Vegetarian 101

Maybe some of you already knew from my earlier post about me being vegetarian. And you know what? I have survived being a vegetarian for more than half a year! This is actually not a big achievement because some of my friends have been a vegetarian for more than a half of their life already. Still, it is just amazing for me to realize how I have avoided meat for that long period. 

However, I still think that many people out there still have little or no idea about what vegetarian is and how it is like. And even more, some people even have a negative connotation of vegan and vegetarian like in 9GAG. Therefore, in this post, I would like to give you more insight about being a vegetarian, so after reading this, perhaps you can tell your friends what the truth is. 

• First of all, there are different kind of vegetarian-like or non-meat diets. Some people think that vegan and vegetarian are just synonymous, but they are not! The term 'veggie' can be used for vegetarians, but not the term 'vegans'. Vegetarian doesn’t eat meat while vegan doesn’t eat any animal products. So, it means that we the common vegetarians still eat dairy products like milk and cheese and eggs. 
  
  Why did I say "the common vegetarian"? Because there are also the lacto-vegetarian, who doesn't eat meat and eggs, but still eat dairy products, and the ovo-vegetarian, who doesn't eat meat and dairy products, but still eat eggs. There is also another kind of vegetarian, pescetarian, who doesn’t eat any meat but fish and other seafood.
  
  Seems complicated? You've got used to it! ::D

• Many people have asked me about the nutrition I get, including my parents. Some people even ‘force’ me to still eat meat occasionally because they worry about my protein nourishment. But, what is the truth? Am I lacking proteins?
  Indeed, the amount of proteins in plant-based food is less than in meats, but our body actually doesn't need as much protein as we think. Even if we need much, there are also plant-based foods that contain high amount of proteins like beans and nuts. Vegetarians like me also still eat eggs and dairy products that can fulfill our protein needs.
  
  It is true that vegans don’t get a certain vitamin, which is vitamin B12 from their food compared to meat-eaters. Vitamin B12 is only produced in ruminants' intestine, like cows, but not in our body and plants. But since there are cheap vitamin B12 pills and vitamin B12 fortified foods everywhere, there is no need to worry about that.
  
  In reality, despite their diets, many vegetarian and vegan bodybuilder are doing fine. And even though I heard that vegetarian/vegan diet is not good for kids because they need much nutrients to grow, some of my friends who have been a vegetarian or vegan since their childhood have a great health condition now, even better than me
  
  So, I think it is more about how you manage your food than the type of diet you have.
  

• Some people also don’t have any idea why we want to be a vegetarian or vegan, and there are actually various reasons for that. My own main reason is that livestock causes a lot of environmental impacts; you can read about it in my earlier post (it is in Indonesian, sorry). Then, the fact that many farms and slaughterhouses are treating animal horribly all over the world evokes a lot of people to turn into vegetarian. And for some people, killing animal for eating is simply unethical.
  
  See, there are a lot of reasons for being a vegetarian or vegan. So, instead of asking why someone is a vegetarian, perhaps people should turn around and ask themselves why they are not vegetarians. #nopressure 

• Lastly, here is a fun fact: Our body cannot digest cellulose, so plant-based food is not digested as complete as meat-eaters’ food. As a result, we have to go to toilet more often than the meat-eaters since we have more waste to get rid with. But then, it means heaven since we can eat more without getting too much energy! Yeay! :D

And that’s all what I can say for current version of Vegetarian 101. Do you feel that you know more about vegetarian now? I hope so; let me know! Then, if you have any suggestion/question/comment about this topic, please also let me know. I’ll just update it afterwards. Thanks for reading!

Best,
Bayu Ahmad

(22/4/2016 9:35 PM)