I am brand new to the Zone, and basically I was just wondering people's reasons for being a Vegetarian..?
I don't know much about it at all, but would love to learn more!

Hi Kimberly,

I have been a vegetarian off and on for about 3 years. One of the reason most vegetarians stop is it gets very difficult to maintain your diet. Also, many people believe you never really get the correct protein you need to be healthy being a vegetarian. During the last couple of years that has improved but it is sort like any other debate no one really knows the answer. Some vegetarian are there because they are against what companies do to animals. For example, the stories are rampant that companies that raise chickens give them so many steorids that their breast plob over and they fall down. Recently, Smithfield was given a lot of bad publicity because they claimed their pigs were being treated incorrectly and causing a form of swine flu. However, these reasons, I don't believe are really the reason most people are vegetarian but it is a factor. Myself it has to do the belief you will be healthy without a lot of animal proteins. If I could I would eat just protein powder and other non-meat forms of protein all the time. I feel my digestive system reacts much better to non-meat protein. However, that is my body. I really enjoy a little meat such as a good steak or turkey at Thanksgiving but on a daily basis I don't believe it is as healthy. I am sure others can add to this.

I follow the Blood Type diet concurrently with the zone, and my blood type needs animal protein in decent amounts. There is a type who does not need this and this type does beautifully as a vegetarian...type A blood. (I was a veggie for decades....doing more harm than good..and my health declined miserably, which has turned around since eating meat...wish it werent' so cuz the veggie diet appeals....but...)

I'm an A, and being a vegetarian didn't work for me at all. I think the blood type diet is flawed personally. I know other A's that it doesn't work for.

My health has never been better since eating hunter gatherer style much like an O

I was a vegetarian for a number of years because I didn't want to eat animals or fish. However my aut0 immune issues, menstrual pain and PMS got pretty bad eating this way.

Going to higher protein, grain legume and dairy free with lots of fish oil and vit D3 supplement (also animal based) has been best for my health.

I've been a vegetarian for more than 14 years. I disapprove of the way animals are raised for meat, and I don't care for the idea of destroying a sentient being to get nourishment that I can get in a cruelty-free way. Also, it is much, much easier to keep Kosher if you don't eat any animal.

With more than 6 billion people on the planet, it is unreasonable to think that one diet -- vegetarian -- is the single right way for all people. However, I do think that the culture in the USA is over-focused on animal protein and that the general health of the majority of Americans is poorer because of it.

I am vegetarian because I love to eat vegetarian food.

the problem with vegetarian diet is that our bodies are not well suited to it. We've evolved to best absorb protein from meat. Without meat you need to take suplements which is surely not a natural way of living. I like vegetarian food as well, but I like meat in moderation. I find Zone diet working for me because it is all balanced for me. Lots of veggies and a bit of meat.

I eat mostly vegetarian to cut back on my AA intake. I include salmon, eggwhites and fat free plain yogurt in my diet and infrequently add a little bit of cheese for flavor. I rely on Zone Foods as my primary source of protein. It's worked very well for me and I feel great.

_____________________________________

sue
Consultant of Zone Labs
Certified Zone Affiliate

I love to eat vegetarian food and i have never tasted non veg food in my life and i never wish to. I am healthy and fit and there are so many vegetarian dishes that i have never tasted in my life then why should i go for non veg.
Thanks

I hardly ever eat meat, just don't care for it!

When I do eat beef, game or lamb I only enjoy the very best cuts, cures etc - but once or twice a month has been more than enough for many years.

Can't stomach chicken after finding out how the chickens are kept and what they are fed.

Now that I am going into the Zone I think I'll drop meat altogether in favour of fish.

I do eat fish though and other seafood!

I was for a long time, but now am not. My problem is not eating meat, but how we farm, slaughter, process and package it. I raise and eat my own poultry (at least I did before I fed the fox family ... will again next year though), and we are about to get 3 cattle to raise for meat with some friends of ours.

While I do not particularly like 'killing' pets, I am much happier knowing where the food I am eating came from, and that it was not raised in a building, feedlot or otherwise, and that it was happy until its time came ....... not to mention the extra flavor.....

Sorry if this post offends any vege/vegans out there, it is just my point of view.

I have eaten a vegan diet for almost 5 years. For me it is purely a health-related decision. I started following about 5 years of physicals
with rising levels of cholesterol and low-LDL in my blood chemistry workup. Doctor insisted the time for lipitor had arrived. I took one look
at the side effects and had a mental change: these medications are for old people, not me (I was only 45- I still felt like 25!). Fortunately,
I was able to reduce my unfavorable blood chemistry numbers to low-normal ranges inside of a year.

I don't have anything against eating meat, and frankly, when there are 320 million mouths to feed (but only between 1 and 2% of that
population participate in producing the food) the most logical way to make enough food for everyone is the way the food industry does it.
It's terrible how commodity animals are treated for the most part, but when so few people take part in producing food, there will be less
care available for each animal being raised for eventual slaughter. Sucks, I know, but few people care to change and that's the way it T-I-Is.

I am mostly vegetarian. Have been vegetarian (mostly) since 16 when I saw all of the blood in the styrofoam container of meat...mom wantede me to halp start dinner before she got off of work. I've eaten seafood off and on, but never chicken/poultry or meat. I've been vegan off and on, but only for short periods. I love animals. Rescue strays, too...have 25 now! I try to grow some of my own veggies and soon, fruit, too.

our teeth is flat designed to eat plants not animals...

we also have cannines. We are made to eat both plans and meat. I understand you want to be a vegetarian for ethical reasons but it doesn't mean it is a most healthy and natural option. Vegetarians and especially vegans need to take diet supplements (eg iron) - how is that natural?

[quote]
Posted By Bozena on 25 Feb 2013 04:59 AM
we also have cannines. We are made to eat both plans and meat. I understand you want to be a vegetarian for ethical reasons but it doesn't mean it is a most healthy and natural option. Vegetarians and especially vegans need to take diet supplements (eg iron) - how is that natural?
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I agree with you, being vegetarian is not the most healthy and natural option but we cannot deny the fact that when we eat vegetables, we are a way healthier than those who do not.

I am not a vegetarian but I eat vegetables, in fact I love to eat vegan food.

Nobody has to eat meat. It's a choice. There are iron sources in all sorts of vegetarian food but you must be mindful to also eat foods that help with the absorption. I have been vegetarian
for 22 years and am healthy. Being told that you 'have' to eat meat is just the big business of meat keeping you that way. Sounds a bit conspiracy theorist...but it's true.

YES, it is a choice. And no one actually tells us that we have to eat meat.
It wasafter the world-wide flood that God said to Noah that they can eat meat.
Prior to that point in time, man - as is understood, never rally know - mankind ate only fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
(But NOT wheat and sugar!) Some have speculated that since prior to the flood, since mankind lived on average 800-900 years,
that eating meat shortened our age to whew it is now.
But that argument never really held any water (pun intended).
It is more likely that the before the world-wide flood, that the land was one huge mass, with not as much water.
.
One theory is that a huge dome of water circled the globe, providing an additional protective barrier. And God, through natural events caused the protective dome of water to fall onto the earth. Thus causing the world-wide flood and also separating the land mass into several - separated by a larger amount of water now present. But that's just one theory.

Yes, and before the flood, man was NOT supposed to eat that apple, either! LOL--had to stick that one in there.

I have been a vegetarian my whole life(33 years old). I have never eaten meat. At this point it kinda grosses me out and my brain does not think of it as food.