The reason why I am glad I am no longer a vegetarian is because being vegetarian made me anaemic. My mum, 46, has been a vegetarian for all of her life. It wasn’t until the early 90s-ish that VIABLE meat substitutes became available on the market, and my mum suffers from permanent iron deficiency anaemia as a result. I am the same. My brother, on the other hand, born around the dawn of things like Quorn (which at first wasn’t even approved by vegetarian society because of the use of BATTERY EGGS which prevented my family from eating it even then), isn’t so hard done by. He is 18 and still a vegetarian. I get by on iron supplements but that’s no real substitute for having been on a healthy diet in the first place. My mum tried to keep us healthy with the help of soya, sosmix and anything nut-filled but I don’t feel like it quite worked out for me.

I often think that there is little to almost no point being a vegetarian based on the fact that ‘I don’t want to kill animals’. Being a vegetarian is not going to prevent the slaughter of animals. You have to think of a compromise. It would be better if you campaigned for the humane treatment of animals for slaughter, and buy only locally produced free-range meats AND animal produce obtained from animals in the same decent conditions. It’s just as bad if not worse using battery eggs and caged up cows milk than just eating an animal that was killed. Would you rather be caged in shit conditions or dead? :P

The reason my grandma became vegetarian was because her husband was a vegetarian Buddhist – my grandma later became vegan and grows her own vegetables in two award-winning allotments. My mum was raised vegetarian and is an avid supporter of animal rights, and so is my brother. My brother refuses to touch any meat product with a 10 foot barge pole, but my mum has been happy to buy me good quality free range meat.

Personally I buy barn eggs and British-only produce and eat tuna to my heart’s content. I /am/ the top of the food chain, hear me roar.

There is all sorts of science-y biology stuff that I could explain to you in further depth as to why this is all true, but I wouldn’t want to bore you Just take my word for it — meat does have a purpose in our diet, as a complete source of the eight essential amino acids that humans cannot produce. However, it isn’t the only source of all eight, and with a proper combination of non-animal products, you can get all the amino acids you need in the proper amounts.

Reply: Um, yeah, I work in health food, remember? I am well aware of EFAs, vegetarian replacements, general supplements, and the vast amount of my meat eating customers who aren’t getting enough EFAs, because they aren’t eating the proper foods to help absorb them. :P In fact, the majority of my customers who are recommended EFA supplements by their doctors are meat eaters who think simply eating meat and not paying attention to the rest of their diet is enough, whereas the vegetarians seem to be very much more informed, and are well aware of the fats required, and find alternative methods to acquire them.

Other than that, it is a personal choice, and it is fine by me. But when it comes down to your health, you have to eat it. It’s like deciding to not consume sugar or any form of fats because you don’t want to gain weight. In the end, you need those sugars and fat. And, again, you need the protein from meat. Why? Because your whole body is made up of protein!

But I shouldn’t be talking, because I don’t consume my daily dose of calcium. I hate milk.

Reply: Actually, my brother’s girlfriend is a nursing student, and you can get your daily dose of protein from a whole grain piece of bread with peanut butter on it.

I think being vegetarian is good when you have some education on how to be one and not just cut out meat without trying to substitute the nutrition you get from it. Also, it has to be done for healthy reasons.

I don’t think not eating meat is ridiculous. I think it’s a personal choice and as long as vegetarians and meat eaters can respect one another’s food choice then it’s fine. I just don’t like when people put somebody down for eating meat or not eating meat.

Good luck with being vegetarian!

Honestly I don’t understand the pressure to dump some kind of meat in every meal. When my mum cooks spaghetti with meatballs, I always wish she hadn’t included the meatballs and had just left it at spaghetti, tomato and herbs. Not only are the meatballs gross, but they infect the rest of the dish with greasy sliminess! Some foods just taste BETTER without meat in them.

So, once I move out and get some choice over my own diet, I will have vegetarian meals, along with seafood and chicken-based meals (and beef occasionally). That’s the plan, anyway!

On the upside, I’m going off the meal plan next year because I’m living in an apartment with three other girls, two of whom have cars, and we have an excellent supermarket really close by (but unfortunately not easily accessible by bus). One of the girls who plans on doing most of the cooking (and she’s AWESOME) is vegetarian, and the other does mostly chicken, while I cook fish, so I imagine I’ll probably be going semi-veggie next year. I’m pretty excited, actually.

I hate the ‘holier than thou’ attitude that some vegetarians/vegans have. One of my friends lost a friend because she treated him like crap due to him still choosing to eat meat. That’s just wrong.

I also am one of those people who thinks some animals were put here for us to eat. Whether you choose to eat those animals or not is entirely up to you. Whatever choice you make, just don’t judge others for not doing the same.

Bottom line, live and let live. I hope the whole vegetarianism thing works out for you!