[Nisima]

Hi, "omnivore" Nisima checking in here - I can't survive without my dark leafy greens each and every day and love lOVE fish, fowl, and yes red meat. BUT, I don't eat the huge quantities restaurants slap on those plates - actually kinda turns my stomach!
I do respect everyone's choice of diet, as long as they remain healthy then it is working for them. But I have close friend who was vegetarian for 25 years and a year ago started having serious health problems relating to iron absorbtion that can't be fixed with iron supplements. She has supplmented her diet with fish and chicken but is having a hard time with the red meat that doctor wants her to have once in a while. Her husband is having no problems with his vegetarian eating habits but for her, it is a problem. When they come to my house for dinner I simply include vegetarian cheese casserole because please, vegetarians need more than leaves and twigs! I think it is mean-spirited to criticize anyone's diet choice for whatever reason and hard to believe that any decent restaurant could not come up with a pasta/veggie entree that doesn't even involve dairy - I actually ordered one because it sounded so good and this was not a pricey restaurant.
Whatever works, works and no one should be criticized or made to feel guilty whether they eat meat or not!
Oh, and people who get "ticked off" at a vegetarian with svelte body are just jealous, plain and simple and quite frankly would react the same way, or worse no matter what the response was to question "how you stay so slim". Well, that's too personal, and all the advice columns say when someone asks a personal question you don't want to answer or that you just KNOW will elicit a negative response, just ask them right back "why do you need to know"? That usually stops people in their tracks! GRRRR!