Becomming Vegitarian?

Question

I am thinking about becomming a vergitarian (I will not eat anything that came from an animal). I will continue to eat and milk though. Anyone have any good suggestions for getting started regarding telling my famiy, simple recipie books, or reading materials?

In regards to the milk and eggs-the responder who made the comment that they still come from animals is completly true so I asking for sugestions for alternates as well.
Thank You so far!!

Answer 1

There is a Japanese analogy/proverb that goes like this, "The nail that sticks up is the one that gets hammered down". People are like this everywhere. When you tell your family that it is your personal belief that animals should not be eaten, they take a look at themselves and it can be subconsciously translated into, "What you do is wrong and I choose to be right."

Your parents have probably been taught a huge amount of misinformation by their parents and their teachers while growing up. You really need to research vegetarian diets and health before you even think about saying the "V-word" in front of your parents or anyone else.

When you have gathered enough information and feel confident in a vegetarian diet's ability to maintain or even improve health, you may mention to them that you have made the decision. They may be shocked, angry, worried, curious or many other things, but you must NEVER react to their behavior and always stay calm. If they are able to speak to you and respect your choice, please tell them everything and answer all questions. If they are rude, inconsiderate, judgmental, violent, or verbally abusive, refuse to continue any conversation until they can speak to you with respect.

The best advice is to study everything that you can about a healthy vegetarian diet and keep yourself in good shape (better than most people your age or than your friends/family if possible). If nobody that you know shows a genuine, positive interest in your choice, don't give them the privilege of the knowledge that you have gathered. Work your way around any attempts they make to trivialize your beliefs and if possible, go shopping with your parents and buy things that aren't obvious veggie fare. Instead of trying to sneak fake meat into the cart, toss in lentil soup, peanut butter, pasta, fruits & veggies or anything else that you have learned is needed to fill any gaps in your diet.

There have been vegan Olympic gold medalists and a vegan woman can create an ENTIRELY NEW,HEALTHY HUMAN BEING INSIDE OF HER. Many of these children stay vegan and grow up to be perfectly healthy adults. So just keep yourself educated about what you eat and don't let anyone tell you that a veg diet is lacking anything essential.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Lewis
http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/advocacy_933_ENU_HTML_(Draft).htm

Here are some more veg people:
http://www.mikemahler.com/index.html
http://www.vegetarianbodybuilder.com/index2.html
http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/?page=bios
http://www.andreascahling.com/andreas-about
http://www.billpearl.com/career.asp
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-23-27/Salim-Stoudamire-Runs-on-Broccoli.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Danzig
http://www.scottjurek.com/career.php
http://www.nfl.com/players/rickywilliams/profile?id=WIL271115
http://www.brendanbrazier.com/raceresults/index.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------


If you want to become a lacto-ovo vegetarian, the transition should be quite simple. Almost all meats have widely available commercial replacements. All that you have to do is replace any flesh in your diet (beef, pork, poultry, seafood) with meat analogs or just leave it out altogether.

You should keep in mind that a journey such as this can be quite short but should just be the beginning of a longer one to a plant-based diet with no animal products. This is because of the reality of factory farming in which animals that are kept alive to produce milk, eggs, etc suffer much more and longer than animals that are raised to a certain weight and then slaughtered.http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/
http://meat.org
Some people use the word "vegan" in reference to this idea, but be aware that applying that label to yourself should always come with the inclusion of wise activism and advocacy.http://www.veganoutreach.org/advocacy/index.html
Two extremely important examples of this are that you should never speak to someone about vegetarianism/veganism without their consent and genuine interest or as a comment on what they are eating AND your dietary beliefs should never be used as an introduction or explanation of who you are as a person. Veg*ism should be something that comes up AFTER people get to know you and they offer you a situation that makes it confusing to withhold the information/discussion. Also, if you are presented something that you choose not to eat or you are
ordering food/eating together somewhere/picking the best place to eat.

When you you hold off on the subject until it's necessary and then act like it isn't a big deal at all, people are usually surprised and WAY more interested and curious than if you were to bring it up when someone's eating or just using it as a conversation starter.

A responsible vegan ALWAYS studies the subject of their own health and how to keep their body completely provided for in every sense. http://www.veganhealth.org/sh
To neglect their body is to define a plant-based diet as unhealthy and is the opposite of helping the animals.

Just to clear things up, the vegetarian/vegan diet is not composed of salads, vegetables, fruit and fake meat. Fruits and vegetables are always important but they DO NOT make up the largest portion of any healthy diet.
A balanced plant-based diet includes grains(breads, pasta, rice,cereal), legumes(soy, beans, peas, lentils), fruit and vegetables.
http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/food_groups.html
http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/
http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/eating.html
Being vegan can be an art, one whose challenge is to take things that involve the suffering of the innocent and change them into something free of cruelty.

A vegan woman can create an ENTIRELY NEW,HEALTHY HUMAN BEING INSIDE OF HER. Many of these children stay vegan and grow up to be perfectly healthy adults. So just keep yourself educated about what you eat and don't let anyone tell you that a veg diet is lacking anything essential.

Technically the term "vegetarian" does imply that you don't consume anything that comes from the body of an animal that requires killing it. Many ingredients such as gelatin and glycerin are found in many candies, Fig-Newtons, and many of other foods as well as rennet found in many cheeses.
http://www.happycow.net/health-animal-ingredients.html
The best thing to remember is to take your time so that for example: when you are comfortable not eating beef and pork you can then give up chicken when you are sure you can make the commitment permanently.
Depending on your age or reliance on parents or regional options, it may not be best to give yourself a label. The important thing is to do your best to make progress and be committed to your compassion towards animals. Never put your focus onto what you or other people use to describe yourself.

If you meet someone that talks down to people for eating meat, dairy, etc or to you because they think they are "more veg" than you, laugh in their face and tell them they are a disgrace to the entire philosophy. People like this only hurt the idea of veg*ism AND the animals. The point of all of this is to live compassionately and and as free from cruelty as you can, all the while maintaining your health and a positive attitude. People who don't maintain either, need not open their mouths and represent our beliefs.

If you actually choose to read all of this, I hope it helps. If not, feel free to e-mail me if you have questions.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm vegan and these are some of my favorite things to eat:

Breakfast: bananas, cream of wheat with brown sugar and soy butter, cereal, pancakes or french toast with real maple syrup, vegan "sausage" patties, smoothies.

Snack: BRUSSEL SPROUTS =) no joke

Lunch: vegan "sausage" sandwiches, sandwiches with vegan deli slices(Tofurkey is the only one that's kinda funky), fruit, dinner leftovers, couscous salad, vegan sushi, potato or pasta salad.

Dinner: sloppy joes, "sausage" and gravy with homemade biscuits, Spaghetti and Trader Joe's "meatballs" or TVP, lasagna, Thai pad see ew, pad khi mao(drunkard's noodles), pad prig king, tofu+eggplant with basil sauce, yellow thai curry with tofu or vegan chikn and veggies and jasmine rice, Indian dal with homemade roti or dosai, channa masala, aloo gobi, vegetable or minestrone soup, pizza, STEAMED "PORK" BUNS with potstickers or spring rolls, sweet&sour/orange/lemon chikn, vegan pho or wonton soup, baked tofu, BBQ homemade seitan (tastes like BBQ'd ribs), kabobs

I use these sites to find recipes:
http://www.foodnetwork.com
http://vegweb.com
http://www.recipezaar.com

Answer 2

Not trying to be disagreeable, but you say you will not eat anything that came from an animal, and then you say you will drink milk...which comes from an animal.

I'm just saying if not eating anything that comes from an animal is important to you, you might want to consider a switch to veganism. It's entirely your call, just thought I'd point that out.

Anyways, vegweb.com is a good place to start. There's a lot of great books out there about being vegetarian in a world where most eat meat if you do a simple search on Amazon. Same goes for recipie books.

Telling family doesn't have to be a dramatic thing. Just tell them you've resarched into it and you've decided to go vegetarian. Be prepared for questions and maybe even some teasing at first, but usually it's not as bad as you think it will be.

Answer 3

A really good way to start, is knowing how to spell the word: vegetarian. You'll do much better on your web searches. That said, I've been veg for over 10 years. Sometimes I do really well at it, and sometimes I eat way too much cheese and other easy stuff (pizza, veggie burgers, etc.). I started slow, first giving up the mammals (pigs, cows, etc.), later kickin the bird habit (chicken, turkey, hummingbird--j.k.).
Some people's bodies seem better adapted to a vegetarian lifestyle. I've been following the "blood type diet" and I am type-A. Try this link to know more: http://www.drlam.com/blood_type_diet/.

If you do take the plunge, make sure you're getting your proteins and other foods from a variety of sources. You've got to find some beans you like, mix up the grains, do research. There's a bunch of veggie junk food out there, and I've been told that over half the soy on the market (as well as corn) is genetically modified, or GMO, which many of us avoid.
If you find that a veggie lifestyle improves your digestion and energy, it's probably right for you. If you feel out of it, have stomach probs, etc, then you've probably gone too far for now.
Good luck.

Answer 4

All it takes to get started is a commitment to not eating animal flesh. You just stop eating meat.

Don't laugh, but "Being Vegetarian for Dummies" is a pretty good book that gives you all the ins and outs of being veg.

"How it All Vegan!" and "Garden of Vegan" by Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard and "La Dolce Vegan!" by Sarah Kramer have fairly simple recipes.

www.vegweb.com has tons of recipes, some simple, some more complex.

As for dealing with people who might not be so friendly to vegetarianism, check out "Living Among Meat Eaters" by Carol J. Adams.

Good luck to you!

Answer 5

first you need to be sure this is what you really want to do its a commitment to yourself and its hard if you like the odd sausage roll i know because ive tried but anyhoo if you want some recipes go to google and type in vergitarian recipes and that will start you off and with dealing with family members just tell them after you know you can do this so they take you seriously last thing you wanna do is tell everyone then get caught eating a sausage roll or somthing good luck.

Answer 6

goveg.com!
very good info!
also i think they provide a starter pack!! recepies and advise!
well done and good luck!!
xx

Answer 7

me too! give me five!
http://www.chooseveg.com/vegan-food-pyramid.asp