meat and cheese is expensive.  I can get a whole cart full of veg, fruit, and grains from Aldi for around $30 but add meat and cheese and it triples.  Along those lines, weird meat substitutes can get pricey too so I stick to the legumes and lots of veg most of the time.  2.  I don't like the way we factory farm here. I don't think it's being a good steward and I don't think it's really necessary for health to eat so much meat.  That said, when my parents are over for dinner, they definitely notice if it's missing so I will splurge and get something from the farmers market or a local butcher.  When I visit someone else, I will gratefully eat whatever is set in front of me.

[Gabriela]

I've been vegetarian (in high school) and Paleo (in grad school). I personally think it's foolish to go vegetarian/vegan for animal cruelty or environmental reasons, because there are totally humane, environmentally sound ways of raising animals. It's just not the way most American meat companies raise their animals these days. I buy meat only from my local family farms, on the hoof, whenever there's a slaughter happening. In the past, I've had a quarter cow and two whole hogs, as well as some hunted deer that people gave me. I've contacted my farmer for another quarter cow this Fall. I have 100% confidence that my meat was raised in a humane, environmentally sound fashion.

Now, if a person objects to even the humane killing of an animal for food purposes, then I suppose going vegetarian/vegan is the thing to do. But God gave those animals to us to tend to, and said we can eat them, so I'm fine with doing so, provided we take our responsibility of stewardship to them seriously.

Personally, I think most people who go vegetarian/vegan do so in a totally hypocritical way, still supporting birth control and abortion. Talk about misguided.

Also, any claim that vegans get "as much and as good" protein out of their diets as carnivores do out of theirs is total BS. People arguing for the superiority of vegetarian/vegan diets often completely disregard the fact that different proteins can be of very different quality.

Edited August 14, 2016 by Gabriela

[little2add]

eat pasta

[little2add]

An Italian lawmaker proposed a bill last week that would punish parents with imprisonment for raising their children on “dangerous” vegan diets, which the legislation compares to domestic abuse.

In July a malnourished baby was hospitalized because his parents kept him on a vegan diet without any nutritional supplements. At 14 months old, the baby weighed only slightly more than a 3-month-old should. The baby was removed from the parents’ custody. A month earlier, a 2-year-old girl on a vegan diet spent several days in intensive care for vitamin deficiencies and low hemoglobin levels. In 2015, an 11-month-old with vegan parents was also treated for severe malnutrition.

link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/08/11/an-italian-lawmaker-wants-to-make-it-a-crime-for-parents-to-feed-their-kids-vegan-diets/?wpisrc=nl_mix&wpmm=1

[Gabriela]

1 hour ago, little2add said:

An Italian lawmaker proposed a bill last week that would punish parents with imprisonment for raising their children on “dangerous” vegan diets, which the legislation compares to domestic abuse.

In July a malnourished baby was hospitalized because his parents kept him on a vegan diet without any nutritional supplements. At 14 months old, the baby weighed only slightly more than a 3-month-old should. The baby was removed from the parents’ custody. A month earlier, a 2-year-old girl on a vegan diet spent several days in intensive care for vitamin deficiencies and low hemoglobin levels. In 2015, an 11-month-old with vegan parents was also treated for severe malnutrition.

link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/08/11/an-italian-lawmaker-wants-to-make-it-a-crime-for-parents-to-feed-their-kids-vegan-diets/?wpisrc=nl_mix&wpmm=1

I think it is criminal, because so many people adopt diets without really understanding human nutrition, especially child nutrition.

That being said, I'm not sure I'm for more government intervention in family life...

In any case, the best diets are the traditional ethnic diets, because they're based on local, seasonal food and have been developed over centuries to be just what the people need to thrive. The people adapt to the diet and the diet adapts to the people. The reason Americans are such fat pigs is because we don't have a traditional ethnic diet, because we're a bunch of mongrels who developed industrialized food almost immediately after landing here.