/pony/ - Pony

i just did it to improve health first (although i always kind-of wanted to be vegetarian, anyway) -- went cold turkey vegetarian. years later i got tired of feeling bad about drinking milk and eating tasty cheese on pizzas, knowing where it came from, so i just stopped that too

im part ascetic, so i don't care much about flavors - but i read that flavor comes primarily from spices, so if u want flavor u just need good spices

practically-speaking, protein is easily accessible. a peanut butter sandwich on good-quality whole-wheat bread would certainly have it. vitamin b12 can be had from a vitamin. if i were going to start weight lifting, however, i would do research on how to get enough complete proteins 2 help build muscle

spiritually-speaking, if u don't eat inferior animals when not necessary, then it would b hard 4 a superior being to justify doing something similar 2 u. plus ponies don't eat meat, at any rate

as for vegetarianism vs. veganism, veganism is healthier for your body than vegetarianism; for some ponies, this is all the reason they need to be vegan. if u care about animals as well, however, then another reason to be vegan as well as vegetarian is so that animals aren't taken advantage of -- the strongest argument being how animals are abused in factory farms in order to get milk, cheese, etc. Some vegetarians, therefore, will not buy from factory farms or products that use ingredients from them -- but will if they are locally-sourced from traditional farms. The most hardline animal rights ponies, however, will say that ponies should not eat milk, cheese, etc. from any animals at all (even if not from a factory farm). at this point, the ethical considerations can start to get nuanced and overwhelming -- But as a pony who cares about animals, it should at least be self-evident that you shouldn't eat other creatures if you don't have to and that you shouldn't buy milk or cheese from companies that use factory farms

if you eat fish, you're not vegetarian, but some people don't think of fish as having feelings or really being animals since they just flop around and have weird eyes so they think it's fine ...if u ever went fishing, though, i feel like u could tell that they do have feelings. so i dunno if it would b objectively better - guess it would b up to how u feel about it

for the carnivore/omnivore/herbivore debate, according to my research, humans are opportunistic herbivores. biologically-speaking, they are far more similar to herbivores than even omnivores and certainly carnivores. but due to their intelligence and the scarcity of food in the past, they learned hunting and cooking to survive -- even though it's not an ideal diet. in modern times, eating meat or animal products is unnecessary

Simply put you expand your horizons.

People tend to think plant based diet just means salads and like lettuce. It doesn't need to be at all. People tend to get raised on meat and sides kind of diet. And so that becomes people's concept of 'a meal'. Until you investigate new ingredients and learn to cook new things it seems like there's no options available even though there really are.

I've been flexitarian for many years now and don't feel like I'm self flagellating by eating bland food or constantly starving or anything. You just adapt and the food is just as yummy.