[Silverdragon102]

Originally Posted by Tweety

That sounds real good and easy to make. Do you use frozen spinach or fresh leaves?

I prefer fresh spinach and it is easy to make, I am a big fan of no measuring and throwing stuff in a pan

[herbivorousRN]

Great thread,Tweety...thank you! As you can probably surmise by my username, I am a vegetarian. Not a vegan..as I do consume dairy products and eggs. But ABSOLUTELY NO flesh...including seafood. I have been visiting Allnurses EVERY day for the past year or so, but I have only posted a few times.I just had to respond to this thread,though! I see you are from St Petersburg....I live in Spring Hill, Florida.
Cheryl

[Tweety]

Originally Posted by herbivorousRN

Great thread,Tweety...thank you! As you can probably surmise by my username, I am a vegetarian. Not a vegan..as I do consume dairy products and eggs. But ABSOLUTELY NO flesh...including seafood. I have been visiting Allnurses EVERY day for the past year or so, but I have only posted a few times.I just had to respond to this thread,though! I see you are from St Petersburg....I live in Spring Hill, Florida.
Cheryl

Hi Cheryl. I drove through Spring Hill on my way up north last year. Bustling and growing little town. Any good health food stores there yet? Publix over the last ten years has been having great selections for the health conscious vegetarian too. Nice to meet you!

Originally Posted by daisybaby

I do the 'flexitarian' thing when I'm a guest in other people's homes, too. I'll load up on veggies and just a small bit of whatever animal protein is being served. At restaurants, if there's not a good veggie entree (dinner salads and pasta primavera gets old pretty quick!), I'll go with fish or seafood.


I tried the vegan route before, but on the tight budget I have and the lack of vegan choices in my area, it got prohibitive to the point I was eating raw foods only.

Hi! Going out and going to another's home can be trickey for the vegetarian sometimes. I try, but sometimes I'm a good old hippocrit and eat meat. I try for the veggie options first if they have any. Most of the restaurants around here have good vegetarian options on their menu.

[Jaguar Boy]

Greetings fellow Vegetarians!

I'm so glad a thread has been started on this topic...I've been wondering how many veggie nurses are out there.

I've wobbled back and forth between being a meat eater to veggie (in high school and the first part of university), back to meat...and then just recently, a pretty serious embracing of vegetarianism. My two brothers embrace vegetarianism too...My older brother, who inspired my first journey as a veggie, is a strict vegan, down to not wearing silk, wool or using bee products in any way. He's been vegan for about 15 years. He became vegetarian during university when he decided that meat was way too expensive for a student's budget. My younger brother, is more of a flexiarian.

Our parents are pretty good about all this, when the family gathers for special occasion meals, legumes and "tofurky" proteins tend to grace the table rather than animal proteins...

I'm pretty impressed with my boyfriend's acceptance of veggie eating...he now buys veggie lunch "meat", eats a lot more tofu and no longer comments when we visit my favourite cheap vegan restaurant. Though he still eats meat, he shares my veggie tastes because it's better for his health and much easier on the bank account.

My latest exploration is for vegan bath, cosmetic, clothing and footwear products...I am so impressed with the availabilty through web shopping!

I guess I'm fortunate to live in a large, urban centre with incredible cultural diversity...veggie shopping is easy and very cheap...a good thing since I'm returning to school soon!

So, it's great to meet all of you, I hope we can share some great veggie advice and life experience.

[Tweety]

Originally Posted by Jaguar Boy

Greetings fellow Vegetarians!

I'm so glad a thread has been started on this topic...I've been wondering how many veggie nurses are out there.

I've wobbled back and forth between being a meat eater to veggie (in high school and the first part of university), back to meat...and then just recently, a pretty serious embracing of vegetarianism. My two brothers embrace vegetarianism too...My older brother, who inspired my first journey as a veggie, is a strict vegan, down to not wearing silk, wool or using bee products in any way. He's been vegan for about 15 years. He became vegetarian during university when he decided that meat was way too expensive for a student's budget. My younger brother, is more of a flexiarian.

Our parents are pretty good about all this, when the family gathers for special occasion meals, legumes and "tofurky" proteins tend to grace the table rather than animal proteins...

I'm pretty impressed with my boyfriend's acceptance of veggie eating...he now buys veggie lunch "meat", eats a lot more tofu and no longer comments when we visit my favourite cheap vegan restaurant. Though he still eats meat, he shares my veggie tastes because it's better for his health and much easier on the bank account.

My latest exploration is for vegan bath, cosmetic, clothing and footwear products...I am so impressed with the availabilty through web shopping!

I guess I'm fortunate to live in a large, urban centre with incredible cultural diversity...veggie shopping is easy and very cheap...a good thing since I'm returning to school soon!

So, it's great to meet all of you, I hope we can share some great veggie advice and life experience.

Great post. I wish there were vegan restaurants here, but it's a pretty vegetarian friendly place anyway. You're lucky your bf is supportive. My ex was like that, he ate meat, but "supported my eating disorder" as he lovingly said. But when he first bought veggie burgers on his own without my support I loved it.

I've used http://www.veganessentials.com/ a few times and can vouch for their excellent service. They have relatively cheap vegan soap called "Veganu" which contains no animal fat like regular soap, as well as vegan candles (but they are expensive, but I've bought them and like them). I've gotten a leather-free belt from them as well and love it.

Another online source I've used and they provided me with jet fast service is http://www.zappos.com/n/br/bq/866.html where I found all white leather-free New Balance sneakers for work that actually fit my extrawide feet.

I think it's the next step to being vegetarian is too take a look at the animal products, or products tested on animals, that we use every day and find vegetarian alternatives.

If you have any good websites to post, please do.

[Blackcat99]

When I use to eat meat many many years ago, I would get stomach distress after meals. When I became a vegetarian, I no longer had that stomach distress.

[Tweety]

Originally Posted by Blackcat99

When I use to eat meat many many years ago, I would get stomach distress after meals. When I became a vegetarian, I no longer had that stomach distress.

That happened to a friend of mine. He figured there was something about animal protein that disagreed with him and when he went vegan (kicking and screaming) he felt better.

[mercyteapot]

I have been moving towards flexitarianism for quite some time... I don't think I will ever totally give up eating meat, chicken and fish, but I've cut back drastically on red meat.

As for Bethin's question about spaghetti, I love unadorned marinara sauce, but if you miss the meaty texture, adding mushrooms to the sauce helps a lot. One of my favorite recipes is a dish that uses white beans and spinach atop spaghetti noodles. I don't how healthy it is, though, since it is topped with copious amounts of Parmesan. Of course, you can reduce or eliminate that ingredient if you wish.

[Silverdragon102]

Originally Posted by Blackcat99

When I use to eat meat many many years ago, I would get stomach distress after meals. When I became a vegetarian, I no longer had that stomach distress.

My husband has been veggie for over 25 years and he once has some meat product after being told it was veggie and said he was so ill especially with his stomach that he is now so careful. If I ever have any meat I either buy it already cooked or I have a pan which is just for me and cooking meat that way there are no mistakes

[lucky1RN]

Yahoo for this thread!
I eat mostly vegan so I guess I am a flexitarian. I made this choice because a) I've done some research about the health/environmental effects of eating mass-produced animal . Has anyone read The China Study or Eat to Live?
and b) I am an animal lover to a fault. As pathetic as this sounds, I have been known to be reduced to tears when seeing a truck on the highway full of animals on the way to slaughter. I can't stand to see the lobsters in the tank at the grocery store. I once spent weeks trying to save a baby rabbit who's mother died in birth...I fed it with an eye dropper 6-8 times a day...even in the middle of the night. When it died, I burried it at sea (his name was Seymour).
When I chew on meat or poultry, all I can think of is what suffering the animal went through to end up on my plate. I think if I lived on a farm that was self-sustaining I would be an animal eater. It would be different if the animal lead a happy healthy life and was slaughtered humanely. I do try occasionally to eat meat (I too get that feeling that I need it) but I'm always grossed out after the first few bites. I'm pretty ok with fish.
Strangely, to date I haven't made any great effort to avoid animal products/cruelty in my cosmetics, clothing, etc.
Anyway, I have a question for those of you who are able to eat a lot of beans. Do you take anything to help with digestion? I try and try to add more beans to my diet but they wreak havoc on my intestines!