So I saw a post on here about the difference between being a vegetarian in California and being one in Oklahoma. Yes, I know I'm not a real "vegetarian" but if you lived where I did you would understand why culturally and even economically it's hard to be even a semi vegetarian. Basically in Southwestern VA, people are very big on red meat and potatoes as a staple diet. So due that the fact that for the past 2 years, I've given up red meat and pork and try not to eat my chosen meats daily, I still meet adversity in this area because of the cultural values of Appalachia and the deep south. Even economically because some stores in rural areas have pricy meat alternatives but cheaper meat. Anyone else have or have had this problem?

Four year gout sufferer here. Wanted to know if anyone here has guinea pigged the flexitarian diet as a gout sufferer. Because I am thinking of making a dietary decision to curb my flare ups to a smaller amount while trying to lose weight and keep my other health issues such as hypertension and LDL levels down.

FYI: Flexitarian diet is known as semi-vegetarian or mostly vegetarian. Unlike pescatarians, flexitarian diet allows for any meat source not just limitation to seafood.

So. I apologize to you all for wanting to go semi-vegetarian and not full on vegetarian yet. But I would like to ease into things.

My main motivators are these.

1. My wife's getting bariatric surgery. So since her diet is going to be COMPLETELY changed once that happens. I want to make a big change too.
2. Health. I want to eat healthy. I've realized over the past few weeks that I would really like to have a more "natural" diet. And become a healthier human being.
3. Weight loss. I would love to lose a few pounds. I'm not looking for any miracle diet. But just to be healthier and shave off a few pounds.

So I would like to adopt a diet thats about 80% vegetarian. But I would still like to eat fish maybe once a week, twice a week tops. I may throw chicken in once in a while instead of fish. My idea is to eat vegetarian during the work week (I work 6 days a week usually) then on my off day is when I'll add in fish with dinner.

Coming from someone who's favorite food is cheeseburgers and processed foods. This is gonna be a big step. Do you think I'm making the right decision? Does my idea seem sound? Any objections? Any tips or advice for meals?

For a while it's been kinda difficult doing a vegetarian diet. It's been hard to afford at times because I'm unemployed (full time student, can't find a decent job right now.) It's hard trying to maintain a well balanced diet because I don't want to go overboard on carbs and a lot of plant based protein sources are beans, which also have carbs. And it's just hard for my family because they can't go out to eat with me because of my diet. So, I'm considering going semi-vegetarian until I get myself together. I don't know how to do semi-vegetarian. Like how often do you eat chicken and fish? Do you go most days not eating meat and just sticking to plant based?

Hey guys! I am going partial vegetarian (not buying meat for myself but will eat it if it is offered) and I'm looking for some good, cheap recipes. I'm a college student which in some ways makes it easier (hard to buy meat!) and harder (healthy food can also be very expensive, and I don't have a lot of time!) I have looked online for a bit but it all seems like salads or pasta. That's fine, but do you guys have any cheap, quick recipes? Thanks :)

Hello everyone I’m a newbie to this but I’m going in knowing I can’t always be 100% vegetarian. I know I shouldn’t have to justify myself but I will so I chose a relaxed semi vegetarian diet. Due to health decline my stomach can’t handle meat meat meat or very high sodium. So I’m eating that sporadically one serving when I do but I can’t go out and make all. These non this or that meals and avoid everything like Rice r Roni, simply because. My dears we all must stay alive I’m cutting out things like hot dogs, smokies, Lays potato chips. Ravioli and slim Jim’s as well as other processed meats. And limiting red meat, chicken and pork but there is no feasible way to avoid things like. Mac and cheese, Rice r roni and so on I’m using soy sauce instead of butter.

Again I’m not sure why I felt the need to justify myself but I did it’s a pretty relaxed thing and won’t. Have me quitting due to nothing to eat or inconvenience those around me so I’m happy about it. The main reason I’ve seen a lot of vegans and vegetarians quit especially celebrities or athletes. Is lack of options when eating out and so on and I don’t want to be another tired and quit it. If I eat out or fast food it’ll be rare.

Hi all,

For the past couple months, I've gone on a bit of a vegetarian change up. While I've eaten meat nearly every day since I was a kid, I made two change ups to my diet to see how I'd feel- eating only between 12p-8p and eating meat ideally only 2-3meals in a week.

That said, my go to meal for home has been vegetables and egg whites mixed with tabouli (solid mix for me).

Given that I'm allergic to soy (though not sure why actual soybeans and soy sauce don't trigger a reaction), do y'all have any recommendations for recipes for me to try?

I'd love to take a swing at em.

Do we actually know which diets are healthier?

Is there a level of meat consumption that is in any way sustainable?

I find out at the beginning of college that most meat made my stomach hurt and how its prepared is part of it. Even when the only choice is meat I still have to think about whether it's more important to satisfy my hunger or lay in bed that night in pain. Even most people I know who are vegetarian hesitate to believe me.

You can't eat anything else non-vegetarian besides the one you pick. Vegan rules do not apply.

I eat: - oatmeal - brown / inverted rice, buckwheat - very small amounts of chicken and fish and dairy - red peppers, cabbage, tomatoes - bananas, apples, plums Last tested my ferritin was under 10 (i'm a male). I remember when i was running before an injury, i sometimes felt blood taste in my mouth after intense workout. I hate red meat / eggs / green vegs.

HI! So I’m what I like to call vegetarian-sympathetic. I eat meat rarely and only under specific circumstances like I know where it comes from, etc. I love going to vegan restaurants and trying out new vegan recipes but I haven’t adopted the lifestyle entirely. My boyfriend is a meat-loving monster of an MMA fighter who has yet to allow me to take him to a vegan restaurant after almost a year. He good-naturedly makes fun of me constantly because “my food eats that.” He has to cut weight for an upcoming fight and is having trouble this time due to injuries and with the fight looming, his coach is making him eat fully vegan for the next 3 weeks. Yes, there was maniacal laughter when he told me. I’m very excited! So this is going to be fun for me too because I’m going to go fully vegan as well!
Mainly, he’s worried he won’t be able to do it healthily. He likes to remind me, “there’s a reason there’s no vegan athletes”. I say they aren’t doing it right. And the ones that are just happen to not be famous. His coach has a meal plan for him but it’s going to be the boring-est piece of shit on the bloody planet and is going to completely turn him off this lifestyle FOREVER. Which would be sad. I want to show him this can be delicious, easy, filling and healthy!! I have an all right concept of how to do this but I really need some tips and tricks! Maybe there’s an awesome secret super food you’ve discovered or maybe a favourite recipe for a great, simple, super-nutritious snack or meal. Maybe you’ve got some nutrition facts that will help us make sense of replacing meat, eggs, dairy while still getting all the nutrients such as what’s in this and that and how much of this we need and how much of it is in this. I don’t expect people to get that complicated but I’d seriously appreciate it if you did!! Anyway, in general, I’m just hoping for things you wish you had known when you first started and have since discovered the hard way would be amazing! I just want the next 3 weeks to be life changing for him! And also maybe convert me for good! Thanks guys!

Hi there!

I'm going on a camping holiday for three weeks with my vegetarian boyfriend. We'll have access to a one-pit gasburner and a wok and two regular pans. The biggest problem with food is that there's no cooling! I won't be eating vegetarian meals all the time, since he is okay with me eating meat, but I'm assuming 80-90% of my meals will be meat-free (he eats eggs and cheese).

Does anyone have any tips for healthy, preferably high-protein foods we can cook and maybe take with us during the day? Also, I'm Dutch and will be on holiday in the Netherlands so I'm not sure if all American things are available for me. We don't have canned chicken, for example (sad panda).

Thanks a lot!

So I’ve been vegetarian for one and a half year now, and studying a lot of sciences with a lot of intelligent people, having debates etc has got me thinking. I don’t know if it’s just getting to my head but for the past month or so I’ve really been thinking of reintroducing really small amounts of meat in my diet (by that I mean once/twice a month).

I’ve seen the terms “semi-vegetarian” and “flexitarian” used a lot during my research, and to me it’s kind of bull (because if you eat meat you’re not a vegetarian, full stop) but I kind of also understand why. In my opinion, it’s just as good as you are keeping yourself happy and healthy while also reducing the amount of meat eaten (which is the whole point of vegetarianism for ethical or environmental reasons), but on the other side I’d be embarrassed to say that. And after being a vegetarian for so long, I’d be scared of what others will think.

So, naturally, I’ve decided to take to reddit for advice on what others think about being a “semi-vegetarian” 😂

so I, like most people, like to eat food.

yet legit most meat products (particularly burgers and pepperoni) just don't taste good, the only meat that tastes good imo are boiled hot dogs or mcdonalds chicken nuggets.

does this make me semi-vegetarian? is this even normal?

HIGHLIGHTS

2 large RCTs have examined the effects of the Mediterranean diet on hard CVD events:

• PREDIMED in primary prevention of CVD

• Lyon Diet Heart study in MI survivors, which had impressive results (73% reduction in reinfarction rates at 27 months), albeit the intervention arm did not exactly follow a traditional Mediterranean diet (little olive oil consumption and a margarine enriched in alpha-linolenic acid as main dietary fat).

The PREDIMED study was a randomized clinical trial (RCT) of primary CVD prevention conducted in Spain in older individuals at high risk but with no CVD at enrollment, testing 3 diets: • a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), • a Mediterranean diet supplemented with mixed nuts (walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts), • or a low-fat diet.

The groups consuming the Mediterranean diet supplemented with EVOO or nuts had statistically significant reductions of 29% for major adverse CVD events —myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, and death from these causes —and 42% for stroke. The specific components of the Mediterranean diet were:

• increased intake of EVOO and nuts;

• increased intake of fish/seafood and legumes;

• increased total fat intake from 39% to 42%, but a decrease in saturated fat consumption from 10% to 9%. Deviations in the randomization protocol affecting 12% of participants occurred in PREDIMED, but reanalysis of the data did not change the results

A meta-analysis of 5 prospective dietary studies evaluated long-term coronary artery disease (CAD) mortality rates among vegetarian and nonvegetarian cohorts from Western countries.

Compared with regular meat-eaters, CAD mortality was 34% lower in pescatarian (plant-rich diet with seafood as main source of meat), 34% lower in lacto-ovo-vegetarians, 26% lower in vegans, and 20% lower in occasional meat-eaters The Adventist Health Study 2 was a 6-year prospective study that enrolled 73,308 subjects in the North American Adventists.

This study reported a decreased incidence of all-cause mortality when comparing vegetarians with nonvegetarians. However, when the vegetarians were stratified into vegans, lacto-ovo vegetarians, pesco-vegetarians, and semi-vegetarians, the pesco-vegetarians had lowest risks for all-cause mortality, CVD mortality, and mortality from other causes

In the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) Oxford study, which included 48,188 participants with 18 years of follow-up,

Heyy I just moved here with my boyfriend and I'm wondering if there's any good places to eat that are semi-vegetarian friendly. I can't eat pork or beef due to an allergy but poultry and seafood is fine.

We wanna try to go out at least once a month for a dinner date together but neither of us know the area lol

We live close to the Commonwealth Stadium so anything closer to there is preferred.

Thanks!

Preface: Not a vegan at the moment, but planning to become one in the near future. I've recently been cutting out meat and have been doing my research, but I am still a newbie vegetarian, if you will.

I'm relatively certain a lot of vegans/vegetarians have encountered opponents, and I am expecting people to say 'Don't bother engaging with them'. That isn't the purpose of this post. This post is directed to the vegetarian/vegan-curious (or people otherwise interested in vegetarianism or veganism), as well as to existing vegetarians and vegans who might fall victim to the false interpretation of studies and statistics often abused by detractors. For example, the post I am going to be addressing is often spammed across multiple subreddits — even ones that aren’t related to veganism — in an attempt to spread false information.

As someone who is disgusted by the current climate of today, where people dish out false statements and erroneous conclusions and back them up with ostensible 'facts', I find it necessary to dispel such chicanery. Naturally those who oppose veganism are going to struggle to win over people à propos ethics (posting about how feeding pigs pork and bacon doesn't really tend to help them there), so they have now set their sights on trying to win people over by saying veganism is harmful to your health.

Although I cannot link to the post directly, I’ll be quoting it and looking at the studies/sources mentioned by the post and linking to them. What is also important is that there are points to bear in mind about the vegan diet from the studies themselves; however, this is not to say that a vegan diet should be discouraged, and what has been cited does not justify calling a vegan lifestyle unhealthy.

An improper vegan diet should be discouraged.

So, let's begin!

>Veganism is unhealthy

>https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animals-and-us/201412/84-vegetarians-and-vegans-return-meat-why

One thing you'll notice is that, whoever created this masterlist of ‘proof’ that veganism is unhealthy (I may refer to them as ‘the user’ or ‘the person’, though I do not know the exact origin of the list), supplies a condensed 'summary' of what each of their sources are supposed to prove. In this case, the person has said 'Veganism is unhealthy' before linking to this article. So we'll address why this article does not support his pithy remark.

Annoyingly, the article doesn't link to the actual study. For those who are interested, [here

I’ve been a semi vegetarian for three years, meaning I only eat meat during weekends or when I’m visiting someone, and don’t want to bother them about cooking tricky vegetarian food. I really like living like this; I feel like I’m making a difference without sacrificing too many freedoms, and I can celebrate Christmas with my family without them having too cook vegetarian Christmas food.

I have a small dilemma every weekend about which meat I should buy, because I see ethical problems with all meat. Beef and lamb are bad for the environment. While I feel poultry is bad for the poor chickens. Furthermore, I saw a documentary about how some Norwegian pig farmers don’t treat their pigs well. I’ve managed by picking a different kind of meat each weekend while generally avoiding pork and beef.

Every weekend feels more special when doing this, and it feels like I can appreciate my meat more; but I do not like my weekly dilemma, and now I’m wondering if I maybe should take it further – maybe become a normal vegetarian, or maybe only eating meat once a fortnight.

Hey everyone,

I've been a loser for almost a year now, and went from 95 kg (209 lbs) to 78 kg (171 lbs), with my GW being 75 kg (165 lbs). I hope to reach that goal by my birthday (june), after which I will go on a shopping spree for new clothes.

I've learned a lot about how our bodies work since I've started, and I wanted to share a bit of my struggles and realizations with the hopes that it might help people in the same situation. Also it's my way to give back to this amazing sub ! English isn't my first language, so apologies in advance if there are some mistakes.

1. Eating foods with good nutritional value is not enough to lose weight, quantities are the key. This is honestly the one I had the most trouble accepting. What I mean by that is that even when I was at 95 kgs, I was eating (seemingly) healthy. I've always cooked my own food, never been into junk food, almost never binged, and always took care of my macros while being on a semi-vegetarian diet (I only ate meat while going out). But that wasn't enough because I was still eating way too much. Sure that homemade meal with black rice, tofu and vegetables seems healthy, but not when you consume 200g of black rice and 400g of tofu. Honestly when I looked back at my old recipes I can't believe I ate this much. This only portions I haven't reduced are vegetables.
2. Data is incredibly important. I'm an economist in real life, meaning I'm a bit of a data freak, but funnily enough I never applied this reasoning to my personal life. I was sort of winging it at first, said to myself stuff like "ok I'll eat only a salad this lunch so I can have a bigger meal this evening" but without actually measuring anything. Trust me, a kitchen scale will be your best friend during this journey. Also, a body scale that automatically records your weight via bluetooth is a great way to stay motivated.
3. Cooking oils, even healthy ones, are incredibly treacherous. A lot of people do not realize that a spoon of olive oil is 120 kcal, that's a huge amount for such a small quantity. Obviously cooking without oil is hard, but it's pretty easy to reduce the amount. If you have a non-stick pan you can make two-three portions of stir fry with only one spoon of oil fairly easily. You can add lemon juice to olive oil and make a nice roasting mix for your veggies instead of going full olive oil, etc.
4. Take progress pics. That's one of my biggest regrets. I didn't take any pic when I started (I have my

Quarantine has created a lot of time for us to reflect on our relationship with food and try to make it better. Personally, these are tips that helped me figure out what my body needs, from the inside out.

Some backstory on me: I am a relatively fit 23-year-old woman, but I've struggled with acne since I was 12. I wanted to figure out a diet that would clear my skin and break generational cycles of metabolic disorders (IBD, gout, type 2 diabetes). As a teenager I was fed the lie that the food you eat doesn't affect your skin, besides milk and chocolate. As I learned from experience, this is not true.

I believe your symptoms are an outward signal of healing that needs to be done internally--even if that means changing your lifestyle or your environment. Everything ripples out from the decisions we make for ourselves.

Self-science tips

1. Start a health journal.

Figure out what foods put you to sleep or give you breakouts. Then you can minimize these foods and eat things that boost your energy levels and leave your skin glowing.

2. Trace the source of your symptoms.

A lot of symptoms can be traced to specific organs. Research foods that help those organs.

In my case, I used face charts to interpret my symptoms. For example, chin acne is likely hormonal. Jaw acne can be a gut issue. From these charts I narrowed down the internal sources of my issues.

3. Get your poop tested.

Sending in a sample for science helped me discover my superfoods, foods to enjoy, minimize, and avoid. I also discovered new strains of bacteria I never knew existed, and eukaryotes that left me kind of disturbed.

Without this, I would have never known that cilantro is my superfood, that I can enjoy kale but should minimize spinach, and that I should avoid watermelon.

4. Try an elimination diet.

Eat things you know don't stress your system out, and then one by one, add back the things you know or believe cause your symptoms.

More details on food journaling and gut microbiome testing: https://www.infiniteemergence.com/post/personalize-your-diet

From all of this, I realized that the most optimal diet for me (at least at this time) is semi-vegetarian, and intermittent fasting once a week. I still eat meat, just not quite every day--more like every week. I am down 3 pounds. I haven't had any new breakouts since staying consistent with this diet, and I feel satiated and e

Hi!

So I am basically a semi-vegetarian at the moment while also gluten free. I occasionally eat chicken when I go out, but I don’t cook it in my home. That’s the only meat I ever eat solely because I really just don’t like it very much, plus my husband is a vegetarian. However, I do eat a lot of cheese and eggs and my cholesterol is quite high as of a blood test I got not too long ago, so I’m considering maybe trying a vegan diet to cut out some of that cholesterol.

I’d imagine being gluten free and vegan at the same time would be quite difficult. Is anyone here also a vegan and have any suggestions on how to get proper nutrients through our dietary restrictions?

Throwaway because some of my family members know my account.

Every year, I have a birthday party at this chinese restaurant near where I live (big city). About 9 months ago, I decided to stop eating animal products. Therefore, I went against the tradition and reserved a place for about 10 family members at this well rated vegan restaurant in the city centre (4,7*/5* on Google), because the chinese restaurant had limited options for me.

When I invited my father today, he asked about the prices of the place. I said I don't know, but it's in the city centre, so it will likely be more expensive than the cheap-ish traditional chinese restaurant. He said, quote: "I won't come then. Sorry." He does probably not want to pay a higher price for a restaurant, especially not vegan food. I told him I am very dissapointed. His brother, my uncle, said he won't pay that price for a vegan restaurant either. I wanted to try out this highest rated vegan restaurant in my city for my special day and had no idea it would be received this way. I felt like in a restaurant with this high rating could be great for people that rarely eat vegan, as it is not just "sprouts and beans" but attempts at traditional "veganized" cuisine - basically just swapping out the meat and cream for plant based options.

Am I the asshole for reserving an expensive vegan restaurant for my own birthday?

Notes: my father's girlfriend (not my mother, they're long divorced) is vegetarian, my father is semi-vegetarian. My father does not earn much, but definitely is not poor, he has slightly below median income. The food at the premium vegan restaurant is about 150%-200% of the price of the traditional chinese restaurant. Me and my father have little history of conflict, he always attended before. We are not a poor family, my father smokes a pack a day and lives in a decent appartment with stable income.

Good morning plant eaters! It's Friday and it's time for /r/Vegan's weekly member spotlight thread.

Today's spotlight is featuring /u/volundarkvioa, a California vegan who spells the word "humor" like he's British. Why, John, why?

Any other questions you have for volund- I'll just call you John - can be directed to him in the comments below!

 

 

What is your name? >John (Jangle Jingleheimer Schmidt)

 

What is your gender? >Male

 

How old are you? >23 years of age, unless the universe was created last Thursday in which case I'd be slightly over a week old.

 

Where do you live? >Bay Area of California. Or as my good friend /u/mx_missile_proof loves to call it, the "yay area."

 

What do you do for a living? >I'm currently a full-time student working on my Bachelor's degree (although I am searching around for internships). My focus is computer science with an emphasis in networking and data communications though.

 

How long have you been vegan? >Since December 16th, 2014 (I still have the date memorized). So over a year and a half so far!

 

Why did you become vegan? >I've mentioned the story before but I was in an argument on a thread (I believe in AskReddit) with the user /u/llieaay on the subject of humane meats. At the time I was a staunch supporter of "semi-vegetarianism" and the movement to get "ethically-sourced meat". Although that argument in and of itself didn't make me go vegan, /u/llieaay had shown a younger, dumber me that not all vegans are pretentious or care more for the animals than people or any of the dumb stereotypes I had believed primarily because I never really talked to a vegan before (at least on the subject of animal rights).

>I saw that /u/llieaay went onto this subreddit, /r/vegan, and so I started checking it out. I lurked for some time, reading what others had to say and documentary recommendations on what to watch and decided I might as well learn a bit more along the way. I ended up watching Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, and Cowspiracy. Cowspiracy would eventually become what actually made me decide to try out veganism because I had never thought about how damaging livestock would be to the environment.

 

Who is your vegan role model? >/u/emilymoran84 a.k.a Emily from Bite Size Vegan. She's been a great YouTuber and help

Hi guys, So I'm cooking for 12 people on New year's Eve. I'm doing a Roasted venison with a red wine reduction, roasted potato pure and some honey glazed parsnips (if the dish sounds completely wrong I'm glad to get some feedback om it as well).

My "dilemma" is that there are two vegetarian people in the group and I can't seem to figure out what to replace the venison with. I'm a semi-vegetarian myself but I always have problems when I need to cook something a bit more "fancy". So I want something that fits with the other flavours of the meal so I don't need to tweak the rest of the dish. My thoughts leans towards marinated portabello mushrooms but we had it last year. I'm by no means a stranger to vegetarian options so cooking it won't be a problem.

I appreciate all ideas and link recipes if you have!

I'm trying to eat an anti-inflammatory diet for acne and general health.

This one seems to be heavy vegetable and heavy soy based and semi vegetarian?

Thoughts on if its good at all?

Is this food pyramid missing anything important? I kinda wonder if its a bit low in calcium

https://www.reddit.com/r/SiennaPage/comments/dttv0d/food_pyramid/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

[Edit:] HEALTH RELATED RESPONSES ONLY PLEASE. The comments are already awash with Global warming, Almond farming, animal suffering and you telling me how just how much unethical scumbaggery goes into meat eating. I don't deny the ethical point, but, honestly, there are 47,282 other posts to discuss that issue, and doing it here just swamps discussion on the actual post topic.

Many vegans (not all) use health as an argument in favour of Veganism . This post came about because I recently watched a video of a Vegan deciding to go back to eating animal products for health reasons. A tonne of pro-vegan commenters jumped in and commented that the (now) ex-vegan was basically killing animals and themselves by eating animal products.

I'd like discuss with anyone who holds that view.

------------------------------

When debating whether there are health benefits of Veganism/Vegetarianism vs Meat eating, there are commonly two responses…

1. Look at the Okanawins
2. Look at the association between meat and Heart disease/Cancer etc.

As to 1. Comparing between difference cultures is fraught with difficulty to try and determine cause and effect. The current country with the longest life expectancy is Hong Kong. They also have the highest meat consumption per capita in the world. (They were # 2 in 2015, now #1). The country that was first in the world for meat consumption is Luxembourg. It is now second, but is a top 10 country for life expectancy.

The most common response to this, is that there are other social and economic factors that are not being taken into account. If this is true, then can’t we discard the Okanawin argument? Also, if meat is a killer, then shouldn’t we all be studying what social and medical miracles that Hong Kong and Luxembourg are using to overcome the adverse health effects of the average ~150kg of meat per person they eat (and don’t die early).

Isn’t this a problem for the 'meat kills' hypothesis?

Because 1 . has obvious drawbacks (differences between countries), then shouldn’t we be studying (if our hypothesis is “meat will make you sick and die early") the differences, *within* a population, between those who eat meat, and those

-

Click here to see the full article which is part of a larger vegan video resource library, what follows is a preview of all the text in the article:

-

Vegan Recidivism

A broader look at the ex-vegan phenomenon.

Table of Contents

Meat Eater:

• Unconscious Consumer
• Anti-Vegan
• Ex-Plant-Based

Ex-Vegan:

• Apathy
• Health fears

Vegan:

• Ex-Ex-Vegan
• Ex-Raw-Vegan
• Ex-Anti-Vegan
• Vegan activism critical

Vegan Responses to Ex-Vegans

-

Meat Eaters

Everyone starts off as an unconscious consumer for how their parents raised them and subject to the culture into which they were born. Vegans are a minority and simply put there are practical and social pressures for vegans to give up their lifestyle.

Anti-Vegans are people who understand the reality behind animal agriculture and the philosophical arguments for abstaining from supporting that process, but who seek out people to argue against making that change. Some ex-vegans start advocating a 100% raw animal product diet because on the first instance of putting meat in their mouth, they have an emotional reaction which feels overwhelming because it's something they've made taboo for such a long time.

Finally some meat eaters try a plant based diet for health reasons without ever taking on the ethical vegan lifestyle, then when they try other diets are confused for ex-vegans.

-

Ex-Vegans

“Data from the EPIC-Oxford study shows that nearly three-quarters of the participants who were vegetarian or vegan at recruitment in the mid to late 1990s were still either vegetarian or vegan when they completed a follow-up questionnaire in 2010,”

“Compared to the U.S. population, former vegetarians/vegans eat significantly less meat, notably chicken, pork, beef, seafood, and other meats (duck, lamb, rabbit, deer, goat, etc.). The biggest difference is in chicken consumption: former vegetarians/vegans eat 1/3 of a serving per day, compared to 4/5 of a serving for the U.S. population, which is noteworthy given that chickens account for the overwhelming majority of land-based farmed animals. However, there are limitations to the chicken calculations as discussed in the following pages. These findings suggest that the average former vegetarian/vegan may be more appr

I'm not a huge fan of when people change a recipe and then review it, BUT...

We have gone semi-vegetarian (for health and starting to be moral reasons) and my 15 year-old son thinks I'm trying to kill him with all the veggies and chicken. So I decided to use Kenji's meatloaf recipe, but replaced the beef with ground turkey and the pork with SmartGround plant-based "meat.

I don't think I've ever seen him eat so much of something I've cooked (and thanks to Kenji, my family usually enjoys my dinners a lot). The umami really made it taste like "normal" meatloaf, and the different layers of flavor just made it all pop.

We had leftover sandwiches tonight and he ate until he was nearly sick.

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/08/the-food-lab-all-american-meatloaf-excerpt-recipe.html

The Mediterranean diet is a diet inspired by the eating habits of Greece, Southern Italy, and Spain in the 1940s and 1950s. The principal aspects of this diet include proportionally high consumption of olive oil, legumes, unrefined cereals, fruits, and vegetables, moderate to high consumption of fish, moderate consumption of dairy products (mostly as cheese and yogurt), moderate wine consumption, and low consumption of non-fish meat products.

What Is the Mediterranean Diet? A Meal Plan and Beginner’s Guide

The Mediterranean diet is based on the traditional foods eaten by people living in the Mediterranean region, especially Greece. It’s loaded with nutrient-dense choices, with an emphasis on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fish, and olive oil. Research suggests following this diet may help reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other health concerns.

This eating pattern embraces whole foods, variety, and flavorful meals—rather than strict restriction—making the Mediterranean a healthy option for most people to follow long-term.

What Experts Say

“Mediterranean recipes are so flavorful that it is easy to follow this delicious dietary pattern long-term. Plus, by shifting the focus from a mindset of restriction to a mindset of flavor, community, and abundance, it is easier to embrace the Mediterranean lifestyle.”

Background

The Mediterranean diet is not a branded diet plan, but rather a style of eating that has evolved over thousands of years in countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.

The diet was first publicized in the 1970s by scientist Ancel Keys, most famously known for his Seven Countries Study. In this study, Keys examined connections between dietary fat intake and rates of heart disease.

Though many are quick to criticize Keys’ work, there were some important takeaways from his study—one of which was identifying that people in the Crete region of Greece had higher overall fat intake yet lower rates of heart disease. Keys believed their style of eating—the idea of the Mediterranean diet—was responsible for this.

However, the Mediterranean diet was not widely embraced by those in the United States at that time. In 1993, Oldways (a non-profit committed to helping people lead healthier lives through traditional diets) partnered with the Harvard School of Public Health and the World Health Organization to create the Mediterranean diet pyramid.

This alternative to the USDA’s original food pyramid emphasizes c

My girlfriend and I are looking to move in some time starting July 1st or later. We can be flexible on the date but no later than September 1st. We want to move in to someone renting a room out of their house or start finding a whole new place with some people. Our preferred price range is ~$700/bedroom.

I'm our place we are hoping to have a place with an extra office/studio place. If we could find a place at 700 with 4 to 5 bedrooms we would want 2 bedrooms and pay 1400 for both rooms. Otherwise we would be willing to pay extra for the larger room in the apartment.

About us: So, you would be getting two lovely roommates who happen to be a couple planning on spending their lives together. We live a pretty quiet and very routine lifestyle. I wake up early for work and Cory works a 9-5. Neither of us smoke(or do drugs). We occasionally have friends over, maybe for a cookout or something, but don't party. We both like having roommates who might chat after work and maybe share an occasional meal if they want, but respect personal boundaries. I grew up always recycling and composting. Cory recycles and will be able to get in the habit of composting pretty easily. Common spaces should be kept neat and I strongly believe there should be open discussions about what is expected of one another to keep our home a good and harmonious place to live. If there is going to be a party, we need to all agree on it and whoever hosted it cleans it up. We can provide roommate references and landlord references. We both have steady, verifiable income and both have credit scores in the 700s.

About Q(25):

I am an art teacher. I am passionate about my job and love to paint draw and dabble in other media like print making.  I'm also a Tufts(/SMFA) alumna. I got my Master's in Art Ed there. I'm a good cook and like to explore new recipes and cuisines. I cook vegetarian a large portion of the time for environmental reasons. I still cook meat sometimes, especially because it connects me to my cultural roots. When I do cook with meat, I try to source it responsibly. If roommates want to share I meal, I've often cooked enough for them to dine with us. I know that everyone's not like me, so I don't expect roommates to eat with me(or us) or to cook for me. It's something that is take it or leave it on your part. I also love to grill, so if the landlord okays it, I'll be grilling a lot in the summer. You would be free to use the grill as well. I've never really been a drinker, b

Hi!

My boyfriend and I are planning to a trip to Monterey Bay (July 25 - 30) and are looking for must do - suggestions. We are staying in Aptos but will be renting a car and are planning to drive down the coast to Carmel, Big Sur, etc. I'm also semi vegetarian, meaning I don't eat animal eat but eat some fish every once in a while so we're looking for restaurants that have good non-meat options! We're looking to drink lots of wine, hike a bit and visit some beaches too. This is our first time to California (from the East Coast) so any suggestions would help a ton. Thanks in advance!

I finally got fed up with seeing 9% come up constantly and so I ended up doing the research to create some so I could post some counter points to some shit that kept coming up on SRD.

Also I examine two other points that come up constantly as well.

Section 1 - EPA 9%

Anyways here's the result - but first, an article which gives a good high level summary:

https://publicintegrity.org/environment/most-of-the-epas-pollution-estimates-are-unreliable-so-why-is-everyone-still-using-them/

tldr - unreliable sources, unreliable equipment for measuring, not estimating methane from animals at all, never updating the emissions factors they consider, etc.

The one thing I want to actually take a close look at is what the EPA says about animal emissions from raising livestock.

Let's actually go into the report and substantiate some of this, shall we? Let's dive straight into the EPA report.

Here's the emissions factors and quantification, how the EPA gets its data to actually generate its reports

>https://www.epa.gov/air-emissions-factors-and-quantification/ap-42-compilation-air-emissions-factors

Let's jump to the chapter on agriculture and find out the factors that go into the 9% emissions.

>https://www3.epa.gov/ttn/chief/ap42/ch09/index.html

Here's the only section on animal husbandry.

>9.4 Livestock & Poultry Feed Operations At this time, there is no "AP-42 factor" or estimation method for this category.

SO THEY STILL DON'T EVEN ESTIMATE ANIMAL EMISSIONS IN THE 9% FIGURE.

Ok, but do they have any fucking data at all? You'll note that there's no proposed emissions factors to even start estimating this. There's three proposed new emissions factors, and they've been proposed since 2009, and they're not related to animal agriculture

>As would be the case even if there were an AP-42 method, users must evaluate their own application to determine the most appropriate method of estimating emissions. In the case of permits, sources are expected to use "best available data", not necessarily AP-42, to determine their emissions (see OAR's Memoranda for Operating Permits & New Source Review (Title V) Policy & Guidance Web site for permitting policies). As detailed in the Introduction to AP-42, AP-42 emission factors are not provided as recommended permit limits.

>National Emission Inventory - Ammonia Emissions fr

This is my first post here. I am interested on keto and would love to eat less carbs. But I am severely allergic to erythitol and other sugar alcohol containing sweeteners. Is there anything else that I can use as a substitute in baked goods and other foods?

I eat a lot of chicken breast and 97/3 ground beef but am sick of it too. I am also semi vegetarian ( preference is veg) and also have a hard time with fatty foods as they upset my stomach, so fried foods, fattier cuts of meat, bacon and high fat ground beef are off the table for me. This is most likely my gall bladder, it has happened since I was a kid so please don't suggest that it will change as I change my eating habits. I also have IBS-D, hence my sugar alcohol allergy and colitis too, which my doctor claims will be assisted by the keto/low carb eating.

If anyone has any suggestions, I would appreciate it.

I have been trying to go at least semi-vegetarian for over a year. I had been able to cut out a lot of food that I now see were there just because they were/are available. Where I need help is I don’t think I am not able to go any farther. I am up to three days a week that are completely vegetarian from breakfast all the way to dessert. However I am still not where I want to be. Somehow I have gained back all the weight I lost, and while I am devastated by that I do also realize that I added back in a lot of convenience S.A.D. food, that is probably what packed the pounds back on. My husband and close circle of friends are all of the mind that vegetarianism is a fad and this is just another fad diet I am doing. I have done several of them.

… I am rambling. Sorry.

I guess what I am looking for is accountability and a support group or even a mentor/vegetarian friend that can help me stay on track.

37/Male/white average height/weight

I have significantly cleaned up my lifestyle over the years (no hard drugs, no alcohol, semi-vegetarian, fairly active), however from age 16-21 I excessively (by excessive I mean even other heavy users frequently remarked on the intensity and amount of use) abused inhalants/solvents, methamphetamine almost daily including needle use, and cocaine, and occasionally smoked crack, and from 21-23 or 24 I continued to use meth semi-regularly despite quitting the other stuff. As I approach forty I'm having some problems that seem to resemble various immune disorders or Parkinson-esque issues: a little shakiness, numbness in extremities, inability to regulate body temperature easily, cognitive drifting and impaired memory, incredibly poor multitasking ability quickly leading to feelings of overwhelming anxiety, rapidly worsening sensory problems like even very light touch being painful, fluorescent lights being enough to nearly debilitate me, clothing made from certain fabrics feel like my skin is on fire...both times i've tried to question my docs about it, it has not gone well. One immediately shifted into "he may be a drug user, hide the pills" mode, the other did not understand that I was not asking about symptoms of current drug use, but of long term effects and kind of just pushed for me to "give it up" (and even suggested i needed church which damn near caused whiplash in a modern urban doc office, though really what he meant i think was community).

There is some limited info I've found about long term meth use, but I can't find much info about inhalants, and nowhere am I finding any info about what health issues remain a possibility when one manages to overcome, survive it, and live for a relatively long time afterward. I'm reticent to self-diagnose or assign symptom blame, and I'd like to have a better phrasing to approach my regular doctor with so I can deal with these things in a more coherent way than just trying to live cleanly and hoping for the best. I've been fascinated by hallucination since childhood, and my experience with different drugs actually led to a research career in the field of sensory hallucination, but there is vanishingly little resources on long-term effects of some of the more exotic forms of substance abuse.

So my question is, what kind of specialist would be appropriate for these issues, in what way could I approach them to avoid the current opioid-fear space that seems to panic at the so

I'm destroyed. I no longer want to live this semi-vegetarian life I've been living for so long. It's time for me to jump back on the bandwagon so to speak, and make ethical choices. I let myself slip back into the delusion once, any suggestions on how to stick with it? Cheese is my most common offender.

Semi-vegetarian here (only eat chicken and maybe fish). Went to event hosted by brother and SIL. Asked what was for dinner and they said “chicken parmigiana”. Was served and again, confirmed.

After I ate my brother came up to me with a smirk and said “how was the veal”? Totally did it on purpose. Worst thing is my MOM and DAD knew what they were doing and didn’t say anything. My mom said I was “over-reacting” when I got upset. I am at a loss.

 

There are countless diets for people with IBD. It can be overwhelming and difficult knowing where to start. This post will organize the various information present on the internet regarding diets.

 

##1. Low-Fiber and Low-Residue Diet

> In a randomized trial, patients on a low-residue diet did not have any difference in outcomes in hospitalization, obstructions, or surgery than those transitioned to a normal diet with gradual reintroduction of fiber. The authors note the prospect of lifting dietary restrictions, as it provides an appetizing and nutritious diet, without symptomatic deterioration or precipitation of intestinal obstruction in CD [1]. Despite this, a low-fiber diet remains commonly recommended in IBD dietary guidelines. A recent review of randomized controlled trials found limited evidence to restrict or supplement fiber in IBD [2].

 

###Sources:

 

> * [1] Levenstein S, Prantera C, Luzi C, D’Ubaldi A. Low-residue or normal diet in Crohn’s disease: a prospective controlled study in Italian patients. Gut. 1985;26(10):989–93.

> * [2] Wedlake L, Slack N, Andreyev HJ, Whelan K. Fiber in the treatment and maintenance of inflammatory bowel disease: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2014;20(3):576–86.

 

##2. Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) — (Official Website & Subreddit)

> The SCD was developed in the 1920s by Dr. Sidney Haas to treat celiac disease. Elaine Gottschall popularized the diet in the 1950s with the book Breaking the Vicious Cycle[3]. The SCD restricts carbohydrate intake to allow only monosaccharides which require minimal digestion. Both disaccharides and most polyols are excluded [3]. Fresh fruits, some vegetables, fresh meat, poultry, fish, and eggs are allowed. The diet only permits homemade yogurt that is fermented for 24 h to eliminate all lactose. This is a grain-free, lactose-free, and sucrose-free diet, thought to reduce the poorly digested carbohydrates in the diet while reducing bacterial fermentation [4, 5].

> A case series report of patients with moderate to severe disease following the SCD note those patients were able to discontinue immunosuppressive medications, although all subjects were in remission at the time of the study [4]. A

Hello, I been on and off with Keto or low carb for awhile. I was 290 (2017) then went to my lowest 203 (Aug 2018) . Then I went off of Keto and gained weight. I was at 228 in Dec. I've tried it again and then I stopped before Valentine's day. I stopped Keto because it was hard to maintain for such long time. I'm not convince it's the best diet. As I"m becoming more environmentally conscious so I stay away from meat and constant chest pains as a side effect.
Anyways, Is there anyone struggling with their weight post Keto? I started metformin again and doing semi vegetarian diet trying to transition to Whole foods Plant base.
I am dealing with horrible self-esteem issues. Constant paranoia I will be at my heaviest again. I am aware of dramatic weight gain with PCOS and symptoms since being off the diet.
I lost bunch of weight and seeing it come back. Breaks me into tears. I don't know if it's a psychological issue. I am full time at school so its been difficult to be motivated to be exercising. I am trying to keep a better diet however being surrounded by junk food or friends who eat "whatever" has been a constant challenge.

I am curious what other girls experiences with this? Did see your body changes after the keto diet? (I"m noticing more facial hair). ? Did your regret doing keto? is harder to lose the weight now? Are you trying to maintain? Did you go overboard with food again? for brief time, I moments of binge eating. I went crazy on junk food hence that 30 pound weight gain.
I always wonder if people were able to pull off the weight after the diet. So just let me know!
Thanks!

Hello, RAOA!

I'm Red... I've been lurking for awhile and am excited to be a part of this community. I've enjoyed reading the discussions and such...I'm impressed with the sense of friendship here.

I'm 30 years old. I'm a hospice nurse from the Midwest. I have two fur babies.

I enjoy spending time with my family and friends. Specificly, some things I enjoy include my furry feline babies, reading old-fashioned style (gasp!) with a good book, as well as my Kindle, and crafting. I enjoy The Office, Parks & Rec, Bob's Burgers, the MCU. I like music, piercings, sitting around a camp fire, playing Super Nintendo, and playing board games. My #1 all time favorite game is Starfarers of Catan (I don't own it, I can't seem to find it.. so let me know if you know of a hot lead on one), other favorite games at the moment are 7 Wonders, and Mysterium...And I enjoy a good D&D campaign every now and then. Current character is Dragonborn Sorcerer. I love tea, coffee, chocolate, nuts, chips and my #1 love is ice cream. I'm a semi-vegetarian (?). I've lost about 20 pounds in the last year by trying to make better food choices and walking for exercise, along with light easy at-home stuff. I love yoga. I've been really focused on that over the past few months or so, so it's become a big part of me. I also love house plants and succulents. Like, it's becoming a problem haha... I want to learn how to make macrame plant hangers. I'm also trying to grow some herbs this summer, in my kitchen window.

Honestly though, beyond that rambling introduction I just gave, if you were to learn one, and only one defining thing about me, know that as a hospice nurse I have never felt more content. I truly love what I do. I thank the universe and the powers that be EVERY DAY for getting to do what I do.

And on that note- I'm excited to be here- if you have questions, ask away! Much love xoxo

So I have been suffering for a year of terrible stomach pains and I realized that they were worse after I ate something with meat (at first was only with beef, now it's also with pork, chicken..). I decided to change my diet to a semi-vegetarian one (although I still eat fish) and after a while I got better and the pain disappeared. Now, every time I try to eat meat, the pain comes back and stays with me for a while. I've been going to the doctor but he says it's really weird and doesn't know what to tell me but "don't eat meat if it hurts you". I'm sick of people (including the doctor) who don't believe me because "no one can have intolerance to ALL kinds of meat but not fish"... Is there someone here with the same problem? Not looking here for medical opinions, just personal experiences!

edit: spelling

Ever since I started a post-college “adult” life, I’ve been focusing on working out (3 times a week) and eating cheap and healthy. Naturally, I discovered how magical beans really are.

I’m starting to enjoy eating beans as a main source of protein through the week. I might have eggs for breakfast, tuna for lunch, and beans for dinner. But I rarely eat rice or any other carb with my beans, just spinach, mushrooms and avocado. I do usually have some wheat bread every day/every other day.

So my question is, is it healthy for me to be eating just beans as a protein quite often through the week? Or do I need to supplement my beans to get the adequate protein I need for my semi-active, semi-vegetarian lifestyle?

Ideally I’d like to up my bean consumption to replace most meat in my diet. Although I love tuna so I plan on keeping that in my meal plans.

The common man might grapple the thought of forks over knives as vegetable forks put up against steak knives. Fork over knives is a term for switching over completely to a plant-based diet or a vegan diet. A fork diet which can be called the plant-based or vegan diet is one that prohibits eating any animal foods like dairy, meat, fish, eggs, and poultry and so on. This is the forks over knives summary that will help you to relate and identify the type of diets and the truth of the myths related to them.

Plant-Based Diets and Vegan Diets: Is It the Same or Different?

Before discussing the truth of forks over knives debunked, there is a common misconception of millions of individuals that needs to be quashed; that plant-based diets and vegan diets are the same. No, they are different. A plant-based diet reflects the flexibility and non-dogma comprising of plant-based foods along with taking your animal food intake to minimum levels possible. While vegan sounds more sophisticated and stringently embargos the intake of any animal foods. This clearly accounts for a crisp understanding of plant-based diet vs. vegan.

https://preview.redd.it/b0ynfxbhy0g31.jpg?width=732&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a98dd305b9995f11cc43064d991c9f41ca6ee0c8

What Comprises the Dietary Structure of These Diets?

A vegan diet can be well described as a subcategory of the plant-based diet in a more meticulous and filtered manner. These are the types of plant-based diets:

• Lacto-Ovo Vegetarians: They eat eggs and dairy foods but no poultry, seafood or meat.
• Ovo-Vegetarians: Only eggs are included in the diet. They don’t eat dairy and animal foods.
• Lacto-Vegetarians: They include dairy foods in their diets but exclude any eggs, poultry, seafood, and meat.
• Vegans: These are the ones not eating any dairy foods including dairy, eggs, and honey. In fact, they also do not eat any of the tinned or canned foods that are available in markets in case they are anywhere derived from animals.
• Pescetarians: They eat shellfish or fish.
• Flexitarians: The most feasible of the tribe; this is why there are known as semi-vegetarians or flexitarians. Eat poultry or meat occasionally.

Observing the forks over knives diet, we can say that these diets offer very healthy, tasty and nutritional variations and are very versatile too.

What Are the Facts Re

Below is taken from a response when asked why I do not conceive of veganism as being the most ethical choice. This is not trolling. I hope someone will point a bright light on any flaws in my argument so that I might come to a better understanding. The person whom I most like finding wrong is myself so see this brief exchange in that light and present me with data showing where my argument is flawed. I'm going to be a stickler and asks for actual data, please:):

On why going vegetarian would not reverse climate change: The most important thing we can do reverse climate change is limit our energy and yet here we both are on its major destructive force https://www.google.com/search?q=pie+chart+of+climate+change+factors&client=safari&channel=iphone_bm&biw=1024&bih=719&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjsgdyWjtfPAhXI5SYKHfnYD8oQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=PQRzbaYMM6razM%3A And there are some forms of veggie, like lettuce, that emit three times the greenhouse gases as bacon so growing only plants doesn't seem much like a solution either.

Plant based diets may be healthier compared to standard american high-fat, high-carb diets but a lot of what I've been told by vegans I research and it's rarely the sugar coated version I received. Often it's not there at all. Many vegans have told me that vegans have the longest life expectancy. I looked far and wide and there's nothing that confirms that...anywhere.

When it comes to actual mortality rates, there's very little difference between mortality even compared to regular eaters. Here's Jack Norris, a vegan and a doctor on the largest mortality studies involving omnis, vegetarians, and vegans: ""The mortality rate before age 90 was no different between vegetarians (including vegans) and regular meat-eaters (1.02, 0.94-1.10). Vegetarians had lower rates of mortality from pancreatic cancer (0.48, 0.28-0.82) and lymphatic cancer (0.50, 0.32-0.79). Semi-vegetarians had lower rates of death from pancreatic cancer (0.55, 0.36-.86). Pesco-vegetarians had lower death rates from all cancers (0.82, 0.70-0.97) but higher rates of cardiovascular disease (1.22, 1.02-1.46). When vegans were separated from other vegetarians, there were no statistically significant differences in mortality rates for the six main categories of death. " http://jacknorrisrd.com/mortality-rates-of-vegetarians-and-vegans/ And some studies even have vegans at a higher mortality rate, and almost always behind vegetarians, who are alm

NOTE: Rather than down vote this post, please read the thread to learn what causes healthy people eating SAD to dismiss the WFPB diet.

Some healthy people, with no chronic condition, think that changing from SAD to WFPB would have little benefit.

They have watched the "Forks Over Knives" documentary; and they truly believe that WFPB is the healthiest diet for humans.

But most diets make exaggerated claims. So people expect exaggerated claims from all diets.

Compared to SAD, how many years does WFPB really add to healthy peoples' lives?

The Blue Zone papers throw out a few numbers that look suspiciously like cherry picking.

The most objective numbers I found where in, "Ten Years of Life: Is it a matter of choice?" 2001 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11434797

This study compared Adventist vegetarians, Adventist semi-vegetarians, and Adventist nonvegetarians.

Vegan and WFPB where not studied. The concept of refined foods v.s. whole foods was not considered.

Table 2 lists the values of the risk factors.

Table 3, figure 3, and figure 4, show the effects of the risk factors.

For a healthy person that eats nuts and has good BMI, changing from SAD to vegetarian adds 1.5 years to lifespan.

I assume changing to WFPB (replacing refined foods with whole foods) would add more years.

Also, healthspan extension is slightly more than lifespan extension.

The study is not an easy read, and most people wouldn't be able to make sense of it on their own.

Does anyone know of a presentation that is easier to understand?

Does anyone know of any other WFPB lifespan numbers for healthy people?

Maybe the China study (I haven't read that) or a Harvard Health Professionals study?

I'm looking for a really easy vegetarian (doesn't need to be vegan...just no meat). I'll be honest, I've had my IP for over a year and I've basically only used it to boil eggs and make soup. BTW I have the mini IP.

This is basically what I'm working with:

• spices (mainly South Asian, Italian and some Mexican)
• butter/ olive oil
• eggs
• zucchini
• graded nacho cheese
• boccaccini
• almond milk
• canned beans and veggies
• veggie dogs
• pasta & sauce and few other canned veggies.
• Mini tortilla wraps

I'm hoping not to have to go to the grocery store for anything.....

I would be grateful for suggestions?

Hi!

Since 2014 I have inflammatory bowel disease and I have always been very interested in science-based dietary adjustments to improve the course of disease. Research by M. Chiba (2010) has shown that a traditional Japanese diet works extremely well to manage symptoms - most likely because it contains a lot of fiber (prebiotics) and pickled vegetables (which are a big source of probiotics), and this diet uses few fats/oils. It is now 2018, and doctor Chiba is meanwhile writing about using this diet alongside medication as first-line therapy for inflammatory bowel disease.

However, the research contains just 3 pictures of actual meals. I have tried to eat by this approach, but I'm a European native and know so little of the traditional Japanese kitchen that I was just eating plain rice with pickled veggies and some beans, and some miso soup all the time. And you really need to consume loads of that to hit 2500kcal a day.

Can you help me out with traditional Japanase meals or recommended me a book? It would be great if there is a source which also includes nutritional values of those meals.

Source: Chiba, M. (2010). Lifestyle-related disease in Crohn’s disease: Relapse prevention by a semi-vegetarian diet, via https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2877178/

Typo in the title.. :( but I cannot adjust it

I started with CICO beginning of the year. As male, 40+ years I had 1.900 kcal available. This being my 3rd attempt, I've got experience in what I need to do, all I needed was to keep my habits and urges under control...

I was loosing weight on schedule until the end of March (ca. 3 months) when the curve started flattening out and moving sideways. Vacation came, we spent a lot of time in restaurants which didn't help. Even after I got back on track, my weight was still moving sideways. Loose some weight, gain some weight. I zigzagged from April - June (ca. 3 months again)

I tried reducing my intake by another 100 kcal but that didn't seem to move the needle at all. I was slowly getting frustrated.

I then decided I'll go more radical. I dropped eating breakfast, switched to a semi-vegetarian diet and dropped even the occasional sugary treat I had allowed myself. And suddenly things started moving again. At times very quick because I started doing some hiking and swimming. Now there is downward momentum again.

For a while I couldn't figure out why the more radical reduction of calories was necessary. According to myFitnessPal I was eating within in my caloric intake. So what happened?

This is my read on the situation:

1. While the usual suspect is the "you are not keeping to your diet", in this case I was being very disciplined about tracking. Where I do suspect I might have been wrong is on the calories I used when eating from takeaways. They tend to use a lot of fat to give their stuff taste and I've become very wary of their calorie claims
2. Less weight means less calories. Ok, but that is only 30 calories per Kg.
3. After reading up on the subject, the most probable suspect is my NEAT (none excercise activity thermogenesis, see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermogenesis) From what I read, NEAT can drop from 0 up to 800 calories, although for overweight people like me it's more in the range of 300 calories. It would be great if someone had a good, English source on this subject. The only one I have is in German (https://fitness-experts.de/abnehmen/eingeschlafener-kaputter-stoffwechsel-hungerstoffwechsel for those that are interested and have a good translating program)

So in the end, my body probably just decided to go into "I'll use as little as possible" mode as I had already attempted to loose we

For me, I didn't expect to go on a semi-vegetarian diet. Now I can go months without beef/pork/BACON, lol.

Edit: Everyone mentioning so many things I've never even thought about! Super cool.

Hey everyone, I am a relatively new vegan I was following a semi-vegetarian diet from some time and at first I thought going vegan full time means its just milk, egg, butter, ghee that I need to avoid along with meat, however, reading through posts here in r/Vegan and on facebook groups, I realized its much more deeper than that and there are more items that I need to avoid.

I found a website called Isitvegan.com, then I found couple of apps that promised to alert me if a product has non-vegan ingredients but they hardly work. Then, thankfully, I found this database compiled by another member of this community https://github.com/hmontazeri/is-vegan/blob/master/src/util/nonvegan.json. It contains 700+ items, hard to remember but the package was nodejs and I know a bit of phonegap so I converted the scripts to a very simple personal phone app to search for ingredients at the time of grocery. That strategy is somewhat working so far!

Last couple of weeks, I was looking into scanning the barcodes, fetching the ingredients and then white-listing them by passing through the database I mentioned above. As it turned out, scanning the barcode was an easy task, however, the real problem is of the product ingredients database at the backend. There are millions of products, scattered around in multiple databases and none of them contain all of the products out there. At first, I thought of leaving the project and be happy with my ingredients search but since its hard to stop once you have invested sometime in the research, I decided to solve the problem by meshing together different databases.

That wasn't easy as well!

Out of all of the databases listed on stackoverflow and reddit comments, only two worked to some extent:

• https://world.openfoodfacts.org/data
• https://www.edamam.com/

Openfoodfacts is free and good but as it relies on public input, the ingredients data contains errors in almost 50% of the cases. Edamam is paid but it returns curated list of ingredients. So far, I have meshed these two together and getting around 50% hit rate on the barcodes I scan.

I have also tried of using Amazon's Product Advertising API as I saw some products listing ingredients in there but as it turned out that it finds more of the barcodes but ingredients are not guaranteed and even if

The vegetarian diet is thought to have health benefits including reductions in type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. Evidence to date suggests that vegetarians tend to have lower mortality rates when compared with non-vegetarians, but most studies are not population-based and other healthy lifestyle factors may have confounded apparent protective effects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between categories of vegetarian diet (including complete, semi and pesco-vegetarian) and all-cause mortality in a large population-based Australian cohort. The 45 and Up Study is a cohort study of 267,180 men and women aged ≥45years in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Vegetarian diet status was assessed by baseline questionnaire and participants were categorized into complete vegetarians, semi-vegetarians (eat meat≤once/week), pesco-vegetarians and regular meat eaters. All-cause mortality was determined by linked registry data to mid-2014. Cox proportional hazards models quantified the association between vegetarian diet and all-cause mortality adjusting for a range of potential confounding factors. Among 243,096 participants (mean age: 62.3years, 46.7% men) there were 16,836 deaths over a mean 6.1years of follow-up. Following extensive adjustment for potential confounding factors there was no significant difference in all-cause mortality for vegetarians versus non-vegetarians [HR=1.16 (95% CI 0.93-1.45)]. There was also no significant difference in mortality risk between pesco-vegetarians [HR=0.79 (95% CI 0.59-1.06)] or semi-vegetarians [HR=1.12 (95% CI 0.96-1.31)] versus regular meat eaters. We found no evidence that following a vegetarian diet, semi-vegetarian diet or a pesco-vegetarian diet has an independent protective effect on all-cause mortality.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28040519/

http://linkinghub.elsevier.com.secure.sci-hub.bz/retrieve/pii/S0091-7435(16)30447-9

I'm on a very restricted diet, which has necessitated upping my meat intake to every day. I am so. Sick. of. meat. Especially when you really don't feel like it, but have already had small amounts of the other things, and it has to be meat to make today's calorie quota. Blah. I can still taste the grease in my mouth.

I was reading in another thread advice to add chicken broth to rice and felt nauseous at the thought. Make a non-meat thing taste meaty. Yuk!

Any other semi-vegetarians whose bodies overrule us?

(I did a copy/paste/quick format from a pdf; sorry for any errors.)

JAPANESE DIET. BY MASATOSHI OHARA, Otsu Omi, Japan.

THE Japanese are generally vegetarians, but not all are strict vegetarians.

Soldiers, farmers, and peasants are mostly vegetarians; merchants and doctors are semi-vegetarians; Buddhists, Buddhist monks (except the Shinshu sect) and some other men are strict vegetarians. Laborers are sometimes strict vegetarians on account of their poverty, vegetable diet being cheaper in Japan than flesh food. Christians and their missionaries are almost always meat-eaters, which is a matter of much regret. As to health among the classes mentioned above, we find vegetarians enjoying it in the highest degree, the semi-vegetarians in the middle, and the meat eaters in the lowest.

It may be of interest to know why the Buddhists and their monks are strict vegetarians, and why the others are not. In one of our Buddhist scriptures are these words: "You, the Buddha's sons, should not voluntarily eat flesh food of any kind. If you eat it, it destroys all the spiritual seeds of great compassion. All living beings seeing you eat flesh, walk away with contempt. For this reason all the Bodhisattvas are not allowed to live on any flesh food." In view of this, we Buddhists abstain from flesh eating.

Vegetable diet is called by our Buddhist teachers, sho-zin-mono, or literally "diet that promotes spiritual progress." Therefore, say we Buddhists, those that aspire after spiritual enlightenment should not eat even the least flesh food. But why cannot flesheating men attain the spiritual enlightenment? Why cannot we reach the final goal - the Buddhahood - if we live on animal food? - Because, according to the wisest investigation and experience, animal food destroys our spiritual aspirations, and gives rise to gross thoughts and so to gross, vulgar doings. If we live upon flesh food, we must necessarily be the murderers of certain beings. And we believe that to ruthlessly take the life of any living creature is to commit one of the greatest sins. The true enlightenment is a state free from all sins and vulgar thoughts. Thus it is evident that we must abstain strictly from meat eating if we aspire to reach enlightenment and Nirvana - the Buddhahood. These are the reasons given by our Buddhist teachers for the practice of vegetarianism, it being their opinion that flesh eating is not onl

Hello!

I’m from Chile and will be going with my girlfriend to Japan for 20 full days (without including the arriving and departing days), in second half of February until first days of March. We arrive and depart from Tokyo Haneda. We are both in our mid-20s, we do have some jobs but we don’t have the wages that developed countries have :P A first budget would be around $100usd per day, but if it can be less much better; right now I’m estimating something like $80-85 diary. Without including rail pass, lodging, wifi rental, etc I’m thinking something like an average of JYP$4000 daily for food and public transport, is that okay?

We are searching for a mix of traditional and modern sights, if we can go to little rural areas much better but not mandatory. Also I am kinda nerd and would like to see geek things and technology, and probably we’ll be searching for some locations that appear in series and movies that we like (I’m thinking right now in Detective Conan, Ghibli movies, Your Name, and Persona 5… err that is a game but whatever).

Finally, I want to taste a lot of different foods (probably more street food for the price), although my girlfriend is semi-vegetarian (can eat cooked fishes… yeah for some reason she hate the idea of raw fish e.g. sushi) so that can be a problem.

We had some little experience travelling both of us in our country on short trips, plus a 6-weeks travel we did to Europe last winter that gave us confidence to try this now. Also if it helps probably we’ll be knowing some basic Japanese since we’re taking classes, if not at least we’ll know hiragana/katakana alphabets and some kanjis (and not we aren’t taking the classes for the trip lol actually we registered some time before we seriously thought about going to the country)

There still a lot of months to go, but for me half the fun is doing the plans! Until now I am mainly basing of this sub, YouTube, Japan-Guide and in LonelyPlanet (bought the book). So here I go. Any tip, advise or recommendation will be very much appreciated!

ARRIVING – Sat. 10th FEBRUARY – Sleeping in TOKYO

Sun 10th to Fri 16th - TOKYO (5 full days including day trip / 6 nights including arriving night)

• Day trip: The 15th to Nikko. We active a JR Two-weeks Pass that day.
• I don’t know where to sleep yet. I was thinking in this hostel that some guy here recommended and seems very cool and inside our budget but the location doesn’t fully

So I have just recently started actually watching what I eat. Today was not a good day but I'm not going to let that get me down. My biggest issue is that I can eat healthy throughout the day but when I get home I find that I over eat. Some nights I don't get off of work until 8 pm and at that point I find the drive to cook something is missing. So I typically go for something microwaveable or snacky. I know meal prepping is a great way to combat this but I haven't quite narrowed down things that i would like to prep. Also it's hard because my wife is a "semi" vegetarian and often becomes turned off of her meal if she has what we call a "meat thing" so finding meals that we both like to prep is proving to be a struggle. Does anyone have any tips on how they combat night time over eating?

My family is semi-vegetarian. We're trying to cut cow-based products most. I bought some nutritional yeast to make mac and cheese. However the recipes I found use cashews & my kid's allergic to nuts. Are there good substitutes for the cashews? I'd prefer to use minimal cow's milk but I am open to that.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/11876491/

Despite the omnivores consuming more conventionally inflammatory foods like fruit juices as well as less whole grains and fruits, omnivores still appear to have lower levels of plasma AGE’s than lacto-ovo vegetarians, semi-vegetarians and vegans.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225175924_Plasma_levels_of_advanced_glycation_end_products_in_healthy_long-term_vegetarians_and_subjects_on_a_western_mixed_diet

Discuss

-

Click here to see the full article which is part of a larger vegan video resource library, what follows is a preview of all the text in the article:

-

Vegan Recidivism

A broader look at the ex-vegan phenomenon.

Table of Contents

Meat Eater:

• Unconscious Consumer
• Anti-Vegan
• Ex-Plant-Based

Ex-Vegan:

• Apathy
• Health fears

Vegan:

• Ex-Ex-Vegan
• Ex-Raw-Vegan
• Ex-Anti-Vegan
• Vegan activism critical

Vegan Responses to Ex-Vegans

-

Meat Eaters

Everyone starts off as an unconscious consumer for how their parents raised them and subject to the culture into which they were born. Vegans are a minority and simply put there are practical and social pressures for vegans to give up their lifestyle.

Anti-Vegans are people who understand the reality behind animal agriculture and the philosophical arguments for abstaining from supporting that process, but who seek out people to argue against making that change. Some ex-vegans start advocating a 100% raw animal product diet because on the first instance of putting meat in their mouth, they have an emotional reaction which feels overwhelming because it's something they've made taboo for such a long time.

Finally some meat eaters try a plant based diet for health reasons without ever taking on the ethical vegan lifestyle, then when they try other diets are confused for ex-vegans.

-

Ex-Vegans

“Data from the EPIC-Oxford study shows that nearly three-quarters of the participants who were vegetarian or vegan at recruitment in the mid to late 1990s were still either vegetarian or vegan when they completed a follow-up questionnaire in 2010,”

“Compared to the U.S. population, former vegetarians/vegans eat significantly less meat, notably chicken, pork, beef, seafood, and other meats (duck, lamb, rabbit, deer, goat, etc.). The biggest difference is in chicken consumption: former vegetarians/vegans eat 1/3 of a serving per day, compared to 4/5 of a serving for the U.S. population, which is noteworthy given that chickens account for the overwhelming majority of land-based farmed animals. However, there are limitations to the chicken calculations as discussed in the following pages. These findings suggest that the average former vegetarian/vegan may be more appr

Meta Analysis/Reviews

• An Examination of Diet for the Maintenance of Remission in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (2017)
• European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation Topical Review on Environmental Factors in IBD (2017) - Summary Table
• Diet as a Trigger or Therapy for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.
• The Role of Diet in Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
• Research Gaps in Diet and Nutrition in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. A Topical Review by D-ECCO Working Group [Dietitians of ECCO] (2017)
• Is a low FODMAP diet beneficial for patients with inflammatory bowel disease? A meta-analysis and systematic review
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Eating Disorders: A systematized review of comorbidity (2017)
• What Diet Can and Cannot Do: Role of Diet in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (2016)
• Environmental risk factors for inflammatory bowel diseases: Evidence based literature review (2016)
• The Impact of Dietary Interventions on the Symptoms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Systematic Review. (2016)
• A mechanistic review on plant-derived natural compounds as dietary supplements for prevention of inflammatory bowel disease (2016)
• Diet in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (2015)
• Does a diet low in FODMAPs reduce symptoms associated with functional gastrointestinal disorders? A comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis (2015)
• Diet and Inflammatory Bowel Disease
• [Dietary management of IBD—insights and advice (2015)](https://www.nature.com/nrgastro/journal/v12/n3/full/nrgastro.2015.11.html?foxtrotcallba