4 ms·
A personal anecdote: I've tried cutting my meat consumption many times in the past, but I ultimately fail to keep up a low-meat diet for the following reasons:
by bastawhiz 9y ago
A personal anecdote: I've tried cutting my meat consumption many times in the past, but I ultimately fail to keep up a low-meat diet for the following reasons:
- Vegetarian food is really not that tasty in my opinion. (edit: the kind I can reasonably prepare myself)
- It's very difficult to eat enough vegetarian food for me to meet my Calorie requirements (I target 3500/day).
- Eating a balanced diet of vegetarian food that tastes half-decent requires a substantial amount of preparation, especially if you have carb/protein targets. Non-vegetarian pop-it-in-the-microwave food is plentiful. There just aren't enough hours in the day.
I stumbled along with this for years, trying and failing over and over. One of my best friends became a vegetarian and I watched as he basically dialed down his diet to peanut butter and lentils.
Last year, I unintentionally became mostly-vegetarian entirely by accident: I started drinking Soylent. It's high-Calorie, it's consistent, there are five different flavors (three with caffeine!), each flavor tastes decent enough, and it's not a pain in the ass. Other than the odd takeaway order (two or three times a month, or if I run out of Soylent) effectively zero meat enters my apartment.
My coworkers have rolled their eyes dramatically, but it's pretty good. The bottles get recycled, they come unrefrigerated direct from the manufacturer, and the drinks are (seemingly) made from half-decent stuff. If my office put them in the lunch line, I'd probably stop eating meat at work, too.
(And they're pretty cheap!)
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- make3 9y agowtf 3500 calories a day. are you a professional athlete? I'm a grown man and that many calories would have me take two pounds a week (assuming stability at 2500 cal and 3500 cals extra per pound)
- bastawhiz 9y ago3500 really isn't very much when you're trying to put on weight. Soylent in the morning and three after work (400/each) is ~half that, plus protein shake after the gym (350) and full breakfast/lunch at the office (~600/each) come out to roughly 3500. Plus I'll snack on stuff, maybe have some grapes or string cheese or whatever treats people bring in. I'm not super strict about it, so it ends up between 3000 and 3750 most days. The Soylent makes it a lot easier because you're not constantly eating. Even something as simple as using half and half instead of skim milk in your coffee adds up. Edit: but yes, I work out quite a bit.
- tr0ut 9y agoWhy are you trying to eat less meat? P.S. Good luck on a vegetarian diet with a 3500+ caloric intake. You'll be eating all day.
- greglindahl 9y agoVegetarians eat calorie-heavy foods like fats, carbs, and protein, just like everyone else.
- tr0ut 9y agoDidn't think that was up for debate.
- greglindahl 9y agoUh, then why would a vegetarian be eating all day to get 3500+ calories?
- tr0ut 9y agoBecause it is true. You will be consuming a lot more food to maintain that level. I never said it is not possible. I don't mean pasta, bread and pizza either. If you took a healthy reasonable amount of clean meat and fish. Compared to a straight vegetarian diet. You will be eating a lot more food. If you do not agree with a meat diet or not that is a fact.
- megaman22 9y agoArguably easier to eat a large number of calories on a vegetarian diet, than on its polar opposite, ketogenic diet. It's kind of hard work eating 3500 calories of just meat, eggs and cheese. Whereas that amount of bread, pasta, sweets, and other nominally vegetarian foodstuffs can be easily wolfed down.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]