Went vegetarian because of my rabbit Cosmo, who I found abandoned in front of my apartment building. I also read today that the average American eats 7,000 animals in their lifetime. I’m about a quarter of the way through and intend to remain vegetarian. If I hadn’t, that would have been ~5,250 animals in the rest of my life. It’s amazing that such a small bunny could make such a big change in my life and the lives of so many other animals too. I am so proud of him ❤️ wanted to post something to thank him for helping me find a better path

hello everyone!! I've decided to become vegetarian. I wanted some advice that may be something any of you wished you knew when you started, or that you think would be helpful to know.

i have been figuring out things i can and can't eat, besides the obvious no meat haha

In 2020 when I was 20, I watched a documentary called “Dominion” about the meat industry and how they kill animals and immediately switched from being an omnivore to being fully vegetarian. I did that for about a year until 2021, and since then I’ve been on and off with eating meat.

Here’s why I want to be a vegetarian (or maybe pescatarian): -the thought of eating meat disgusts me because I remember it’s muscle/tissue and I think of blood and other bodily things -I keep hearing that meat is bad for our health -it feels wrong to raise animals just to slaughter and eat them when we can eat other healthier more sustainable things. This is my #1 problem with eating meat.

Here’s why I (kinda) want to keep meat in my diet: -Im 5’7 and weigh around 120 lb. I feel like losing weight would not be good for me - I’m pretty thin as it is. (I know that ditching meat won’t automatically result in weight loss if I do it right) -I love the taste. I don’t want to miss out on a whole aspect of food and eating.

I also have toyed with the idea of eating fish only and being a pescatarian, maybe this would allow me to get good protein in but it still does gross me out a little and does feel wrong.

Questions: Does anyone have experience with being a pescatarian? What if I keep fish in my diet- are there still health risks? Has anyone experienced any of these things when thinking of making the switch? For those that switched, do you miss meat? Do you ever cheat? Could someone assure me that there are yummy hearty plant options with similar amounts of protein as meat? How can I make the switch to vegetarianism or pescatarianism healthily? What are your guys favorite ways to get protein in?

I just want to stop see-sawing and going against my morals. (tia)

I was wondering if there's any certain kinds of food I should avoid ? Mostly like cakes, since they contain dairy , or any other sort of baked goods ? I'm guessing bread counts to . Not eating certain foods is easy for me , but I was wondering how do people avoid them all ? I have no idea what to not eat besides eggs , milk and meat , just the basics , but when it comes to foods that could possibly contain those foods , I have no idea . I'm not currently only eating vegetables/fruits since I don't plan to jump straight into it , but slowly cut off foods instead . Most the food I eat is noodles , then I just add my own things to it . I have food allergies in general so that's why I hardly eat anything different 😅.

News Things I learned today, now that they put ingredients of wearable items on the box--U by Kotex Balance Sized for Teens Ultra Thin Pads with Wings contain "Amides, from hydrogenated tallow and tetraethylenepentamine, polymers with epichlorohydrin and polyethylene glycol."

Just thought y'all might want to know!!

LET ME MAKE SOMETHING CLEAR HERE I'M NOT INTERESTED IN EATING MEAT OR INCREASING DAIRY INTAKE IF ANYONE HAS ANY DIETARY ADVISEE PLEASE STICK TO PLANT BASED FOODS. Hi I've been vegetarian since I was 12 and I'm in my 3rd year of college right now. My major is biology because I'm studying to be a vet but I'm struggling with getting high grades. I use the best study methods and follow all of my teachers orders but I never feel like I'm proficient in the material. I've also struggled with mental health in the past but it's gotten a lot better so I don't think it's that. I don't think my diet could be the cause of my bad grades, I mean I eat chia seeds, nooch toast, and take my supplements(b12, multi, and omega 3) everyday. I also eat mock meats but I'm still not getting the results I want. I'm desperate to get good grades and I don't know what to do. Every year my academics go down hill no matter what studying methods I use. I also have a learning disability too and get accommodations for it but nothing is working. I know this post doesn't have a lot of information and if you need more info please let me know but if any of you guys had this problem please tell me how you resolved it. I just read some stories about this in the ex vegan sub and I'm scared that might happen to me.

I've eaten meat in every meal for the past 18 years of my life so I just replace the steack in steack-fries with 2 scrambled eggs and quite a lot of pumpkins seed (way more than shown in the picture). Nothing much but as I have to learn a whole new collection of recipes i'm think it is decent.

I've really been considering being a vegetarian , I'm not a big fan of meat , but I love shrimp . Only other time I eat meat is to not seem rude when one of my family makes dinner for everyone . I already mostly eat vegetables . I was looking through google but that didn't really give answers , so decided to come here to ask directly .

My plan is to switch to being a vegetarian , but keep shrimp and eat sushi sometimes , but if eating those still wouldn't make me one , then I wonder if there is another name for a diet with only vegetables and seafood? Just don't want to call myself something when I'm not it .
(sorry if it sounds dumb 😅, I usually like to be 100% sure of things since I worry too much about being rude)

Edit . got more comments then i was expecting ! Thanks everyone

Hello everyone, I have been vegetarian for the past decade and I have recently been re-examining what it means to be vegetarian to me. I stopped eating meat in high school and haven't re-evaluated why I was doing this until recently. Being vegetarian to me means to limit inflicting pain or suffering on other living beings, mostly through not eating the meat of any animal. However, I don't go out of my way to avoid all things that might be derived from the death of an animal, primarily prescription medications. After doing alot of research, I haven't seen evidence that bivalves feel anything significantly different than a plant, and I don't believe there is anything morally wrong with eating bivalves. Personally, I would still consider myself vegetarian if I ate bivalves and I would only eat them occasionally. I know this topic is a bit contentious in the vegetarian/vegan community, but I would like to hear some others opinions on it.

This is my best friend Cosmo! My fiancé found him abandoned outside my apartment building in September. We do everything together now, have veggie noodle nights as special treats (no sauce for him, just spirilized veggies), he sleeps in bed with me, and I’ve gotten to see his huge, amazing personality grow and grow. He lives loose in my apartment since he is litter box trained and every time I see him get the zoomies or binky, or sitting at the door waiting for me to come home, or when he comes running when I call for him, I feel so happy and lucky. He is my ESA and he always has my back. He loves us so much and shows it.

The thing is Cosmo is a rabbit (I guess obviously from the picture) and they have historically been farmed as meat animals. And the idea of him living in a cage or being killed to be eaten is so horrifying to me. And yesterday I was spending time with him and I kept thinking about other animals raised for meat, like cows and chickens, and how maybe they would have just as huge of a personality, or be as sweet and loving as Cosmo, if I got to know them. And the idea of eating animals like him feels so wrong.

When I was a little kid I expressed these ideas to my family and they always told me people were designed to eat meat, and that I’m being too sensitive. I always dropped it. But I can’t eat animals anymore because I love Cosmo so much and I don’t know how I can treat other animals like him so badly when there is a good chance they are just as loving and gentle and kind.

Told my fiancé I am going vegetarian and he supports me 100%. But the rest of my family isn’t going to take it very well. Does anyone have recommendations on how to handle that conversation?

Thank you all for your help.

Everything from the smell and the texture and I don't know why. I don't know if I've developed an intolerance or what but I'm tired of feeling so sick all the time. Vegetables never make me feel that bad. Are there any recipe sites you'd recommend that has cheap and easy meals? I'm not a great cook and I am also not interested in meat substitutes like tofu or seitan. I've tried tofu crumbles and Beyond Meat ground "beef" and I couldn't stomach the texture.

If you're into punk, this is a song about how it's gross that so much candy and sweets contain gelatine. It's always so disappointing (so is the song probably lol).

The song is from New Zealand, so some of the slang might be weird. I'm been vegetarian for nearly six years, but even before then, gelatine grossed me f out.

Hi! I've been vegitarian for 4 years. The first year I was vegan for most of it, and at the start it took some time cutting out meat 100%. I kind of went cold turkey and I couldn't say why exactly other than that I looked a bag of jerky saw the ingredient and didn't like that so I didn't eat the rest of that bag of jerky. At this point meat disgusts me. Most of it smells bad and I don't think I could ever eat chicken again. That first year I tried some salami and pepperoni a month in and got sick, who knows why.

Now I do have health issues unrelated to veganism like slow digestion and anemia. The thing is I can't eat beans, veggies, anything high fiber or high fat. I have to have foods that won't upset my stomach and cause so much pain. I have to be able to digest it or I'll end up in the hospital. So, that leaves me eating alot of the vegan chicken nuggets and things of that sort because my stomach doesn't get very upset over it. I have had some jerky sticks in the last 3 months because my iron has been way to low to the point of infusions and I can't just eat a bowl of cereal or spinach. All the good foods I can't digest.

Now I was fine with that, doing what I have I need to not fall over, but I can't digest meat either. It's on the list of do not eat specifically dark meats. Even then turkey ect most can't handle so-

I wad buying a family member a turkey sandwich and I took a bite of it- I ate half of it. 2 times now. It's deli meat and my stomach is processing it okay. But it just tastes good- I do wanna be able to just cook some food and eat it without finding werid ways to get protien. But I've been leaning into looking at being fish only, I just can't stomach the fishy fish taste and thought. I have an irrational fear of sea creatures and worse on my plate. They creep me out.

Also the processed vegitarian diet is not healthy and expensive. Funny enough thr most I've ever bought chicken nuggets is as a vegitarian. I used to just eat deli type slices with cheese, even fake cheese because I went dairy free and egg free before I cut meat and then went back to dairy. I want to cut dairy out, but it's my only safe ish protien at this point. I can't eat alot.

I've been a vegetarian for a few years because I know that the meat industry is abusive towards animals, but I don't actually know the hard facts/history etc. I want to learn more but I also don't want to be reading things that are focused on shock value over a presentation of facts. I think the bare facts are extreme enough by themselves, from what I understand

Growing up since a kid I've always been iffy about eating meat but I've been able to eat it most of the time, sometimes I have a hard time eating my food and would gag cause of the meat, making me not enjoy my meals.

Well about 4 days ago (friday) I guess I hit some roadkill that I didn't see, I went to my car on my lunchbreak and found chunks of this animal on the side of my car and in my wheel well, I almost threw up cleaning it and had a hard time eating lunch and ended up not being able to find anything appetizing for dinner.

On came the weekend and I basically starved all Saturday and Sunday, I could not get myself to eat any kind of meat and couldn't come up with anything that didn't have meat in it. It makes me physically sick at this point to even think about eating meat now.

Here it is Monday, I found a little vietnamese restaurant near my work and tried their vegetarian pho and it was absolutely amazing, first meal I've enjoyed and been able to finish in days.

So I guess I'm here to stay. How can I go about starting my vegetarian diet? Any good places to find recipes? Making sure my nutrition is balanced? Not looking for fake meat foods, I don't want anything that even resembles it.

All help is appreciated. Thank you!

Hello, just wondering if anyone is in a similar situation to me.

I am vegetarian and so is my wife but we haven’t always been. I’ve changed my diet mainly for ethical reasons and I don’t really want my two children to eat meat but we find it difficult to get them to eat enough other sources of protein. Our eldest does enjoy tofu and both will eat lentils, but our other staples such as beans, rice, curries they’re just not in to yet.

I think it would have been different if we had been vegetarian when they were born and had introduced that diet as the only option. I also consider the fact the my oldest has been given the facts and has the right to make his own choices too.

So we are still giving them a bit of chicken and fish but I’d like to hear from other parents who might be in a similar situation…

I'm seriously considering making the move th vegetarianism. This is due to many reasons, mainly because I don't really enjoy eating meat as much a vegetable based dishes. If you also made the move from omnivore to vegetarianism or even veganism, I would like to know more about your experiences as people who have lived through it :).

How did you find the transition? Was it gradual or sudden? How did you break the news to family/friends ? What kind of reactions did you get? In a mainly meat world, how did you cope having meals at other people's homes?

Anything you can share or any general advice is welcomed. Thank you!

Maybe it's because I've only been vegetarian for a couple of years, but every time I see the same people despair over climate change also defend tooth and nail their right -- if not medical need -- to have red meat three times a day, I just lose my mind a little.

Going vegetarian is free! In fact, it costs less than eating meat! If every American quit meat today, the US contribution to climate change would drop by around 15%. No one is stopping you from making the change.

I’d like to start taking collagen to help with my skin, hair and workouts. As a vegetarian I have some reservations about it as it comes from marine life. I had collagen before without realizing it was from animals and my body seemed to be very happy with it and needed it. How do you deal with sacrificing some values for health?

I'm vegetarian have been for over a year mainly because of guilt for the animals. But why did you become vegetarian? Some days I debate just eating everything again

Hey guys!

Omnivore here. I’ve had my era’s of vegetarianism here and there. But this time, it might be indefinitely, due to medically reasons, which is totally fine with me… what are some good recipe websites? Also, what are some good recipes for stomach/intestinal inflammation? I will be getting medical attention, as well!

Hopefully this is allowed... My question got deleted by the mod on another group.

Thank you

I only enjoy eggs from them because I know they are well treated and healthy. Is it just me?

have always been a big animal lover, as a kid I would talk to the cows and calfs on my grandpa's farm. I thought then they could hear and understand what I said.. after I grew up seeing cows being hauled around made me feel this overwhelming sadness and guilt. Yet I am a meat eater and lately when I am eating meat I feel guilty. People sa you can't live animals and eat meat buy I'm just a big hypocrite. I just saw on the news they had to rid 2 million chickens for fear of bird flu and it made me anxious. I'm wondering if becoming a vegetarian would be pointless in regards to animals not being abused as it won't change anything. Only maybe my health would improve. So did you become a vegetarian for yourself or for the animals? BTW vegan is not an option for me, I can't go to that extreme

I have been vegetarian/vegan for almost 4 years now and although I love it I am really really struggling with hair loss :( I used to have super thick hair and now every time I brush my hair I have huge chunks come out. It is really damaging to my self esteem and I feel like it must be a sign that something is wrong. I met with my doctor about 6 months ago and they said for me to add fish into my diet which I have done, but it's still happening and I really want to remain vegetarian as much as possible. any advice/products/recipes/support would be so so helpful!!!!

I have been a vegetarian for 25 years. My wife is mostly-veg. When we had kids, we decided to raise them veg (actually her decision)

Anyway, the oldest is 3 and naturally is into the 'why' phase and starting to ask why he 'doesn't like fish sticks' when his classmates at daycare do.

We have been redirecting by saying that I don't like them either, and that has been working for now, but it is feeling like we're on borrowed time as far as giving him a more satisfying answer.

Anyone who has been in this situation I'd love to hear your thoughts. For the record, I'm not opposed to the kids eating meat, though I'm obviously biased toward veg. But they are going to make up their own minds. I would just like to go about teaching them to make their own choices about it in a healthy way.

I have been vegetarian for over a year now and I’m the only one in my family who doesn’t eat meat so you can imagine the amount of questions I’ve gotten. Especially because I haven’t always been vegetarian. My main reason is because the idea of eating an animal that was once alive grosses me out. I also find it disrespectful to do so but that’s just me.