What's the best way to go about becoming a vegetarian?

Question

I think I am ready to commit to it now, and need help. What are good foods to ease the transition?

Additional Details

I'm actually incorporating a lot of tofu (which is really tasty with the seasoning broths you can get at Asian food shops), avocado and brown rice pilafs as main dishes...but it sucks because I still have to cook meat for my family, and I'm always tempeted to take a few nibbles!! LOL

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

Honestly the best way is to start phasing things out slowly. Start by not eating red meat and pork, then not eating chicken/turkey, then fish. Increase your consumption of beans, lentils, and other meat "replacements." Buy some soy meat replacements that will help the transition, like veggie burgers and chick'n. LEARN what veggies contain, including things like iron, B vitamins, and calcium.

Take the time to LEARN what quality food is. A great resource is something like greenleafy.org, where there is a cute chart with all the vitamins and minerals and what veggies help supply it.

But honestly, if you eat a varied vegetable based diet you will have the nutrients you need. Take a B12 every once in awhile as a supplement, as this isn't as readily available in plants as it used to be.

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Asker's Comment:

Thanks.

Answer 2

fake meats can ease the transition, because it allows you to make familiar comfort foods. Think about what you eat as an omnivore, and come up with ways to make similar vegetarian dishes. For example, if you like tacos, and eat them a lot, you can make tacos with pinto beans, or seitan, or you can buy fake ground beef, and still have your tacos.

Answer 3

The first thing you need to focus on are your staples; pasta, brown rice and other grains, you will need these not only for protein and energy, but also to fill you up, because from my experience, vegetarian meals don't fill you up like ones with meat (which I think is good because i always felt too full after eating meat, but you also might feel hungry sooner after you eat)

Then you need to figure out where your going to get the rest of your protein from, nuts, seeds, beans and peas have lots of protein as does peanut butter, hummus, spinach and broccoli

Remember to eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies either with your meals or as a snack

If you think you will be craving meat during this transition, go to the grocery store and check out some of the 'fake meats'
you can pretty much find anything from hotdogs and burgers, to lunch meat and chicken patties. Most of these are delicious and do a very good job at imitating meat. Just remember, you shouldn't eat these all of the time, because they are processed, just like you shouldn't eat real hot dogs everyday. But they help a lot with cravings.

Also, make a list of your favorite foods and figure out how to make them vegetarian, for example, I loved mexican food like fajitas, burritos etc, so instead of putting meat in them, i put rice and beans in them. This helps because you can still eat your favorite foods, you just have to tweak them a little bit

Try looking up some vegetarian recipes online or get a vegetarian cook book for more meal ideas, just google vegetarian recipes, or go to recipezaar.com where you can look up recipes by ingredient.

Answer 4

ive been vegetarian for 5 years and there is no way id ever turn back. when i started to become vegetarian, i first gave up all red meat. then after a few weeks i gave up white meat. it worked for me. do it very gradually. hope this helped.

Answer 5

eat alot of fruits like tomato's squash pineapple and many vegetable

Answer 6

meat and potatoes