Vegetarian

I'm just wondering how most of you came to be vegetarians.  I know many people go "cold turkey" literally, but do many people also slowly remove meat from their diets?  I've started with the latter and I'm curious how many people go about it this way and how long the process was for them.  

It's been about a month and a half and I've almost completely removed meat products I'm gonna give myself until I get back from my vacation later this month for that (I find it's always harder when you are away and not familiar) but I will continue as a pescatarian from that point out, I don't really have a plan after that although I would like to eventually give fish as well, which I probably eat about 2x/week at this point.  I'm also a super picky eater which complicates the equation as well.  I made myself start eating beans because I know they are a staple but I'm still not a huge fan and will only have them in things (soup, salad etc.).  I'm also not a huge fan of the "fake meats" either.  So I guess I'd also love to hear how you transitioned and what you eat or ate when you first were crossing over.

I was one that went "cold turkey", which is actually a pretty bad analogy in this case if you think about it, LOL.  Given the knowledge that I had gained, there is no way I could have continued to put meat in my mouth after that point.

As far as transitioning, at first I think I went a little crazy experimenting with fake meats and using them in place of meat in my more traditional omnivore recipes/meals.  A lot of them I didn't like at all, but some of them were quite good.  From there I started experimenting with vegetarian recipes and meals - most of which did not contain any meat substitutes.  I also experimented a lot with tofu.  I bought some veg cookbooks, subscribed to Vegetarian Times, and hang out here a lot.  :)  Now I rarely use the fake meats, and I use tofu maybe once a week.  I would use tempeh and seiten more, but they're hard to find around here.

The best thing for me has been all the variety - we eat tons more different things than we ever did when we ate omni.  And every time I cook for my omni friends, they all say - hey, you don't need meat for it to be good! 

I never really ate that much meat to begin with. I'm a vegetarian mostly because I just don't like meat. So when I decided to go vegetarian (I think I was 7, heh, you better bet my parents assumed it would last a day or so) I just stopped eating it and didn't look back.

At that point, my family had very sectioned meals, by which I mean the meat was always just a meat separate from everything else. So it wasn't like I had to specially request them to make me a vegetarian version of a casserole or something. I would eat whatever vegetables/beans/bread/etc. my parents were having for their meals.

When I got to be a teenager and started going out more with friends, I became a bit of a french fry vegetarian when I ate at restaurants, unfortunately, though at home I started getting into a lot of the meat substitute products and getting my family to like them too. I loved to cook (and my parents hated it), so instead of having to beg them to make me a veggie meal, I cooked the majority of the family meals. I started making really diverse ethnic dishes, casseroles, stir frys, you name it. I helped my parents learn that meat wasn't as much a necessary component to a meal as they'd thought.

Thanks for your stories.  I actually have never been a huge meat person to begin with either.  I was a chicken and turkey kind of girl as a kid, and always believed I was allergic to fish until I got tested a few years ago.  I also never ate red meat.  As I got older I experimented more and started eating steaks once in awhile and when I found out I wasn't allergic to fish started eating some.

But I've realized more recently it just isn't compatible with my lifestyle anymore and I'm slowly phasing it out.  So far it's been easier than expected but there are going to be some hard parts.  So far I've given up all meat, and anything with gelatin (it was the first thing I gave up, it just grossed me out so much!  No more skittles and starburst which is likely a good thing for me anyway).  So as of right now I'm eating some fish, which when the time comes, shouldn't be too hard to give up, but one of my favorite things, which is soup will be.  I think that could take awhile because I am a huge soup person and all my favorite soups have chicken stock.  I eat out almost all the time so it's not really an option to change it.  And for the few times we eat in, I tried packaged veggie stock and found it disgusting- it tasted like straight leeks and onions.  Really pungent and unappealing to me.

So the other hurdle for me is that we eat out almost all the time.  AND I'm not a big fan of beans.  Does anyone have any good protein options?

Yeah, I guess I sort of faded meat out of my diet.  Originally I was just trying to reduce my meat intake just to be healthier and then I decided I would kind of go cold-turkey and stop eating any meat at all, becoming a vegetarian. 

i went from extreme meat eater to vegeterain overnight. 3 months later..i went from extreme cheese-yogurt-ice cream-cookies-eater to a vegan over night.  positive points"my skin is much clearer, ive lost 70lbs, my taste buds have evolved to love other foods [veggies]

First, I just told my mom out of the blue that I'm going to stop eating meat (after watching the Meet your Meat video on YouTube). Then I just stopped. Today is my first day, and I haven't eaten any meat yet. I had a piece of bread and milk for breakfast, meat-free.

So basically, I went "cold turkey" (lol, I've never heard that phrase before). I wasn't an extreme meat eater in my omnivore days, so it wasn't that hard for me to switch.

it took a couple months for me to take all meat away from my diet.  i was gradually cutting meat out of my diet and it was sort of like one week i was just cutting back on meat then after the weekend i decided i'd stop altogether. 

Hi!  Not strictly Veg but I just had to jump in and say:  What a great Thread Title!!!!

Well it all started when i saw this video called Earthlings. Its about how we humans largely depend on animals of all kinds to survive (food clothing,etc). It also talks about what we do to the animals. Slaughterhouses don't kill the animals completely so they endure intense pain when their throat is slit and their left  hanging upside down while they bleed to death. The movie was really horrific D:

" Just because one species is classified higher than others doesnt mean anything because when it all comes down, we all feel pain."

After that video i went cold turkey lol. Its really sad because its true. They feel intense pain when they are killed. Its really sad.

I went vegetarian cold turkey and changed my ways in 13 days. I did have mild thoughts, not really cravings, for meat during the first week, but the foods I am eating, wholefood farmacy food, it's so tasty that I am now a convert. I also did the Airola diet years ago and kept my weight maintained for years. But mid thirties I started putting on the pounds. I also studied the Essene literature and tried, for spiritual reasons to go vegetarian for about a month, but I went back to old ways at that time because I was not eating a good variety of proteins and had gotten sick, nails started breaking and I started losing hair. I have had none of those side effects this time around so I'm all for the vegan or vegetarian lifestyle. And I find I'm spending a lot less too!