Ok I'm ready, how do I do this?

Question

That's it, I am done with eating meat. I cannot eat fury animals anymore!!!! Not to mention, for the last few days I have been just feeling heavy and bloated. This morning my stomache made a noise I had never heard it make before and if I think back I have eaten some sort of meat every day for a week. I have almost been at this breaking point before, but backed out considering I would be the only veggie eater in my whole family. "Southern fried heart attacks", has been my eating habits my whole life. Now, I have no desire to be a vegan.... or at least not now. That's too big of a jump for me. How do I transfer into this new eating habit so I can stick with it? I have to adapt, if I just jump head first I'll end up eating a pound of bacon by Friday. Can I eat fish and/or seafood? And I really enjoy milk.... Experienced vegetarians.... help me do this!!!

Answer 1

How is this person not calling themself a vegan doing you a favor Michael. You ever get the feeling that some people take this way too seriously. People like Michael who belong to the 'Veggie' community. Bascailly a bunch of people in cahoots to give each other 10 points over and over again. He only cares about booting his ego at the expense of your humility. The only morons in this area are the ones who don't know how to answer other questions besides ones in the Vegetarian section.

But to answer your question: (sorry I had to vent)

You are doing well. Fish and seafood aren't classified as being a vegetarian but just eating those is a good way to ween yourself from the meat. Don't do it all at once. Just take baby steps with quitting meat. You don't have to fall off the cliff in a single step. You can have milk if you want to be a Vegetarian. Vegans can't. They can't even buy leather belts. Funny huh. Your best resource is the internet. Asking questions on here is only opening yourself up for attacks from defensive vegans who only pride themselves by bringing down other peoples morale.

Good luck to you!

Answer 2

First dont think in extreme. First, a radical detox is a good start, but some friendly detox also a better solution. in the morning, start your day by drinking lemon water. So, listen what's your body wants to eat. If your system is ceansed from the toxin of animal protein, your stomach will totally hurt by meat if you forced to eat it.
For a while, during an adaptation, you have to eat as much as you can fruites especially inthe morning and night or evening. Cut your meat by only chicken or fish, or the two of them. Put the frequency lower, at least once a week. Observe eggs consumption, to once a week ( so you have two times of animal protein consumptions a week!).
Also study how to be a vegetarian, knowing the nutrition facts etc.
Slowly all the knowlegde you need will come to be a foundation for you. Meat somehow totaly bringing alot of negative effects to our anatomically vegetarian animal ( human). Our intestines are not designed to digest meat, so be more care to them.

Answer 3

Here are tips:

1. Take your time - my journey from meat eater took about a year.
2. Start out using some basic substitutes for the meat you are used to in foods where you won't even notice - ground meat replacements are available in the frozen food sections.
3. Leave meat off things that don't need it - pizza, salad, spag, etc.
4. Get some good cookbooks when you are ready to branch into more interesting foods - Moosewood books and New Farm Vegetarian are two of my favorites.
5. If you are worried about what to eat check out the book "Diet for a New America" it will cover many of the health questions.

Answer 4

Alright, You can go to www.peta2.com and they have vegetarian starter packs... don't get involved with thier message boards though, they suck. lol. Anyways, the best way to get started is to just drop meat all together. They have at main chain grocery stores vegetarian meals. Meatless chicken is good, broc burgers are good. You would be surprised on how much the veggie burgers and meatless chicken actually tastes like normal burgers and chicken. Vegetable plates are good. Check your cheese you buy and make sure it doesn't have Rennet in it, (milk too) . Rennet is actually lineing of calves stomachs and some cheese and milk has it in there. Just be a little carefull. check your chip bags.... The newer doritos have beef flavor in it.. Be extremely careful when you buy your food and make sure it doesn't say something about other natural flavors or artificial flavors.... why would you want to eat something that you didn't know what is in it is beyond me anyways. look online (google) products that may contain animal products and it will pull up a lot of ingridences, such as geletin, that has animal products in it that most people don't know about. Gum is something I hope you aren't addicted to because there is animal bi products in some gum.... anyways, if you need help with anything, hit me up. I'll be glad to help.

Answer 5

vegetarians do not eat fish nor seafood. so if you eat those please do us all a favour and don't call yourself a vegetarian.

Other than that the transition is easy. You can just stop now. there is nothing in meat that makes it addictive so its all in the mind. Just give yourself a balance of fruit, veggies, nuts and dairy and you will be fine as a veggie with no illness, need for suppliments etc.

The more sucessful veggies cut out meat immedately. going through a transition is like a constant reminder that you are weaning yourself off something. You are not, thats not the attitude. You should think in positive terms of "wow, i'm opening up so many new possibilities for food"

Answer 6

I went vegetarian cold turkey (pardon the pun), but if you gradually stop eating meat then you could be a vegetarian by the end of next month. Just eat a little less meat every day or every week, if that's easier. Some vegetarians eat seafood, but not every vegetarian. If you are gonna be a vegetarian, research what nutrients you might be missing out by not eating meat.

Answer 7

I'd like to know where Michael H. got his stats on successful vegetarians. I typically have great respect for his answers, but I think that stat is a bit biased. Don't hate me, I have been trained to question stats. BTW - I agree with the label, don't use it until you are one, I have always believed that.

I gave up red meat first, - nothing with hooves, four legs, or mammalian in nature. After a short while, I gave up poultry, followed by seafood. It may be an easier method, I found it to be easier, and I have been vegetarian for 18 years now.

Answer 8

Many people make the transition by continuing to eat fish and seafood-I did, then eventually gave those up too. Its all just about adjustments. Many people also turn to the fake meats, such as boca burgers, "chicken" nuggets, etc. I dont use the fake stuff, but my veggie daughter likes the occaisional veggie burger. Just replace meat with healthy proteins, such as beans, legumes, lentils, nuts, seeds, etc. Prepare yourself that you might feel a little week at first, as your body detoxes from animal protein. It will quickly adapt, and you will become more regular in your bowel habits and digestion will improve. Good luck!

Answer 9

There are ten experienced vegetarians just waiting for you to join the yahoo group "Transitioning to Vegetarianism". I am the founder of the group, and I invite you to join us. The group is new but there are a few helpful files there and most posts are answered almost immediately with helpful, insightful and very often funny stories of the mishaps we "suffered" while becoming vegetarians. You can wean yourself off of fish while you transition. There are a lot of foods that are "accidentally" vegetarian!

Answer 10

Human beings are omnivores! Take a look at your teeth! That means we NEED meat, and we NEED greens! That's the way it is! If you want to quit eating meat because you feel that animals should not die to feed humans, then ok, quit eating meat. That's up to you. There is no dietary reason for not eating meat! Being a vegitarian is a pain in the butt, and being a Vegan is tougher than you think. So don't even think about it! Just eat meat in moderation!