Thinking about being a vegetarian.. need advice?

Question

I'm practically a vegetarian already, I only and barely eat chicken, and i was thinkning about becoming one. The diets convince me that it is healthier, and it just seems like a good life style. How tough is it? What are the benefits? Any tips or ideas would be appreciated. Thanks

Answer 1

My husband is allergic to most meats (like a severe dairy allergy, he has food poisoning symptoms), so I became a vegetarian from convenience. We are ovo-lacto vegetarians, which means we eat eggs and dairy. I sometimes eat seafood (which really disqualifies me from official vegetarianism), but most of the time I eat tofu, gluten, seitan, and other protein replacements.

The Cons?

The diet can be as bad as a meat diet if you make the wrong food choices -- just like with meat. It's hard to find things to eat at restaurants, and I promise you that a lot of places will consider it funny when they slip meat in your food -- which has happened on occasion. After a few years, it doesn't become a choice, because you lose whatever it is that makes you able to digest land-based meats and even some seafood (this I know from experience . . . I now get food poisoning symptoms if I eat small amounts of meat). People act like you're insane and a rabid member of PETA. My favorite is, however, being asked if I eat chicken. Chicken isn't a plant, therefore no.

The Pros?

You start experimenting with foods and spices and become a lot more adventurous out, thinking about what you eat. There are a good amount of really extraordinary recipes for vegetarian food, and I actually like the non-greasy texture of meat substitutes. You start enjoying fruits and vegetables more, because you're relying on them more. You learn about nutrition because you're thinking about it; you leave the meat, starch, veggie mindset and start thinking in terms of how foods work in combination to make a flavorful and exciting meal.

I would suggest you phase out meat slowly (like I did), sampling the vegetarian alternatives. Thanksgiving to Christmas is a great time to try it out; Quorn and Tofurkeys are available in many normal grocery stores at this time, so it is a great chance to see what's out there.

Some quick-fix veggie substitutes are made by several companies -- from sausage to corn dogs (yes, vegetarian corn dogs) to chicken bites (like Chicken Nuggets) for you to look at:

http://www.morningstarfarms.com/
http://www.gardenburger.com/
http://www.tofurky.com/
http://www.quorn.com/
http://www.kelloggs.com/brand/worthington/
http://www.lightlife.com/index.html (the hot dogs are so good even non-veggies prefer them over regular hot dogs!)

Lots of great convenience food (most of which use soy), which has the same basic proteins. They work to balance protein content.

Good luck with picking up a veggie lifestyle, and if you decide against, in the end, it's okay: humans are meant to be omnivores, anyway.

Answer 2

sorry but "I'm practically a vegetarian already" doesn't mean anything. You cannot use the word vegetarian if you ever eat chicken.

You are a "meateater who eats a small amount of chicken."

Please do all veggies a favour and only use the word vegetarian to describe a vegetarian diet. Using words like "Partly, demi, semi., almost, pratically" confuses the whole topic.

Its not tough being a veggie. I've been veggie for 26 years and have a completely healthy lifestyle. I take no suppliments and an not ill, pale faced or weak. I'm an arable farmer

my tip: ensure you have a balanced diet, using as many raw ingredients as you can to do your cooking. try to avoid the "meat-like" substitutes. They don't taste great and are not particularly good for you. This is because they are highly processed, not because they are veggie.

Answer 3

It sounds like it would be an easy transition for you to become a vegetarian, since you only and rarely eat chicken meat. You might get a craving once in a while, but that's probably normal. Being vegan is much, much harder though. Good luck!

Answer 4

Once I opened up my mind to eating new types of foods, it was really easy. I used to not eat vey many types of vegetables, & I did not know how to cook very well. Now that I do it is awesome & I feel SO much healthier.

So yeah, my tips would be :

- be open to new foods
- learn to cook
- eat lots of veggies & friut
- read up on what vitamins you need

A lot of meat eaters harp on about how hard it is and how bad it is for you. It just is not so. It is much better for you health and I do not feel meat cravings. I used to, but I have absolutely no urge to eat meat now.

Answer 5

the first time i tried it lasted for about three days because i was convinced that i wasnt going to eat any fake meat. about a month later i tried again, this time with fake meats, and im still going strong!
if u like chicken try a chicken substitute like boca chick'n patties, yumm

Answer 6

You're practically there already. it can be tough sometimes but I think it's worth it. Give it a try at least, if you can't manage then maybe give yourself a little more preparation time. Good luck!

Answer 7

the best advice anyone can give you is to try it for yourself.Try it for 30 days and continue it if you feel better.Don't live off of junkfood,try to eat only unprocessed or minimally processed foods.Don't let people think you aren't getting enough protein.
MYTH: "Vegetarians get little protein."

FACT: Plant foods offer abundant protein. Vegetables are around 23% protein on average, beans 28%, grains 13%, and even fruit has 5.5%. For comparison, human breast milk is only 5% (designed for the time in our lives when our protein needs are as high as they'll ever be). The US Recommended Daily Allowance is 8%, and the World Health Organization recommends 4.5%.
MYTH: "Beans are a good source of protein."

FACT: There is no such thing as a special "source of protein" because all foods -- even plants -- have plentiful protein. You might as well say "Food is a good source of protein". In any event, beans (28%) don't average much more protein per calorie than common vegetables (23%).
Increased stamina
At Yale, Professor Irving Fisher designed a series of tests to compare the stamina and strength of meat-eaters against that of vegetarians. He selected men from three groups: meat-eating athletes, vegetarian athletes, and vegetarian sedentary subjects. Fisher reported the results of his study in the Yale Medical Journal.25 His findings do not seem to lend a great deal of credibility to the popular prejudices that hold meat to be a builder of strength.

"Of the three groups compared, the...flesh-eaters showed far less endurance than the abstainers (vegetarians), even when the latter were leading a sedentary life."26
Overall, the average score of the vegetarians was over double the average score of the meat-eaters, even though half of the vegetarians were sedentary people, while all of the meat-eaters tested were athletes. After analyzing all the factors that might have been involved in the results, Fisher concluded that:

"...the difference in endurance between the flesh-eaters and the abstainers (was due) entirely to the difference in their diet.... There is strong evidence that a...non-flesh...diet is conducive to endurance."27
A comparable study was done by Dr. J. Ioteyko of the Academie de Medicine of Paris.28 Dr. Ioteyko compared the endurance of vegetarian and meat-eaters from all walks of life in a variety of tests. The vegetarians averaged two to three times more stamina than the meat-eaters. Even more remarkably, they took only one-fifth the time to recover from exhaustion compared to their meat-eating rivals.

In 1968, a Danish team of researchers tested a group of men on a variety of diets, using a stationary bicycle to measure their strength and endurance. The men were fed a mixed diet of meat and vegetables for a period of time, and then tested on the bicycle. The average time they could pedal before muscle failure was 114 minutes. These same men at a later date were fed a diet high in meat, milk and eggs for a similar period and then re-tested on the bicycles. On the high meat diet, their pedaling time before muscle failure dropped dramatically--to an average of only 57 minutes. Later, these same men were switched to a strictly vegetarian diet, composed of grains, vegetables and fruits, and then tested on the bicycles. The lack f animal products didn't seem to hurt their performance--they pedaled an average of 167 minutes.29

Wherever and whenever tests of this nature have been done, the results have been similar. This does not lend a lot of support to the supposed association of meat with strength and stamina.

Doctors in Belgium systematically compared the number of times vegetarians and meat-eaters could squeeze a grip-meter. The vegetarians won handily with an average of 69, whilst the meat-eaters averaged only 38. As in all other studies which have measured muscle recovery time, here, too, the vegetarians bounced back from fatigue far more rapidly than did the meat-eaters.30

I know of many other studies in the medical literature which report similar findings. But I know of not a single one that has arrived at different results. As a result, I confess, it has gotten rather difficult for me to listen seriously to the meat industry proudly proclaiming "meat gives strength" in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Answer 8

My friend was a vegetarian and she could not eat meat can you believe that no meat for her whole life so might want to think it over!Good luck!

Answer 9

Try to borrow or buy this book:
http://www.amazon.com/New-Becoming-Vegetarian-Essential-Healthy/dp/1570671443/sr=8-1/qid=1165191369/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-3576253-7320631?ie=UTF8&s=books

Answer 10

Why do you think Noah took two of every animal on the ark? To eat. Go red meat!