# Are there any fat vegetarians? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 17, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-fat-vegetarians/331561 "2005-11-17T22:36:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![eviladam\_part\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/da6949/32.png) [@eviladam\_part\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eviladam_part_2)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-fat-vegetarians/331561/41 "2005-11-18T16:41:31Z")
> [@cmurdough](#): > > Most of the meat-substitute products have more protein and less fat than real meat. less fat, yes. more protein? no. the morningstar farms stuff is good, and also the highest in protein of the meat substitutes i’ve seen. (16g for the Prime grillers patties) ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-fat-vegetarians/331561/42 "2005-11-18T18:13:24Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Your distinction still makes no sense. My distinction makes no sense to YOU. It makes perfect sense to me. There are people who don’t eat meat because they don’t like it - they fill up on meat-free junk food and can be very large. Then there are people who don’t eat meat becasue of health reasons. They buy boat loads of “vegetarian” cook books, eat lentils, and veggies, and other low-fat options typically contained in “vegetarian” cook books and they tend to be thin. I’m really not interested in arguing semantics with you. Not eating meat, by defintion makes you a vegetarian - which I said. However, it’s doesn’t mean you’re following a “vegetarian” diet. Please notice the quotes, and also the fact that I never said eating bread and cheese precluded someone from being vegetarian. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-fat-vegetarians/331561/43 "2005-11-18T18:24:15Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > I’m really not interested in arguing semantics with you. Not eating meat, by defintion makes you a vegetarian - which I said. However, it’s doesn’t mean you’re following a “vegetarian” diet. Please notice the quotes, and also the fact that I never said eating bread and cheese precluded someone from being vegetarian. You are, of course, free to make up meaningless distinctions out of thin air, and place quotation marks around a word in order to imply that it means something other than what it actually does. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-fat-vegetarians/331561/44 "2005-11-18T18:41:33Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > You are, of course, free to make up meaningless distinctions out of thin air, and place quotation marks around a word in order to imply that it means something other than what it actually does. Fine. You’re right, and I’m wrong. Do you feel better now? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-fat-vegetarians/331561/45 "2005-11-18T18:46:23Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > My meals themselves are generally quite healthy. We cook a lot at home, using good quality ingredients. I do love cheese, although i don’t eat an inordinate amount of it. Where i fall down is my love for candy and chocolate. Ditto, ditto. For instance, my lunch today is a nice vegetable soup I made a couple days ago. It’s very low-fat. I almost never buy sweets. Alas, one of my coworkers has a bottomless jar of candy on her desk. I cannot resist it. I’m not fat, I’m at a perfectly healthy weight for my height, but you’d never look at me and go “Man, that girl needs a cheeseburger!” ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-fat-vegetarians/331561/46 "2005-11-18T18:47:27Z")
By definition, not eating meat means you are following a vegetarian diet. It does not mean you are following a vegetarian reducing and/or healthy diet. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-fat-vegetarians/331561/47 "2005-11-18T18:58:33Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > Fine. You’re right, and I’m wrong. > > Do you feel better now? Well, if it makes you feel better to believe that i was engaged in a pissing contest, go right ahead. I was simply trying to point out that your terminology is in direct contradiction to the way that most people use the term “vegetarian” and “vegetarian diet.” Try this little experiment, to see if your definitions work: Go up to a bunch of people and tell each one, “I’m a vegetarian but i don’t follow a vegetarian diet.” Tell me how many people immediately understand the distinction you’re making, and how many look at you like you’re a crazy person. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > By definition, not eating meat means you are following a vegetarian diet. It does not mean you are following a vegetarian reducing and/or healthy diet. Exactly. IMO, the distinction that **alice\_in\_wonderland** is trying to make is an important one, but the terminology is too ambiguous. Why not just say “healthy vegetarian diet,” “unhealthy vegetarian diet,” “low-fat vegetarian diet,” “low-carb vegetarian diet,” etc. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-fat-vegetarians/331561/48 "2005-11-18T20:41:52Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Well, if it makes you feel better to believe that i was engaged in a pissing contest, go right ahead. I was simply trying to point out that your terminology is in direct contradiction to the way that most people use the term “vegetarian” and “vegetarian diet.” Fine - you weren’t trying to engage in a pissing contest. So if you object to “vegetarian” and vegetarian why, when you obviously understood the point I was trying to make, didn’t you just suggest alternative terminology, or describe it in a different way, rather than saying by post didn’t make sense. Obviously it did if you knew what I was talking about. Further, I think if I went up to most people they would have no trouble understanding the distinction I’m trying to make either. If you want to call it “healthy vegetarian” vs. “unhealthy vegetarian” you could have just said that in your first post. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-fat-vegetarians/331561/49 "2005-11-18T20:47:25Z")
My ex sister in law was a heavy set vegan. Far as I could tell - Potato chips and tequila ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-fat-vegetarians/331561/50 "2005-11-18T20:54:48Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > My ex sister in law was a heavy set vegan. > > Far as I could tell - Potato chips and tequila What about the worm? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-fat-vegetarians/331561/51 "2005-11-18T20:55:37Z")
I don’t understand, **Mhendo** , why you feel the need to argue semantics when it’s so clearly not the point of this thread at all. If a person doesn’t eat meat then the person is a vegetarian. Simple as that. It does not matter one iota what they _do_ consume. They are abstaining from meat. Period. _Why_ they are abstaining is just as irrelevant. There are many motives; health, ethics, politics, religion, etc. They’re all vegetarians. Gauging from the responses in this thread, vegetarians are just as susceptible to dietary woes as omnivores. Yeesh. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-fat-vegetarians/331561/52 "2005-11-18T21:05:55Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > What about the worm? Shhhhh. The people at P.E.T.A. will hear you! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tiltypig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@tiltypig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiltypig)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-fat-vegetarians/331561/53 "2005-11-18T21:06:42Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Vegan? Oops. :smack: I meant Nesquick syrup (vegan!) added to soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-fat-vegetarians/331561/54 "2005-11-18T21:15:34Z")
[raises hand] While I was never a strict vegetarian, I spent 15 years not eating any beef, chicken, pork, etc. I called myself a vegetarian, although I did eat seafood to some degree. I just recently started eating some chicken or turkey, but still don’t eat beef or pork. I went from ~210 lbs. (I’m 6’3", so that wasn’t really that heavy), to well over 300 lbs. on that diet. That’s over 100 lbs. gained. I’m living proof – it’s not what you eat, it’s how much. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-fat-vegetarians/331561/55 "2005-11-19T00:17:24Z")
Adding another vote that it’s easy to eat like crap as a vegetarian. You can eat a crummy junk-food diet (or an unbalanced overly picky natural foods diet) and get malnourished, you can eat rich foods and get over-nourished and fat - just like people who eat meat. As for me, the most I’ve weighed is 15 lbs over my top fit weight in college, and currently I’m within 5 lbs of that weight. I’ll add that the one vegan I currently know is over 6’ tall, muscular, and runs marathons, as well as doing a walking-delivery US mail route for his work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-fat-vegetarians/331561.md?page=2)