Christian Vegetarianism

[liamum]

Recently I have felt like God is asking me to reexamine my diet - I feel like I am being led to consider vegetarianism. I've just begun doing some research on Christian vegetarianism and find the arguments compelling. I haven't completely made the leap yet . . . DH seems interested in the idea though, which would make things easier :tu

[diamondintherough]

Good for you, mama! :tu

We are not vegetarian in our home, but I try to have at least 2-3 veggie night time meals per week. The kids and I are mostly veggie during the day. My DH is NOT on board, so you've got 1/2 the battle won already! I've been looking at some of the same things that you have. Even putting aside the "Christian vegetarian" part of it, when you think of healthful eating, what you do you think of? Not bacon or prime rib, I'm sure!

There are a lot of aspects to vegetariansm to look at. For me, it's a matter of eating more healthily and taking care of my temple.

I'd be interested to see what links you come up with that people like us would find interesting.

Cristina

[flowermama]

That's great, Leigh, that you're looking into it! :smile

That's neat your dh is interested. My dh eats vegan at home mostly, and (rarely) if he eats something that's not vegan (like tuna fish) he'll fix it himself. So dh is not vegan, but he's very respectful of my and the kids' choices, so that's very cool.

Cristina, that's great you are moving towards a more plant-based diet. :tu

[diamondintherough]

Flowermama--thanks for the encouragement!

[ArmsOfLove]

After spending the afternoon with our best friends who had become vegan while we were caught up in having Liam and having him be sooooo sick (we asked lots of questions and they shared lots of information) we were driving home with dh told me, "I've been thinking and if you want to go vegan it's okay with me if we do" :grin I didn't bother telling him that I had already cut out eggs and dairy and hadn't cooked meat in a month :shifty I quickly told him I did and thank you and assured him that while I am in charge of what food is bought and prepared in our home I wasn't his mother and what he ate out of the house was his business. Less that a year later he was talking about them buying him a vegan pizza at work and I asked if he was eating vegan out of the house too. He said that he was because he'd noticed that when he ate the food I made he felt good and when he ate other food he felt yucky so he decided to eat like I was cooking :grin

Right now I'm not eating vegan but I'm making sure to eat TONS of veggies! :tu I'll be back to eating vegan asap though :)

[Desert Rose]

I have been vegetarian for about 14 months now. I am much healthier than I used to be, I've lost weight and my digestive issues are pretty much gone! At first is was hard, because I didn't know what to eat. But now it is like second nature. Not only do i not crave meat, it makes me sick just thinking about it (although I do prepare some for ds and dh when he is not deployed :td ). It is also nice to know that nothing has to suffer and die for the enjoyment of my taste buds. :soapbox

Anyway, I am not vegan. I do eat some dairy (organic and hopefully rennet free). But that is slowly getting cut out, too. We'll see...
I will probably always use eggs, but I only eat free range, vegetarian fed. I actually have chickens, but they don't lay much because i feed them a natural diet without egg boosters. I used to eat MIL's chicken's eggs, but then I discovered they were eating egg booster and sometimes dog food! :sick

[liamum]

Thanks for all the encouragement. I definitely think it is something I want to implement after the holidays. I have not had a very vegetarian Christmas with all our visits to family! I'm not sure I can be vegan right away, but maybe begin with no meat or poultry and later consider further restrictions.

[diamondintherough]

Some people go "cold turkey" if you'll excuse the expression :lol and some make gradual changes over time.

I started by slowly replacing things in my family's diet. Yes, it was sneaky, but most of those changes have stuck. For example, when I would make meatloaf I would substitue 1/2 of the ground beef with tvp (texturized vegetable protein). I would soak it in soy sauce or Bragg's aminos so they wouldn't be thrown off (otherwise you'd have these white "things" showing up on meatloaf colored background). I would do this with anything that called for ground beef--meat loaf, american chopped suey, even tacos. They never noticed. For tacos you can use Smartground and your regular taco seasoning instead of the 1/2 and 1/2 mixture. I did this for over a year before anyone knew (and that was because dh was hovering over me in the kitchen and I couldn't hold dinner any longer :lol). They all thought they were the BEST tacos every time I made them. :lol

Then, I started phasing in more fruits and veggies and weeding out all of our yucky snacks and replacing them with better alternatives. Instead of cheetos, I would substitute something like cheetos without the artificial colors and flavors. For cookies, I started making more homemade and would substitute 1/2 whole wheat flour for the white flour and experimented with using honey instead of sugar. We also use our bread machine a lot and I insist on making whole grain breads which my kids will readily gobble up if it's homemade. The stuff from the store I've lost the battle on--dh has "allowed" them to get white bread :sick2, so as often as I can I try to get more whole grains into them. Fortunately, there are a lot of alternatives out there now. (I have one ds who reacts to artificial colors and flavors, so I've gotten really picky about what's acceptable for snacks around here.

I know what you mean about being afraid to go vegan from the beginning. There are so many changes just going to vegetarian that cutting out milk and eggs seems daunting--that is until you learn more about how to make those substitutions. There are boxed egg replacers out there and you can actually make your own--my favorite involves grinding up flax seeds and adding water. You use 1/4 cup for each egg in the recipe. There are soy "yogurts" out there, but I haven't had any luck finding one that tastes good.

When my dd 2yo was born I was basically forced to go without milk products and eggs because she would react every time. It was hard at first, but I still don't eat those things and don't really miss them anymore. I will eat (very occasionally) some cheese now and vitamin b12 (hee hee my codeword for ice cream!), but she's still nursing and I'm really careful. My 2 yo can't have anything with milk in it, so we usually just substitute soy or rice milk--even in our mashed potatoes.

So, I'm at the point now where the kids and I are veggie during the day and at least 2-3 night-time meals a week I try to do vegetarian. Since the little one doesn't do any milk they end up being vegan for the most part. This is a huge improvement from where we were a year ago :-)

Sorry for the long dissertation--sometimes I get windy :O

[glassangel]

Liamum - I am in a similar position...DH & I about a year ago decided to eat healthier, 3 complete veg meals, 2 fish, 1 red meat, 1 poultry - hoping to phase out the meat altogether (this was after reading Dr Sears Family Nutrition Book)...things went down hill though but recently (after putting on weight) I have begun reading this in this forum and wanting to eat better.

I just struggle with the will power - I am such an emotional eater! (Part of why I want to go veg too) When I feel down or outta control the easy food becomes the comfort - food is such a comfort for me...which I am attacking by having a menu and sticking to it! So I don't cook what I feel like so much as what is planned...

anyway I am going on a bit...just wanted to say that I am at the same point as you and my DH is fairly ok with the idea...how are you going to start this?

AJ :D

[liamum]

Thanks again for all the support. We did it :highfive DH and I went to Whole Foods after church so I could shop plus also get a vegetarian cookbook. I ended up buying one of the Moosewood cookbooks (there is a series of them- this one is not vegan, but I think one or two in the series are). DH is actually quite excited about the shift!

I explained to him how, once I felt God put the idea in my head to explore further, I reached some conclusions. One was just the whole idea of excess in our culture. I mean, it's one thing to truly need meat for survival, but in our culture there is just so much choice that one doesn't need meat to live. And I want to be less "excessive" in general. Another is the idea that animals have souls and the idea that an animal shouldn't suffer for us to be fed. Another is health reasons in general.

This is al still quite new for me, so I'm still feeling my way around. We're including dairy for now, but we may eventually change that.

AJ- do you feel drawn to meat when you are feeling down (i.e. as in fast food meals?) Just curious. I am an emotional eater as well, but moreso with chips and junk foods.

[glassangel]

Definitely - tho' I wouldn't have pinpointed meat - but I know if emotionally I am not coping then pizza is a good option :grin or the fast-foods...I think for me it's more than just going vegetarian for main meals but trying to cut out unhealthy snack options *so hard*.

We are going to do a month of vegetarian starting next week (when we get back from a weeks holiday) sort of as a trial but with plans to continue. We already have a few nice vege meals that I do and one spicy thai fish one that you can substitute tofu for which is delicious...I am looking for a good book tho'

Well good on you liamum...let me know how you go and if you get any cravings etc,
:)
AJ

[acrunchymama]

we used to be total vegetarians but we stopped after about 5 yrs. i don't really know why. we still eat really well next to other people i know but we have decided this year we will go back to it! :)
however we are all sick of the recipes i know and even tho i have cookbooks i still don't know what to make!! i hate cooking and that's a big part of the problem. so i'll be looking to you ladies to help me out! :beandip2

[joyfulmomof2]

I am definitely thinking along the same lines as you, Leigh. Great thread. Thanks for getting it started. :)

[peacefulveganmom]

Good for you, ladies! I am so happy to see this thread here. :tu I have been a vegetarian since I was a kid, and a vegan for 2 years now, The Lord totally led me to where I am. My vegan lifestyle is so very much an integral part of my Christian walk. I will write more later, NAK at the moment, but just wanted to throw a few links out there for those of you doing the research thing.
www.vegfamily.com One of my favorite veg. resources
www.vegweb.com Lots of wonderful recipes
www.christianveg.com Great info on why Christianity & vegetarianism go hand
in hand
Best wishes to those of you switching to a veggie diet. ;) The transition can be tough, but soooo worth it. I feel so much better physically as well as spiritually! I know you will, too! :heart

[liamum]

Vegmom- I love the Christian vegetarian site that you mention as well (christianveg.com) :tu

[acrunchymama]

thanks for the links! i joined the christianveg site too! :peace

[diamondintherough]

Vegmom--thanks for the links! I would love for you to start another thread and talk about how your Christian walk and VEG lifestyle work together. I think that others would find it encouraging as well. Even if you just share more about how you are feeling physically and spiritually since you went vegan, I'd be interested :)

[acrunchymama]

guess what! my dd decided to treat us all to mcdonalds.! well i certainly didn't want to say no after such a generous offer so we went. my 5 yr old parker remained firm in his decision to not eat animals! he sat there with tears in his eyes eating a salad while his sisters ate happy meals. my heart broke! praise God i remembered that he said he would eat fish - but not chicken-so he agreed to have a fish sandwich. ( not a healthy meal i know but...) and he was so much happier!! he's my sweet little baby. i'm sorry if i sound crazy but i love him ( and all of them) so much!! :heart

[diamondintherough]

Tami, you are not crazy! I have one dd who is almost exclusively vegetarian. Do you think he was crying because he didn't get a toy? In case you didn't know, you can buy the toys separately for $1. (Some McDonalds will give them away free).

Cristina

[acrunchymama]

i thought of the toy aspect as well but he had already "stolen" his sister's toy anyway so i bought HER a new one lol

[Desert Rose]

Just watch those McDonald fries...they are NOT vegetarian!

[peacefulveganmom]

Diamondintherough- Sure! I'd love to share :heart.....Can't do it right now, though, as I'm short on time. But keep a watch out for a new thread coming soon! :rockon

[diamondintherough]

Apron strings---I'll be looking forward to it!

Acrunchymama--I remember hearing about that--do they coat them with lard or something like that?

[diamondintherough]

I found a link:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/06/05/national/main511109.shtml

This article appeared in 2002 and toward the end it states that after 1990 McDonald's began using only pure vegetable oil for frying, but it appears that they continued using "beef flavoring" in their fries after that. I don't have time now, but hope to do a little more digging to see if there's anything else we should know.

[liamum]

Interesting article! It reminds me- I keep meaning to look up Hinduism and the religious reasons for vegetarianism.

[mamamachanteuse]

AJ. I stuggled with emotional eating for a long time and have finally gotten pretty good control over it. It took a while just to be able to recognize when I was actually hungry and when I was actually thirsty (water is a big deal) and when I really just needed comfort. Then I had to figure out what else could fill the gap. As with any addiction your trying to fulfill a real need. Ignoring it won't make it go away. Try a long hot bath to relax. Or get your dh to scratch your back(a favorite of mine) or give you a massage. Or try writing in a journal or maybe doing something physical like going for a walk so you can think and get the blood flowing. Just some suggestions...seek and ye shall find. Blessings to you!
Temple

[glassangel]

Thanks so much Aria - those are really good ideas, I am just becoming more aware of these issues and am reading a FLYlady book - called Body Clutter- mostly to deal with my relationship with food and the unhealthiness of it...it is really good and is encouraging journalling. There are a lot of reasons for my emotional eating, so its going to be babysteps for me I think!

Thanks for the encouragement - I need it! (Also I think the picture of your daughters is GORGEOUS!!!!)
AJ

[geegee]

:grouphugLeigh,Ive been veggie for two years then made the move to vegan and have been here for 4 months now.It isnt easy but I would say its worth it.I also have bombarded with alot of worldly philosophy about veganism so remember scripture ahead of books.Study the genisis acount of creation and post flood{especially gen 9.Its just too easy to loose track of Gods word and start believing all this darwinian stuff.

[liamum]

Thank you, Geegee!

[peacefulveganmom]

I also have bombarded with alot of worldly philosophy about veganism so remember scripture ahead of books.Study the genisis acount of creation and post flood{especially gen 9.Its just too easy to loose track of Gods word and start believing all this darwinian stuff.



I agree! :yes