I'm suddenly having some convictions about turning vegetarian.  Well, I use the word "suddenly" but, in reality, I guess this turn in my life has been coming for quite some time.  Still, my internal self is going, "HUH??"  I was raised on a farm, have been happily consuming meat all my life and never gave it a second thought.  I'm not naive.  I knew about the horrible conditions that the animals endure and I was always able to turn a blind eye.  But now...I don't know!  It's just...freaky.  Yesterday morning I put a beef roast in the slow cooker and the smell almost gagged me.  That's never happened before!  I know there will be huge obstacles from my family, as I will be the only vegetarian.  

So I'd like to hear from my other family here at LL.  I've already been doing research on some websites.  Does anyone have books to recommend?  Any positive comments about going vegetarian?  Any negative comments?  Am I insane?  (don't answer that!!)  Will such a drastic shift in diet affect my hair?  --cause you know that's the most important factor!  j/k   :)
Thanks for any and all advice...

Hi, Trisha. You're not insane.

I have gone without eating meat for long stretches, sometimes years, sometimes months, sometimes just weeks. The reasons varied, sometimes it was because of the gross-out factor that you are describing, sometimes it was for health reasons and sometimes because I'd read one too many articles about food animal treatment/abuse. Check out www.farmsanctuary.org and you'll never eat chicken again...or not at least for a few weeks.

Here are some ideas that I use at home:

• Make more pasta dishes, but use either whole wheat or the enhanced pasta from Barilla, which is more nutritious than regular pasta and tastes great if you cook it long enough
  
• You can replace meat with tofu in asian dishes...mmmm...I cut up the tofu into small cubes and fry them in peanut oil until they're chewy and yummy, then I let them sit in whatever sauce I'm making for the meal and they soak up the flavor. Tofu just takes practice, and believe me, I am not yet "there" with the tofu thing.
  
• If your family needs to have a meat at every meal (very common, I grew up that way), make a grain, like brown rice, and a green, like broccoli, along with a meat, and then just don't eat the meat yourself.
  
• Try to make bean dishes to go along w/the grains. A plate of red beans, brown rice and spinach is a nutritionally complete meal, no meat needed. But my kids wouldn't touch it, so if I don't want to eat meat I just make more side dishes and skip it.
  

Hope something in these ramblings is of use to you. Good luck!

I have also had stints of vegetarianism, but truthfully I need meat in my diet.  I cannot consume too much soy, as it adversely effects my hormones.  I still regularly include non meat meals in my weekly diet, but I have not successfully been vegetarian.

I would add to LJ's excellent suggestions to do 1/2 & 1/2 meat and meat substitute for something like meat sauce for pasta or veggie burger while the fam eats burgers.

There are some magazines out there, the names escape me at the moment that have vegetarin recipies and suggestions for the pantry.

I suggest looking for Moosewood cookbooks, Low-Fat Favorites is one of my favorite books.  They do include fish and dairy-lots of good stuff.  Also, if you can find it, try The Vegetarian Lunchbasket by Linda Haynes.  I met Linda at an Ananda Seva retreat a couple of years ago.  She did all the meals at our retreat and not only was it the best vegetarian food, but she's a super sweet lady.

Good Luck!!!

Edited to correct horrible spelling mistakes.  I hope I got them all.  I can't spell well when I have a headache!

I eat one vegetarian meal every day. Today it was a steamed potatoes / garlic / cheese dish. I think an oft-overlooked thing is to take things one step at a time. If you like, phase it down to white meats only and then move on from there.

We're all nuts. So don't worry, you're not insane. Something you'll probably want to do is eat more nuts... Soy nuts are a really super source of protein. I bring them to work and much on them. Almonds, soy nuts, pre-shelled sunflower seeds.. (all organic) .. and walnuts. They go great with raisins.. oh my mouth is watering already.

FLAVAH... add as much flavor to your dishes as you can manage. if you have a lot of herbs, spices, and textured vegetables in your dish then you'll miss the meat a lot less. After all, most people skimp on flavor and texture when they use meat in their cooking. Somehow the meat has it all already, so the rest of the meal tends to be less chewy and less spiced. When all the non-meat is bland or lacking in herbs and spices, then it's more noticeable when you go vegetarian.

Rosemary
THYME
parsley
DILL especially dill beans or fresh dill
curry
chili
lemon pepper
lemon in general
fresh lemon or orange zest / peel
GARLIC
onions
shallots

.. all those are great for spicing up vegetarian dishes.

Good luck
Anais

Hello, I have been a vegetarian for give and take about 6 years. I ate some meat in my pregnancies because i craved it. There is a wonderful book called FOODS THAT CAUSE YOU TO LOSE WEIGHT. It has the best recipes veggie and it explains how excessive meat gives us heart attacks, cancers, diabetes, etc.  My first year of being vegetarian i remember some things I ate were hummos and pita bread, salads, veggies sandwiches, soups, and oatmeal.Those are foods i prefer over meat. After Mad Cow disease and now bird flu :(. It makes sense to me. Everyone is different though. I never really liked drinking milk and meat so it wasnt hard for me. Some benefits are clearer skin, more energy, losing weight, and a happier self. Once there was an article i read that was about the KFC chickens that were getting beat up >:( >:( >:(. It said  imagine humans eating these chickens that were beat up, how would ppl act. Would it effect the way they act?  Maybe thats why ppl do crazy things.  ???

Thanks LJ, Sakina, Anais and Curlygirl22   :)
Your support and suggestions are wonderful.  I have not eaten any beef, pork or chicken since last Tuesday and I feel great !  I did eat some fish on Friday and I'm still eating the occasional egg.  Since this is very new to me I know it's going to take me some time to flesh out (pardon the pun) the boundaries of my diet.  But I'm taking one day at a time.  

Hi Trisha!

I have been vegetarian for 14 or 15 years now.  I gave up eating red meat first, and then the poultry shortly there after.  I never had seafood, so I never had to give it up!  Maybe it would be easier to "ease" yourself into it.  One meat at a time, until you feel comfortable and have found suitable replacements for them.  It can be overwhelming to completely change a lifestyle overnight & usually leads to not being successful at the change.  I say do it at your own pace if you really feel strongly about it.

When I first gave it up we didn't have any meat substitutes around here like we do now.  But now, thanks to brands like Boca & Morningstar Farms (just to mention a few) just about anything you can buy in meat form can be bought in vegetarian & vegan form.  Burgers, I recommend Morningstar Grillers, they taste the best IMO, chicken in all forms from nuggets to patties, sausage, bacon, ground meat, hot dogs, pepperoni, lunch meat, tuna, jerky...you name it, it's out there.  For thanksgiving, we order a Tofurky every year, my family gets a laugh out of it, but so what.  I'm also the only vegetarian in my entire family.  One of my favorite sources is http://tofurky.com/, they have lots of good stuff.

If you are able to replace as closely as possible the items you are giving up, you will not miss them so much, and you'll feel better about what you're eating.  HTH!

Thanks Maggie   :)

Actually, I'm doing pretty good with the changes.  Tomorrow will make one week of no meat and I really don't feel deprived or starved--nothing negative.  Now I'm kind of excited when I pack my lunch bag in the mornings...it's like, "ooo, what do i get to eat today?!"   ;D  But I am trying to take things one day at a time.  I realize that this transformation may take years to complete...and maybe it will never be complete...maybe it's just an ongoing process!  That's fine, too.     :)

Hi Trisha :)

I haven't eaten red meat for about 3 years now, i would be a vegetarian all the way but my parents wouldn't hear it :P i eat with family- like a cassorole made with meat, i eat everything except the meat.

Make sure you get a lot of protein and calcium in your diet. Once when i went to the hospital, my mom complained to the nurse about me not eating meat, and the nurse said she has a daughter who was a vegetarian, and she wasn't eating very well. Anyway, she was so weak she had to go to the hospital, they found that her blood count was very low....so low that they made her raw liver :-X.

Anyway i did some research and found that dates (not the little sugary cubes :P) have all the minerals and vitamins that your body needs, and it says that you should eat 7 dates a day. ~ i hope you like dates :)~

Good Luck :)

Quote:

i hope you like dates

I do like dates!  --I'm so glad my hubby doesn't know about this site, whew!   ::)  Bad joke!   ;D  
Thanks, Beesan, I'll have to buy some dates on our next shopping trip!  

Raw liver, eh?   :P  I think I'm about to lose the healthy snack I just ate... blech.  

I'm trying to be very careful about including a fruit,  vegetables and a whole grain with each lunch and supper.  I'm getting enough fiber.  But I do need to start paying attention to the protein side of things, making certain I'm getting enough.  Thanks! *hugs*

I'm not vegetarian, but I know that blueberries are a "super food".  They contain fantastic amounts of vitamins and minerals and antioxidants.  A nutritionist suggested a serving a day of blueberries is better than any one-a-day type vitamin.

Mmm, I love blueberries!  You know, I'm surprised I didn't become a vegetarian sooner because I love fruits and veggies (much better than I ever loved meat).  Oh well.  I'm just happy I'm here now.   :D  

I love fresh fruit and vegetables, but my body also needs some meat.  I dont' eat much red meat other than the venison my husband brings home.  

Here's a site that tells the benefits of blueberries:
http://www.wildblueberries.com/antioxidants.php

Just wondering how you're doing with the vegetarianism, Trisha.  Just thinking here...if you are still doing it & are serious about it, just thought I'd mention some foods to avoid with "hidden" animal products that you might not be aware of.  These are things we discovered along the way, now we are careful to read labels.

*Anything with gelatin in it...especially Jell-o!  A lot of products have this that you may not even think of, like most yogurts, chip & vegetable dips, marshmallows, store bought icings (usually on sheet cakes), certain candies like Mentos & Altoids (I think), to mention a few that I can think of.

*Anchovies- hidden in worcestershire sauce and ceasar dressings

*Animal fats- I've found chicken fat as an ingredient in the least likely places.  One was in a flavored chip, like BBQ or something, I've also recently found it in a frozen all vegetable mixture in the sauce ingredients.

*Broths- Most soups, even if a vegetable soup is made with either chicken or beef stock unless stated vegetarian.  Also a lot of restaurants use it in their mashed potatoes.

*Lard- Found a lot in refried beans in mexican food, also certain pie shells and pre-made pizza shells.  Certain potato chips are still fried in this too.

That's just some that I can think of, I hope I'm not coming across preachy, I'm just trying to help you out if you're really into it.  If I think of any more, I'll post them!

Hi Trisha,
I'll throw in my 2 cents too (for what it's worth)lol
I'm called a pesco-vegetarian.  I eas fish because I have MS and need to get the Omega 3's and 6's,(very important for hair,by the way).  I'd be a vegan if I didn't have MS.  I don't even eat anything made with white flour,no hydrogenated stuff,no cheese and a whole bunch of other things that just take up sooo much space and might bore people.  I would hope not though.
Some important things  to remember is drink plenty of water and if you decide to go veggie or vegan,if you fall off the wagon,for god's sake don't beat yourself up.  
Thank God I never looked back and am meat free 22 years and counting!!
A couple of pretty good books are: A Garden of Vegan and How It All Vegan.  Authors are 2 ladies that are best buds.  Their names escape me.  If you get them you'll probably have them as near as a vegan bible!
Hope I've helped.

That is a pretty strict diet Curlgirl64 :-/, but looks like your doing pretty well :).

Yesterday i was watched a heart specialist, he was talking about friendly foods for the heart. Then he said that eacting too much meat is not only bad for the heart, but it also makes a person...heartless...emotionally :o ???. He said that along time ago rich countries would feed their soldiers a LOT of meat, so they don't get ummm...soft hearted.

I have tried to do some research on this but i haven't found anything.

:) Hi Beesan,
Yes,it probably is for all of people who hear about what I will and won't eat,but I've been so disaplined for so long that it's a lifestyle thing.  As strict as I am with myself I would never ever judge or put someone down if they ate different or had a sudden loss of will power.
That's what makes the world go round!!lol  As the saying goes...whatever floats your boat!!!!

How ironic!  The Big Guy upstairs always knows how to get a message to me...   ;D   You see, I ate a little meat last night.  It was a concoction I made up containing elbow mac., mushrooms, onions, broccoli, some green bell pepper....and browned ground beef.  In truth, the ratio of vegetarian things was much higher than the meat in this dish.  And I felt a little guilty the whole time I was eating.  But I decided not to scold myself about it.  This is only week 3 of being vegetarian, for crying out loud.  So I'm still okay and I got right back on the veggie wagon!   :)  Thanks for thinking of me, guys.  *hugs*

I have been a vegetarian since 1993 for ethical reasons

This site might interest you
http://www.vegano.com.au/index.php

thank you :)

Good luck with your efforts to change your diet!  I have been struggling with the same idea.  Many years ago I read Diet for a Small Planet and Laurel's Kitchen.  I was very interested in implementing their ideas, but just didn't know how to go about it.  Last fall, a girl started working with me who is a vegan, and between talking with her and some other books I read (Diet for a New America, Mad Cowboy) I was really inspired and jumped right in.  I never felt better.  But I only had a few recipes, and when I got tired of those, I kind of lost steam.  Reading about your efforts has inspired me again, so I think I'll give it another go.   :D

Good for you!  I really like the books called The Garden of Vegan and How It All Vegan.  Alot of recipes in there and a wealth of info.,too.  Happy reading :)

I am a Vegetarian and there is a web site that has a BUNCH of vegan and vegetarin recipes.  I hope it can help you!!!  It is called TryVeg .com - Table of Contents Good luck!!!