How do you deal with...

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Permalink Reply by Amanda (formerly Grace) on June 30, 2008 at 6:52pm

Yeah, I've heard that comment a lot. I try to "live by example" rather than pushing my beliefs on people- so when they say insensitive things like that I will normally just say "Really? I haven't found many restrictions... Going vegetarian actually opened my eyes to lots of different cuisines." It's hard not to be preachy sometimes. I would like to say "I couldn't live with myself knowing that I was inflicting torture upon thousands of animals just because I want to prove what a big man/woman I am by noshing on dead flesh."

As a white woman I have heard it all in the 5 years that I've been a vegetarian. People take it very personally sometimes when you tell them you are... it's amazing how ignorant and rude they can be.

Does that help?

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Permalink Reply by J. Ross on June 30, 2008 at 6:58pm

Ignorant and rude...I've definitely been amazed. I usually do say that I eat more of a variety than anyone that I know. So I guess I'm handling it the right way. It just makes me so angry that they act like I'm pushing it on them when they are the ones making a big deal out of it.

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Permalink Reply by Amanda (formerly Grace) on July 1, 2008 at 12:04pm

Yeah- I feel ya girl! Food is such an intensely personal and public thing. I will admit when I was in middle school one of my best friends was a sometimes-a-tarian. Meaning that she "sometimes" would abstain from meat for weeks. And I would ride her and tell her that she needed to get her protein and her vitamins and bla bla bla. And then I'd go home and have chicken fried steak. Ha.

I try not to take people's comments too personally. I will say though- it really helps when you have vegetarian friends. My husband is a veg- and so is his whole family. I absolutely love that. I love knowing that I can go over to their house and eat everything there. And they're also conscious about factory farms and buy the pesticide free milk and free range eggs and stuff.

I'm actually trying to go vegan now- so that will be a whole new level of consciousness. My hub and I are doing it together- and we've decided that we're not going to tell other people until we've been doing it for a few months. I can only imagine the flak we'll catch for not eating ANY animal products. But that is other people's problems- not mine. I worry about the social interaction stuff- ya know- because I already have to deal with a lot at restaurants. I have a lot of allergies so I have to ask the waiter "Does this have such-and such in it? Oh and I'm vegetarian- do you have ANYTHING on the menu for me?". As far as social get togethers I think I'll just start bringing my own food- so that way people can try something that is vegan/vegetarian and realize it's not disgusting.

My hub and I made vegan ice cream last night. We had gotten an ice cream maker as a wedding present. It was really good! And I was very proud of us for making it.

Anyways- I have your back- and so do lots of other veg-heads! Just remember- it is your body, your life, and your conscience. You deserve respect!

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Permalink Reply by Angie on July 3, 2008 at 8:37am

Man, I leave for vacation and the group explodes! Yay!

I'm recently vegan, so I'm definitely still learning to deal with the comments. Right now I'm at a resort with my entire meat-eating family in northern Minnesota- eating meat is a REQUIREMENT here. But I've found it incredibly easy to stick with my healthy eating. When they're grilling I throw an entire army of vegetables on the grill and everyone ooh's and aah's over how great my food looks. Or I whip up a hummus/tabbouli pita and everyone's jealous. Someone even asked if I'd ever considered cooking for other people as a career (which would be my dream job, I think).

It is hard when you're in situations where people just don't get it. They think I'm doing it to lose weight and keep telling me, "You're on vacation, relax a little!" Helloooooo, that will make me puke. What kind of vacation is that? And while they're all sitting around bloated and in a food coma I'm waking up at 6 am and kayaking, running AND feeling great. So there.

I think living by example is the best way to do it. I've learned to not push my views on anyone, but I'll happily let them salivate over my amazing food :) And I share recipes, so maybe they can make a small change in their diet/lifestyle. Just keep smiling, eat your food, and everyone will see just how easy it is.

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Permalink Reply by Amanda (formerly Grace) on July 9, 2008 at 9:06am

Thanks Angie! My hub and I made it through 4 days last week eating vegan and then... 4th of July hit. And I did fine until the dinner that night. I had a little bit of non-vegan stuff and then I just kinda binged. And did it again the next day and the next- until yesterday I just full out went crazy- and felt disgusting. So bloated and icky.

It's so weird how people don't tolerate others making their own choices about food- everyone gets into your business. There's so much societal pressure. Of course I tend to overthink everything so that doesn't help much.

Anyways- thanks for letting me know that you're doing it and having success. You went vegan for health reasons right? I'm trying to do it for ethical reasons and sometimes I have a hard time sticking to it... how do you motivate yourself?

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Permalink Reply by Angie on July 11, 2008 at 9:32am

Ugh, I hate that "post binge" feeling. You just feel disgusting down to your core and want that feeling to go away!

Initially I started limiting my dairy/meat for health reasons. I had been in and out of doctors trying to figure out what on earth was going on with my digestion. I would get these weird stomach attacks (that's what I named them; intense, mind-numbing pains that come out of nowhere, last about an hour, then just go away) and they couldn't figure out why. I tried all these different medications (one they told me a month after I started taking it actually gave people strokes- nice!), but I really didn't feel comfortable taking medication for the rest of my life, especially since I wasn't sure how much it was really helping.

I noticed it was worse when I ate meat and dairy, so I just tried to limit it for awhile. Then I realized how great I felt, and why not try to just go all the way? It's been over a month now, and I've never felt better in my whole entire life. I'm off all my medications, going to the bathroom regularly (this was a HUGE problem before!) and just have a general "clean" feeling.

What motivates me is the fact that I feel so incredible. I know that if I eat meat/dairy/processed crud I will feel awful. Awful, awful, awful. And it's just not worth it! After reading about becoming vegan a little more and learning about the animal rights aspect, that's also become a source of motivation. I have no problem with people eating pure, humanely treated meats/dairy if they so choose, but for me, I just don't need it. I can get a healthy diet NOT eating those things, so why would I? Commercially processed meats are just horrible. After reading about it I could never eat a piece of meat or egg from somewhere other than a free-range, grass-fed family farm.

This got long winded, sorry! I'm just really passionate about it lately. I think if more people went vegetarian (or even better, vegan!) so many of our worlds problems would be solved. There's no NEED to have animal products in your diet, so if you can live without the taste, why contribute to all that slaughter just for your own taste buds? That's how I see it.

And congrats on the vegan ice cream! Yummmm. Some friends and I are going out for ice cream tonight and I checked ahead to make sure they have sorbet :) There are always substitutions! How's the vegan tranisition going now?

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