Any other Vegetarians out there?

[JHyde]

I think that last line of your post is spot on, whufan.

[mrs harry]

I love that bit " your still young enough" thanks but actually I am old and only now feel confident in my own skin to say what I think is right, when I was younger I still tried to fit in with others and not make waves - not normally that way round maybe? but Iv always been a bit contrary! :-)

[Moonlight]

Hope everyone had good Xmas's! I spent a lot of mine in the kitchen, did a courgette and hazelnut loaf, together with roast pumpkin, butternet squash, parsnips, carrots, swede and potatoes and brussels sprouts.. yummy! And lasted for 2 days.

I know what you mean, JHyde, I used to be worried about that as well, but then I thought, well people wouldnt object if it was a health issue, would they? and I think as others have said, if you are just natural about it, and maybe also offer to bring something for yourself (safest option in my experience!!) people are just fine about it.

Am impressed by all you folks doing this for animal welfare issues. I suppose for me it's been more of a personal lifestyle choice; I was already partially vegetarian (I still ate eggs) but then I started doing meditation about 12 yrs ago and they suggested that it was easier to meditate if you maintained a totally vegetarian diet, plus which I don't have onions or garlic; which is often harder to avoid when buying stuff than the meat is!

[almh]

LOL! I love garlic and onions so I couldn't give them up! I used to eat raw garlic, but I haven't done recently...

I managed to get away with being veggie on Christmas Day - four people serve everyone food to prevent there being a scrum, and my sister gave me loads of chicken. I just glared at her and said to my mum that it was Christmas, and left it. I think it was this act that made my mum cook chicken Kiev yesterday and make me eat it Not a good idea...

[YourFutureMuse]

For christmas dinner this year I just had basically a plate of vegetables :/ Haha. My grandparents haven't caught on to my vegetarian concept yet, though they fail to realise that this little fad of mine had lasted over 4 years!! They live on a farm, typical country people, so to them I am just a strange oddity going against the force of nature. I didn't mind though tbh haha I think that is the best part of xmas dinner, the yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and lots and lots of brussel sprouts

As for the animal rights activism side of it I have to admit I am less passionate nowadays lol. There was a period a couple of years ago when my mum monitored all my trips to town because she thought I was going to stand outside KFC with a placard lol. I also went to a anti fox hunting protest with my friend's mum when I was only a little girl and that was exciting ...

Loads of people at school called me a hypocrite when I do dissections in biology and I suppose they are right..

[carole9908]

(23-12-2009 04:19 AM)YourFutureMuse Wrote:  Thats the word I was racking my brain for lol
I don't mind pescatarians that say there pescatarians its the ones that say they are veggies when they eat fish. My cousin eats chicken and fish and yet still has the cheek to call herself a vegetarian.Pfft. Lol. Sorry I will stop going on about it - tis one of my pet hates lol

Mine too! I had to send one person the link to the page on the Vegetarian Society's website which says "vegetarians don't eat fish" before she would believe me.

[JHyde]

I know several doctors who are vegos, and that was one of the hardest things for them to reconcile, YFM. Ultimately, you can't avoid products that are tested on animals entirely, the same way that dissections and animal testing are part of research practice. Youd' be amazed at the rigors of ethics committees though - my older brother had a real hoopla when he was doing he PhD, and they're stringent about how such research takes place, if it takes place at all.

As to lines of products that undergo animal testing, I'd strongly recommend Lush which has branches all over the world and is fantastic when it come to fair trade, eco development and non animal testing. Started in the UK too.

[YourFutureMuse]

Yeah I love Lush A good proportion of my xmas presents are from there haha but I'm not complaining

[whufan]

I was a member of BUAV in my late teens. I remember when a Body Shop opened where I lived - the day of those huge bottles that you could get refilled. It was a bit too expensive for my student budget but I bought all my bubble bath etc from there. I still buy a fair amount but of course most companies are a little more enlightened now so it's easy to get products which haven't been tested on animals. As for medicine; the fact is that by law new drugs have to be tested on animals. I've supported the Doctor Hadwen Trust in the past. The hardest thing for me is doing charity things and sponsoring people. One of my friends died from a Stroke this year so I did a cycle ride for the Stroke Association. They claim not to test on animals. As a migraine sufferer I have a higher chance of having a stroke myself so I was happy to ask people to sponsor me. Subsequently 2 of my friends did a Race for Life (Cancer Research UK) and the London to Brighton bike ride (British Heart Foundation). CR and BHF both test on animals and I really struggled with my conscience when I sponsored my friends because they both had reasons for doing a run/ride for those charities. Other than the bath melts and the bathbombs I don't like much of Lush's stuff...I remember the days when they were Cosmetics to Go and they only had the shop in Poole.

Charity list

Personally for me not eating meat goes hand in hand with believing that testing on animals is wrong.

[YourFutureMuse]

I think the Dr Hadwen Trust is something I have donated to in the past too I used to do a lot for PETA but they annoy me now and I think they give veggies a bad name sometimes lol

Lush's shower gel is gorgeous as well - my favourite is yummy yummy yummy And I can't go a day without Honey Trap lip balm ( Ah, guess who that just reminded me of )

I was toying with the idea of a biology degree but I think the ethical conflicts of it would get to me lol. Although I would quite like to go in to test tube research