I am contemplating a vegetarian diet. I'm just curious ... why does one choose to be a vegetarian? Prior to joining JC, I was thinking about it. How long have you been vegetarian? What do you eat when you're not doing JC? Can you eat bread?? Is a vegetarian diet just staying away from meat/chicken/pork? Can you eat fish/shellfish? I'd love to hear from everyone -- thanks in advance!

Hi, Mystical Rose! Good for you for thinking about becoming veg!

I've been exploring this lifestyle for the past six years. Read all you can, learn all you can, and try different things/styles of eating. Let your body and your heart guide you to the best diet for you.

Are you considering it for health reasons? ethical reasons? environmental reasons? political reasons? financial reasons? I ask because I can refer you to different sources as a place to start, depending on where you're coming from.

I don't know if it's our culture, or our human nature, but we all seem to like rules and structure, and have troubles with ambiguity. We like labels -- for our food, for our thoughts, for each other. There are some folks who call themselves vegetarian, but eat eggs and milk. (This is called an ovo/lacto vegetarian.) Some folks include fish. (This is called a pesco-vegetarian.) Some folks get a little hurt when a fellow vegetarian makes the personal decision to eat eggs or milk or fish. Personally, I think we should eat what we need to, and call ourselves whatever we want. I hesitate to use "the v word" with people because it seems that we all have an idea pop immediately into our heads upon hearing it. (Although, that's the same with every label we apply to ourselves and others. huh? Guess I'm really saying there are no rules, no contracts, and no one to answer to. You will run into folks that have lots of opinions on the matter, just as you have probably run into the same discussions about your weight loss, the way you raise your kids, etc.) You just have to be gracious and smile.

We (my DH and I) began the vegetarian lifestyle very gradually and out of his gross-out factor with eating meat. With all the reading and learning I've done, I'm becoming more of an ethical vegetarian, and really want to go vegan when I've completed my JC weight loss goals.

It's so much fun to learn all this new stuff, you'll be amazed at the extent and variety of this "subculture" when you get rolling!

Best wishes,
Aviva

PS. PM me if you want my reading list and podcast subscription suggestions.

ALSO: LOVE the picture of your tubby tabby!

i am vegetarian (actually, i was vegan before i started this, and plan to go back to vegan when i have to start cooking my own food again) because of "morality" reasons. i just love all sentient beings, and it pains me to know that i'm eating a fish or a chicken or a cow (etc.) who probably suffered greatly for my "well-being." if you've ever seen how cruel and horrid factory farming is, you will understand that it has more to do wtih compassion for other sentient beings than just not wanting to eat meat for health reasons. the reason why i was vegan before, however, was because the dairy industry is just as horrible to their animals, not to mention, there is so many horrible things in milk alone that it would turn anyone off to wanting to have that ingested.

anyway... that's why i was vegan. oh, and the reason why i was still 100+lbs. overweight when i was vegan was because vegans (and vegetarians) tend to have to eat a lot of carbs/calories in order to get their protein in. there are "junk food veg*ns", but that wasn't me. it's just that i ate too many calories and didn't move around enough. simple as that. so it goes to show you could eat big salads all day and still be fat. it's calories, not the types of food you eat.

I am a vegetarian as a daily practice of having an open, loving, generous heart. The great sages of the world have all emphasized the path to happiness and contentment in life is to have such a heart, and science (neuroscience and psychology) are now demonstrating that as well. An easy daily practice to open one's heart is to be mindful of how our choices affect other beings. Refraining from taking the lives of other beings is a act of compassion and caring. By making that choice consciously, I aim to cultivate the quality of mindful caring in my own heart.
That is why I am a vegetarian: my own health and life do not require the sacrifice of other animals' lives. It is estimated refraining from eating meat means around 70 animals a year do not die to sustain my life. If I imagine the cows, pigs, lambs, chickens, turkeys, fish that I fed off of each year in my pre-vegetarian life, I am happy I now make the choice not to cost those animals their lives. I am happy to have shed the heart-callousness that I needed to maintain before in order to rationalize my meat-eating choice. I am happy to be more tender-hearted.
Best wishes to you, with whatever choices you make, to live a happy and healthy life!

HI!
I went to a vegetarian diet after learning that I had gallstones and gallbladder issues. I also have issues with irritable bowel synd. When I changed my diet to a low-fat vegetarian diet (8 months ago) I have not had any issues with my gallbladder and the IBS has been minimal as well. However, I'm still not losing weight! I had a total hysterectomy 4.5 years ago and was told that it will be difficult for me to lose weight because of that. I have to work 5x's harder than I ever had to before.

I do have a sweet tooth and am working on cutting out frozen yogurt but that is my last vice. Ugh I'm seriously considering going to a vegan diet but I really don't like soy and rice cheese products. The rice milk is ok though.