Did you convert from being a meat eater to vegetarian?

Question

If so, how did you convert. Did you just stop eating meat cold turkey one day ( no pun intended ) or did you slowly remove it from your diet until one day it was gone? Was it difficult to find stuff to eat when you had been used to eating meat at most meals? Why did you convert?

Answer 1

For me it wasn't something I planned. I was researching diet pertaining to elite athletic performance. I had decided to research literally everything I put into my mouth and whatever hindered performance, I would stop eating and find something else that would improve performance. I did this over the summer between grade 10 and 11 and in a matter of weeks I was no longer eating any meat, diary, food additives, etc. I immediately noticed an improvement in my performance, but also my acne of many years disappeared, my mind felt like a could had been lifted from it and I could think so much more quickly and my mind reeled with all sorts of thoughts, I didn't need as much sleep, and I recovered so much faster. Since I was in the middle of summer racing and training the effects of changing my diet was highly noticeable (as opposed to if I was a couch potato) and this spurred me to continue my research. I eventually started finding books and cookbooks that met my standards where actually vegan books. I discovered the terms vegetarian and vegan at that time. I still do not like the terms since I consider myself to be "a-human-eating-as-a-human-naturally-should-according-to-bilolgy" than a 'vegan".

If I discovered in my research that meat would enhance my performance I would likely have started eating fresh still warm from the kill raw, organic, meat. Same with diary -- if dairy was a performance enhancer, I'd have started consuming fresh non-pasteurized milk and other products.

It just turns out that what is good for performance is also good for one's health, the environment, animals, and so forth.

Answer 2

I am seventeen, and have been vegetarian for about two months now. I always thought about being a vegetarian when I was young but back then my parents did all the cooking and I ate whatever was put on my plate. Now I make all of my own meals which is great, I get to decide what I eat. I actually used lent as my reason. I gave up all meat for lent (although I must mention I was never a fan of red meat, I only ate chicken and tuna really). I had no cravings, except for gravy.. Which I found strange since I never ate much gravy in the first place. When lent was over I ordered a poutine from a fast food joint. It was gross.. I couldn't even eat any, because I felt so sick. So I have decided to stick with vegetarianism. It's awesome because it can be a challenge, which forces you to be creative when it comes to cooking. I also feel much healthier and cleaner now.

Answer 3

Yes, I am a vegan. I made the transition by completly cutting out meat all at once. Becoming a vegetarian was not as hard for me as it is for other people. I really didn't like meat that much to begin with, so it wasn't really hard to give up. The reason I gave up meat was for ethical reasons. I was an ova- lacto vegetarian for about 4-5 years then I decieded to become a vegan. The transition from eating dairy and cheese to a almost completly plant- based diet was definatly harder. I went back to eating dairy for a little while after I became a vegan, but it only lasted a few days. It was really hard, and I still want mac and cheese sometimes, lol. But I have learned to control the urge. And the reason I became a vegan was for the same reason, and also for health.

Answer 4

Yes, I converted.
For a while, I still ate fish but cut out all other forms of meat and it was not easy. Yes, for me it was very difficult to find "reoplacements" at first. Then I found a good book at the library about vegetarian diets. I took a lot of that information to heart - it was quite eye-opening - and found that I just wasn't looking hard enough for variety in my new way of eating.
I converted because I read Eric Schlosser's book "Fast Food Nation". When I first got into it, I decided to swear off fast food. Further into the book, Schlosser delves into the meat industry and after that, I couldn't even LOOK at a hamburger! I will never forget the day - it was December 27th and I stopped eating meat. Since then, I'm super happy and actually healthier than before. :-)

Answer 5

Yes. I was raised on meat and potatoes & the veggies we had were either a can of corn, green beans, peas or head lettuce.

I started studying the Bible along with Seventh-day Adventist beliefs. After reading how healthy vegetarian SDA's are and finding the Bible doctrines right on I stopped eating meat - cold turkey. I'd make oatmeal with applesauce to replace milk for breakfast, lunch I'd buy one of those Birdseye frozen veggies packages and microwave that at work after picking out the chunks of frozen butter. After 6 mos or so I found cookbooks that I tried various things from. Now I've got a bunch of cookbooks I like and have no lack for recipes to try.

It wasn't difficult to switch, but at first it did seem like something was missing from the plate since there was no meat. (There are loaf recipes you can use if this is happening to you. I didn't know about them back then - 15 yrs ago.)

Answer 6

I chose to give up red meat after a doctor told me a heart attack was on the horizon, I was 24 years old. Within two years I had given up fish and chicken. I actually stopped eating pork years before any of this happened.

When I was in high school, I stopped eating veal and pork. Veal because of the animal welfare issues, pork because it had a few bad years in the late 70's and I just didn't want the risk anymore.

Giving up the redmeat, brought my focus to chicken and cheeses. I began eating much more of these foods, which didn't improve my health any.

One day, fleetingly mind you, I gave up chicken and poultry. My focus turned to fish, again the quantities didn't help me much. So, again fleetingly, I gave up fish. My friends were vegetarians, and others were moving towards it. We shared a lot of our ideas, and had pot luck dinners weekly so we could share new recipes and challenge ourselves to become better cooks.

Because we were all moving toward the same goal, veganism wasn't far off. I remember my first vegan corn chowder was a huge hit. It had been a while since any of us had chowder, I was missing it. So I played with soy milk and whole wheat pastry flour until i nailed it. Still cook it today.

Would I have been able to continue without the support of friends? who knows. I was lucky to fall in with some new friends just as I started my conversion. Many of those friends moved on and have given up vegetarianism. For me it is a life choice, if I went back i would have heart problems again.

I have an addictive personality, which means I like my habits, and meat cannot become one again. I wouldn't be able to stop eating it. So my addiction is vegetarianism, veganism, and my friends.

Because everyone is sharing their stories I had to star this question. I guess I am also addicted to hearing stories about this process. Thank you all for sharing.

Ken - my experiences with family are very similar.

Answer 7

I went cold turkey vegetarian, but now that I'm transitioning into veganism, I'm doing it slowly. Try having 'vegetarian' days in which you eat only veggie foods ... and slowly add more and more days until you're totally vegetarian.

I went vegetarian (and am subsequently in the process of becoming vegan) because, although I don't see eating animal products as (necessarily)morally wrong(even though I hate the thought of killing something else, even for my own sustenance), I despise the way animals are treated - and I hate the sense of self-entitlement people seem to have toward nature (It's there for me, me, me!). I went vegetarian in protest of factory farming conditions and human arrogance. Also, although my reasons were foremost ethical, heart disease runs in my family - so the whole less cholesterol thing is a definite plus.

Answer 8

It happened when I was 20-21. My family always ate meat, my grandad was a butcher so we saw meat up close, dripping or freshly killed.
I dropped meat from my diet, had to "come out" and tell my parents. They thought it was a phase... but it has lasted for 30 years! My kids are both vegetarian and in excellent health. My wife became veggie within a year. My inlaws never had a problem catering for veggie and non-veggie folk. WE always advised friends in advance and I took account that Veggie seems way to weird for some cultures, It has become easier to be veggie with every decade. But now I like to eat veggie and not have anyone "fussing about it" it works for me !!

Answer 9

It always grossed me out when I was a kid, but it wasn't until high school that I tried going veg. for the 1st time. I just didn't stick with it. Then when I turned 21 I quit eating red meat, but it was the 20/20 expose on the chicken industry that made me go vegetarian in 1986. I quit wearing murdered animals as well.

Answer 10

I quit eating meat for about a year and 1/2, although I still occasionally ate chicken and fish. I did it cold turkey, which was kind of hard, because I love beef. Anyway, it did teach me how to cook a lot of different things - I ate a lot of pasta with vegetables! It also gave me a new appreciation for eating out, as there are not nearly the options for a non-meat eater!
I did it for health reasons, and when I went back to eating meat, I discovered I had a much more varied taste for different foods & I didn't want beef as much.
I'm very glad I did it.
Give it a shot! And good luck!