The FastDay Forum

Maybe this forum isn't too representative of vegetarians as, on the whole, it is made up of people who want to lose weight! So maybe we have the tubbier vegos who do eat less well.

What makes you say that? I have never, ever met a single vegetarian in the UK who says they do it to lose weight, and I have met a lot of vegetarians! There are some who are vegetarian for health reasons but I don't think weight loss is that important to those people, and far more of the people I know are vegetarian for ethical reasons or religious reasons. I think a lot of people cut down on meat for weight loss but that doesn't make them vegetarian, and to be honest I've often envied omnivores when eating out as there is often a low cal choice of fish etc, and the vegetarians get cheese or cream added to everything.

Looking at the whole discussion something occured to me, you have to compare like with like, so a vegetarian who eats junk to a meat eater who eats junk, and there I do think that a vegetarian who eats junk could well have a healthier diet than an omnivore, it would still be a bad diet though!

I rarely drink alcohol and I eat healthy meals, it's all the extra stuff I consumed which resulted in overweight.

I didn't become vegetarian until I was 34, I was always slim and fit then, and during the first 18/20 years of being vegetarian I was the same. Perhaps it was the menopause along with a stressful home life that changed me into a pig?

Now I am doing something about it and hope to change back to the slim energetic self lurking somewhere inside me.

I rarely drink alcohol and I eat healthy meals, it's all the extra stuff I consumed which resulted in overweight.

I didn't become vegetarian until I was 34, I was always slim and fit then, and during the first 18/20 years of being vegetarian I was the same. Perhaps it was the menopause along with a stressful home life that changed me into a pig?

Now I am doing something about it and hope to change back to the slim energetic self lurking somewhere inside me.

I don't know what happened there, I didn't mean to post my comment twice

Looking at the whole discussion something occured to me, you have to compare like with like, so a vegetarian who eats junk to a meat eater who eats junk, and there I do think that a vegetarian who eats junk could well have a healthier diet than an omnivore, it would still be a bad diet though!

I agree Nicky_94, there is more 'meaty' junk to choose from than vegetarian junk.

Edited - got confused with Mormons - back to sleep...

I have the vegan book which discusses the case studies of the Seventh Day Adventists - but I lent it to someone so can't check or quote from the info provided. By the time I get the book back we will have moved on from this part of the thread!


Enjoy your snooze CreakyPete

[janeg]

http://www.google.ae/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=s ... Q99SFeBpgw
Was intrigued with the seventh day Adventists. Kellogg's as in the breakfast cereal inventors were seventh day adventists

[Tracieknits]

Well I was veggie for 10 years. I gained about 25 pounds during that time. I blame the cheese I love veggies and eat lots of them. But I also ate plenty of cheese and sweets. Just being veg doesn't necessarily translate to "healthier". You have to eat healthier to eat healthier. That can mean healthier meats (i.e. not highly processed, no nitrates, from clean, local farms) or healthier choices in general.

I can't go vegan. I just can't. I've been miserable the few times I've tried.

I was a vegetarian for 17 years and a vegan for 4 of those years. I think it is very healthy if you make it so. It is like anything else. People go overboard eating soy 5 times a day or they just eat total carbs drenched in cheese sauce. We eat vegetarian at least 3 days a week. I was an ethical vegetarian that grew into the other benefits. I think some of the meat substitutes gave me some digestive problems. It is all in the approach. Partly, the health benefits seem to be how much MORE you eat of good things, not so much what you aren't eating and most vegetarians have other behaviors that probably compound the effects.. most are non-smokers and are just health conscious overall. It is alot easier now than when I first became on in 1992 when you had to explain it to everyone and there were very few options when dining out. I ate alot of Asian cuisine and still do, but it started then.

Just a belated comment. I am a vego - 25 years, because of animal welfare beliefs. However I believe that if we eat unprocessed food from the ground, we will be healthy. BUT in saying that I drink processed grapes, wheat & whatever they put into my cake of choice :>0 I eat as my normal diet, low GI carbs and then I add a little processed cake/bread & wine. Before The fast diet I ate less High GI carbs, but now I eat what-the-hell-I-like. which is why I LOVE this WOE

I must admit this topic has been a bit of a revelation as friends who are vegetarian tend to eat healthily as a lifestyle choice. Apart from chicken and occasionally ham,I eat lots of vegetables, raw and cooked and quite often end up having courgettes with hot melted cheese as my main course as there is nothing else on the menu I fancy - for some reason it is difficult for some establishments to produce a plain chicken breast and as I eat chicken quite often I do like a change when we go out!

Do Seventh Day Adventists abstain from alcohol? If yes, that could make a difference in the results.

OK, I was raised Seventh Day Adventist, and vegetarian, by parents who were raised Seventh Day Adventist, also vegetarian.

The church underwent a huge change in the late 70's - 80's, so the modern church is considerably different than it used to be. In the old days, they used to follow the teachings of a sort of "prophet", a woman named Ellen G White, and she is the one that put forth some of the somewhat odd lifestyle choices that many Adventists followed. Started with being at least lacto-ovo vegetarian. Also no alcohol,no smoking, no caffeine, no black pepper. To partake was considered a "sin", not just a poor choice. Weirdly, there didn't seem to be any restrictions on salt and sugar, although we certainly didn't eat much of either. It was all kind of rolled up into "your body is the temple of God" thing. So, in the 80's, the church kind of split up over this prophet, she was widely debunked, and these particular lifestyle choices are somewhat dwindling....but it's still pretty universal that an Adventist will not drink, smoke or eat pork (similar to Muslims). There are still a lot of Adventists that are vegetarian, but now it's more of a health choice than that burden of sinning against God. It's not quite as hardcore as it used to be.

Still, there are plenty of fat Adventists, and plenty of thin Adventists who died from heart attacks and such too, although statistically I guess they're longer-lived than the norm. I dunno.

I eat meat now, although probably a little less than the average American.

Wow, 42 replies! Before I read them all, I'd like to comment that I've switched over to plant-based eating, not necessarily vegan, but avoiding obvious meat, fish, fowl, eggs dairy, but not getting neurotic over by-products like gelatin in vitamins or chicken broth in restaurant soup, etc.

I am doing this to lower my cholesterol; I;ve also read studies where vegetarians, particularly vegans have lower BMIs than meat eaters, and less diabetes. What particularly interested me was that they have less diabetes independent of BMI, so there's something else in the veg diet helping.

I thought I'd add in my tuppence worth!
I was vegetarian from 18 to 55, strictly so, even owned and ran a health food shop in Kent back in the 70's. By my mid fifties I was creaking with painful hips, tennis elbow, weak ankles and wrists, awful menopause, something had to change.
I read and researched, having retired from work as I felt so awful, and came to the conclusion that I needed 'primary' protein in the shape of oily fish, no other animal types necessary.
It took some wrestling mentally to do this as life is sacred, but the science was overwhelming so I started eating tinned mackeral/sardines/salmon, generally in olive oil that I drained off. This started to make a difference. Gradually I branched out into haddock and cod too, which has made eating out more varied than the tired veg lasagne etc, but still eating quorn products and colourful vegetables and salads of course.
Starting the 5:2 plan in January this year has made the greatest difference, losing 22lbs of fat, re-educating my darling OH that I really can't eat cake/chocolate/sweets like him, and making myself go out walking every day possible for a good hour at a time.
After ten years of fogged brain it's starting to work more freely again, I feel human again, the weakness and hip pain is massively reduced, and I feel there is a future for me.
I will continue eating fish two or three times a week and 5:2ing into the foreseeable future, and avoid sugar in all it's evident and hidden forms too.
Sorry for going on a bit :0)

Happy to share m'dear. Pain started at about age 48 so yes, coincided with onset of menopause and I have recently read a medical paper explaining the science ascribed to this and it is common.
I stopped working age 52, just couldn't go on, burned out and pain and dreadful hot flushes at 4 an hour made meetings in small rooms unpleasant for everyone (worked for the local council).
I've always eaten dairy, not so much eggs until recently, love cheese in all it's forms, and yogurt. I hated the thought of breaking vegetarianism for piscatorianism and spend weeks checking, thinking, pondering and felt guilty when I started on the fish, but it needed to be done for my health ultimately. I brought my children up veggie and they were horrified, stunned, angry with me for breaking faith. One has remained proper veggie while the other now also has fish and occasionally fowl.