Hey I've been an ova-lacto vegetarian for a good many years now. My mom was a vegetarian until my brother was born (he's 12 now, I'm 20) and until then I never ate meat. At that point I ate meat for a few years, maybe from when I was 8 until around 11. I didn't like it much and I felt bad for animals in factory farms and know that I couldn't kill an animal for food. I've been rethinking my choice to be a vegetarian now. I have no problem eating eggs (we have ducks and chickens and have lots of fresh eggs) and eating things with milk in them even though I'm not a fan of the taste plain. I just wonder: am I missing out? Is it worth it? Plus, I'm hoping to go to Guatemala on a travel program this summer and it would probably be easier to stop being vegetarian then. I'm thinking maybe of taking a break from being a vegetarian for the trip, but I don't know. I've also thought about being vegan or trying it for a while to see if I could do it, but that would be hard. Who has been in similar situations or even if not, what do you think?
I took a break from meat for about 2 years during my freshman and sophmore year. It kind of got hard when my family would have steak, and I'd have a salad. I'd drool over their steak, burgers, sandwiches. It just tastes so good. Just try it, if you are curious. If you don't like the taste, you can just go back to being a vegetarian. =)
I have been vegan for 12 years and don't feel like I'm missing out at all. I wasn't really all that big of a foodie when I was a kid/pre-teen, and I have had some of the best food ever since I have been vegan. I have some cookbooks with the most delicious vegan stuff. I think if you want to try eating meat just to see if you miss it, you should. You may find that you don't like it because you aren't used to it. You don't have to let anyone guilt-trip you for your choices though if you do decide to add it back to your diet. I would also suggest that if you plan to go off being vegetarian while you are in Guatemala, you should start adding some meat to your diet sooner. Your system may have problems processing it since you haven't eaten it for awhile, and you wouldn't want to get sick on your trip. Good luck to you!
if you're comfortable with it, then that's totally up to you. i've been vegan for about 4 years now and i sometimes wonder if i'll ever eat certain animal things again. diet is a completely personal choice. personally, while i did enjoy meat, when i first stopped eating it i realized how much it actually made my stomach ache. my tongue liked it, but my body really didn't. so be careful if you do try it, don't eat too much at once in case your body actually doesn't like it.
I have to say I've been without meat for the last week and I feel a little different. It's kind of hard to explain. I want to say I almost feel more healthy than before. My mind has also felt a little more clear. In addition, my stomach has felt not quite as bloated as well. However, later on in the day I do feel slightly peckish/tired sometimes. I think it must be a deficiency of iron or something, I'm thinking of finding iron supplements to take care of that . I dunno how long I'm gonna continue this experiment quite yet, however so far, so good
I've been a vegetarian since I was seven, and it's a bit difficult because no one else in my family was a vegetarian, until my sister decided to become one a few months ago. I personally never liked the taste of meat, and I hated the thought of animals being killed for it. Now, even the smell of meat smells terrible to me. So with that sort of thought in mind, don't suddenly decide to eat meat on your trip. It'll probably end up upsetting your stomach, or at least I imagine it would. You might want to try easing back into meat, and try it with white meat, like chicken or fish or something. If you're getting protein in your diet somehow though, you probably aren't missing much in your diet. I'm perfectly healthy, even with not eating meat for so long. I just eat a lot of fruits and soy meat. Good luck with whatever you decide, and I hope you have a great time in Guatemala! You should come back and tell us all about your trip, because I'd love to hear about it
The vegan diet is really hard if anyone else is cooking for you. You pretty much have to be responsible for all of your own meals. Your food choices are very limited--hardcore vegans don't even eat white sugar as it's bleached with bone. It's much easier to get all of your nutrients if you're eating meat. You will likely have a difficult time with it in Guatemala if you're a vegetarian. I definitely agree with the people saying "ease into it". Start with a few mouthfuls. Your body needs to learn how to process it. Look for "Happy meat" that was raised properly; also meat labelled "Kosher" was slaughtered humanely. My foster sister was a vegetarian until last fall, and ended up, as a young adult, so malnourished she was a pale sickly stick. She's a college student, with little time to cook proper meals, and she wasn't getting the right nutrients. Eating meat for the first time in her life is helping her build her health back. My little sister was a vegetarian from the time she was three years old until she hit puberty. She realised she needed meat then for her body to develop properly.
