Giving up being a vegetarian

bluemoon_3

pbradley936, just wanted to say a couple of things about points you raised.

If you are happy and healthy being a vegetarian that's great but read this:-

http://www.mercola.com/2000/apr/2/vegetarian_myths.htm

I've read this article before (forgive me for not reading it again). Something to bear in mind is that the author, Dr. Mercola, advocates a very specific diet, described by wikipedia as similar to the Paleolithic diet (who I called raw-meatatarians in my above post because I couldn't remember the correct name ). He's not saying stop being vegetarian and go have a barbeque. His nutritional ideas are just as controversial as many other diets.

I don’t think you can afford to be an ignorant vegetarian where children are concerned.

Well, I think that goes for any parent, veggie or not. Everyone wants to make the best choices for their child. The tragic case you link to was not an example of a healthy infant vegetarian diet - the article states that the couple were feeding their child a fruit-only diet and refused medical treatment. This is quite, quite different.

vansboy

OK, so we all have our reasons why to/why not to be veggi-vegan-demi veggi or whatever.

I'm veggi & also VERRRRRY critical of the animal product which is sneaked into our shoping, one way or another - do we REALLY need dead animals (gelatine) in Palmolive foam bath????

Even Viagra has bullion, apparently - never tried either!!

But why on earth would anyone want to go to bother of raising an animal, then murdering it then all the messing about to prepare it & then still havbe to cook it & then have to eat it.

Much easier to by another non animal food, surely!!??

But of course, it's always neatly packaged for you in the shop - won't say the same for a 'proper' butchers-bits dead animal lying around in blood on the counter-doeas it REALLY sound sensible??

Plus it was walking around in a messy field & then dundled into the (never understood this word) sLAUGHTERHOUSE, not funny to me, what goes on there - but, yes, I'm sure some of the employees there get a thrill from what they do!

& lastly, so many eaters of dead animals complain the feast was too dry, too hard, too chewy, to overcooked....

I'll shut up now, but please do resist the temptation of filling your body with unnessecery suffering - for you & the animals!!

VB

Ken-Dodds-Hairy-Knodule

ruthyjo wrote:

I've had to have iron injections in all my three pregnancies which wasn't much fun, so I no longer believe being a veggie is necessarily the most healthy diet

But that was YOUR diet that was poor, rather than being vegetarian.


As for studies about healthiness/unhealthiness of vege/veganism I'd take them ALL with a pinch of salt. One week it'll be healthy, the next not. As with anything to do with science it all depends on who's funding the research as to what results are found.

The very fact that there are so many healthy vegan babies/children around and you only ever hear of a a few unhealthy ones (such as the one linked to, that was fed on fruit and wheat only) speaks volumes.

Obesity on the other hand is on the rise. Childhood Obesity is estimated at 15% in the UK at the moment. Then you have the children that aren't yet obese but just fat. Contrary to what a lot of people beleive, malnourishment doesn't just mean 'underweight' - fat people are malnourised too.

I'd say the 'average' UK diet is atrocious and provides nowhere near enough nourishment. If you are going to become a 'cheese-on-toast' vegetarian you're diet will still be atrocious.

Mrs_pbradley936

bluemoon the points you make are valid and well put. Ethics (or a lack of them) are very personal issues shaped by our own experiences and expectations. Some people do think long and hard about the consequences of their purchases but I would suggest that very many more do not. As an example if I sit near a coal fire in the depths of winter I do not think about the poor miner who slaved away in horrid dark conditions to supply me. If I did perhaps I would prefer to be cold. I could care less if people eat (to me)odd diets but to do so in the belief that they are better for health is what I take issue with. That baby need not have died if the parents had given her milk from the corner shop or Tesco.

MINMOUSE

On reading these posts I feel that I must comment. I have not eaten meat/fish etc since I was 11 ( now 35) and my 3 children have been veggies since birth. They have dairy but no meat/fish/chicken. They are rarely ill, not overweight, and have the choice to eat meat if they so wish in the future.
My DH is not a vegtarian and I would never try to persaude him otherwise. I will cook him meat but don't ask me to eat it.
My dad worked as a manager in a slaughter house when I was young so have seen the animals happy one minute then handing up the next ( not a nice sight as a child or adult for that matter).
In the end it's each to there own.

Gorgeous_George

I maintain that without meat-eaters, farm animals would not exist.

Is it not better that the lambs are born, live for a while before being slaughtered for food rather than sheep and lambs not existing outside of zoos?



GG

Mrs_pbradley936

Gorgeous_George wrote:

I maintain that without meat-eaters, farm animals would not exist.



GG

I agree with you and as long as they are treated well and killed quickly and humanely my conscience is not disturbed. As for the ethics involved, people have been known to resort to cannibalism in extreme cases (air crash in South America some years ago). I suppose it all depends where our own level of “extreme” is set. Some people think animals are as important as people – I am not one of them. We keep animals even pets for our benefit not theirs, a horse does not “benefit” by being ridden. People ride horses because they like it, they cannot even claim that it is a valid method of transport anymore. People keep dogs for companionship, again for their benefit because they would be lonely without Fido. Does that make mankind wrong? No it makes him superior. At the top of the food chain. My point is made by these lunatics who prattle on about animal rights – how many other species exploit or defend rights? None only mankind because we are the only species capable of such reasoning.

Ken-Dodds-Hairy-Knodule

Gorgeous_George wrote:

I maintain that without meat-eaters, farm animals would not exist.

And how is that a bad thing.

I sure as hell would rather never be born than be born into captivity, be treated horrendously then be slaughtered in the middle of my childhood.

oysterman

Both my wife & eldest daughter were veggies, youngest daughter would have become one as long as she could still have bacon sarnies ( bless her).

Both are back to eating meat now, wife even had a steak the last time we went out for a meal. Whether this was a fad i dont know, but after 8 years, she is back.

jellyhead

it was 8 years for me too. is this common? maybe you get a 7 year itch or something similar.