What Has Your Experience Been Like with Vegans and Vegetarians?

[Vinayaka]

The only supplements I take are a vegan multivitamin (many brands have gelatin, and are thus not vegetarian) and a vitamin C.

I take D in winter, and B12 maybe once a week. My blood work (with physicals) has never showed anything close to being of concern. But I do see the need for supplements for those people who have poor nutrition, regardless of their stance on vegetarianism, etc. Better to use your blood work than your biased brain.

 

[Vinayaka]

Upon further reflection there is probably a result of some sort of selection bias that my experiences are indicative of.
We probably meet people who might disapprove or disagree personally with how we eat constantly, but we only really remember the one's who vocalize it.

'Squeaky wheel get the grease' applies to a lot of stuff. Take driving as another example. One person in a hundred is driving recklessly, and we don't notice the 99.

 

[SalixIncendium]

But I do see the need for supplements for those people who have poor nutrition, regardless of their stance on vegetarianism, etc.

Very true.

I recently switched from a food-based multivitamin I'd taken for 20 years (Nature's Plus Source of Life) to a basic multivitamin (Deva Tiny Tablets) because my eating habits changed significantly when I switched from managing businesses to working part-time from home.

 

[Vinayaka]

Very true.

I recently switched from a food-based multivitamin I'd taken for 20 years (Nature's Plus Source of Life) to a basic multivitamin (Deva Tiny Tablets) because my eating habits changed significantly when I switched from managing businesses to working part-time from home.

There is also the fact that some people overdo it, and have like 10 times what they need of certain ingredients. That's unhealthy as well.

 

[wellwisher]

One of the stereotypes I have encountered a lot, mostly online, is that vegetarians and vegans are usually "preachy," "self-righteous," "ostentatious," etc., but my personal experience with vegans and vegetarians has been a far cry from those stereotypes and generalizations. Some people seem to associate the dietary decisions with things like online clips of fringe protesters trying to shut down or damage restaurants, even though the vast majority of vegans and vegetarians simply don't get in people's faces about it.

For one thing, the cuisine of the society I live in extensively includes meat, and animal products are so pervasive that being vegetarian, let alone vegan, is not only highly inconvenient but also socially challenging in many cases (e.g., when one goes to family gatherings, restaurants, etc.). Merely refusing to order or eat meat can result in intrusive questions, assumptions, and disapproval—one of the core ideas behind that being "if God allowed us to eat meat, why are you forbidding it for yourself?"

For another thing, I have rarely encountered any preaching, judgmentalism, or shaming from vegans and vegetarians, even while out with them and ordering meat at the same table. Instead, most of that tends to be hurled in their direction from meat eaters who keep bringing up the topic or taking digs at the vegans' and vegetarians' dietary choices. The most questioning I have gotten from a vegan was when he asked me a passing question about what I thought of the conditions in which poultry is typically kept in industrial farms. On the other hand, most vegans and vegetarians I know have experienced a lot of mocking and preaching from various people, sometimes including family and friends.

Whether you're a meat eater, vegan, vegetarian, or pescatarian, what has your experience been like with vegans and vegetarians? As a meat eater, I haven't had any more issues with them than with fellow meat eaters, so the stereotypes have certainly been inapplicable to my experience—the stereotypical roles have largely been reversed in many cases, if anything.

My first experience was connected to the decades of the Viet Nam War; 1960's-70's. I was still too young to be drafted. However, some of the older teen boys were dropping out to become hippy passivists. They said they did not wish to kill or be killed in the Viet Nam Police Action. It was not a real old time WWII war.

The logical extrapolation of their conscientious objections, put into the practice, of not wishing to kill or be killed, extrapolated to no hunting and guns, and then to not eating farm animals who were being killed for food. What was left were veggies. Becoming a vegetarian was initially needed to walk the walk in some conscientious objector commune circles.

I did not mind idea of veggies, since I like fruits of all kinds; seasonal, and many vegetables; potatoes and corn. But it was harder to not have meat as part of a balanced diet. So I never took that dodging philosophy, to the logical conclusion, of needing to be all in about meat=killing. Those who did, had children, who slowly morphed into what we see today. Some is still the same, but for marketing reasons.

There were the gray areas, such as milk, eggs, cheese, fish, etc., since good sources of protein were still needed. Milk and eggs do not kill, while cheese is grandfathered in by milk. Fish was not yet farmed or exactly hunted; no guns, so it was a gray area. Chicken was also included by some to help use older hems beyond their egg years. But cows and pigs seem to be on the other side of the line, along with gun hunted animals like deer, rabbit, bear, etc.

As veggies eating morphed and money was made, the once conscientious objection morphed into faddish consumerism. Now there are vegan restaurants, which I might add have made veggies taste awesome, and some have even become a suitable replacement. But it is not cheap for the masses. It has a consumer base with extra money to burn. People pay double for mutant veggies labeled organic.

 

[JustGeorge]

The ones I knew always looked sickly and thin. Several died early deaths.

Aw man. If you are ever in Iowa, you must stop by... Whole house of vegetarians and I can't say that description fits.

Sickly and thin...

I take D in winter, and B12 maybe once a week. My blood work (with physicals) has never showed anything close to being of concern. But I do see the need for supplements for those people who have poor nutrition, regardless of their stance on vegetarianism, etc. Better to use your blood work than your biased brain.

I show up low for potassium sometimes. Not sure why.

 

[SalixIncendium]

There is also the fact that some people overdo it, and have like 10 times what they need of certain ingredients. That's unhealthy as well.

Absolutely. I read somewhere a short time ago that studies have show that this practice can also lead to cancer. That was actually, along with cost, a large influence on my decision to switch.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Aw man. If you are ever in Iowa, you must stop by... Whole house of vegetarians and I can't say that description fits.

Sickly and thin...

They lived with my uncle and were into everything natural to the point of obsession.

They were not synthetic based people, so I give they didn't take supplements, but needless to say they didn't look too well as they didn't eat meat whatsoever , nothing processed either, all natural and they were also into Reflexology which was a red flag for me that they just wanted to feel better, but they were so puritan in their minds that they were on the right track and then lo and behold they up and died all of them at an early age.

They always looked anorexic and pale.

 

[JustGeorge]

They lived with my uncle and were into everything natural to the point of obsession.

They were not synthetic based people, so I give they didn't take supplements, but needless to say they didn't look too well as they didn't eat meat whatsoever , nothing processed either, all natural and they were also into Reflexology which was a red flag for me that they just wanted to feel better, but they were so puritan in their minds that they were on the right track and then lo and behold they up and died all of them at an early age.

They always looked anorexic and pale.

That's how my dad used to be, but he did eat meat.

You can go overboard with "this is bad for me" to a point where it(the lifestyle) actually becomes bad for you. I remember hearing his sodium level was too low.

 

[Twilight Hue]

That's how my dad used to be, but he did eat meat.

You can go overboard with "this is bad for me" to a point where it(the lifestyle) actually becomes bad for you. I remember hearing his sodium level was too low.

Yea. They had charts plastered all over the walls involving all kinds of holistic medicines and practices. Reflexology was just one of them.

It was almost cultish on how obsessed they were over natural vs processed foods and only wanted holistic 'natural' remedies.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

@Debater Slayer

I have had both good experiences and bad experiences with vegetarians and vegans.

On the one hand, I am friends with a group of religious Chinese vegetarians who are very cool and very kind, and their food is so yummy that if they were cooking for me, I'd be a vegetarian tomorrow.

And I've had my fair share of encounters with holier than thou vegetarians who think they are morally superior. This seems to be especially common among Vegans. They sometimes put unreasonable expectations on their family and friends.

On the flip side, I find it utterly outrageous when family and friends and even restaurants sabotage vegetarians by hiding meat or animal products in the food. Meat eaters can be holier than thou jerks too.