People who want to eat fewer animal products usually have a set of foods that are always okay and a set of foods that are always not (which sometimes still includes some animal products, such as dairy or fish), rather than trying to eat animal products less often without completely prohibiting anything. I’ve heard that this is because people who try to eat fewer animal products usually end up with about the same diet they had when they were not trying.
I wonder whether trying to eat more of something that tends to fill the same role as animal products would be an effective way to eat fewer animal products.
I currently have a fridge full of soaking dried beans that I have to use up, and the only way I know how to serve beans is the same as the way I usually eat fish, so I predict I’ll be eating much less fish this week than I usually do (because if I get tired of rice and beans, rice and fish won’t be much of a change). I’m not sure whether my result would generalize to people who use more than five different dinner recipes, though. I should also add that my main goal is learning how to make cheap food taste good by getting more practice cooking beans—eating fewer animal products would just be a side effect.
Now that I write this, I’m wishing I’d thought to record what food I ate before filling my fridge with beans. (I did write down what I could remember.)
People who you know want to eat fewer animal products. If I just decided to eat less meat, you’d be much less likely to find out this fact about me than if I decided to become fully lacto-ovo-vegetarian.
People who want to eat fewer animal products usually have a set of foods that are always okay and a set of foods that are always not (which sometimes still includes some animal products, such as dairy or fish), rather than trying to eat animal products less often without completely prohibiting anything.
I don’t think that an accurate description of the average vegetarian. A lot of self labeled vegetarians do eat animal products from time to time.
Most people who tell you that they try to eat only healthy food and no junk food, still eat junk food from time to time. The same goes for vegetarians eating flesh.
Additionally eat less red meat is part of the official mantra on healthy eating. A lot of people subscribed to the idea that limiting the amount of red meat they eat is good while not eliminating it completely.
I’ve heard that this is because people who try to eat fewer animal products usually end up with about the same diet they had when they were not trying.
I find this hard to believe, knowing several people who have become vegetarians and vegans and hardly ever eating meat myself. Do you have any support for this claim? Anecdotally, one new vegan (from being a vegetarian) stopped eating pizza which had previously been more-or-less a mainstay of his. My sister became a vegetarian as a kid despite actually quite liking meat at the time; not only did her eating habits changed but that of my entire family did significantly. My parents describe it as going from thinking “What meat is for dinner?” to thinking “What is for dinner?” ever night.
People who want to eat fewer animal products usually have a set of foods that are always okay and a set of foods that are always not (which sometimes still includes some animal products, such as dairy or fish), rather than trying to eat animal products less often without completely prohibiting anything. I’ve heard that this is because people who try to eat fewer animal products usually end up with about the same diet they had when they were not trying.
I wonder whether trying to eat more of something that tends to fill the same role as animal products would be an effective way to eat fewer animal products.
I currently have a fridge full of soaking dried beans that I have to use up, and the only way I know how to serve beans is the same as the way I usually eat fish, so I predict I’ll be eating much less fish this week than I usually do (because if I get tired of rice and beans, rice and fish won’t be much of a change). I’m not sure whether my result would generalize to people who use more than five different dinner recipes, though. I should also add that my main goal is learning how to make cheap food taste good by getting more practice cooking beans—eating fewer animal products would just be a side effect.
Now that I write this, I’m wishing I’d thought to record what food I ate before filling my fridge with beans. (I did write down what I could remember.)
People who you know want to eat fewer animal products. If I just decided to eat less meat, you’d be much less likely to find out this fact about me than if I decided to become fully lacto-ovo-vegetarian.
Good point.
I don’t think that an accurate description of the average vegetarian. A lot of self labeled vegetarians do eat animal products from time to time.
Most people who tell you that they try to eat only healthy food and no junk food, still eat junk food from time to time. The same goes for vegetarians eating flesh.
Additionally eat less red meat is part of the official mantra on healthy eating. A lot of people subscribed to the idea that limiting the amount of red meat they eat is good while not eliminating it completely.
I find this hard to believe, knowing several people who have become vegetarians and vegans and hardly ever eating meat myself. Do you have any support for this claim? Anecdotally, one new vegan (from being a vegetarian) stopped eating pizza which had previously been more-or-less a mainstay of his. My sister became a vegetarian as a kid despite actually quite liking meat at the time; not only did her eating habits changed but that of my entire family did significantly. My parents describe it as going from thinking “What meat is for dinner?” to thinking “What is for dinner?” ever night.
I think that was “people who try to eat fewer animal products without completely prohibiting anything”. It seems plausible to me.
Yes, this is what I meant.
Okay, that sounds plausible.
Prohibiting particular foods on certain days is also popular: “Meatless Mondays” or Catholic-style fasts.