Guest guest Posted August 4, 2002 Report Share Posted August 4, 2002 hello all, i am new to this list...my name is jamie and i am a vegetarian and i raise my son vegetarian(we have actually been vegetarian for a month now- i was a veg when i was younger but then.....i dont know what the hell i was thinking, glad i am on the right track now).. i am annoyed that everyone(so it seems) has been telling me that to not eat meat is to be unhuman( i guess our teeth say we are suppose to be carnivores?)...well we have legs but everyone drives... im havent told them(my family and my SO's family). i can just hear all of the unkind comments not, i even get minor crap from my SO(who eats meat but is being supportive of me, just doesnt think it is healthy for our son to be on a vegetarian diet- i disagree, there are pleanty of other-nonmeat alternatives which are also much healthier. really i jjust let my son pick out what he wants to eat but for dinner eatususally eats what i have(he is only two so he doesnt complain much- he loves fried tofu!)well, anyway does anyone have any ideas on to handle the meateaters harping on me about feeding my child an vegetarian diet? blessings-JAMIE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 5, 2002 Report Share Posted August 5, 2002 Hi - I'm afraid that there is nothing magical that can be said that will change people's minds over night. You could show them all the research and they would still feel the way they do. I think that often it is because they just cannot conceive of not eating meat and/or they view your choice as sort of a slap in the face, a rejection of the way they raised you and were raised themselves. The reality is that many people are unwilling or unable to think for themselves and imagine other ways of doing things. I suspect that over time as they see you and your son being healthy, that they will be more accepting. When I first told my mother that I was no longer eating meat, she said, " well, we still eat meat in this house. " I didn't even live there anymore. My father said, " where did you get a crazy idea like that? " My mother, after her initial reaction, has been very supportive. She is always sure to check ingredients when we are visiting and make things she knows we can eat. I'm not sure that my father ever " got it. " My mother sent him out one time to get pasta sauce and told him not to get meat sauce. He came back with " meat flavored " sauce. I don't think it was an attempt to go against us, he just honestly could never grasp the concept of not eating meat. As for the tooth argument, I think it actually comes down on the side of humans not being carnivorous. We don't have the kind of teeth needed for tearing meat; we have molars which are good for grinding. Good luck. Karen - schoolisdead Saturday, August 03, 2002 10:00 PM annoyed hello all, i am new to this list...my name is jamie and i am a vegetarian and i raise my son vegetarian(we have actually been vegetarian for a month now- i was a veg when i was younger but then.....i dont know what the hell i was thinking, glad i am on the right track now).. i am annoyed that everyone(so it seems) has been telling me that to not eat meat is to be unhuman( i guess our teeth say we are suppose to be carnivores?)...well we have legs but everyone drives... im havent told them(my family and my SO's family). i can just hear all of the unkind comments not, i even get minor crap from my SO(who eats meat but is being supportive of me, just doesnt think it is healthy for our son to be on a vegetarian diet- i disagree, there are pleanty of other-nonmeat alternatives which are also much healthier. really i jjust let my son pick out what he wants to eat but for dinner eatususally eats what i have(he is only two so he doesnt complain much- he loves fried tofu!)well, anyway does anyone have any ideas on to handle the meateaters harping on me about feeding my child an vegetarian diet? blessings-JAMIE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 6, 2002 Report Share Posted August 6, 2002 According to Michael Klaper's book, Vegan Nutrition: Pure and Simple, we are not carnivorous by anatomy - he says our mouth is small and our teeth are very short. We aren't able to bit through tough cow hide or raw muscle. Meat has to be changed considerably before it's edible. He goes on to talk about our digestive system is best for foods high in fiber and complex carbohydrates and moderate protein. The book is full of reasons not to each the different kinds of meat. Maybe you could buy it or check it out at the library. However, the information would probably fall on deaf ears. There are people in my life open to hearing about health and a little about ethics (this one is usually harder to sell, I find), and there are people who will only ridicule anything " vegetarian " I have to say. The biggest harper I have is my brother, who I otherwise have a great relationship. We have agreed that he will not try to get my son to eat meat and keep the comments mininum to me if I do not ever try to convince his daughter or wife to be a vegetarian. I spent most of my life feeling almost " apologetic " for being vegetarian. I grew up in the Midwest, and vegetarian and tofu were not known facts. I felt like maybe I was the oddball at times. It was finally the internet really - and moving to a slightly bigger place that I finally learned more about it and realized that the number of vegetarians is growing all the time. I feel so confident that I am making the right decisions for my family that, although comments are annoying, I ultimately could care less what anyone says. - " schoolisdead " <lavenderskies2000 Saturday, August 03, 2002 9:00 PM annoyed > hello all, i am new to this list...my name is jamie and i am a > vegetarian and i raise my son vegetarian(we have actually been > vegetarian for a month now- i was a veg when i was younger but > then.....i dont know what the hell i was thinking, glad i am on the > right track now).. i am annoyed that everyone(so it seems) has > been telling me that to not eat meat is to be unhuman( i guess > our teeth say we are suppose to be carnivores?)...well we have > legs but everyone drives... im havent told them(my family and my > SO's family). i can just hear all of the unkind comments not, i > even get minor crap from my SO(who eats meat but is being > supportive of me, just doesnt think it is healthy for our son to be > on a vegetarian diet- i disagree, there are pleanty of > other-nonmeat alternatives which are also much healthier. really > i jjust let my son pick out what he wants to eat but for dinner > eatususally eats what i have(he is only two so he doesnt > complain much- he loves fried tofu!)well, anyway does anyone > have any ideas on to handle the meateaters harping on me > about feeding my child an vegetarian diet? blessings-JAMIE > > > > For more information about vegetarianism, please visit the VRG website at http://www.vrg.org and for materials especially useful for families go to http://www.vrg.org/family. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 6, 2002 Report Share Posted August 6, 2002 well, anyway does anyone > have any ideas on to handle the meateaters harping on me > about feeding my child an vegetarian diet? blessings-JAMIE > Jamie: I've said this before on this list, but I personally think it's just plain rude of folks to tell a parent how they should be raising their child. I also think that a lot of folks who aren't vegetarian have trouble conceiving of what vegetarians eat because it takes a lot of work to follow the vegetarian lifestyle. You don't have to put as much thought into grabbing a hot dog or hamburger if you're on the run. Frankly most people don't have a clue about the nutritional contents of what they eat anyhow. If they did, they'd know there was protein in sources other than just meat. I'm not a vegetarian, but my 14 year old daughter is. She has done an immense amount of research into how to eat Vegetarian and I'm constantly learning new things from her and from this group. When people " pick " on my daughter or us for " allowing " her to be a vegetarian, I just tell them that she's actually healthier than the rest of us in the household. I also tell them that she knows more about what she's consuming than the rest of us. Both are true and she has had a postivie effect on the household. Sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 8, 2002 Report Share Posted August 8, 2002 I say, start harping them on feeding their children dead animals! ;-) - Sonia In a message dated 8/8/2002 4:15:25 AM Eastern Standard Time, writes: > > have any ideas on to handle the meateaters harping on me > > about feeding my child an vegetarian diet? blessings-JAMIE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 9, 2002 Report Share Posted August 9, 2002 --- iucsonia wrote: > I say, start harping them on feeding their children > dead animals! ;-) > - Sonia > > In a message dated 8/8/2002 4:15:25 AM Eastern > Standard Time, > writes: > > > > have any ideas on to handle the meateaters > harping on me > > > about feeding my child an vegetarian diet? > blessings-JAMIE > > LOL...sounds like a good idea to me!!!! > > [Non-text portions of this message have been > removed] > > > HotJobs - Search Thousands of New Jobs http://www.hotjobs.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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