Why Being A
Vegetarian Is ..............



 - Bad

-  Good

-  Healthy

-  Unhealthy

-  Good For The Environment



If you Google just those 5 words,

Why Being A Vegetarian Is ..... ,

you are sure to find loads of articles in

support of your position, whatever that

position may be.



Most meat eaters will scoff at vegetarians

and vegetarians will look at meat eaters

like they are looking at a mass murderer. 


I learned very early on, when doing the

Gun Shows (no, I don't sell guns, I sell stun

guns) do not tell anyone I am a vegetarian.

They look at me funny as they back away

very slowly.


It was then that I realized, okay, I am

surrounded by people who like to hunt. So

I decided to just keep it to myself. Because

in the end, whether you eat meat or not, it

really is a very personal thing and you

don't need to go around preaching your

position, either way.



Now just to be clear, I am not a vegan. I

will eat eggs, cheese and drink milk. I just

don't eat anything with eyeballs. Or

anything that, prior to ending up on my

plate, could look me in the eye. Again, it's

just a personal thing.


I tell people that Adam and Eve and all of

the animals in the Garden Of Eden were

vegetarians (see Genesis 1:29-30) and we'll

all be vegetarians in Heaven, so I'm just

sticking with that plan while I'm here on

Earth. 



I think that my aversion to killing animals

started at a very early age. Ever since

'Bambi' I became quite emotional at the

thought of killing deer. In fact, I am sure

that I ruined every deer hunting trip that

my father ever went on, until he finally

quite.


His hunting trips with his buddies was

always a big production. He'd get up

in the middle of the night to pack and I just

knew that he was off to kill Bambi's dad. I

was maybe 5 or 6 years old and I would cry

the whole time he was getting ready.


As I looked back on that experience, I

realized the odd thing was, every time he

got home he'd say, "Nope honey, I missed

every shot so no deer this time".  Of course,

I would be thrilled. 


He probably did his fair share of killing but

he knew there was no way he could bring

any kind of a dead animal home, so his

hunting buddies probably got it all.



I do have to laugh though, at some of the

articles that I have read and the position

the writers take. According to these

'experts' being a vegetarian is surely going

to put me into an early grave. I wonder if

they work for the beef industry? I have

learned from my many years on this earth

that just because somebody claims to be an

'expert', you can't always trust that what

they are telling you is the complete truth. 



No matter what a person's position is, on

just about any subject really, they can find

enough data, be it skewed or not, to give

support to their argument. If somebody

wants to cite a study that was done as

proof, they can quite possibly find just the

right data, and maybe even tweak it a bit.  



For instance, I read an article where an

'expert' was claiming that the vegetarians in

the study had much worse health than the

meat eaters. Really? Well, if you took a group

of vegetarians that ate nothing but Mac 'N

Cheese and sat in front of the TV every spare

minute, I suppose that they are not going to

be in the best of health. And a study claiming

the same about meat eaters, could have used

a group that ate nothing but fast food cheese

burgers and never touched a vegetable, ever! 



I am sure the truth is, there are just as many

healthy meat eaters as there are healthy

vegetarians. I am also sure that the reverse is

true, there are unhealthy vegetarians as well

as unhealthy meat eaters. It is not the choice

to be a vegetarian or a meat eater, but rather

the overall food choices that you make. The

main thing is, whatever path you choose, eat

healthy.


Unfortunately, that is just not as easy as it

once was. Unless you are paying attention to

what you are buying at the grocery store and

reading labels, you could be putting all sorts

of dangerous ingredients into your body. Just

because something has 'Healthy' slapped on

the label, it ain't necessarily so. I read

somewhere that when at the grocery store, if

you stay just with the outer aisles, you'll have

a better chance of avoiding most of the

processed foods.


You know the ones, where you can't even

pronounce most of the ingredients.



The thing that we must all remember; food

manufacturers are in the business of

making money. They really don't give a

hoot about whether you stay healthy or

not. And I know that this may come as a

shock to you, but advertising, whether it's a

TV commercial or a magazine ad, is

probably not telling you the truth. I

personally do not believe there is truth in

advertising. And if you are in the

advertising industry, please don't be

offended. I know that you are just doing

your job. 



If you are thinking about becoming a

vegetarian, EatingWell has a great article

with a 7-Day Vegetarian Meal Plan. It

includes all of the recipes. So if you are a

vegetarian wannabe, this will give you

step-by-step eating directions. Be aware

though that you may have to modify it a

wee bit. It is 1,200 calories per day and

depending on your age, height and weight,

this may be more or less calories that you

want to consume.



Here is a quick and easy formula for

determining your BMR  (basal metabolic

rate) or how many calories you can

consume each day to maintain your current

weight.

655 + (4.35 x weight in lbs) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age) =

the number of calories per day.



The Center For Young Women's Health

(young? I guess I don't qualify) has a very

interesting article titled

'How To Be A Healthy Vegetarian'



Apparently, there are now 5 different types

of vegetarians. 5?!!! That's just crazy!  Back

in my hippie days (yes, I am very old) we

just called ourselves plain old vegetarians.

But in this age of specialization, there are

all kinds of different categories with some

really fancy-schmancy names.



Flexitarian - Flexitarians are also known as

semi-vegetarians. They occasionally eat fish

or meat, but generally avoid animal

products most of the time. My translation -

sometimes you is and sometimes you ain't.



I think this is the category I was in for a lot

of years. I never bought meat but if I was a

guest at someone's house and they were

serving meat, then that's what I ate. 



The reason I never really acquired a taste

for meat is that my parents always bought

the cheapest meat there was and then

cooked it until it was tough as shoe leather

and I just couldn't chew it. So growing up,

I was just never a big fan.



Pesci-vegetarian- I didn't even think this was

a real word so I looked it up and discovered

that 'Pesci' is Italian for fish. I guess it sounds

better that 'Fish-atarian'. Pescatarians eat fish,

dairy and eggs. But don't eat poultry or any

other meats. Sounds like they just don't eat

critters with legs, 2 or 4.



Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian - Lacto-Ovo

vegetarians don't eat meat, fish or poultry

but do eat dairy. I guess that's me. This is the

most common type of vegetarian. But what a

silly name.



Lacto-Vegetarian - Lacto vegetarians don't

eat meat, fish, poultry or eggs but do eat

dairy. This will put the poor chickens outta

work.



Ovo-Vegetarians - Ovo vegetarians don't

eat meat, fish, poultry or dairy. But they do

eat eggs. So the chickens will still have a job

but all those poor dairy cows will be outta

work.



Vegan - Vegans avoid eating animal

products of any kind or any animal derived

ingredients of any kind. Strictly plant

based. Not even honey! This will put all

those poor little bees outta work.



In addition to helping you figure out just

what kind of vegetarian you may be, The

Center For Young Women's Health also

provides some links to vegetarian recipes.



It really doesn't matter what category you

want to put yourself in, vegetarian or not,

the most important thing is to make sure

you're giving your body the nutrients that

it needs to function properly and be

healthy.



You've heard it a gazillion times - Eat right,

get plenty of sleep and exercise. Sounds

simple? Yes. But not so easy.



If you are looking to lose a little weight, or

maybe a lot, check out The 2 Week Diet. It

is not some special pill or potion. No, it's

just about food and nutrition. You will

learn so much about food and the right

nutrients that will keep your body running

properly, like the fabulous piece of

machinery that it is.



You can lose a lot of weight in just 2 weeks

and then take a break, eat what you want,

within reason of course, and then do The 2

Week Diet again, until you're at your goal

weight.



My recommendation is, wait until after the

holidays though. Who wants to go to a

party and not be able to eat any of the

goodies that will no doubt be available. I

mean, that's just cruel, right?



So if you are wanting to lose some pounds,

make it your goal to start The 2 Week Diet

after all the festivities are over with and

you'll be starting 2018 with a whole new

outlook on life. And since you'll be needing

some new clothes for that new body, you

can hit all of the January sales. Perfect

timing!