Questions for Vegetarians

Hello, I'm considering a change in diet. I have a couple questions for seasoned Vegetarians:

1. Do you eat fish, why or why not?
2. Is a vegetarian diet good for althletes or highly physically active people? Can one retain and/or improve muscle mass and strength on such a diet?

Thanks in advance!
Cal

Hallo I am vegan 10 years.

I do not eat fish because I love animals and fishes are 100x100 animals.

I live a very active life, work hard, and I feel great. But I am not an athlete.
I know a few professional athletes are vegan, and many more vegetarians (I'm not so interested in sports and I don't remember their names, but I'm sure they can easily be found on internet)

Hello De.spin. Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. It's greatly appreciated.

I found this sports nutritian guideline online which was very helpful. In fact, there's a great deal of interesting information on this site:

http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/athletes.htm

[BlueSky]

Originally Posted by Cal

Hello, I'm considering a change in diet. I have a couple questions for seasoned Vegetarians:

1. Do you eat fish, why or why not?
2. Is a vegetarian diet good for althletes or highly physically active people? Can one retain and/or improve muscle mass and strength on such a diet?

Thanks in advance!
Cal

Hi Cal,
Food is energy IMO and there is plenty of protein sources outside of meat for you to take in.
I have stopped eating meat for about 8 years now and I had pretty good inherited muscle tone most of my life. Now I am older and fatter but my diet did not seem to affect muscle tone. Lack of exercise has though...lol
There are great Whey and Soy protein powders out there and egg whites are another good source that many non-meat eaters have no issue with because they are not fertilized. There is no life in eggs until a male comes around.You may know that but I thought I would mention it.
In the stores.Quorn and Amy's makes some great dishes and ingredients for dishes.
As far as fish go..............IMO they don't jump in the boat when hooked..they try to get away so I figure they want to live to.
I know a few non-meat eaters who do eat fish and I say just go with what feels Ok to you. There are no rules...........
Good Luck.....James

Hi there,
I suppose the correct term for me would be Pescaterian because I do occasionally eat fish and some other seafood. When I talk to people, I do still use the term vegetarian, or I say "I don't eat meat."

One day, I do hope to give up fish and try living a raw food lifestyle. I don't really know why I still eat seafood. I think it's because my main goal is to be a healthy person and fish is very good for you. Sometimes when I don't feel satisfied with everything else I'm eating and if I feel like I need some protein, I will eat fish. I think it's important to listen to your body's needs.

I think you definitely can be an athlete while being vegetarian. It's all about carbs, healthy fats/oils, and protein, and you can find this in vegetarian food.

[BlueSky]

Did a quick search on famous veg athletes.........interesting!
Mike Tyson?

There are countless vegetarian and vegan athletes. Some of the most famous and successful ones are:
Carl Lewis
Bill Walton
Scott Jurek
Mac Danzig
Prince Fielder
Billie Jean King
Martina Navratilova
Mike Tyson
Dave Scott
Brendan Brazier
Source(s):

http://hubpages.com/hub/Vegetarian-Athletes

[Chrysaetos]

Originally Posted by mava

Hi there,
I suppose the correct term for me would be Pescaterian because I do occasionally eat fish and some other seafood. When I talk to people, I do still use the term vegetarian, or I say "I don't eat meat."
I think it's because my main goal is to be a healthy person and fish is very good for you. Sometimes when I don't feel satisfied with everything else I'm eating and if I feel like I need some protein, I will eat fish. I think it's important to listen to your body's needs.

I'm in the same boat (lol!) as you.

Cal, you should just try it out for a while, and see if the diet can sustain your physical activity.

I've always been blessed with decent health and have always been lean so I never really learned about or paid much attention to nutritional information before, so I obviously need to learn the basics to start with.

I have used Whey protein as a wieght training suppliment but I wasn't sure if it was made from animals so that could be a good suppliment to a vegetarian diet when in weight training.

I don't fish or hunt. I didn't like to directly harm them and see them suffer. I even have trouble even watching national geographic shows when animals are hunting each other - somehow I managed to look the otherway on that issue when at the shpping center, same with chicken and meat.

My motivation now is to stop supporting killing of animals and I think I have to consider fish animals at this point. I was wondering what others thought, since some vegetarians seem to count meat as mamals only. I love birds too. In fact, I have a few parrots that I love very very much, so in light of my new view and motivation I would have to stop eating chicken too. I think I'm ok with eggs and milk though, at this point at least.

WhiteShaman, that is a pretty nice list of famous athletes. I was pretty sure Mike Tyson eats babies though, since he ate a human's ear on national TV.... lol....seriously though, very impressive list and very encouraging -thanks!

Thanks to all that were willing to offer support and advise. I really appreciate it!

Honestly I'm quite scared about going through with this. Perhaps fear of failure and fear of the unknown. I'm actually feeling very depressed at the moment....

Thanks everyone,
Cal

[BlueSky]

Do you have a family Cal? Family was my biggest fear.......how we would all live together eating different foods and it turned out to be my biggest blessing as my wife (after rejecting the whole idea at first) now makes 2 meals, one for me and one for the rest of the family. On holidays relatives make special dishes just for me.......
If you are worried about health...........do some homework and you will see that it is a non-issue.
Blessings.James

Cal I appreciate so much that you want to stop hurting ALL animals. It touches my heart and I thank you for that.

I know many people who call themselves vegetarians but eat fish. There is absolutely no judgment in me for anybody. Only I want to say that technically they are not vegetarian.

Fishes are so extraordinarily beautiful! They suffer a terrible agony, and they cannot scream. They are the animals who are more tortured when caught. And many people don't consider them even animals!

I would like to assure you, Cal, that since I became true vegetarian and then vegan, around 8 years ago, I haven't had the slightest health problem.
And I offer to you my total support in any kind of information you need: how to live very good and very easily without eating (and wearing) animals.