I'm thinking of reducing my meat consumption dramatically, but not altogether: good/bad idea?

Question

Veganism is probably not for me, but I can see reducing consumption of meat-products to an "occasion", where I have more awareness of the sacrifice of an animal for my nourishment: prepare the meal well, & such...

Also I hear that people with blood type O can't go totally vegetarian anyway: anything to that?

Answer 1

It's a great idea. Even if you don't go all the way vegetarian, greatly reducing your meat and animal by-product intake will do wonders for your health.
Not only will you lower your consumption of animal fat and animal protein, but it will cause you to be "more creative" in the kitchen so to speak. You will be forced to try different, healthier foods.
I'm O+ and a vegetarian and I'm doing fine. I donate blood and just do my thing. I don't have any problems.

Answer 2

In this entire speech, you only make three points, and one of them is completely invalid (halting all meat production would cause an excess in grain production, but, due to capitalism, this grain would not make it to all the hungry mouths out there.) You are very repetitive, and in some areas you seem to have just copied and pasted the exact same sentence you used before. There is no need to summarize the entire speech in the introduction AND the conclusion. Make the introduction a hook (the one you have is a no go. Meat is not a substance we're putting in our food; it is a food. It is a food most of your audience eats, so be sure not to rag on it too much. They know that they eat it and that they're not suffering from cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, or cancer.) Summarize your speech in conclusion, but also send your audience away with the greener options you promised in the beginning (speaking of which, you may want to include some Meatless Monday statistics.) Statistics, however, seem to be another weak point in this speech. You cite a few sources, but you only deliver the hard facts via direct quote. This gives the impression that you don't really understand what they're talking about. Try paraphrasing, while still listing where you got your facts. And make sure they're really facts. Get books, and only trust .gov and .edu sites. There's also an abundance of grammatical errors, spelling could be better, and the speech doesn't "flow." I think the best thing you've got going here is that you were wise enough not to make this an "attack" by discussing animal welfare issues.

Answer 3

I'm type O+ and have been a vegetarian for quite some time. Went to the doctor last month for a check up and everything is great. I hadn't heard that myth but I can attest to the fact that it is untrue.
Meat reduction is a very healthy thing to do. The fact of the matter is that even in a meat eating diet the amount of meat recommended is minimal compared to what most people eat. Reducing your meat consumption will reduce risks to your health as well as make you feel much better. The added fiber and vegetable consumption that you replace the meat with will give you a much healthier digestive tract.
Good luck.

Answer 4

Good idea. To quote the organization Vegan Outreach: "Years worth of eating less meat and eggs will prevent more suffering than a brief stint as a vegan, so it’s more important to take an approach you can sustain. You can make exceptions, such as eating meat on certain occasions, and still make a big difference by eating vegetarian the rest of the time."

I would personally never eat meat on a special occasion, because I can't imagine eating meat again after seeing the slaughterhouse videos... but I realize that reducing suffering isn't an all-or-nothing thing.

It doesn't look like the blood type diet theory has much substance. See http://veg.ca/content/view/128/110/

Good luck.

Answer 5

It is a great idea, and a sensible approach as well.

As far as the type O thing, i have heard of it before, but i am not quite certain of it. I am 100% sure that most type O blood people can be vegetarian without any problems. I think that complications related to blood type are at most too rare to worry about and possibly some odd little urban legend that doesnt exist at all.

Answer 6

Its a great idea so long as you replace the meat with healthy things and not just eat junk food on your veg days.

I would probably cut out the red meat the most and stick with fish (the lower mercury/ PCBs ones, for a list see: http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/guide.asp)

For some veg recipes, see http://vegweb.com/

The thing you heard about blood type O comes from a diet book written by Peter D'Adamo. According to wikipedia, "The diet is widely derided by dietitians, physicians, and nutritional scientists as having no scientific basis." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_type_diet
Krister- you're totally right about this diet. I thought of that too, especially since in Japan, etc blood type is treated sort of like zodiac sign astrology here (determining personality, etc) I wonder if this is where the quack got his idea :)

Answer 7

Sure its a good idea. It doesn't have to be an "all or nothing" proposition. Choosing to cut down on meats is more responsible than just dismissing the whole concept. Good for you! Perhaps, when you realize you feel better, you might consider giving up meat altogether, or just having it now and then may suit you just fine. I am vegetarian, as is my 13 year old daughter, but I tire of those that preach what you "can" and "Can't" eat. Its YOUR choice. Here is an article that might motivate you though...makes me glad I am a veggie! Good luck on your journey.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/12/09/canada.murder.trial.ap/index.html

As for the blood type diets, I think they have SOME validity, but not too much. Much of your metabolism depends on environments aspects as much as diet. Eat what makes you feel good.

Answer 8

It's a great idea. Any amount of reduction in meat purchases leads directly to a similar amount of reduction in animal pain and suffering. If, because of this new plan, you eat 5 fewer animals per year, that's 5 lives you've saved, plain and simple.

As for the type O thing, it's nonsense. I am a type O vegan, for one. In addition, there are tens of thousands of vegans in the world, and millions of vegetarians. You can't honestly believe that out of millions of people, none of them have type O blood.

Answer 9

Some people will tell you no - I suppose thats their opinion

In terms of stopping Animal Cruelty, any reduction of funds given to the industry is good- so significantly reducing your meat consumption is good.

In terms of the environment ( my reason for Veg*nism)- Reducing your consumption is also excellent. Same kind of thing as switching to a hybrid car, or using the bus to work, not a car.

Good for you !

Answer 10

i think a good approach long term approach is best. i am a pescatarian. i would normally eat more vegan style but on special occasions i will eat fish. like if the only choices i have are fish or dairy, i would pick the fish one (but some times the dairy one). or perhaps you could only eat meat once a week. its good to set your boundaries in the early stages of your new commitment or you could end up gradually just eating more meat than you thought.