Some people say they eat animal products because they 'like variation'. Personally I eat more varied food now than when I was eating meat - what about you?
I eat more varied food now
I eat less varied food now
No difference
Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat & dairy?
Some people say they eat animal products because they 'like variation'. Personally I eat more varied food now than when I was eating meat - what about you?
I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.
I am more adventurous now with my food. I got very boring and lazy and didn't eat enough fruit and veg. Now my meals even look more exciting and colourful and have far more taste to them.
I think that when you eat meat and dairy there is a tendency to rely on ready-prepared foods, hence after changing over to vegan 'diet' a variety of food's is more prevalent as you have to cook and prepare most (if not every) meal from scratch as there is a distinct lack of vegan convenience food available (which is not a bad thing really IMO).
Blackadder: Baldrick, have you no idea what irony is?
Baldrick: Yes, it's like goldy and bronzy only it's made out of iron.
Way more!
I'll practically eat anything vegan aside from stuff with GMO's, artificial flavors/colors, mushrooms/stuff with mushrooms, and bleached flour.
ETA ... and avocados as I am allergic to them.
There are so many items that I had never eaten before becoming vegan and I definitely consume loads more varieties of fruit and veg. I find cooking more exciting now, food is more colorful and alive. I rarely cooked food as an omni anyway, never liked the blood.
Since becoming vegan we now live out of no less than 6 vegan recipie books which means that the variety of tastes and textures we know enjoy is infinitely wider than before
With love from Love.XXX.
Ug. All the omelettes I ate and glasses of milk I drank trying to get that "precious protein" while ignoring fruits and vegetables.
I also was pretty lazy about food before being vegan. Now I enjoy cooking and making interesting meals. And it's been much kinder on my food budget too!
Tonight I had dinner over my mom and dad's with my brother and sister. They all had roast pork, gravy, mashed potatos with greasy fat gravy. When we started eating my brother (a die-hard meat eater) looked over at my plate filled to the TOP with salad, fruit salad, mixed warm vegetables and boca burger on the side, looked over at his bland plate, and said, "wow, your plate lookes so colorful! It looks really beautiful, full of colors, like a painting". We then all got into a conversation bout factory farming, it was short but kind of productive. It seems just a little bit they are becoming more aware of what is happening, and were actually more open to discussion about it, rather than the usual "we don't want to know or talk about this".
My sis said, "I've actually thought about becoming vegetarian, but what would 1 person, me, out of billions of people, how could that help change things?"
I told her, "you plus me plus others, times every other 1 person who refuses to eat meat, in the end that adds up to alot of people making their voices heard."
I hope they keep thinking about it.
I find that I am more willing to try new foods now, compared to when I wasn't vegan.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed individuals can change the world, Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has - Margaret MeadSteph
This is very true veggies and vegans tend to eat far more variety - hence the usual what do you eat question from the meat and two veg gang who tackle us vegans on our diets.
When I asked a friend who fully respects my vegtan diet what he at he came out with a long list of food but it was not variety it was either cow or chicken with different flavours from jars....and a few vegtable just boiled thats it.
I may be wrong but the reason meat eaters tend to think vegtables are boring is the fact they are still boiling the goodness out of them with 4 tablespoons of salt. Then adding some kind of animal and endless amounts of beef based gravy ugghhhh....
When I went through the extensive list of vegan foods I was he asked me endless questions with interest whats this?, whats that?, never thought of doing it that way.....he wants me to make something as he is very interested !.
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams
Since I've become vegan, I cook a lot of my own foods. I experiment with new recipes and spices and meal combinations that I would never have bothered to try as a omni.
I eat less varied food as a vegan. Granted, in theory I'm more positive about experimenting & variation, but as I eat at home six times a week, the practice is that I choose food on other basis than "variation". Convenience perhaps being the most important.
I eat way more varied food now, more delicious food too!
I remember as an omni (I can't stand thinking about that! YuuucK!) I often did't finish my food or didn' like it, now as a Vegan, I love every meal! Lot's of fresh veggies and mushrooms and herbs and spices, yum!
Damn it, I love being Vegan!
People once thought my mother is a nut, but I once thought a nut was my mother! :D
^^about that damn it, I ment it in a "happy" damnit, if someone got it wrong
People once thought my mother is a nut, but I once thought a nut was my mother! :D
That is the most horrible thing I have ever heard
I chose that my diet is less varied, but that is only coz I am lazy and I can't cook very well. Also, my Mum was alive when I wasn't vegan and she used to cook for me. I have to say that although I may not eat a more varied diet, I am AWARE of more foods, like for example tempeh, quinoa, millet, seitan etc...
I eat waaaaaayyy more variation now than I did as an omni.
And it's prettier, too.
It's vegan, which means it's vegetarian which means there's nothing unheathy in it. -- my guy trying to explain vegan junkfood.
I have more variety in my diet since becoming a vegan. When I was a fishitarian/omnivore I used to be a really fussy eater. I think I may have had a mild alergy to dairy products without even really noticing as I'm far less fussy as to what I eat now.
Got to be more varied. I've tried so many things for the first time since becoming vegan, loads of them I never even knew existed. Food is so much more fun now.
"He who binds himself to a Joy, Does the winged life destroy;
He who kisses the Joy as it flies, Lives in Eternity's sunrise"
William Blake
Re: 'I like variation'
That sums up my experience too.
A bit rattled
Re: 'I like variation'
I used to rely very heavily on baked beans (with chopped up cheese) in a pitta bread before I took the leap of sanity!
Re: 'I like variation'
I was a huge cook before becoming vegan. Now I can make a "cream" sauce with tofu, nuts or beans. Who knew? How about "ice cream" out of tofu or cashews? About 20 different ways of making burgers? Agave nectar, date sugar, beets and prunes in baking? Seitan marinated to taste like whatever you want, and then you can bake it, coat it in nuts, in cornmeal, sautee it. And tempeh! And egg replacer, flax "eggs", tofu cream cheese, tofu sour cream, okay tofu just about anything. I had exhausted everything I could do with animal products before becoming vegan. Now I'm experimenting not only with new tastes, but with new ways of using food.
My husband says the kitchen looks like a science experiment. But he's not complaining
Oh, and I don't have to hand out LactAid tablets before dinner anymore. It's still funny to me that people will take a pill in order to eat something their body is rejecting!
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein
Re: 'I like variation'
Even when I was omni, I cooked lots, but rarely with meat. It wasn't the blood; I just never liked cooking with something that could kill me if I ate it raw.
Re: 'I like variation'
That blows me away too! It goes to show the kind of iron grip the milk industry has over the general population: "eat our products...even if they are killing you!"
Re: 'I like variation'
I'm teaching myself to cook properly now I'm vegan. When I was ovo-lacto it was so easy to pick up ready meals so I practically lived on them.
It is a monstrous thing to do, to slay a unicorn...you have slain something pure and defenceless and you will have but a half life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips.
Re: 'I like variation'
I have found that there is no point in eating out anymore. I can make far better stuff than I can find in any restaurant. The only thing I miss is having someone else prepare my food for me!
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat & dairy?
I think I have more varied food as Im always trying to find new vegan foods.
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat & dairy?
i honestly believe that being a vegan allows more variety, cos meat eaters ten to stick to the same old food all the time, cos they are not imaginative. my boyfriend regularly takes 45mins to choose what he wants when we do food shopping, cos he just doesnt know what to have. it either boils down to chicken, fish or lamb. then a side of veg & potatoes. BORING.
but cos i have to work harder at making sure my meals are balanced, i feel like i get a lot more variety than him. and he often wants to have what i am having
i definitely feel like i've got more variety now. and am much healthier. i never actually realised how bad my diet was, until i looked back. i had an atrocious diet before i went vegan, and i'm pretty sure that if i hadnt went vegan, i would never have started eating healthily, or having varied meals.
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat & dairy?
The variety of food I eat has definitely broadened since I went vegan. Two years ago I was eating meat, cheese, white bread, virtually no fruit/veg etc. Now I'm eating different whole grains, spices and herbs I'd never heard of before, the whole galaxy of fruits/veggies (except celery which I hate) and for the first time nuts and seeds. Vegans who care about nutrition probably eat a more varied diet than 90% of the population.
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat & dair
I tend to eat 20-30 genetically diverse foods in a single day but there is a lot of overlap from day to day which partidular ones get eaten, for example every day I have tomatoes, some type of onions, some type of lettuce, some type of citrus, legumes, flax, walnuts, and olive oil.
But I will vary the fruit, the vegetables, and the grains or starchy sources according to what is on sale and/or seasonal/local.
It's hard to remember how I used to eat when I was an omni because it was so long ago. I remember undergrad days varying very large tuna (with apples, onions, walnuts, celery, oranges) and Greek salads during the day and having a big bowl of popocorn for dinner and an occasional head of broccoli or cauliflower. Sometimes I had nonfat yogurt and cheese or veggie pizza. And sometimes I had junk, like ice cream or cookies.
I didn't really discover the spectacular world of vegetables until I went vegetarian (16 years ago) and I didn't become a fruit monster until a few years ago.
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat & dair
The main thing I have found is that since being vegan food has moved into a potent medicinal role and I find this very exciting. For example when I am choosing what to eat it is no longer, 'Hmm, what do I fancy?' but 'Right, what does my body need?'
And this really is exciting for me: it's powerful. I feel more in control than I ever have over my health and my body. The freshness, the colour, allowing myself to love within and beyond 'me'. There is no other way - I AM LOVING IT!
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." Mahatma Gandhi.
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat & dair
I eat a lot more varied a diet now, definitly.I have not eaten mneat since being 11,but since going vegan I have tried so many things I wouldnt have done.I have become a lot better atcooking aswell.
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat & dairy?
I don't think I find any difference. I was born a vegetarian. When I was a veggie, I used to try out a diverse set of cooking. This is largely due to the fact that I mainly prepare Indian most of the time and it implicitly offers a good range of choices. Also, I tend to experiment a lot with my cooking. Ever since going vegan, I tried to make vegan versions of what I used to eat earlier as a veggie.
Life is like a boomerang: What goes around comes around - "Karma"rocks!
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat & dairy?
I would say my diet is definately more varied nowadays. As a veggie there is far more readily available in terms of "convenience foods". I remember the days when I was virtually living on frozen Linda McCartney lasagnes, lolTurning vegan forced me to start experimenting with new foods and recipes
People often ask me, what do I eat? They expect that as vegans we just sit there munching on raw carrots and celery. My house-mate actually stopped me in the kitchen the other day to enquire about my dinner - he observed that it looked very "interesting and colourful", lol. More so than his pie and chips...
"Born on the same planet, Covered by the same skies..."
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat & dairy?
Here are just a few of the foods that I had never tasted before going vegan:
houmus/falafel/chickpeas/most types of beans (other than baked beans
It's kind of embarrassing to admit I had never had the above foods before, as I used to live on ready meals/fast food/meat and spuds. I used to consider 'cooking a meal' as putting a chop and a couple of frozen roast potatoes in the oven and taking it out thirty minutes later
And the amount of cow's milk I used to drink! Frequently drank a two litre container of cow's milk per day, I was addicted to it.
Many a broken heart is hidden behind a smiling face.
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat &
Since becoming vegan actually, the range of food I consume has varied v. greatly! I was never much into fruits and vegs as my family did not cook/eat these. Since becoming vege, I have found that I eat alot more of these products and vegan cooking books are a great help in spicing things up!
"If you are what you eat, does that make you dead meat?"
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat &
Going vegan has made a cook out of me. I never really cooked before, my speciality was toast and I was pretty good at opening tins and heating stuff up but that was it, my mum made most of my meals before. But now I'm constantly looking for recipes to try out and seeking out ingredients I would never think to buy whilst I was a non cooking veggie. It's great, not only has my diet become varied and interesting but it has given me a new hobby too.
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat &
Before I became a vegetarian, I had never tried any ethnic foods except for typical mexican, chinese, and japanese. After becoming veg and then vegan I tried Indian, Middle Eastern, Vietnamese,ect... There's all kinds of tasty stuff out there!!
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat &
Definitely more varied...I don't think I've cooked the same dish more than once every other month since becoming vegan. I have numerous cookbooks and have just "thrown 2gether" quite a few things that ended up being yummy. I also now bake, whereas b4 I didn't really. Just found it difficult to find cupcakes, cakes, brownies, muffins, etc that were vegan and really couldn't consider life w/o them
I think I read in one of my vegetarian cookbooks that vegetarians eat a much more varied diet than meat-eaters. I'd bet that vegans eat even more varied than vegetarians
When you are guided by compassion and loving-kindness, you are able to look deeply into the heart of reality and see the truth.--Thich Nhat Hanh
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat &
I feel like my diet is more varied now because before I was so overly focused on getting enough protein that I feel like that was all I ate. I run and lift weights and I thought that I had to have crazy high protein intake to support my lifestyle and activity level. I didn't like having to eat that much protein and I got to a point where I was overly focused on food and didn't even enjoy it. Once I started cutting things out of my diet ( dairy was 1st to go, then meat, then eggs ) I started enjoying food more, enjoyed cooking again and I don't obsess about food like I did before. Even w/ my nose stuck in new cookbooks all the time!
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat &
i definitely eat more varied foods now. becoming vegan lead me to try so many foods i otherwise might not have! i really enjoy the creative combinations of variety of foods. when i go grocery shopping, i try to buy at least one thing that i either haven't tried before or haven't had in a long time.
sometimes when i'm busy i feel like i get stuck in food routines...i find something that takes little or no time to prepare and it becomes a routine. lately, i've been making a conscious effort to break these routines.
You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
~John Wooden
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat &
i have the exact opposite problem
i tend to procrastinate by reading up on, buying, preparing, and eating new stuff. which is why i haven't had any advice to offer on the "How to stop procrastinating thread"i usually do it when i really can't afford to time/money wise
OK, to get back on topic: I think that in most cases ones diet does become more varied when one becomes veggie, because in many cases it's the first time one actually consciously thinks about what and how one is eating, which leads on to thinking about the various food types and nutrients. So automatically, one starts trying new things.
Many omnis on the other hand, just eat whatever dishes it is that they've always known, just because they know them.
Last edited by piggy; Mar 21st, 2007 at 12:40 PM. Reason: to get back on topic
Piggy
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat &
I know what you mean...lots of omnis I know constantly have the same thing over and over again (i.e., "it's taco night") and it's pretty much a habit that they don't even think about
When you are guided by compassion and loving-kindness, you are able to look deeply into the heart of reality and see the truth.--Thich Nhat Hanh
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat &
I have always enjoyed a varied diet, but going vegan stops you falling into the omni rut of piece of meat + boring boiled veg.
I love experiementing with different types of beans and pulses, and am starting to 'get' tofu more as well (I've always liked it, but found it hard to cook). The only frustrating thing is trying to find items like agave nectar, real maple, carob powder etc when you have a stupid local supermarket!
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat &
I also eat more varied because a vegan diet requires more creativity, which involves getting to know a lot of foods most people have never even heard of.
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat &
Definitely more varied and I'm much more interested in international cuisine. Before I was vegan I ate the typical British diet of meat with everything and very few vegetables and I wasn't interested in cooking. Now I love to cook and try new recipies.
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat &
When I gave up meat and became vegetarian eight years ago my diet became very much more varied, and a lot more healthy. This was the original reason for me turning vegetarian, later it would become more ethical. I didn't really eat that much veg before hand. Since then I have become much better at cooking, much more experimental and eat so much stuff, it's great!
I became vegan a couple of months back, so my diet is starting to change a little again (even though I haven't really eaten much dairy over the last couple of years anyway).
I've found that there is this huge myth amongst a lot of meat eaters that all vegetarians and vegans eat is carrott sticks or something. 'You're vegetarian/vegan? What do you eat then?' I never know what to say to this. Am I meant to list the hundreds of things I cook for myself each year? Ha ha
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat &
I totally know what you mean. I usually start listing and then they get the idea!'You're vegetarian/vegan? What do you eat then?' I never know what to say to this. Am I meant to list the hundreds of things I cook for myself each year? Ha ha
One of my colleagues is an omni and only eats meat and bread, occasionally cheese. She says she just doesn't like any fruit or vegetables.
Kia kaha e hoa, kia ora
Re: Do you eat more or less varied food than you did when you were eating meat &
One of my friends is like that, he came to stay with me and my ex one weekend and we made loads of lovely food, and the only thing he ate was the garlic bread
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