Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - Going Vegetarian
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Old 02-07-2019, 04:12 PM
OrangeBlossomBaby OrangeBlossomBaby is offline
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A vegetarian diet is 100% doable and has the potential to be a healthy dietary choice, if you do your homework and strive for food choices that are not overprocessed or filled with artificial ingredients. Dairy is permissible in a vegetarian diet, because it isn't flesh. Honey is also permissible, and it can be argued that eggs - unfertilized - are also permissible.

When you start finding difficulties is if you choose a vegan diet. Vegans are a whole nuther creature altogether. An ethical vegan will not only shun ANY foods sourced from animals - including honey, dairy, or eggs, but they will also refuse to wear anything made of leather, fur, scales, wool.

It's also important (though it hasn't come up in this thread - YET) to recall that humans are NOT "carnivores." None of them. People who eat meat are omnivores who include meat in their diet. And vegans are NOT herbivores. They are omnivores who reject any animal product or byproduct from their diet. Vegetarians are omnivores who prefer vegetable matter over animal matter, but will consume animal byproducts, such as honey.

If you're doing it for health reasons I would recommend a mediterranean diet over a vegetarian diet. Mostly vegetable matter (fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, fungii, rice) but also including fish, a small amount of whole grain (think: oatmeal) and enjoying a minimal amount of poultry, eggs, and dairy. The fresher the better for all of it, the more processed, the less you should consume. So bake your own peasant bread, don't fry your fish, make grits or oatmeal from scratch - not from a package "just add water and stir."