Going Vegetarian (advice needed)

I think the most important thing about being vegetarian (and making it easy) is knowing why you decided to become so, and believing in the cause.
If you don't like meat in the first place then it's not gonna be that hard, but from your message it seems you probably do like it, so every time your tempted think to yourself "it's not worth it", also you can mind trick yourself into thinking meat is disgusting, but thats kinda hard...

Another important thing is to keep yourself well fed, so you'll stay healthy, this will hopefully also make you crave meat less.

It will be easier to quit meat if you remember what it really is: ROTTING FLESH of a dead animal. Just think that to your self every time you're tempted. Also, most of what we like about meat is the way we prepare it. Get yourself a good vegitarian cook book and learn some easy meals to make. There are also a lot of great meat substitutes if you are craving that flavor.

A great grain to use is Quinoa, it is full of nutrition, mix it with salad and you have a compleat meal. The key is to eat a variety of grains, vegies, greens, nuts and fruits. You'll be amazed at the variety of meals out there that are meat free. I never had more variety in my diet then when I went vegi!

Also, keep in mind that your body will eliminate a lot of toxins, like a de-tox from meat. So don't forget to drink plenty of water. After this is done, your body will feel great! Meat really drags a body down, so, enjoy your new healthy body!! :D

This really depends on WHY you're a vegetarian. I grew up vegetarian because my mom is vegetarian so I simply have no taste for most meat (though I do eat chicken on occasion, and I love seafood). One of my good friends is a vegetarian because she doesn't support the earth-damaging effects of the meat industry. Another friend does it simply for health reasons. Like denise said, the reason is very important as a motivator.

I don't have any specific advice as I never really "went" vegetarian (well, I did when I was 9 after a couple years of trying meat and deciding I didn't like it, and then I didn't eat any meat again till I was 21). But I know it's possible to be healthy and balanced without much trouble without meat.

Thanks all for your responses.

@acidcookie - just like you chicken and seafood are definitely my favorite meats and will be the toughest to refrain from. However, I do believe it is doable for a month and I have set myself the challenge. At the end of the month, I will reassess whether to continue being vegetarian or semi-vegetarian, based on any realized health/wellbeing benefits realized during the month.

The primary reason for me becoming a vegetarian is to look and feel great. Secondary reasons for me are also the impact of meat production on the environment, and animal cruelty.

@Saramae - Thanks for the tip. I do recall graphic images of how animals are treated in factory farms and if I am ever tempted to eat meat I will try to remember the horrible images I saw. I also remember reading somewhere about how the flesh is treated to slow the rotting and consumption of these chemicals is not healthy. Do you have any suggestion on how to find what meat substitutes are available? On browsing my asian grocer, I saw frozen vegetarian chicken stir fry strips but they were extremely expensive. I'm not a huge tofu fan unfortunately.

@Denise - I've summed up motivation for vegetarianism in my response to acidcookie. Do you have any further suggestion on how to tell myself it's not worth it?

Hi, I've been a veggie for 10 years now. I know how hard it can be!

I find the hardest things is going out for a meal, often there's only one veggie option and it's a bit rubbish - or if you go to the same place a lot boring! That could be a stumbling block.

My advice would be to find a lot of easy veggie dishes that don't take long to do - that way it'll be the easy option to cook something veggie for yourself - and exciting to try new recipes out. Something like omlettes, pasta with a sauce (or just some olive oil and nice veggies in) are pretty easy to do and don't take long.

Check this out: http://www.vegsoc.org/cordonvert/recipes/

For you, just keep remembering it's only for a month. So you will be able to have a steak next month!

Good luck.[/url]

For you, just keep remembering it's only for a month. So you will be able to have a steak next month!

-"Emmama"

Thanks! I actually reminded myself of the same thing just tonight for dinner when I was having plain rice with steamed vegetables. I had grilled salmon sitting in front of me during the entire meal...I was so tempted, but I quickly finished my meal and left the dinner table.

It'll be easier when I move out as I can start to make veggie mains instead of having veggie sides as routinely featured in my mum's cooking.

This is Jack signing out. This is Day 2 of Veg 4 October.

well done! That must have been really hard, I always have trouble with fish too.

dajackal,

I've been a vegan for health reasons for over a year now. I'm glad to see others who are interested in at least trying out vegetarianism/veganism. I personally went from meat eater to vegan literally overnight. I decided one evening to be vegan and the next day, it was done. This is not to say that it was easy, but as some of the previous posters mentioned, sometimes it is just a matter of psyching yourself out and reminding yourself of why you are doing this. It is a healthy way to live, and I think you'll find it very worthwhile. There are great health benefits to a vegetarian diet. Do remember that seafood can be some of the worst animals to eat as far as intake of bodily toxins. Red meat is really bad news, too. If you care about the treatments of animals, then chicken, or any poultry are typically treated the most inhumane with dairy cattle and pigs a close second. As a vegetarian, at least you can keep eggs and dairy in your diet. When talking to others about trying a vegetarian diet, I have found that a lot of people have the hardest time giving up dairy. In any case, I wish you the best and hope that you find the diet so rewarding that you'll simply continue it once the month is over. Be well and good luck.

If you haven't read it yet, here are my tips:

http://zenhabits.net/2007/08/how-to-become-a-vegetarian-the-easy-way/

check out www.veggieboards.com !

It's a HUGE community of incredibly helpful vegetarians. There are also tons of vegetarian blogs with lots of great recipes and tips.

It's not hard to live a life of compassion and awareness.

The easiest way to start vegetarianism, if you're cooking on your own and for the first time, is to go for the products designed to look/replace meat - Morningstar Farms, Litelife, and Yves, make great ones. Think of meals you usually have and make them normally, but just use the meat replacement products. Once meat isn't a habit, you can experiment more with beans/tofu/pure veggie meals.

Also, when going out to eat, be creative. If a pasta dish looks good (lots of veggies, good sauce) but has meat in it, just ask for it without the meat. Most restaurants are used to this sort of ordering for vegetarian or allergy reasons. At nicer - or even just regular - restaurants, even if there's not a vegetarian dish on the menu, the chefs are often delighted to have some creativity and make you something special if you just ask. In terms of eating out choices, Indian or other Asian restaurants tend to be the best, and most Mexican places should be able to make good veggie food.

Getting a cookbook can be hard, since many vegetarian ones may have ingredients you're unfamiliar with. There's a wonderful, simple one that I use all the time called Vegetarian Fast Food by Rose Elliot - available on amazon used for a few dollars. I also commit to buying 1 vegetable that I've never bought before when I go to the grocery store and learning to cook it - over the past few months, I've added lots of new vegetables my usual dinner plate. You could do the same thing with buying 1 ingredient a week you haven't used before (say, a certain type of bean) and making a recipe around that.

@emi - As an Australian, I haven't heard of those brands before. Either Americans have alot more variety, or I need to start shopping at specialist shops. At the major supermarket chains they only stock a couple of brands of fake meats, and from what I recall they weren't all that nice.

Thanks for your tip on asking for vegetarian meals when dining out. I'll be dining out tonight and I'll see how I go!

Oh...I need to say that I feel quite bummed out today. I've been having headaches and feeling extremely lethargic. Does this have anything to do with side effect of de-tox?

I don't like many of the fake meat brands, though I never really liked meat so it's a bit different. One we have in the UK is Couldren, if you can find there stuff try it!

You could try making your own substitute, falafels are good and have a nice consistency.

The headache could be a detox side effect, are you drinking enough water?

Hi all,

I've made it through end of week 1 for my challenge to be vegetarian for a month!

So far no notable improvements in mental clarity, or energy levels. That's not to say there are any decreases either...it's been pretty stable except for the day I had the headaches (may/may not be related to change in diet).

I've eaten out quite a bit these few days, and I'm quite surprised to find a reasonable selection of vegetarian dishes in asian restaurants - thai and viet in particular, not so much japanese however. The soup stock in the vegetable ramen left me wanting to swap it for the roast pork ramen.

I'm not much of a cook, but I've managed to cook up the following meals on my own:
soba noodles in miso soup
choy sum stir fry
fried rice w/ fried gluten (chicken substitute)

I cheated a little bit, but for the record these are things I know that I've eaten containing animal products:
Scallops from a yum cha dish (i tried to scrape as much out as i could)
Fish stock (dashi)
Gelatin (lollies/candy)

Thanks for reading =)

Jack

So far no notable improvements in mental clarity, or energy levels. That's not to say there are any decreases either...it's been pretty stable except for the day I had the headaches (may/may not be related to change in diet).

-"dajackal"

By all means, make sure your body gets the nutriments it needs. One thing that often happens when people go from meat-eater to vegetarian is that they don't get enough proteins and some other vital substances which are common in meat, but need some knowledge and money to find in non-meat.

Without those nutriments, one is facing a decrease in health - decreased function of the immune system, poorer concentration, weaker muscles and bones ... Some of these effects might even be irreversible.

Myself, for over 10 years, I have eaten no meat other than fish, and even that very rarely. I simply didn't like to eat meat and not eating meat was very easy for me to do.
But I was a very bad vegetarian - I didn't get all the necessary supplements. I ended up chronically tired, gained a lot of weight, was tired a lot, exercise gave little but mostly no results, my ability to concentrate and to learn diminished, I was frequently down with a cold, and I generally felt really lousy and lived on the verge of exhaustion.

So, again, make sure your body gets the nutriments it needs. Educate yourself. See your doctor. Get the supplements. Plan your meals.
Because otherwise, it's really better that you remain eating meat. Being a lousy vegetarian can do a lot of damage to your body and to your future.

I've only skimmed the other posts--so if I repeat someone else I'm sorry. Anyway, I've been a veg for going on 7 years now and would like to consider myself pretty healthy, and I'm very physically active (I'm a student nurse, train horses, play on multiple rec-sports teams, etc) so doing the veggie thing the healthy way was important.

Anyway, I find that variety is really the key, that and making sure to get some protein all the time! After you know why you are a veg, decide what kind you are. I'm a lacto-ovo, meaning I still eat eggs and have dairy. Some Vegs still eat seafood, and then you have a full out Vegan, who does not consume anything that comes from an animal (right down to honey!)

Always keep a stock of tofu version in the freezer for when you have a craving, or no energy to cook. I like Morning Star Farms--and they make a nice selection of soy bacon (my weakness), and chicken like products.

I also always keep a stash of canned beans in my pantry. Kidney beans and chick peas are my favorites because they are really versatile. You can throw them in with Veggies and pasta, or mash up the chick peas and use it like tuna (mix with a little mayo, dijon, sweet relish and it makes a nice replacement for a tuna sandwich...).

If you're out on you're own try not to keep anything in the house that contains meat, and make sure that other people who will be supportive, know you're going Veggie--they can help you stick with it when going out to eat (and yes, that is normally the hardest time to be a veg! we have very little to choose from!). I suggest checking out http://www.vegweb.com and maybe getting some veggie recipe books to help give you ideas.