Vegetarian vs. Vegan?

[dixiebelle]

Hope I have the right section to ask this!

Just wondering why you chose to be Vegetarian, but not Vegan...

Or for the Vegans, why you chose to be Vegan, over just being Vegetarian?

Thank you...

[emd]

Ooh I love talking vego!

I went vegetarian (lacto ovo - so that means I eat eggs and dairy) in 2001. It started as a health thing - my body functions better when I eat less meat. But once I stopped eating meat altogether, I started to think more about the ethics of what I ate. Growing up on a farm where we killed our own meat, I had always known where it came from - and I don't have a problem with my hubby or kids eating meat. I just decided that it's not for me. It also fits with my religious views. I will eat fish when pregnant or breastfeeding if there is no alternative on offer, as nutrition is more important than ethics when I'm eating for two. I find that Canberra restaurants are not clued-in on vegetarian food - there's often nothing but meat and fish on the menu.

My BIL & SIL are vegan, and raising their kids vegan. I wouldn't mind giving up eggs or milk, but would have great difficulty giving up cheese. So I buy cheese made with non-animal rennet as a compromise. We also have our own chooks, so I know that our eggs are ethically produced (although they've refused to lay all winter).

We're raising our kids as omnivores. This is partly because it's easy - childcare serve meat for lunch, grandpa would probably give them meat no matter what we say (and we have enough trouble with the chocs and lollies as it is). Daddy also eats meat (he cooks his own once or twice a week), so the kids share in that. But I'm quite open with them about my vegetarianism and expect they'll all try it out for themselves when they're older. Sophia told me a couple of weeks ago that she wanted to be vegetarian, but half an hour later someone offered her a sausage (family BBQ) and she changed her mind.

[Jakaluma]

don't know how much meat commercial sausages have in them

Think it would depend on why you are vegetarian or vegan - if it's for ethical reasons, you'd probably go vegan - things like the male calves killed and the way cows are treated to get milk, cheese, butter etc would wipe out dairy quite quickly. Honey? Even free range eggs are suspect, but if you had your own chooks and duck would that be okay?

I'm an ominvore, but I do try to eat only ethical meat and animal products.

[Dorasmum]

Hmm I buy free range chicken sausages for the kids, I'm very suspicous of regular ones. But back to the vego topic, no I'm not, I would love to be, but I love meat! My Mum is, has been since I was little, but she has a bit of fish occasionally. I'm not sure what her initial reasons were, maybe health reasons, part religion. She told me once she did a 10 day fast so she experimented a lot with diet when she was younger but the vego part has stuck. My little brother is too now, for about 2 years. Kind of surprised me because he loves his meat too. But he made the choice and has stuck to it-just a regular vego.

Having said I love meat though, we only eat chicken maybe twice a week and fish maybe 3 times.We don't eat any more for financial reasons and I do depend on eggs and milk for the kids, DD1 sometimes it's the only protein I can get into her. I also enjoy the fact that I can get local milk and local free range eggs.

Em

[emd]

I used to think I couldn't give up eating meat - my family are big meat eaters. My mum's idea of "vegetarian" dinner is a quiche with ham in it But once I tried being vego, I realised that the meat I missed was all the crap stuff - sausages and chops - which told me that I missed the salt and saturated fats, not the meat itself.

[lcorteen]

I don't know what to call myself!! (others often do! he he, but I mean about the vego thing)

I eat ALOT of raw food for 2 reasons:

1. I believe the human body evolved eating a mostly raw diet and therefore our body is designed to digest this type of food (highly supported by research - for example did you know that the body shows an immune response (by way of increase white blood cell count) to any cooked food?? Seriously! But there is no immune response when raw food is eaten before cooked! - inferring that the body recognises the raw food)

2. I feel so good when I eat lots of raw food! (this is the main reason)

3. Its easier on the planet (this is also a big part of the reason)

So.. I eat fish occasionally (once every couple of months), no dairy, the occasional egg from the school chooks, some honey...but mostly raw veggies and sprouted grains and seeds, soaked nuts (again easier to digest) with a bit of fruit.

I love eating veggies and sprouts, seeds and nuts!!! they make me calm, ahppy and buzzing! Getting my kids to eat as I do is a challenge, but they eat a small amount of meat, lots of salad, nuts, seeds and fruit - it's very hard I think because let's face it, crap food tastes GOOD!

Love and greens to you all

xx Louise

[MindfulMama]

Would love to know how you "sell" salads to your little ones Louise! What's the secret to getting them to eat fresh raw food?

I am vego for environmental. ethical & spiritual reasons & have been my entire adult life so I cant imagine what it would be like to eat meat! (well except for that time a pizza company accidentally put ham on my pizza, which I ate in the dark & didn't notice - yuk!). Idealistically I want to be vegan, but it's just too hard - DH is a vegetarian-by-marriage only (in other words he would continue to happily eat meat if I wasn't around), DS only likes eating a few things (mainly egg & cheese ), plus we have a number of food intolerances to work around, so being a vegan is just too restrictive cause it would mean multiple meals for everyone & a level of menu planning skill I just don't have. Plus despite all I aspire to be, I really like cheese, icecream & chocolate . We make sure that any animal product we buy (egg, honey, dairy) is organic & try to pick companies that have the highest humane standards possible.

[emd]

Sophia often prefers raw vegies to cooked ones - carrot, snow peas, green beans etc. I think she prefers the texture/crunch.

[Marmee]

We eat meat here a couple of times a week. I was lacto ovo vegetarian until my 2nd pregnancy, when all of a sudden I started craving meat! So - after about 15 years, I added meat to my diet again. Prior to then, like Em - DH and our son would eat meat and I'd just meal plan around it.

Became lacto-ovo vego much to my mother's horror, as a teenager. I just felt so much better not eating it. Meat bloats me up. I feel sluggish.

There is NO way I could eliminate eggs from my diet.......and I find even the splash of dairy in my cuppa hard to give up, too. No other "milk" tastes quite the same.

Anyway - whilst I eat meat, I am very finicky about what meat I eat and don't eat many many types and cuts of it. Just don't like it. If I go somewhere and they want to know if I'm vego or not, I always tick yes, cause I never like what meat they serve up

[marchbean]

I have been vegetarian since 15 for ethical reasons. At that age I don't think I knew what or why someone was vegan. Now I know more about the dairy industry but I'm ashamed to say I'm just too lazy/greedy (like my cheese too much) to be vegan. I've made a few attempts over the years and would like to again in the future.