im thinking of becoming vegetarian but i dont know if it will work out. i like the taste of meat but the absolute soul hurting guilt that comes with it is painful. i love animals and lives. i dont want to feel guilty everytime i eat food. are there any good alternatives to meat? what do i do :(

I was born vegetarian ( both parents were vegetarian and then I was born). And here I am at 25 still maintaining the same diet. I always liked being vegetarian and it became a core part of my identity. Eventually animal rights and the grossness of meat become leading factors as to why I stayed this way overtime. However, I would be lying if I said it’s always been a picnic. It’s always been annoying about the lack of food options people inviting you to places and to homes and you having nothing to eat. And no my friends aren’t jerks who don’t care it’s honestly not always on their mind when most of the population consumes meat. Life would be so much easier if I ate meat. Never have to wonder where I’m going to eat or what options. Even now as I sit here hungry on thanksgiving the only places open is a jack in the box. I wish at least taco bell was open.

Also this is more of a rant. I’ll most likely never stop being vegetarian but it still sucks sometimes.

I’ve been vegetarian for over 8 years now. I started when I graduated high school for environmental reasons. When I made the switch, I felt better and decided it lined up better with my ethical beliefs as well. I recently moved to Taiwan from the US, so the way I eat is different now. I used to cook all the time and get protein easily. Now I have a tiny kitchen and super small fridge. I don’t have the space or time to cook like I used too. Grocery stores don’t have the same things I’m used to, and I work at a school that provides us meals. The meals for vegetarians are really lacking in protein. I also am really active and lift heavy 4-5x a week. Im starting to feel really tired all the time and like my body isn’t getting the nutrients it needs. I’m thinking of starting to eat chicken just a few times a week to help me hit protein goals, but I’ve been vegetarian for so long it’s hard for me to bring myself to do it. Eating meat does gross me out, and I won’t know if it was ethically/ sustainably sourced.

I do what I can. I have a breakfast sandwich with 3 eggs and cheese in the morning, and I try to eat a Greek yogurt after my workout, and I usually order tofu to have with dinner when I have to eat at the school. But I know I’m not hitting my goals. I haven’t found any protein bars here at regular grocery stores. My work doesn’t have a fridge where I can keep food or snacks.

Any advice? I don’t want to eat meat again, but I feel like I’m running out of options. Thank you!!

title pretty much says it! i've been mostly meatless for a while now (for the most part i just make exceptions when someone cooks for me etc. as i am broke and not going to refuse a free meal lol) but saw something... pretty gruesome chicken-wise tonight, and am definitely done eating chicken for the foreseeable future from an animal treatment standpoint.

my issue is... eggs. eggs are one of my favorite things and are a pretty big staple food for me, so i dont want to cut them out, but my issue with factory farmed chicken does impact eggs as well. i have a family member with chickens (they are adorable) who i get eggs from when she has them to spare, but its only rarely and obviously not during the winter months. i also do live in a rural enough area that i can get good eggs from small farmstands etc, again though, only in spring and summer. i guess my question really is, how do you shop for ethical eggs? like can you even check to make sure a brand of eggs at the grocery store come from a more humane facility? or is it just a crapshoot?

I’ve been vegetarian for just over 5 years. I did it initially to try and be a bit healthier.

I pretty much just switched out meat for a processed substitute.

However, now I’m starting to waiver and think that the processed alternatives might not be that great for me, so I’m tempted to just go back to eating meat. I’m basically on the edge of giving up.

Has anyone been in a similar position or have any info about how health processed fake meats is?

Last night my partner and my sister's friends were having a surprise get together dinner for her birthday. Our birthdays are pretty close, only five days apart, so we are used to sharing celebrations. But those persons are mostly her friends, despite my knowing and getting along with most of them, and having dated my partner for over a year (who's one of her best friends).

My partner, who knows I hate surprises, told me a few days ago that they were having a dinner for my sister's birthday but also a little bit for me too. I was also told not to worry about food because they were looking out for my. I have been a vegetarian for more than a decade, it is hard for me to go out with omnivores, but not because I have to sit and eat potatoes at a table full of people gorging on, honestly, corpses. It's hard having to justify myself, answer questions constantly, sometimes even offer apologies for being difficult to eat with? So I end up not going out that much when food is involved.

But I never have to worry when my sister is involved. She is like the only person in my family who's always respected me. She is not vegetarian, but living with me for so long and also not being big on meat either made her eat less and less meat, to the point we have most meals together and if she's eating something not vegetarian she will ask me if I'm good eating something else entirely or if she should fix me a veggie version of it since she's making hers and doesn't mind. For her is second nature to be accommodating, she's never complained because she never had a reason to, we've had this conversation often. So, being as it was a surprise for her, she wasn't involved on choosing the place for dinner.

Fast forward to yesterday afternoon, when my partner text me the menu and among 40 to 60 dishes there's only 1 offering a vegetarian option. One they are not likely to have available since it's just bread and eggs. Sad context: this is happening in Valencia, Spain, at one of the places affected by the Dana. Supplies have been slowly coming from outside sources, but eggs was one of the things more difficult to shop for. In that regard, it was very likely they wouldn't have it available. I should know, I have been living in this panorama for weeks now.

So instead of making excuses in order not to be difficult to cater for, I told my partner this and asked why would they assured me I shouldn't worry about eating out when this was the situation. Apparently he wasn't really planning it, he just asked my sister's friends to make sure there would be a vegetarian option on the menu and forwarded me the menu hours prior to the dinner. His response was the one vibe I'm way too familiar with, "this isn't my fault" and of course "i have done so much how could you possibly expect more". At that point my social anxiety and depression were severely kicking in (for context, I have chronic depression, just something I kinda live with, and just as a clarification, the Dana situation and hundreds of dead people around me haven't been the most happy environment for me), so I avoided going forward with the conversation. I just told him 99% of time I just make an excuse to avoid eating socially because I don't want to bother anyone, but because I saw he made an effort I tied explaining why I had a problem with tonight. He sounded mad, disappointed, or offended, not sure, but definitely hostile, so I just told him I wouldn't be eating out.

So now I'm sad because I kind of argued with him, but also because it was my sister's birthday and I should have been there. Sad is an understatement of my depressive episode, to be honest. What I really want to know, was I too demanding? Do I expect too much from people? Did I do something wrong?

I’m a woman, and I live in a slightly patriarchal country called Portugal. As a woman in Western Europe, I’m supposed to be slightly oppressed by the patriarchy. The problems that I have as a result of being a woman pale in comparison with what the farmed animals go through. However, I see lots of committed feminists, while not seeing many animal rights activists. I firmly believe that feminists should fight for animal rights, because female animals are exploited, abused mentally and physically, and oppressed by humans.

I’m still a speciesist. I value human life over non-human animals’, and I value mammals and birds over insects and fish, but my “healthy” speciesism is nothing compared with most people’s excessive speciesism, which values only cats and dogs’ lives at the expanse of every other non-human animal.

I’m also bi, but the amount of homophobia I’m targeted with is nothing compared to the actual physical and psychological abuse that non-human animals go through.

Of course not everyone is so lucky — There are places where women have it as bad if not worse as the farmed animals, such as Afghanistan. My heart bleeds for them. But I live in Western Europe, in a first world country, with my first world problems.

It bothers me to see so many human rights activists who don’t give a flying duck about farmed animals. They suffer much more than us in this country. That’s it, I just wanted to talk to someone about it and because I don’t have any animalist friends I came here to this sub. Do you share my feelings regarding this?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for feminism and lgbt support, but these feel like first world problems compared to what the animals go through.

Hello reddit! I just wanted to vent this out. I have been vegetarian for a little over 6 months now. They only reason it was and still is hard for me to be vegetarian is because of social implications. People often judge me for this. Only my close family and friends have somewhat accepted it. The only person who's supporting me is my aunt. About two months ago I told a project coordinator that my vegetarian because of a health problem so he would actually listen to me and since then I've started using this a lot. I'm scared of the inevitable arguments I've had endless times. I'm not sure if I'm doing the right this but I'm just tired. People always judge and I'm sick of the dump jokes. This is my only coming mechanism. Honestly, I don't know how I've kept up with this for so long but I'm too deep in

I read it last month and it's still on my mind, particularly as a lacto-ovo-vegetarian. It got me thinking about how easy it is to create hierarchies and justify cruelty to others, especially animals. Oftentimes our "needs" are just strong desires. It also made me think about how the dairy industry is tied up in the exploitation of animals (thinking particularly of the scene where a man samples breast milk in a human processing plant). Anyone else have thoughts about this novel?

I’m gradually transitioning to a vegetarian lifestyle, and, honestly, it’s something I've wrestled with most of my life. Over time, it has just become clear to me that being vegetarian feels right. It’s challenging, though, especially because my wife comes from a rural family where meat is central to every meal.They eat well done steaks with no sauce or salt! Family dinners are tough since meat is always the main course, and vegetables or sides are almost non existent. I've even started bringing my own food to gatherings. I always get the weird look.

This Thanksgiving, I plan to openly share that I’m now a vegetarian, which I know may not go over well. I’ve heard my in-laws joke about vegetarians before, so I expect some judgment. Still, I’ve reached a point where I can’t hide this choice anymore. I’m ready to stand by my values, even if it feels.

Thankfully, my wife has been incredibly supportive. She’s been preparing vegetarian meals at home without complaints, and while she still orders meat when we eat out, it’s clear she’s making a big effort to make this transition easier for me. I truly appreciate that, and it helps me feel more comfortable about my decision.

Anyone here can relate? Any thoughts or tips on how to proceed?

I’ve been with my partner for 10 years now and it’s always been clear between us that I am a vegetarian and he isn’t, although he eats a lot of plant based meals with me. I never expected him to change himself for me, but the longer I am with him the more I think about the suffering of the animals and the more I feel disgusted about the things he enjoys about meat. His family are total ‘foodies’ and they really get off on devouring different types of meat, as much as I love them it makes me sick to my stomach hearing about them lusting over meat.

I’m also concerned if I have children with him that his parents won’t respect my boundaries of bringing our child up vegetarian. I don’t know where the line is but I’m actually thinking about ending our 10 year relationship because I cannot see past his morals on animal harm. I really don’t want to bring my future children up in a household that accepts animal abuse.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation?? I am concerned that I’m raising my expectations too high when most men eat meat (or at least in my social circle I don’t know any vegetarian or vegan men). Appreciate any thoughts or advice 🙏

I was reading this book for my philosophy class and this passage really caught my attention & I wanted to share it and maybe start a discussion!!

So I've been vegetarian for almost 10 years, and vegan for a few of those. The ethical reasons are just obvious to me: eating meat these days is immoral. But, for months now I've been finding myself really wanting to stop being vegetarian. Here's why:

1. I'm increasingly interested in bodybuilding, and I find it incredibly hard to get anywhere near 1 gram protein / pound of body weight per day. I have to try pretty hard to get even half that, and by the end of the day I'm sick of greek yogurt, whey protein, and eggs. NOTE: this is mostly because of me having a huge list of allergies. If I weren't allergic to basically every legume and nut, then this would be a nonissue. I'm really passionate and excited about the gym, and as much as I'd LOVE to be a ripped veg*n athlete, I just do not think it's possible. I haven't seen the progress in the last few years that I could've expected had I been meeting my protein goals.

2. Due to my aforementioned allergies, I'm already extremely restricted in terms of what I can eat, and this weighs on me mentally. It's so stressful going out to eat with friends because there's never more than like one item I can order safely. I always have to call ahead and I feel like such a burden. Veg*n restaurants are even harder because I can't eat any of the typical veg*n protein replacements. Traveling absolutely sucks. I have to bring all my food. Dinner parties and potlucks are a total no-go. I constantly feel alienated and weird and anxious about it all... I would just love to be able to feel a bit more normal about food, since it's such a huge part of our culture. And to just to have to think a little bit less about it.

3. [much more minor] I also have various worries that my diet isn't particularly healthy. I've struggled with anxiety and depression since about the same time as I went veg*n (although I think both of those things were kind of a result of me realizing "oh shit the world sucks," rather than one being the result of the other). But in general I have energy issues, mood issues, and mental health issues for unknown reasons. Trying a different diet, or at least adding way more variety to my diet, seems like a promising thing to try.

But... I do think it would be morally wrong. And I would feel bad about it. I've looked into a few things:

• less-awful-than-factory-farm meat sources near me - but to be totally honest, I probably wouldn't go to the effort and inconvenience to get those options all the time.

• donating to offset my consumption - but I'm not convinced this is really possible.

• getting treatment to be less allergic to some foods - soy is #1 on the list, and being able to eat that would be a huge help. But it would take years.

• having some sort of limiting rules - like "I can get 100g of protein from X animal source every day," but no more, or "I only eat Y types of somewhat-less-awfully-immoral animal"

Any additional creative ideas, or help wrestling with this issue, is welcome. And please be gentle with me. Thanks.

I'm not vegetarian, but my dear friend who's hosting a thanksgiving potluck is, and I wanna cook and bring something suitable. I'm kinda just a dumb kid who mostly knows how to make pasta and a handful of baked goods, but I can follow instructions pretty well. My idea was to make Mac and cheese, using milk, butter, a few kinds of shredded cheese, Velveeta cheese, and pasta. Is that like okay or do I need to use a different cheese or swap something out? I want it to be 100 percent good for everyone to enjoy!

Tl;dr, mac and cheese for vegetarian potluck?

Hello I'm thinking of becoming Vegetarian for a few different reasons. My question is, do you have to take any supplements for certain vitamins? Sorry if this is a stupid question but I've heard you have to with a Vegan diet so wasn't sure if it was the case with a Vegetarian diet. Also, any tips for starting out would be super helpful!

So about a month ago I decided to try a vegetarian diet for moral reasons as I realised the part i’m playing in the harm being caused to animals and I didn’t want to be associated with that anymore.

I have now been a vegetarian for 1 month and to be honest it hasn’t been that much of a difficult change nor has it had a massive impact on my day to day life, the meat free alternatives are really good to the point I have to double check the packaging after taking a bite because i worry i accidently picked up the meat version because some of them taste exactly the same.

I don’t particularly have any interest in going back to eating meat so I guess i’m now officially a vegetarian.

I know this post is really random, but I got curious & then thought that others might be curious too. I've been betrayed by resteraunt biscuits before, and I couldn't find this info anywhere online, so I emailed Braum's customer service to ask about the ingredients in their biscuits. They are vegetarian, but NOT vegan. Just thought I'd document this publicly online so others could find this info more easily :)

If you didn't know, you can order just plain biscuits for breakfast from Braums, with butter & jam on the side. Idk why, but I really like Braum's biscuits a lot more than other fast food places'. I suspected that lard was the secret to their deliciousness, and I am relieved that that's not the case!

From Braum's customer service: Ingredients: Enriched Flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Vegetable Shortening (Palm Oil). Contains 2% or less of: Cultured Buttermilk (Cultured Nonfat Milk, Guar Gum, Tapioca Starch, Carrageenan, Locust Bean Gum, Mono & Diglycerides, Modified Tapioca Starch, Salt, Sodium Citrate), Nonfat Dry Milk, Wheat Protein Isolate (Wheat Gluten, Lactic Acid), Sodium Bicarbonate, Salt, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Modified Wheat Starch, Whey, Xanthan Gum, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Soy Lecithin, Monocalcium Phosphate, Calcium Propionate (Preservative), Natural and Artificial Flavor.

Contains: Milk, Soy, Wheat C10814

Nov 2nd is Annakut which celebrates cereals and grains and milk and fruit and dairy and all types of nourishment for all living beings.

The goddess of nutrition blesses you on Annakut so it’s a great day to become a veggie.

Usually, I am very cautious. I still live with my parents, and I’ve been vegetarian since I was 13. Every time my parents buy a dessert, I ask them if there is gelatine. Usually there isn’t, but I ALWAYS check the label anyway; I’ve learned not to trust anybody when they assume it is suitable for vegetarians without checking.

A few nights ago, my dad made the mistake of assuming something was vegetarian but when I checked it had beef gelatine. I didn’t eat it beforehand, so that wasn’t the problem and we all got on with our evenings. But then today I was in the shop and decided to check another item that I had assumed I could have, but never properly checked.

My mum would buy it for us every few months as a treat, and the first time she did I asked if it was vegetarian and she said yes. For some reason, this was the item I never checked, but after my dad didn’t check a few days ago, and it was a similar product, I decided to make sure.

The ingredients list was in Spanish, so I had to use translate on my phone, but it had gelatine.

I’m so angry at myself for not checking, even though I’m usually so careful. A lot of the time when I ask them if something is vegetarian they think I overreact since it usually is and there are few exceptions.

I just needed to get this out there. I’m so sad! Vegetarianism has been such a big part of my life for YEARS now, and although it is just a blip, I have now learned that I need to be more vigilant.

i know most vegans don't eat honey, but i recently met a vegetarian who didn't eat honey because it can result in the death of bees? i respect it but i feel like honey is pretty similar to milk in regards to how it's harvested. many dairy farms are brutal and result in death all the time, but he still uses dairy products and doesn't see it as the same thing with bees. what are y'all's thoughts? i'm definitely interested in a good discussion on this.

Title says it all. Having any sort of feelings towards someone who can do those things to animals is crazy. It makes the voice in my head say “you must not think it’s that bad” and makes me feel like a fraud honestly. But I HATE IT! I’m extremely passionate about the treatment of animals. Has anyone else experienced this, and how did you deal with the literal crisis that this induces because you start questioning your own authenticity!!! Hopefully I don’t sound too crazy.

I recently started a vegetarian diet a month ago and i felt clean, focused, energetic, and my mood is very stable and positive. I just recently tried a fish taco a day ago and what I noticed before eating it was a strong concern for animal life and animal cruelty which I had not experienced prior to changing my eating habits. I sadly ate anyways and felt very guilty and a undesirable lust for meat that I was mentally turned off too. I am now making a decision to go vegetarian for the rest of my life, and soon possibly to go vegan.

vegan for years > eating meat for years > vegetarian for years > eating meat for years > vegetarianish for the past 2 years. basically, I've seen the videos, I hate that I eat chicken occasionally when my roommate makes it right in front of some beautiful & sweet parakeets we have, originally I was going to only eat meat occasionally if it was out of the house, but I just find myself slipping back so often. it's just so easy. the other day at the store, found a whole thing of chicken that was on sale for $1. $1! i made two meals out of it.

I'll go force myself to watch dominion or just look at cute pictures of animals, spend time with my cats or birds & try really hard to go back to vegeterian. i'd say I'm about 80% vegetarian atm. but I want to be 100%, or at least have very strict rules, like only when I eat out occasionally, etc. but I just keep going back. i think it's because my roommate eats meat, and will buy steaks or beef or chicken, once in a while fish. and it just smells so good. then I rationalize it, etc., then watch the videos again, feel bad for 2 weeks, then go eat a burger when I get a free coupon in the mail.

i just want to stay veggie or have very strict rules, but I keep slipping up. how do I stop this?

Hi all,

Just wanted to get some views on FPC rennet.

For those who don't know FPC rennet is a rennet where originally some cells were taken from inside a calf's stomach and using genetic modification put inside some bacteria, which then reproduces rennet identical to the one in calf stomachs.

Would you all consider this vegetarian? How would we be able to tell which cheese has this as apparently they are allowed to label cheese with this as vegetarian.

I personally think it should not be allowed to be called vegetarian and have refrained from continuing to eat cheese until I know what type of rennet is used.

Below is a more detailed definition from https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vrg.org/blog/2012/08/21/microbial-rennets-and-fermentation-produced-chymosin-fpc-how-vegetarian-are-they/

the technique in which genetic material (ribonucleic acid, or RNA) coding for chymosin is removed from an animal source and inserted via plasmids into microbial DNA (bacteria E. coli K-12) in a process known as gene splicing (a type of recombinant DNA technology). Through fermentation the microbes possessing the bovine genetic material produce bovine chymosin which is later isolated and purified