Vegetarian, vegan, pescetarian...??

I never realized how many different variations there are on the "vegetarian" diet until I started researching it.

• Vegan—eats no meat/chicken/seafood and no dairy
• Pescetarian—eats veggies and seafood; no meat or chicken
• Flexitarian—a "flexible" vegetarian—a vegetarian who occasionally eats meat (Seriously!!??)
• Pollotarian—veggies and chicken; no meat or seafood

Do people actually use these terms to describe themselves? These sub-catagories seem a bit ridiculous to me...

As I've started talking to people about vegetarianism, I'm finding a lot of people have tried it for a while (me included) and then turned away from it. I haven't asked people why they loose motivation, but I suspect that it could be that they get bored with their choices or maybe they didn't have access to a variety of products where they live.

I am also hearing a lot people say that they are vegetarian, only to see them crack open a can of tuna or eat a piece of pepperoni pizza a few weeks later.

PEOPLE:  If you eat animal, bird, or fish flesh you ARE NOT a vegetarian!!

Trying to figure it all out...

Almond Breeze Milk
only 40 cals per cup

So I definitely decided not to go vegan (for now anyways)! Milk, eggs and butter seem to an ingredient in a lot of recipes and pre-made products (bread and pasta noodles) so it's really is too much effort to try and figure out what has non-veg ingredients.  I don't mind soy, rice or almond milk and I drink them daily (plus almond milk is half the calories of skim milk!!); eggs are something that I have maybe once a week; and butter, I don't use that often, but I definitely trust the "ingredients" more than I do margarine.

I've already discovered that a lot of yogurts have gelatin in them-an animal product-so I've been mindful of which yogurt to choose.

For baking, I now have agar on hand in the event that a recipe calls for gelatin.

Cheese is another story. Not all cheeses that you buy have the ingredients listed so its a bit confusing to know which ones contain animal rennet. Apparently a lot of hard cheeses these days are made with genetically manufactured (GM) rennet and therefore considered OK for vegetarians

Palm Sugar

White, and to some extent brown sugar, is also considered off limits for some vegetarians. The manufacturing process uses charcoal to filter out impurities. This charcoal can sometimes be derived from animal bones. The preferred substitute is maple sugar ($$$!!), corn syrup (meh) or palm sugar. I've used palm sugar, and once you get the stuff ground (or pounded down) it's a great, inexpensive alternative to brown sugar.

Why go veg?

So why go veg? Everyone has their own stories and reasons. Mine involves a memory from years ago when I was 17 and visited a slaughterhouse (or abattoir for those who prefer the less visual term).  I remember the blood, the butcher wiping his hands on his bloody smock before shaking our hands and the cows hanging from hooks...memories that caused me to not eat meat for a year following this experience.

Although this memory remains with me, my conviction faded and my priorities in life changed—family, house, career.

Now, many years later, I am re-visiting my beliefs and convictions after a re-newed interest sparked by discussions with a coworker.

In October 2009 I started researching and experimenting with meat alternatives, and in November I consciously decided to remove meat from my diet.

So back to the question of why?

Although I have eaten meat for many years I have always been uncomfortable in accepting the fact that animals are being killed for us to eat.

1. Although I would never criticize people for killing animals to eat (it's a personal choice), I certainly feel that I can't feel disdain for the slaughtering process while continuing to eat meat myself.
2. Under ordinary circumstances, if given the chance, I would not be able to kill and butcher an animal (even fish) in order to eat—unless I was absolutely starving.
3. In today's society there are many alternate products that would make a vegetarian diet more interesting.

I am now in my third month and counting...