Becoming vegetarian: a different take on the beginner’s guide
I found this Beginner’s Guide to Vegetarianism interesting because it offers some very different advice from what you find in most ‘going vegetarian’ guides. I’m not sure I agree with some of the suggestions, but hey, different things work for different people. There are so many different ways to eat vegetarian, so of course there are a lot of different ways that people approach this diet choice. (I refuse to call it a ‘lifestyle’ - what you eat is not your lifestyle, it’s your diet. Plus, when people say things like ‘low carb lifestyle’ it makes my skin crawl. But I digress.)
One piece of advice that I liked was ‘if you can’t give up one particular animal product, give up all the other ones’. In other words, try being a flexitarian. According to Michael Pollan’s recent article in the New York Times (which I talked about here), people who eat tiny amounts of animal products are just as healthy as vegetarians, anyway.
The other advice I really liked was ‘don’t sweat the small stuff.’ Really, what’s the benefit of freaking out over a tiny bit of butter or some other animal ingredient? Regardless of whether your veg*nism is motivated by your health or animal rights, small amounts of things you can’t even taste are probably not going to hinder your goals in any significant way.
Vegetarianism is not a personal purity test — our positive and reasonable influence on others is just as important as our own commitment to a conscious and compassionate diet.
I think the overall senitment, that one can be vegetarian without being militant, is a great message to be spreading.
Tags: compassionate_diet, diet, michael_pollan, vegan, veganism, vegetarianism, vegetarians, vegetarian_guidesRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Becoming Vegetarian
4 opinions for Becoming vegetarian: a different take on the beginner’s guide
Jackie
Mar 16, 2007 at 12:24 am
As you say it is an interesting article even though I also don’t agree with a lot of it.
celine
Mar 17, 2007 at 9:22 pm
It is worth approaching the topic from a different angle and offer new tips to “newstarters”.
And you’re right, being a vegetarian or vegan is not a lifestyle. For me it is a strong belief. It seems to me that people are obsessed with creating a lifestyle for themselves these days, as if their lives was devoid of meaning if they didn’t have a “lifestyle”…
Elaine
Mar 28, 2007 at 2:01 am
In general I agree with you. But people who are vegetarian for religious reasons (Hindi for example) don’t want to eat even a tiny portion accidentally. That’s a sin.
Wasa Blog
May 7, 2007 at 5:53 pm
[…] Jul is a vegetarian, but has this to say in support of flexitarianism: One piece of advice that I liked [in the Beginner’s Guide to Vegetarianism] was ‘if you can’t give up one particular animal product, give up all the other ones’. In other words, try being a flexitarian. […]
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