Sexy vegetarianism could save the world

Vegetarians still consume dairy products, and eggs that could be from caged hens. Up to a million bobby calves are stolen from their mother cows to be killed as 'by products' and others are confined to be raised for veal.

The real vegetarian is vegan. It is not about being 'sexy' but humane, environmentally sustainable and having compassion for living creatures. If this isn't popular it is the flaw of human society, not the food or the lifestyle. The livestock industries have a lot of sway in governments too.

The problem with non-acceptance of vegetarian lifestyle is reality. Most people function in the real world, and in the real world vegetarians are NOT healthy. We need at least a small amount of animal protein for health - there are some things that have no substitutes. I have never met a truly healthy vegetarian yet - they all have less efficient immune systems and resistance to infection. Spend time in the tropics among them and see how many develop tropical ulcers. Local Doctors and Pharmacists will ask about vegetarian habits before anything else when they see persistent ulcers.

Yes Sarah, I too am viewed as something off another planet when it comes to my eating habits. I have been a long time vegetarian and a year ago switched to being vegan. As a spin off , one year later my cholesterol and triglycerides have moved from the high normal range into the low normal range. When invited to dinner my friends are amazed at the food I cook, but end their compliments with 'I could never be like you'. So they pop their cholesterol lowering agents, diabetes medications and blood pressure tabs. While I take no such medications and intend to live out my days pill free. People are astounded when they hear I am 64, most take me for late 40's and full of energy, who knows I may even be sexy!

I became vegetarian because of the unethical treatment of animals; feed lots, pigs that live cramped in pens unable to turn around, chickens that never see the light of day and becoming vegan followed many years later when I had my eyes opened to the dairy farming and egg producing industries. In these horror shows cows are nothing more than milk producing machines constantly inseminated so they produce offspring, many calves are ripped from their mothers a few days after birth and slaughtered so we humans can drink cows milk. Look into any aspect of the meat industry and a horror story is waiting to unfold. Ever thought about what happens to the majority of male chicks when they are born so we can eat eggs? Even the most stringent of free range no de-beaking hens are all female! So what happened to the male chicks?
If you are serious about climate change become vegan, persevere, and you will be saving the planet and much more. Angela McD

Thanks, Sarah. I have been a vegan (a snobby vegetarian 'Brahmin') for thirty years. I have not worn "'Jesus sandals' for about thirty years and I have always hated tutleneck jumpers (even if not made from wool). And my wallet is made of nylon!

Australians consume too many calories, and could certainly do with less meat and more vegies. But humans are built metabolically and physiologically to be omnivores, and some meat should be part of a health balanced diet. Vegetarianism is too extreme, and like this article have strong neurotic and phobic traits. Exasperation with vegetarians frequently comes with having already having dealt to ones own little kids and their food fads! Sarah , the photo makes you look too thin....I hope you are keeping you BMI above a healthy 20.

I have been a vegetarian for many decades for ethical reasons. I am aware however, that I am blessed to live in a country where I have a choice. It is perfectly normal for people to eat meat and many of the world’s poor simply don’t have a choice about their protein source.

Far from being faced with “antagonism” or accusations of being “self-centred”, my family and friends have always treated my decision to be a vegetarian with the utmost respect. As well, all have been willing and enthusiastic dinner guests at my home on many, many occasions. They have also had the pleasure of being successfully challenged to make something more “interesting” (a friend’s quote) than they might have done otherwise when I’ve been a guest of theirs. I must say however, that many restaurants/chefs do not offer creative vegetarian choices for vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike, and I would dearly like to see this change.

I would suggest that there is NOTHING “sexy” about claiming superiority over non-vegetarians. It’s as sexy as a fundamentalist person of any religion you care to name claiming they are the only people worthy of a happy after-life! Such a “fascist” attitude can only lead to defensiveness (understandably), is arrogant and counter-productive.

The American Dietetic Association this year released an updated position paper, published in the July issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, on vegetarian (meaning vegan) diets. It concludes such diets, if well planned, are healthy and nutritious for adults, infants, children and adolescents and can help prevent and treat chronic diseases including heart disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes. Vegan diets are often associated with health advantages including lower blood cholesterol levels, lower risk of heart disease, lower blood pressure levels and lower risk of hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Vegans tend to have a lower body mass index and lower overall cancer rates. Vegan diets are lower in saturated fat with no cholesterol, and have higher levels of dietary fibre, magnesium and potassium, vitamins C and E, folate, carotenoids, flavonoids and other phytochemicals.

It's not about "sexiness". It's about the fact that veganism is the easiest and fastest way to cut greenhouse gases and help stop climate chaos. It's about becoming a more compassionate society. It's about the human race growing up as a species. Veganism's got it all. And the food is exquisite. Vegan's the only game in town.

You ask 'who or what is to blame for vegetarianism's image problem?'

Disruptive groups like PETA and people who think that if we are not vegetarian, then we must have a hankering for goose intestines or duck embryos.

And people who don't eat meat and then admit that 'we actually are morally superior.'

Vegetarianism is just a stage that teenage girls go through, but most grow out of.

Ironic isn't it? We are so consumed today with what we look like and what we eat, that we have forgotten *how* to eat. Our eating habits are characterised more than often by absent-mindedness. When we sit down to eat, we consume our worries, our dislikes, our thoughts – rarely the food itself. Wasn't it the French playwright Moliere who said, "one should eat to live, not live to eat"? My understanding (having been a vegetarian in the past) is that a vegetarian protests against his/her lack of control in a highly politicised and capitalised world. What he/she chooses to eat or not eat is further defined by the needs of the body as a political, cultural and/or religious vessel. Vegetarianism therefore is a protest against one's self, despite the "health" issues that may result (e.g. anaemia). It's not *about* the food, or the environment or animal mistreatment per se. What sustains a vegetarian through years of abstention (if I can use that word) is a kind of self-denial. Meat is not the issue here; it is how we eat that matters: mindfulness and compassion for all living and non-living sources.

Good one, Sarah. I am not a vegetarian but eat less meat than I used to, partly because of environmental/animal welfare concerns, partly because if you just stop eating it, you lose interest after a while (I'm convinced that most of our food preferences are mere habit).

While I'm not likely to give up meat entirely, I'm trying to limit my consumption to two meat meals a week. If everyone did this we'd make a significant impact on greenhouse gas, save a lot of animal lives and still get our protein, iron, etc. And no, it wouldn't ruin the livestock industry - most Australian farms are a mix of stock/crops and farmers could simply change the mix (they do this all the time in line with changes in prices/demand).

A while back I had a go at lentil burgers and my son (age 7) told me loudly that "was yuck" and he wouldn't be eating dinner, thanks. He tried one, declared it "yum", ate the whole thing and demanded another one.

Good on you. I am 69 years old and a vegetarian for 23 years. I have just completed a walk from Fremantle WA to Federation Square Melbourne Victoria. I eat raw food and finished a lot healthier than when I started. I must admit I feel a little pleased with myself. Mike Pauly

My wife and I are omnivores. If vegetarian friends come for dinner
we cook vegetarian. When we are invited to their place, why won't they cook meat for us?

Even reformed alcoholics will offer booze to their guests.

If God didn't want us to eat animals he wouldn't have made them out of meat.

Toyota Prius: 89 grams of CO2 per kilometre.

Bicycle or walking: effectively none.

I'm not sexy in the sense that Sarah is promoting, but I am sexual, even though celibate.

I'm sexual and I eat meat. I don't discriminate against vegetarians or vegans but do discriminate against Ingrid Newkirk of PETA and those who believe as she does.

Why?

Because PETA is using higly emotive blackmail tactics - such as the sex thing, to make out that eating meat is wrong and if you want to be sexy (in the genital way), don't eat meat or fish of any kind.

If all the world ate meat there would be tremendous trouble, just as, if all the world were vegetarian or vegan there would be tremendous trouble. The real issue, surely, is not whether we eat or don't eat meat, but that we live a lifestyle so all can eat.

Reality says that in some parts of the world, vegetarianism, veganism will provide a staple diet, whereas, in other parts of the world the staple will be some form of animal protein - meat, fish, eggs, milk products from various sources.

I'm a sexual, celibate, meat-eating priest who cares about all in the world and wants to see everyone in the world have food for every day. Until PETA and their supporters also support this vision, they are preaching the wrong type of being sexy.

I still recall with horror helping a very honoured, respected guest speaker to pick through a bowl of lettuce and tomato with a bit of cucumber in spite of having told the caterer she was vegetarian. Is that how one should treat a respected guest? I love my piece of steak but always find a vegetarian guest a really interesting challenge. There are some really wonderful dishes.

Food for thought
300 people on train to work =?CO2 emissions
vs
300 people walking or cycling, all puffing, wearing out shoes, showering again before work, living longer due to better health =?C02 emissions

Veritas goes on the protein myth again! If only Veritas knew how easy it was to get protein.

I, like most vegetarians, try to be polite about my lifestyle choices, but it frustrates me when I see ill-founded arguments like Veritas'.

I agree, there is a general perception that non-meat eaters are uptight and hostile - even when we refrain from commenting about why we don't eat meat.

The celebrity chef, food-porn culture is also contributing to climate change by using fancy products that require lots of resources to produce and import.

Any reduction in an individual's amount of regular meat eating is a step in the right direction. When vegans shout people down for not being 'pure' enough it only deters people from reducing their meat consumption. We need to be encouraging and educating people.

Sarah, from two very mature age vegetarians your article is clever, concise and brilliantly written. We have known you for a long time and continue to be amazed at your insight as revealed in the article. Bet mum and dad are proud.

I think the `food porn' industry is actually helping sustainability. Almost all TV cooking shows and cookbooks advocate fresh, organic, un-processed, home grown and natural ingredients. It's the producers of mass market meat and vegetables with their overuse of fertilisers, pesticides and antibiotics that threaten sustainability.

“We need at least a small amount of animal protein for health - there are some things that have no substitutes. I have never met a truly healthy vegetarian yet”

I have been a vegetarian for twenty years, vegan for four, and have never been healthier. High blood pressure and cholesteral - once conditions I had to take medication for – are both normal. I get sick far less than I did, even as a non-vegan vegetarian.

Good question. Why do people who install solar panels and water tanks get all the praise while vegetarians are mocked or criticised?

Well ... I just have to add my own experience here as a 'Health Warning: Long Term Vegetarianism may be harmful to yr health'.

I had been a lacto/ovo vegetarian for about 25 years when all of a sudden my health started really falling apart - over 12 months blood tests revealed that I was massively deficient in Magnesium & Iodine & Iron, bone density scan revealed I was already fully Osteoporotic & I needed a colonoscopy due to bleeding in the bowel.

Of course I was shocked with these findings as I had presumed that my diet would insulate my health from such events. So I started investigating & found that there is a growing number of "long term" vegetarians whose health breaks down in similar manner. It appears that EVERYONE can appear hale & hearty as a vegetarian when they are young & into middle age BUT that NOT EVERYONE can continue in such good health as their body starts to age.

Of course it depends on an individual's own 'set-up' as to the result & unfortunately in my case it definitely exacerbated the decline in my health. I am now, at the age of 55, fully house-bound & on Disability pension with a final diagnosis of Fibromyalgia.

But I am now very happy to adopt the Mediterranean-style of diet with more (well soaked!) beans than meat & NO wheat or dairy products. And I will always prefer to get my Omega 3 from flaxseed & Soy than fish oil (as I do not agree with the wild harvesting of ANY animal species & could only agree with Humane farming practice i.e. pasture & cage-free).

Most people consider themselves to be 'moral', without ever scrutinising their behaviour and applying moral criteria to it, rather, they abide by their society's ethics and that does for them.

According to my own moral system, and I imagine many others, it is more moral, ceteris paribus, to be vegetarian than not to be. I think there are many people who consider vegetarianism to be more moral but, for the reasons Sarah refers to, don't become vegetarian, and I think this is disappointing, that they deliberately act immorally, and that the negative outcomes of such behaviour go on.

I can imagine a society in which no one eats meat, and in which people, and the environment, are healthier, happier, and more provided-for as a consequence. For this to happen, meat-eating, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde, must be seen not just as wicked, but as vulgar. In circumstances where people have the means to go vegetarian, and agree with it morally, continued meat-eating is an act that is at odds with being a moral person.

I am a meat eater. Always have and always will. I cannot fathom being a vegetarian or vegan. I love beef, pork, poultry and fish. Vegetables are, and will always been an after-thought, confined to the side plate. Rant over.

i don't care whether or not you are vegan, vegetaian or omnivore....it's a matter of choice. What i do care about though is that at least we moderate our eating habits and distribute our resources equitably and try to ensure no child is dying of starvation. Also narks me that we need to rubbish people who put in solar panels or buy a Prius....at least those people are actually contributing to a better environment and also at a personal monetary cost! I hate turtleneck jumpers but i love my jesus sandals....and as for sexy...who really cares.