Process Of Going Vegetarian

PSLoveCharli

PSLoveCharli

Veteran
Joined
7 Dec 2013
Local time
10:34 PM
Messages
73
Location
Washington, DC
Website
www.pslovecharli.com
Hi everyone --

I recently decided to officially make my transition to vegetarian(ism) and wanted tips on your experiences and process. What were you main challenges? What steps did you take in giving up certain foods (preferably the items you genuinely enjoyed eating or drinking). I have given myself 6 months to make the transition so any tips or advice helps! Thanks.
 
First of all you need to decide what type of vegetarian you want to be.
I know this sounds mad, but there are many different definitions and I have met American's who say they are vegetarian and eat white meat and fish... (this may not be exclusively an American issue, so please don't think I am 'picking' on anyone here). Similarly I have had the "so you eat chicken and fish" approach thrown at me a lot over the years!

The definition of a vegetarian is
a person who does not eat meat or fish, or other animal products, for moral, religious, or health reasons
Click to expand...
variations include
A vegetarian does not eat meat, poultry, game, fish, shellfish or crustacea, or by-products of slaughter.
Click to expand...
and
A vegetarian is someone who lives on a diet of grains, pulses, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruits with, or without, the use of dairy products and eggs.
Click to expand...


Then there are the levels of vegetarian... The top one being the most common.
  • Lacto-ovo-vegetarian. Eats both dairy products and eggs.
  • Lacto-vegetarian. Eats dairy products but not eggs.
  • Ovo-vegetarian. Eats eggs but not dairy products.
  • Vegan. Does not eat dairy products, eggs, or any other animal product.
Some 'vegetarians' also will stay away from meat, but eat fish (known as pescatarians).

I fall under the ovo-vegetarian category because of my allergy to dairy products, but I would expect you to fall under the lacto-ovo-vegetarian.

For me the transition was immediate, but then I was a stubborn 11 or 12 year old at the time and that made it much easier. I have over the years found little things that I didn't know about at the time, and the best thing to do is not to beat yourself up about it, but use it as a learning tool. When we went off to cycle around the world, I knew that there may be times when eating meat or fish would be my only option (simply because of the countries we were going through) and sure enough I did have to on a number of occasions, but far less than I expected.

What you need to decide is how you want to do it - quickly or slowly.

Some of the pitfalls of going vegetarian include
  • believing that you have to substitute meat or fish for something else. Just leave the meat out of the dish you are making, you don't need to substitute it with quorn or tofu or any other meat substitutes. If you must substitute minced beef for something in chili con carne or bolognaise and you like mushrooms, use grated mushrooms - it works really well.
  • relying on dairy and heavily on cheese in particular. Both of full of fat and you will soon find yourself putting on weight if you are not careful.
  • not eating a wide enough variety of vegetables or eating pre-made supermarket meals
  • sandwiches. These do become more of a challenge if you are not going to live off cheese. look at making your own pates if you have time, or consider alternatives such as wraps with humus and salads, mixed beans or even falafels in them (gorgeous chopped up in wraps).
  • not finding out enough about what goes into foods - if a label is not saying it is vegetarian but you can't see why the ingredients list is not vegetarian, it is probably something you are missing
But the best piece of advice I can give is to remember it is a learning curve, so don't beat yourself up over 'mistakes!
 
Very informative post SatNav!

If I would be making this transition I'd do it all at once. No transition perioid, just change everything at the same second. It might seem hard at first but in the end, by giving yourself time it's just prolonging the process.
 
Having read at least a part of SatNav's well written account of trying to cycle around the world, I expect that she may have been tempted to eat some dog meat. At least one particular dog. Remember that vegetarianism goes against human biology, as does an entirely carnivorous diet. Hindus, with thousands of years experience of trying to deal with not eating meat, are ovo-lactate if they do not consume meat. The warrior caste ( Kshatriya) are allowed to eat meat, and many other Hindus eat fish and meat other that beef. It is worth noting that many people are allergic to beef and do not notice it. Start with eliminating beef and try to use goat dairy products.
 
I tried to go vegan. Actually, I tried to go vegetarian but since I don't tolerate dairy vegan seemed the logical choice.

It was fairly easy at first. I didn't really eat much meat before I switched. I ate mostly chicken, turkey and fish. I gave red meat decades ago. After 8 months, I started noticing some problems with my fingernails and hair. My nails were becoming thin and my hair was weaker in strength.

Now, I eat meat on occasion, maybe once or twice a month. The thought of eating meat on daily basis doesn't sit well with me. I have been reading up on Black Current Oil or Borage Oil to help with my nail and hair problem. I would prefer to give up meat altogether even though I sometimes get a craving for a turkey burger.
 
Whether you are willing to consider evolution as the process God used to create us or wish to stick to the concept of creation that has humans created in a single act, the fact is that humans were not created to be vegan. Our eyes are on the front of our faces, not the side of our heads. It is possible to eat a diet devoid of any animal products, but any totally "vegan" diet is either very artificial or unhealthy.. Don't eat highly intelligent species or meats not naturally part of the human diet. The only meat actually forbidden to Hindus is beef. (and long pork)
 
thomas pendrake said:
Whether you are willing to consider evolution as the process God used to create us or wish to stick to the concept of creation that has humans created in a single act, the fact is that humans were not created to be vegan. Our eyes are on the front of our faces, not the side of our heads. It is possible to eat a diet devoid of any animal products, but any totally "vegan" diet is either very artificial or unhealthy.. Don't eat highly intelligent species or meats not naturally part of the human diet. The only meat actually forbidden to Hindus is beef. (and long pork)
Click to expand...


Human eyes on the front of our faces aside, the animals that are most like humans, primates, have diets that are mostly vegans. Gorillas and monkeys have eyes in the front, but are vegans. Orangutans diet is mostly plant based. The only meat they eat are bugs. In the animal kingdom, the herbivores has the longest lifespan.

Humans were not always meat eaters. At one time early man was strictly vegetarian. In a fairness, it is surmised that both vegetarian only and meat eaters lived at the same time and that the meat eaters thrived while vegetarians died out. The thought behind this is that the meat eater had more access to food during seasonal changes since they were omnivores.

I don't care if people choose to eat meat, but I don't believe that humans are "genetically programmed" to get meat.
 
I would like to ask if there are 'first steps' that anyone can share that make it easier to just simple start the process of going vegetarian?
 
I have done up a forum thread on vegetarianism but can't currently link to it due to posting this via a smartphone! if you have a look for my thread it will give you some pointers on foods that have ' hidden' non vegetarian food in them and I can link to it tomorrow. but it is in this forum so should not take too much searching!
 
Great post, SatNav! I can only disagree with one point, which is that you don't need to substitute meat. Flavor-wise, filling-wise, root crops and mushrooms can be great for that.

But without meat, you've cut off nutrients, proteins, and fats that can lead to a nutrient-specific sort of starvation.

So, planning for how to make up for those are very important! Once you've got a weekly meal plan and your own personal food pyramid set up--that, I think, is your first step. The only thing left is to walk the walk and make adjustments if you feel something's not working or you find something great to add.

Good luck, Charli! Personally, I had no difficulty with breaking a habit of foods I like that aren't vegetarian. I was vegetarian for about a year because it sort of worked backwards for me, I just didn't like anything non-vegetarian anymore so I stopped and stuck to vegetables. When I got the cravings and taste for it again, I went back to eating meats and stuff again.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
First of all you need to decide what type of vegetarian you want to be.
I know this sounds mad, but there are many different definitions and I have met American's who say they are vegetarian and eat white meat and fish... (this may not be exclusively an American issue, so please don't think I am 'picking' on anyone here). Similarly I have had the "so you eat chicken and fish" approach thrown at me a lot over the years!

The definition of a vegetarian is

variations include

and



Then there are the levels of vegetarian... The top one being the most common.
  • Lacto-ovo-vegetarian. Eats both dairy products and eggs.
  • Lacto-vegetarian. Eats dairy products but not eggs.
  • Ovo-vegetarian. Eats eggs but not dairy products.
  • Vegan. Does not eat dairy products, eggs, or any other animal product.
Some 'vegetarians' also will stay away from meat, but eat fish (known as pescatarians).

I fall under the ovo-vegetarian category because of my allergy to dairy products, but I would expect you to fall under the lacto-ovo-vegetarian.

For me the transition was immediate, but then I was a stubborn 11 or 12 year old at the time and that made it much easier. I have over the years found little things that I didn't know about at the time, and the best thing to do is not to beat yourself up about it, but use it as a learning tool. When we went off to cycle around the world, I knew that there may be times when eating meat or fish would be my only option (simply because of the countries we were going through) and sure enough I did have to on a number of occasions, but far less than I expected.

What you need to decide is how you want to do it - quickly or slowly.

Some of the pitfalls of going vegetarian include
  • believing that you have to substitute meat or fish for something else. Just leave the meat out of the dish you are making, you don't need to substitute it with quorn or tofu or any other meat substitutes. If you must substitute minced beef for something in chili con carne or bolognaise and you like mushrooms, use grated mushrooms - it works really well.
  • relying on dairy and heavily on cheese in particular. Both of full of fat and you will soon find yourself putting on weight if you are not careful.
  • not eating a wide enough variety of vegetables or eating pre-made supermarket meals
  • sandwiches. These do become more of a challenge if you are not going to live off cheese. look at making your own pates if you have time, or consider alternatives such as wraps with humus and salads, mixed beans or even falafels in them (gorgeous chopped up in wraps).
  • not finding out enough about what goes into foods - if a label is not saying it is vegetarian but you can't see why the ingredients list is not vegetarian, it is probably something you are missing
But the best piece of advice I can give is to remember it is a learning curve, so don't beat yourself up over 'mistakes!
Click to expand...
I'm not planning to be a vegetarian anytime soon, but this is an amazing way to understand the basics of being a vegetarian. Thanks for this!

I mean, I have friends who are planning to be vegetarians, so I might link this thread to them. But it's amazing that there are actually a lot of kinds of vegetarians, and that a lot of considerations have to be made when it comes to food choices.
 
Ellyn said:
Great post, SatNav! I can only disagree with one point, which is that you don't need to substitute meat. Flavor-wise, filling-wise, root crops and mushrooms can be great for that.

But without meat, you've cut off nutrients, proteins, and fats that can lead to a nutrient-specific sort of starvation.

So, planning for how to make up for those are very important! Once you've got a weekly meal plan and your own personal food pyramid set up--that, I think, is your first step. The only thing left is to walk the walk and make adjustments if you feel something's not working or you find something great to add.

Good luck, Charli! Personally, I had no difficulty with breaking a habit of foods I like that aren't vegetarian. I was vegetarian for about a year because it sort of worked backwards for me, I just didn't like anything non-vegetarian anymore so I stopped and stuck to vegetables. When I got the cravings and taste for it again, I went back to eating meats and stuff again.
Click to expand...

If you re-read the post, you will see that I stated that one of the mistakes that people make is believing that they need to substitute something for the meat.

Some of the pitfalls of going vegetarian include
  • believing that you have to substitute meat or fish for something else...
Click to expand...
As for "But without meat, you've cut off nutrients, proteins, and fats that can lead to a nutrient-specific sort of starvation" that could not be further from the truth. I guess if you tried living off carrots & lettuce and nothing else then maybe, but there are loads of other options available to vegetarians for protein and getting enough fat into a western diet has never been an issue!

If you look at some stats or figures on protein (best place is usually body builders websites such as this one), you will find that protein wise, meat is actually quite low down on the list of the top 10 food sources to obtain protein from (per 100g) with dairy products and bean based options (tofu, soya/soy) being much higher up the list.

This article here (http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/proteins/10-great-vegetarian-protein-sources.html) lists the top 10 sources of protein for vegans (so not from any dairy source which in itself is very high protein) those 10 being in order
  1. low carb flat breads,
  2. chickpeas,
  3. kidney beans,
  4. baked beans,
  5. tofu,
  6. almonds,
  7. peanut butter,
  8. soya milk,
  9. dried apricots,
  10. avocado
A cup of cooked kidney beans (177g serving apparently) provides some 30% of the required daily protein and 20% of the required daily iron.
  • molybdenum 295%
  • folate 57.5%
  • fibre 45.3%
  • copper 42.2%
  • manganese 38%
  • phosphorus 34.8%
  • protein 30.7%
  • vitamin B1 23.3%
  • iron 21.8%
  • potassium 20.4%
  • magnesium 18.5%
This website www.whfoods.com is an exceptionally good place to find out extended nutritional data on most basic food products, just remember that the % figures are for US recommended values (DV) rather than the UK RDA's...
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
I have done up a forum thread on vegetarianism but can't currently link to it due to posting this via a smartphone! if you have a look for my thread it will give you some pointers on foods that have ' hidden' non vegetarian food in them and I can link to it tomorrow. but it is in this forum so should not take too much searching!
Click to expand...
Thank you!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom