Going veggie :)

[Michaela]

Well. . I am going to try and become a vegetarian again. :blushan:

This is really difficult for me, because I am the fussiest eater alive. I like nothing. But I will force it down - I feel so strongly about it. I haven't ate meat for 3 days now. :bunnydance:

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to do without dairy products, even though the industry is so cruel :tears2:. My mum wants me to eat fish too... :?

Who else is vegetarian/vegan? Any help would be much apprecited!

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Hi Michaela! Congrats on your decision! I'm not vegetarian right now, but I was vegetarian and vegan for a few years. I was 13-15 when I was vegan and it really wasn't so hard, even though I didn't know how to cook and this was 9 years ago when there weren't all the cool vegan products at the grocery store. I hope you enjoy being a vegetarian!

How much can you cook? If you can't, just start out with easy things! Go to allrecipes.com to find vegetarian recipes. I can send you some too, if you'd like! I don't eat much meat and most of the food I cook is vegetarian. When I started dating my boyfriend, he was quite the meat eater, but now that he eats my cooking, he only has meat once a week or so and says he doesn't miss it.

What foods do you like? Perhaps I can give you some suggestions!

 

[XxMontanaxX]

I tried...for like 3 weeks, it was easy. Until when we go out to eat, you can't find any vegetarian stuff, so I said, ok, one cheat day, and then one became two, two became 3, then I just couldn't do it anymore.

Of course, I am part of a family of 5 and my mom can't cook and buy food for their meals then mine. It was hard that way too.

My mom tried it with me for the first few days, but she said she would eat fish since Jesus ate fish. We are Christian so it got into a debate because I didn't want to eat fish and she kept using that against me and blah blah blah.

But one day, I hope to become full fledged vegetarian and maybe even vegan.

 

[missyscove]

I'm not a vegetarian and will likely never become one, but I know a large number of people who are.
Make sure you understand what you're getting into. It is hard to get all the nutrients you need unless you really educate yourself about it and focus on eating what you need to. Meat is packed with vitamins and minerals that do exist in veggies, they're just harder to come by. I know several girls within my high school that were vegans and were forced to at least switch to vegetarian by their doctors because they simply weren't getting what they needed.

 

[Phinnsmommy]

Thats funny, I just became vegetarian yesterday

A quick trip to peta.com really does wonders lol!

My family is very supportive, my Mom and Dad are doing it with me, I have an
older brother who has been a veggie for 4 years, but then there is my older brother who is not an animal person, and absolutely loves meat. *sigh*

I will eat fish and seafood too. But im lucky, alot of our meals were already vegetarian anyway, so this wont be too bad!

Good luck hehe!

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Congrats Michaela!

You guys might *appreciate this* (haha).

I think I could be vegetarian, unfortunately, it's because of the nasty stuff I can easily see (and hurriedly pick out:shock while cooking hamburger:?:yuck. Makes me almost sick. So, that is leaning me more towards it, but, I would definitely need to already have quite a few raw fruits and veggies in my diet on a daily basis:?.

 

[Bassetluv]

Hey Michaela, I'm sort of vegetarian (maybe you'd call me vegetarian/fishetarian/dairytarian ). I cut meat out of my diet a few years ago, but still do eat fish once a week or so, and I still have dairy - although it seems I'm being forced to cut dairy out too, as it doesn't agree with me.

The hardest part I found at first was both eating out, and eating at a family member's house, because - even though I voluntarily became vegetarian - I love meat. Was raised on it, and I used to love a good, thick, rare steak. Chicken was also a favorite of mine as well, and it was hard to swear it off while sitting at a table surrounded by it. However, if you truly do feel that vegetarian is the route for you, there are a lot of great vegetarian recipes out there, both in books and on the Internet. (SnowShiloh suggested allrecipes.com, and I agree...that's a great site for recipes. One thing you could do there is use their search engine...just key in a veggie that you do enjoy eating and search for it, you'll find all sorts of recipes using that particular vegetable.)

I used to think that cooking vegetarian meant hours of preparation time, etc., but if you search, you'll find a lot of recipes that taste yummy and are easy to make. You might want to ease your way into it too if you find it hard to become vegetarian all at once. I did it cold turkey (pardon the expression), with one ironic exception...turkey. For the first two years I did give in and ate turkey at Christmas, since my sister always cooked a huge turkey dinner for the family, but a couple of years ago I finally decided I could no longer eat that either, and gave it up completely. (Now if only I could give up coffee too...)

Maybe you could make a list of the foods you do like here, and people could suggest some recipes for you..

All the best on your venture!

 

[slavetoabunny]

I quit eating meat about 9 months ago. I still eat fish and shellfish. I've had no problems whatsoever eating out or at friends houses. I'm perfectly content eating side dishes and most restaurants have something on the menu that I like. I even went to a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse (for an office dinner) and they had a delicious grilled portabello mushroom entree.

Every once in a while I stare longingly at a nice piece of prime rib, but I have not strayed.

 

[katt]

i am not a full veggie. . . i eat chicken/turkey about 2 to 3 times a week. we eat seafood here regularly, dairy and eggs are still a stable in my diet.

make sure you stock up on veggie friendly stacks and quick meals. keep a few cans of beans in the cupboard to give easy protien to add to anything from soups, to stirfry, to salads. i keep a can at least of black beans, white beans, kidney, and garbonzo beans (homemade hummus is tastey and has a nice amount of protien in it). morning start burgers are great too. . . although i try to avoid processed food, and they are processed. we always keep a few boxes on hand in the freezer as my roommate and i often work over 40 hours a week, and sometimes we just don't feel like cooking! i am addicted to the spicy black bean burgers (toped with a smoked cheddar cheese makes these awesome). the chix patties are good also, cut up into a salad. we eat lots of fish and always try to cook it a healthy way (no deep frying, ect). we also keep a supply of different nuts. . . a handfull is a good snack and provides protien, as does adding them to dishes (i loves cooked broccoili with walnuts. . . yum!).

protien is the biggest thing, get yourself on a good multi-vitiamin, just to be sure that during your transistion into cutting out certain foods, you don't cut out all the nutrience you need!

and goodluck! i have never gone cold turkey at it before! i think that by the spring i will have cut out all the meat (except seafood, eggs, and dairy). . .

 

[ChompersMom]

I was vegetarian for 8 years of my life (from when I was in 4th grade- I turned 18). When I moved out to Arizona to go to college I could no longer afford it and I ate whatever I could get my hands on..including whatever someone else cooked for me (hey free food is free food..) My mother is vegetarian and my brother is vegan (nothing made from animals is eaten in that diet..including honey). I had an easy time being vegetarian because my mother helped me do so in a healthy manner. She cooked me wonderful noodle dishes with tofu in it, salads, and lots of "fake meat" that taste sooo good!

Congrats on your decision and if you do still want to eat dairy products, just try to get things that are free range or from local farms. It's when you go to large companies that the abuse really sets in.

 

[pebblesbunny26]

hey, vegetarian here, but i eat chicken once a month for extra protein. im lactose and tolerant, so i dont have dairy. its actually really healthy. ive been one since february.

i use to be a chunky one, ive lost a total of about 25 lbs since i stopped eating meat, and i have much more energy.

its not al lthat hard, except for when i was fed meat every day, steaks and hamburger were the favorite. now i cant even touch it or look at it.

let me tell u, peta2.com. it really does wonders. it made me change my whole thoughts on meat!! once i saw the bunnies being killed for furr, that was it. never thought i could do it, but baby i have.

anyone know any good recipes? let me kno. im always tryin some new stuff.

 

[Michaela]

Thanks for all the support everyone!! I'm so sorry I haven't replied yet, I want to reply to you all individually, but haven't any time right now (so swamped with ******* Coursework :grumpy::grumpy so I will tomorrow.

 

[Evey]

Hey! I've been a vegetarian for almost 9 years, and it's so easy!

Just make sure you get enough protein, and you're set! haha, I also make sure to take a daily vitamin like Centrum :]

 

[missyscove]

I just feel the need to comment on the PETA comments.
While, yes, PETA does do some good things, it's the number of horrific illegal things they do that make me refuse to take anything they put out without a grain of salt. I've now gotten to the point where I don't consider them a reliable source for anything.
Am I the only one that feels this way?

 

[tundrakatiebean]

missyscove wrote:

Am I the only one that feels this way?

nope, I feel the same...



Michaela, good luck with being Vegetarian! I could never do it!

 

[PixieStixxxx]

I was a vegetarian for 5 years. When I was 13 to shoftly after I turned 18.

I moved out on my own, and lost 12 pounds. My boyfriend finally convinced me to start eating meat again.

Good luck to you!

 

[Michaela]

Um..I failed, again =/

:embarrassed:

Seriously though, since I stopped eating meat (last weekend) I have felt soo weak and horrible. This morning I woke up and my stomach felt so weird... it's not healthy for me right now, I've realised that. I am sooo stressed, and am barely getting any sleep (like 5 hours a night), so unless I want to end up as a stick-thin zombie, I need to plan this better. :?

Thanks for your support everyone, I'll let you know when I my next attempt is. I tried several veggie dishes, never managing more than a few mouthfuls..not that that's a big deal as I'm like that with most meat dishes too.

Oh, Christina, I am right with you with PETA, I don't look on their site at all, don't trust them. Like you say, their negative aspects outweigh the positive by far. :?

 

[tundrakatiebean]

Michaela, if you felt that weird after such a small amount of time without meat it's possible that you have anemea... next time you're at the doctor's you should ask about it...

 

[Raspberry82]

It does sound like you might have an iron defficiency.. aka anemia. Pretty easy to supplement w/ a multi-vitamin that has iron or iron supplements until your body fixes it, if your doc/naturopath says you do have a defficieny. I was a vegetarian for 1 1/2 yrs when I was a teen, but frankly my body isn't built to do that, I eat tons of veggies every day and tofu, but I need meat to have energy. :? I would never consider being vegan, I know too much about my body's nutrition needs to do that , tofu just isn't enough.

Hehe, if you think being vegan/vegetarian is bad, my way of eating for the time being is way worse.. lol. Ever heard of the anti-candida diet? Try this on for size: no sugar of any kind ZERO, no fruit, no carbs, no vinegar, no starches, no alcohol in anything even extracts. :shock: It's semi-temporary, since fruit is so important, but yeah only meat and veg! Eeps.
:foreheadsmack:

 

[Raspberry82]

Well, I should say, you could possibly pull off all the nutritional needs while being vegan, but man that would be SUCH a tedious way to have to eat every day.. constantly monitoring your nutritional intake and plenty of supplements all the time.

If you really want to be veggie, try weaning yourself off of meat slowly, and replace it with high protein snacks.. nuts, nut butters, tofu, soy milk cheese, etc. Without enough protein of other sorts, it's hard to stick to imo . BBQ baked tofu really fills ya up and hits the spot when you're craving protein!