So my girlfriend is a vegetarian, and while she's never said anything about me being a meat eater, I've been toying with the idea of jumping into that world, just so we wouldn't have to have separate meals and I could start cooking her stuff she enjoys. Is it difficult or boring? Did you notice any health benefits or problems? I don't know much about it, so any advice would be appreciated.
Posted Feb 18, 2022, 5:38 PM UTC
It doesn't have to be boring but a lot of vegetarians eat boring shit. Ethiopian and Indian are the S-Tier vegetarian cuisines. Does gf eat fish?
The only thing that makes her a vegetarian is that she eats eggs, otherwise it would be full vegan. Maybe it’s a bit “speciesist”, but I’ve never felt that eating fish was a quandary, so long as you don’t buy it canned or from sources that fish irresponsibility (like overfishing). At the very least it seems to be good for cognitive functioning.
Don't go full veggie, keep eating fish.
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Vary up your protein sources and you'll be fine
The only hard part, for me, about being vegetarian is inconveniencing other people. I've really never in my life understood the appeal of meat.
I was vegetarian as a teen, and now as an adult will very rarely buy meat for myself and will eat whatever is in front of me when I'm with others. So overall I guess I'm mostly vegan. It's actually just what I prefer to eat, but I know that some people (like PJ Harvey) have found that they feel a need to eat meat at least occasionally. You don't need to be 100% at it.
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been a vegetarian for fifteen years. second best decision ive ever made behind marrying my wife. will slowly but surely change your life for the better
I was a vegetarian for 13 years and it made me very fatigued and unwell in ways I’m still figuring out. It might be different if you’re an adult and a man (I started as an adolescent girl so I suspect it influenced my development somewhat). It was harder when I started because vegetarianism was rarer but it’s very easy to do nowadays. I was vegetarian for a long time so there were periods where my diet was better than others and I felt marginally better or worse but overall, I wouldn’t recommend it and I think many people are sort of fundamentally unsuited to it. In retrospect I also see how it limited or complicated socialization and my enjoyment of many things because sharing food is pretty key to human interactions. I do think it made my life more boring. I’m already autistic so in retrospect I think it was often yet another barrier that people had to contend with, which I couldn’t really afford. I also think my original motivation for not eating meat as a kid (not wanting to take life from something else, feeling like I could just opt out of that) was really misguided- being a person and animal involves being deeply enmeshed in food chains and in birth and death. It’s very alienating to try to be above or outside that.
I’d recommend you just cook your meat separately and add it to the veg meals you share with your girlfriend, try eating a few more veg meals a week, and buy high quality meat from local farmers. Maybe vegetarianism is right for you and your body but I’d approach it with caution.
it's not difficult at all. the worst thing imo is that, when you eat together with a "meat eater", you're missing out on the social aspect of eating the same thing together. but in your case it wouldn't be a problem, and i think your girlfriend would love it if you cooked vegetarian dishes for the two of you. and you don't have to do it "cold turkey" either, you can eat vegetarian with your gf and "cheat" when you feel like it, if that makes it easier for you. but i think you'll find that you won't miss meat so much anyway.
That’s what I’m thinking, in that it might be easier to kind of back out if it instead of dropping the whole thing overnight. Although depending on how it goes here, I might end up backing out of it rather quickly. My girlfriend found a recipe for bbq cauliflower “wings”, so I’m going to try that with some celery and a few beers tomorrow to see how that goes. If I can make veggie analogs of stuff I like, that’s going to be a game changer.
I'm vegan, its a LOT easier than people think it is.
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Cutting out meat is the easiest thing in the world. I went vegan cold turkey for years after growing up in a fat meat eater household that haaaaated that I did so. Dairy was the hardest to cut to me, but I never once missed meat.
Research plant based protein and amino acids, just a quick little article will do. As long as you’re getting all your macros and micros you’ll be just fine. I think people who were less healthy on a vegetarian diet just didn’t do their research and weren’t nourishing themselves right. I’ve been having no problem gaining muscle and my energy levels have been great the past 8 years.
Very, very cool (and as a similarly active/athletic guy, I wanted to hear this experience). I’ll have to do some more actual, non-bro science research, but from what I’ve heard and what others here have said, it’s definitely doable. Great advice on making sure to pay attention to macros/micros, as it seems a lot of nuts/legumes, in addition to eggs/tempeh/etc seem to be high in protein, in addition to fiber for the former.
It’s fine actually. I was dipping my toe but worried about it for years before I actually became vegetarian. And yeah I notice health benefits I eat better in general since becoming vegetarian and it’s real nice to know I’m doing smth for my beliefs. It’s not difficult at all, at least not for me or any vegetarians I know, the only problem I can think about is if you still live with your family going to restaurants and shit is a bit harder because the options are more limited but it’s definitely liveable!! Really, try it I don’t think you’ll regret it
That’s awesome, and while my family would never venture into this, planning meals with and for her would definitely be a lot easier, and frankly, more ethical, as I’ve always held a lot of guilt over the fact that a lot of farming is just corporatized horrific animal abuse; it really hit me last night as I was cutting the fat off a frozen chicken breast last night, and I started thinking about what kind of life it lived and how it ended up on my cutting board. I know you can buy free range, but it’s also pricier, and it seems like eating veggie is also easier on the wallet, which is also nice.
eat eggs atleast, choline cholesterol vitamins in that lil white magical orb
I often cook and eat vegetarian meals without thinking about it, and I'm confident in my ability to create some delicious stuff. I do eat meat, but it's certainly not necessary all the time and you can create wonderfully hearty stuff without meat. I will never be vegan, however, because that would be going to far for me. No dairy, no matter how humanely sourced? No honey?
veganism is satanic
It’s funny how my vegetarian girlfriends all tried to convince me to take the malnutrition pill. It never worked. As a short term diet it could be good to clean out all the western diet junk from your system. (In other words, don’t become a junk food vegan.) But long term? I’ve personally only observed deterioration, accelerated aging, skin issues, gut issues, and brain damage. But your mileage may vary.
But I appreciate vegans and vegetarians. More meat for me. 🥩
And just as real socialism has never been tried, real veganism has never been done right. 😆
Brain damage? Certainly stuff like that just comes from being a junk food vegetarian/vegan?
lack of fatty acids
Not at all. I had a friend of mine who went full raw. She lived in Ecuador with her boyfriend. She had access to amazingly fresh fruits and weird veggies. She ate extremely fresh and “clean.” I saw her in NY after coming back to find a new apartment, and she looked like death. Like her skin was inflamed, and she looked like she had aged 5 years in 1. She also had gut issues. Maybe the raw thing did it, but she wasn’t eating Fritos and frozen vegi burritos.
People doing raw food diets and only eating fruit mostly likely have a mental problem/eating disorder/both. Most people don't think that's normal including avg vegans/vegetarians.
I agree. I’m just using the best card in my deck. In short, don’t be extreme.
I've been vegan for 10 years, haven't really ever eaten meat, so it's life as I know it.
It's not difficult or boring. When you think about it, removing meat is actual a very small amount of the total ingredients that we often use. A whole huge variety of vegetables, grains, legumes, pulses, fruits, spices, & herbs are all available for use. The best vegetarian food imo is from cultures that have good traditions of plant based eating, Ethiopian, Indian, other Asian cuisines that get into the uses of tofu. Whatever you do, don't assume that you need to just replace meat with an equivalent meaty substance. These cultures have been cultivating meat free dishes for years and years, there's so much amazing types of food that are meat free by design or easily modified to be so.
There's a lot of misinformation & fear mongering mythology about removing meat from your diet. Some people have informed me that I will "die" if I don't eat meat, so expect pushback and wild theorizing from people who don't even know you. It is likely extremely healthy to reduce your meat consumption, the majority of people are eating far far far too much meat. Just be conscientious about making sure you're replacing your protein sources adequately (a common beginners mistake which often leads people to claim vegetarianism "made them feel horrible") and make sure your total calories are adequate.
That's really great, particularly your last point, as I feel that the "sickly vegetarian/vegan" trope is overblown, but I also want to make sure I'm not losing any muscle mass, as I'm athletic but still relatively lithe at 165/6'1. I also don't want to rely on processed foods like mac and cheese/tofu/processed carbs, so do you feel that it would be possible to focus in on a diet that is fairly legume heavy and not crushing my GI tract, while still being fairly tasty?
Yeah, it's probably a psyop honestly.
So my husband is vegetarian, he's about 210, same height as you, and he's had no trouble staying fit and keeping muscle mass on for the past 7 ish years he's been vegetarian. We eat mostly the same stuff though, so he eats a lot of vegan stuff with me, but he also eats a lot of eggs & he eats probably 2x more than me total. You absolutely do not have to rely on Mac and cheese lol (but also like, I can think of a healthy meal that could include that, I think it's good to have balance).
You should not be afraid to eat soy products. Tofu is as processed as cheese, a very old method that people have been practicing & consuming for centuries. You should also try tempeh, a less processed type of fermented soybean product. You can make a lot of good different types of curries & stews with lentils & beans for sure. But Yes, you can definitely accomplish what you seek. Like I said above maybe try out some Ethiopian lentil curries or some Indian curries. If you're eating eggs definitely incorporate them (I'm honestly pro egg consumption, I just can't support the industry personally). Tons of recipes out there though. But balance should always be key, don't worry so much about protein that you forget about healthy fats, antioxidants from fruits and vegetables, substantive whole grains. The best way to eat is to have love & respect for each element of foods we must consume. Balance.
I wanna chime in here too and add that many men specifically avoid tofu and soy because they think it could affect their hormones. But the phytoestrogen in soy is different than the estrogen found in humans. There are many articles online with more in depth info on the topic, but still the myth persists.
I’ve even seen a woman I used to follow say she avoids soy because of its link to breast cancer, and when I asked her where she heard this, she just told me “Google.” Well, I had used Google, right before I asked her, and every single result said that there’s no evidence soy causes breast cancer. Immediately unfollowed her lol.
Ya just learn how to cook beans and lentils well and rarely buy processed food. Be prepared to spend a lot of time cooking tho.
You should reconsider tofu, it's not as processed as you might think. It's simple enough that it can be made at home.
You might want to check out vegan bodybuilding sources just to see what they say about macros (I'm not suggesting you internalize everything they do but I imagine they know a lot about aminos etc). I do think that being vegetarian or especially vegan is superior for cardiovascular health (no artery-clogging red meat).
Tofu is a good source of protein, don't be afraid of it. If you're worried you're not getting enough protein just drink protein shakes.