help making this choice.....

My cousin has started pushing the vegan - vegetarian lifestyle on me. Touting the fact that she has lost  allot of weight and many dress sizes just doing it a month  or so. I do see the difference in her overall health and looks, but is this something that will benefit me in the end. I have looked at some info on the subject, but not enough to form an opinion. I can say first off that while I have curtailed my intake of meat to mostly chicken breast, fish and lean ground beef, giving up meat totally sounds like a horrific nightmare to me. I trust her, but have to have more input from many other sources. Anyone. Please comment on your vegan - vegi experience.

You can't judge this one on other people's experiences.   And you should tell your cousin to stop bullying people.... it's not going to make her many friends!   This is your life and you need to live it how you think is best.  There's a lot more to vegetarianism than dropping a dress size - and that's certainly not guaranteed!  It's certainly going to do your health good to eat a little less meat but, if you enjoy it and have no underlying moral objections, I can't see that your quality of life is going to be improved by giving it up all together.   Many people these days are choosing to be more selective about the source of their food.... that's not a bad half-way point.

being thin and losing dress sizes means nothing. Many vegans i know are very unhealthy, since they dont know what they are doing. IF you do, by all means, please be veggie. However many vegans are lacking in vitamins and nutritients, not to mention fat souble vitamins and complete protien ( beans are rather hard to digest, many vegans do not soak, and cook em enough)

i suggest you look up the works of weston A price, he did studies on mostly meat/animal eating tribes back in the thirtys, and saw equal if not superiour health amoung the populations.

Vegetarianism can be very healthy, if done right. but so can meat eating...

My experience is probably closest to the decision your going to make.  I am a vegan, but I am more of a "dietary vegan" where most vegans do it for ethical (animal rights) reasons.

Depending on what you want to accomplish, there are several options.  A lacto-ovo vegetarian can still eat dairy, pescatarians eat fish.  But, remember some veg foods are incredibly bad for you..  Potato chips, snack foods, etc.  You might be better off (as D said) to continue eating meat, but eating a balanced diet by adding lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. 

No fried foods, no fast foods at all.  Limit highly processed (prepared) foods.

If you decide to go veg, you might want to commit slowly.  To start 1-2 days per week you'll eat only veg meals.  Then gradually increase from there over weeks or months.

L-Glutamine (amino acid available at GNC and such) reportedly can help with food cravings.  Maybe they will help.

You need to make sure you're getting all your vitamins and minerals.  You need to consume fats, but you should choose good fats.  Use coconut butter (coco oil), olive oil, etc instead of butter/margarine.  Use peanut oil if you need to saute.  Buy cold pressed and preferably unfiltered.  Eat a handful of nuts (pref raw & unsalted) or an avocado a few times per week.

Most importantly... do your research.  Read up on what you're getting into.  Even if you only lessen the amount of burgers, fries, etc. I think you'll be better off.

gpat is right on

however, butter i dont see as an issue, just make it come from good sources, like organic dairy makers, its pricy, but if you use it sparingly like you should, you will get alot of benefits. Organic dairy has been usually made from grass fed cows, and the benefits of grass fed milk is amazing. High in omega 3's and low in the artery clogging forms of saturated fat ( not all sat sat is the same thing)

I don't know the bennnies of grass fed butter.  But, I'm speaking from my own habbits.  When I butter bread I like to put it on THICK.  Butter is one thing I find difficult to use sparingly.  So, I just don't use it anymore.  Calling myself vegan helps me stick to it. (no pun intended)

Instead, when I eat pasta, I dip my bread in a high quality olive oil with ground pepper and a pinch of sea salt or I use a tepanade of one variety or another.  If one can control their use of butter, by all means..

wel if it makes ya feel any better, calorie for calorie, butter is the exact same. Its also less likly to become rancid in storing. It also does have alot of vitamins and minerals that quickly help digest stuff like grains. Its also digested easier than olive oil. Hence less likly to cause body fat storage if used in moderation ( remeber, its still fat)

of course, still use olive oil, but butter is probably even better for the digestion of grains, etc. The vitamins will speed right into your cells. Butter fat is shorter chains of fat, so its easyier to break down.

Olive oil is probably even healthier though, and extra virgin coocnut oil is probably better than both, the benfits are amazing. But a coconut flavored pasta dish isnt that great sounding, heh. Personally, i use all three. I might start my day with coconut oil and honey/cinnamon on sourdough. THen for lunch ill have a salad, with fish, and some more bread ( sprouted, etc) with butter. Than for dinner we will have peas, beans, meat, rice with olive oil.

Well i've been a vegetarian for 2 months and haven't lost weight, because i still eat those bad carbs. I just now started to eat more healthy and see some improvement. I became a vegetarian for the animals though, i am a big animal activist and lover. However my brother became a vegetarian for the health benefits. I didn't even know it was healthier to not eat meat but he did a lot of research and said it is much healthier so isuggest doing some research on that and figure out why exactly you want to be one.

I agree with gpat and would add that if you want to change your eating habits, read "Eat for Health" by Dr. Joel Fuhrman (or his earlier book "Eat to Live").  This will arm you with the best information as to why you need to include more fruits and veggies, which I think goes a long way to helping you succeed.  I will note that if your reasons are health-based only, Dr. Fuhrman does suggest that a small percentage of total calories can come from animal sources without compromising your health, which sounds like it might be of interest to you.

Thank you one and all. Your comments were informative, some a bit militant, ok. Health and diet are  touchy subjects and I got just as much from each and everyone of you. Thanks a bunch. Good luck to all.