Ask HN: What prompted you to convert from non-vegetarian to vegetarian?
And how was the journey and how long it took?
Later, as I learned more about factory farming and the treatment of chickens in factory farms, I stopped eating chicken and was just left with fish. And finally I learned more about fish farming and overfishing and decided to just remove fish as well. That full vegetarian switch happened over ten years ago now.
I'm currently finding myself in the midst of minimizing egg and dairy consumption as well. I don't buy normal milk anymore, having found a great alternative that I enjoy. I rarely eat real cheese, opting for vegan alternatives since there's quite a few great tasting options now. But I'm not super strict about it, especially when eating out.
Observation seems to be supported by some evidence: https://faunalytics.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/GenderAtt...
Please would you mind sharing what the great alternative is?
Then in my early twenties, I went to a 10-day vipassana meditation retreat. During that time, we were only served vegan food. Once coming back I just didn't start eating meat (including fish) again, and haven't since. It happened pretty naturally with basically 0 effort-energy spent. The urge was just gone. Did the basic nerding down on nutrition and all that and now it's >10y later. To be ethically consistent I'd be going vegan (save for eggs sourced locally where I have insights into the welfare) and perhaps an occasional oyster (they lack a central nervous system) but a combination of laziness and external/environmental factors make me "cheat" and have regular intake of non-ethical eggs, and dairy. Had some vegan periods in the past. I recognize it as hypocrisy but it's what it is for now.
At this point I avoid talking about it and my only real frustration is social: It's not very common where I currently live and basically almost every first meal with a new person becomes an inquiry in my diet and precisely what I do and don't eat, and how delicious this and that are and how they couldn't live without eating that and every other time they segue it into questioning my motivations. Usually I'd prefer to just enjoy the meal and avoid thinking way too much about the food industry and animal ethics - it's gotten old at this point. If anything I can be a living example of how yes, it's possible to have a sustainable decently healthy diet while enjoying food, but other than that I usually try not to bring up the topic unless someone is pushing me to try foie gras or something.
I'd say yes, and I'd say the same about a human (instinctual aversion to cannibalism aside). If I'd personally actually eat it or not would depend a lot on the situation but in most cases probably not.
If you're at all into cooking, even if you eat meat, it's quite a good exercise to learn to cook a few vegan dishes and perfect them to work on the basics.
I view meat now like I view chocolate. I am not self banned from eating chocolate but I certainly do not need to eat chocolate every day. I am basically sometimes vegetarian, sometimes vegan until I want to have "cheat meals" and sometimes enjoy meat like I sometimes enjoy chocolate.
As a result, I don't ever feel guilt anymore about impulsive decisions. When the opportunity arises to experience something new, I'll take it.
I've been vegetarian now for long enough that I don't have any desire to eat meat and I am fairly grossed out by it. I am working towards vegan (again, the ethics), but it is proving to be more difficult. Perhaps my convictions aren't as strong?
My journey had several stops and starts. The best "trick" I have is to not stop eating meat, just start removing it from more and more meals. You just wake up one day and realize you haven't had meat in a year.
In my day to day, I don't really think about it anymore. I am always caught off guard when I realize other people are eating meat. It just isn't something that I consider now.
I like to cook and always have so I had never any issues making exciting food without meat. Most things we cook with we grow in our garden; we could stand a very long time without buying food if we would try which I find another advantage as for meat we would need a lot more land and effort than we have now.
As for animals themselves, I feel sad for them when I think about it, but my escape valve is the fact that nature doesn’t feel for them either. Free animals are rarely happy things. They are infected with all sorts of parasites, live in constant fear of being eaten alive by predators or beaten/injured by competition, are always hungry because x’=rx(1-x), have no way to clean themselves up or access the medicine. Being a herbivore animal just sucks by design by human standards.
Overuse of antibiotics is not a good thing. If you want to gradually reduce antibiotics then I would recommend adding curd, natural yogurt, buttermilk and home made butter(a by-product of making buttermilk) to your diet. Curd and buttermilk can be made at home so that also reduces cost. I would recommend home made, because the ones available in the market are mostly made with milk powder instead of fresh milk.
Also try to eat nuts like almond, cashew, groundnuts, wet dates and raisin soaked in water. Keep a handful of these mixed in a bowl of water at night and eat it the next morning.
Also increase the portion of non-leafy vegetables(compared to leafy vegetables) in the diet and stop eating bakery products.
And don't eat uncooked vegetables in the name of salad.
And, during excretion prefer squatting instead of default commode style.
And finally, do pranayam(yoga) every morning; helps a lot with both mental and gut well-being.
I don't understand the question of how long it took; one day, we decided with my SO to stop buying meat and cook vegetarian dishes only. We searched for recipes, and that was that. We still eat the occasional sausage, but it's more as a spice rather than a full meat portion.
We have been vegetarian since 2018, so admittedly not that long, but the switch was really not difficult at all.
There wasn't one event that prompted the change, it was a very gradual process.
I'm not 100% vegan or vegetarian because I sometimes eat canned sardines and eggs but I'd say 95% of my meals are vegan. IMO it's not so helpful to think in terms of strict categories when discussing diet.
It took me maybe 6 months to 1 year telling myself I was now eating vegetarian, while still eating meat more or less regularly. And eventually it became a habit. From a logistic point of view the switch is really simple if you live in a place where you can find alternatives, just stop buying meat and instead compensate with lot of vegetables, tofu, beans, mushrooms, soy-based meat-like alternatives, etc. And you save a good amount of money doing so (at least in Europe, I believe in the US meat is way cheaper because of government subsidies).
Though to be honest it's a bit frustrating if you like to cook because you won't find something that behaves/reacts like meat.
In practice I still eat meat <10 days a year, for example on vacation to a place where vegetarian food is difficult to find or when I join a family dinner and don't want to be annoying.
Practically speaking though, just eat meat whenever you want to: it's not a binary process (unless you're doing it for the approval of others).
I'm not even joking. I recongise most of the documentary is heavily biased, i.e. erections. However, all four of my biological grandparents had heart issues. I'm in my 30's and have a "hefty" build. Being vegan on a whole food type diet would drastically reduce the odds of me dying from heart disease.
The hardest part was eating meals with others, as virtually every adult eats meat. I cut out meat cold turkey:) but there was for sure a period where I was tempted despite ethical concerns.
After eating chicken or ground beef, even if supposedly high quality more expensive offerings from grocery stores, my stomach would be upset (similar to how you might feel after eating four bags of fast food french fries).
Then around 2010, one after another big meat manufacturing recalls occurred in the US. Then I either watched a movie or read a book about a long time cattle rancher who became vegitarian, and his reasons. I forget the name, and I may not be remembering the exact background; but the gist was that this was a true meat person, and they left meat.
As I was serious about fitness at the time, particularly long technical single-track mountainbiking adventures, I wondered about how fitness might suffer without meat. I did some searches for professional athletes who were vegetarian, and I was surprised by the results. Suffice to say that not eating meat doesn't seem to prevent some people from being true top physical specimens.
So I went to the grocery store and decided to try no meat for a while. I started making big stir-frys in a wok, with lots of veggies. I got pretty good at that, and I could eat as much of that as I wanted without worry about calories. I also ate a LOT of salads.
I found it very satisfying, and I came to love veggies. I still love meat, but I almost never eat it... maybe once every few months, and usually just a small taste. No fish either, due to concerns of what's in fish and how it might be detrimental for my body.
I am not a fan of meat replamements. Those are often disappointing and relatively unehalthy (manufactured). And frankly, well prepared vegetarian dishes can be so good that my dining pleasure is at peak anyway... nothing would make me happier at the time.
Health-wise, there's strong evidence that cholesterol and other measurements which we think are important tend to be worse for meat eaters than vegetarians. So by not eating meat, I feel a bit less guilty sometimes eating some junk food. That's not my motivation though.
Lastly, I had a period of a couple of years after becoming vegetarian where I was doing pretty serious weight lifting. I was just shy of being at a competitive level. I did drink protein shakes a few times a week, but they were plant-based (not whey). Whether the shakes helped or not I cannot say; but being vegetarian didn't seem to prevent good quality muscle development.
1. For better health.
2. To help preserve the climate (I see it as a collective duty, and therefore I should fulfil my share of it).
What convinced me were two books:
- The Real Story of Money, Health, and Religion by Loren Howe.
- Le monde sans fin (French) by Jean-Marc Jancovici.
I started replacing the junk meals with meat-free/vegetarian options and then reduced the overall meat intake. Now instead of eating meat in some form at pretty much every meal, I probably do 3-5 meat meals a week. Which out of 14 isn't bad at all.
I won't fully convert because I just love meat way too much, but I do have to say that eating it less made it even better. It's like when you're on a harsh diet and then get to your cheat meal.
Like many, I'm not an absolutist, and still use things like bacon essentially as a seasoning.
If you're considering this, I think you should consider it like any lifestyle intervention: every little bit helps towards your goal, and you need to find a way to make it sustainable and enjoyable, and not a chore you have to continue for the rest of your life.
There are so many cheaper protein alternatives: beans, dairy, nuts, eggs, etc. And good subs like veggie burgers, non dairy milks, etc.
Instead of a meal with a meat protein and veg, you can easily sub beans or something with eggs. You also tend to load up more on veggies (like on pizza)
In fact I find it’s kind of easier to NOT eat meat. Less worry about foodborne illness or parasites. Lower cost.
* Beans and lentils give me digestive problems, so I can have them maybe twice a month at most.
* Dairy is fine, but it is not better than consuming meat at all in any respect, so what's the point? Chicken and pork are better than diary if you care about ecological impact.
* Nuts are very expensive, I have them anyway, but I could not see them as a reliable source of protein due to cost.
* Eggs are fine, but I can only have so much in a week before I get fed up.
* Veggie alternatives taste and smell terrible in my experience.
* I liked tofu, nothing to write home about in terms of taste, but I can see myself having it once a week.
* I also eat canned herring and wild caught salmon. Haven't checked on their ecological impact but it is a good source of protein for once a week.
There are different types of lentils, the most protein heavy is called "toor daal", the one you get in restaurant dishes because it tastes good but is difficult to digest; the most light on the gut is "moog daal" because, compared to toor daal, it has less protein, with just little less "tasty".
> I liked tofu
Also try soya chunks for protein.
I've thought about the ethical aspects but for me personally I've kind of reached the conclusion that humans will exploit animals capacity in some sense. For me I'm ok with keeping cows for milk, chickens for eggs etc. With this reasoning I'm also fine with hunting.
Recently learned that saturated animal fat is linked to a depletion of insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas (thus causing type II diabetes). For some reason everyone talks about sugar as the bad guy, but animal fat plays a big part.
This and of course, the huge cost of meat on our environment.
Since then I've not eaten meat. My family and upbringing never had red meat. But always have had fish and chicken.