Meat eater needing advice on how to turn veggie!

Hello everyone, I'm looking for a bit of advice.

I have been a meat eater all of my life and I have to say I do really enjoy eating meat.  However, I would like to become vegetarian/peskitarian (sp??) because I can't afford to buy organic meat and I don't have the time/space to rear my own animals and even if I did, I just couldn't bring myself to have them slaughtered, let alone eat them if I had reared them (which I think is the most ethical and humane way of obtaining meat). 

Is there anyone here who was a meat eater and enjoyed eating meat but became vegetarian for reasons similar to mine?  I think I will find it quite hard (particularly as my boyfriend loves meat too).  I do love vegetarian food as well and can happily go without meat in my meal but I just don't really know very many recipes to give me enough variety so I won't get bored!!

Any advice welcome!! :-)

Salut!

I personally went veg three months ago today. I loved meat: bacon *drool*, burgers, wings, steak... everything (except sea food-- yuck). I had tried once before to go veg but it only lasted a couple weeks. This time my reasons were more grounded and I haven't found it hard at all. hooray. =)

Veggie burgers help make the transition a little easier. Also, get used to reading and understanding labels like no other. You'll find that your cooking skills will improve because experimenting with new recipes to keep food exciting (Check out goveg.com, or theppk.com for ideas). Keep trying the different kinds of meat replacements to find which one suits you because some of them taste kind of weird lol. Make sure you find out how many grams of protein that you should be having in a day and make sure you get it in the foods you choose to avoid problems (as with any diet change you should ensure that it is providing the correct amount of nutrients you need). 

Good Luck! 

hi. i've been veggie for about 15 yrs and I still eat 'meat-free' products like quorn or soya that imitate the textures and forms of meat products - meatfree burgers, sausages, mince, chicken(style) pieces, etc. are still all included in my diet and I would recommend these for transitioning from being a meat eater to a vegetarian.  it makes cooking much easier - anything you cook that calls for beef mince, for instance, you can pretty much do with quorn or soya mince. however, it is also very exciting to experiment with making your favourite meals without any kind of meat or meat-style products - you will discover new vegetables and different combinations of ingredients. i think in the initial stages of transitioning you should probably plan ahead quite a bit and think about your meals in advance - otherwise you can quickly slip into a habit of being a junk food vegetarian (living on pizza and chips!).

good luck - i hope it works out for you. i can't imagine eating meat again now and I don't miss it at all.

Thank you both for your helpful replies.  I've just been on the goveg website and ordered myself a vegetarian starter kit!  Just reading a little bit of the information they had on their website just hammered it home to me even more.  I honestly think I could do it by myself if it weren't for friends, boyfriend and family all being meaty people!  When I was living in Geneva for 6 weeks, I didn't eat any meat because it was so expensive and I was just fine but coming back to England I was loaded up with meat once again!

The only thing is that I don't want to go vegan (which I felt a bit like PETA were preaching at me to do!) - I grew up with lots of animals at my house and we had loads of chickens that would just run around the garden and had a very happy life!  My mum still has chickens and every time I go home she gives me a big bag of fresh eggs.  I am very conscience-free eating them because I know they're coming from happy hens!  I always buy free-range eggs too if I'm all out of the ones from my mum.  I just need to make sure the dairy I eat is organic...

Another reason I want to become vegetarian is so that I can eat correctly for my ayurvedic dosha - which is Kapha-Pitta.  In ayurveda, milk, ghee and honey are all essential components of the diet - another reason I can't do vegan!

Does anyone else follow an ayurvedic diet?  I find it so hard to get my head around!

I became a vegetarian about 3 months ago and like you loved meat.  I thought I couldn't live without meat.  I was wrong.  I have a much healther, varied diet now than I ever did before and have never looked back.  I couldn't be Vegan either (although I don't drink milk, I read up about milking cows and couldn't touch a drop after that) but I do get organic, free range eggs.

Hey Sophie, I try to follow a vegetarian lifestyle as much as possible although I am far from being a true vegetarian. My reason for not eating red meat and limiting the consumption of other animal products is slightly different from the other posters but that's besides the point.

Whether you are vegetarian, vegan or anything else, I think what you should focus on is trying to find foods that will satisfy and nurture you.

I highly recommend experimenting with food and cooking. Go online! I love going on Epicurious and checking out new recipes. Once you have mastered some of the basics, it will be easy to adapt regular recipes into delicious vegetarian meals. I also suggest checking out vegan/vegetarian blogs such as FatFreeVegan - she always has great ideas! There are so many options out there and I can assure you that half the fun is trying new things!

Good luck to you!!

I used to love meat and I've been a veg for about a year now.
I suggest stocking up on Morningstar snacks. I really like the Buffalo wings, the corn dogs, the "beef" crumbles and the bacon.
The Gardenburger ribs are amazing.
I say avoid the Chik'n and sausage until you haven't had any meat for a while.

The beef crumbles are a life saver because they can be used in so many recipes. I can still have Tacos, Nachos, and all those other yummy things.

Other than that, all I can say is try new things.

Hello! I've been a vegetarian for six years and a vegan for a month. I know how difficult it is. The first thing I did was to replace my favorite meat dishes with veggie ones. For example, I loved meatballs - so after I went veggie I continued to eat "meatballs" made of tofu.

Also, if you get enough proteins, you kindda forget about eating meat. I eat lentils (love them!!!), rice, soy beans, peas, any type of beans. When your body has had all the necessary proteins, it forgets about meat.

Other than that...keep using caloriecount and check if you got all the iron, calcium and protein for the day. Veggie is the healthiest way! But be careful to replace meat with something else - not just eliminate it.

I wish you luck! And welcome to the veggie world! :P

Thank you everyone!  I told my boyfriend last night that I was going to be a veggie and he laughed.  Typical.  He just can't get his head around it but that's fine.  I'm not going to preach to him about it, he's able to make his own choices!!

Everyone's advice has been really helpful.  I love lentils and beans anyway and tend to put them in a lot of my food.  I also don't know if I actually need to replace meat with faux-meat! Tofuballs rather than meatalls sounds pretty good though :-) I do like quorn from time to time but things like lasagne and bolognese and chili are things that I already make veggie versions of anyway.  I actually prefer veggie pizzas to meat and always have.  I made an absolutely GORGEOUS thai green curry a couple of weeks ago completely from scratch (thai green paste and everything - thoroughly recommend it, it tastes 1000 times better!) and I put some chicken in it, more out of habit than anything and to be honest, it really didn't need the chicken because I put so many vegtables in it anyway.  I could have used tofu instead or just had it with vegetables.  (If anyone wants the recipe by the way, I'm happy to share).

I think what I am going to find hardest about this is eating with other people - particularly my boyfriend - who really won't take it seriously.  His and my parents won't be able to get their head around it either!

soph i ate meat until i was 19, however, i never really cared for it. so it wasn't hard for me to give it up. there are lots of great sites out there with recipes. the trick can be working with your non-veg mate. i married a carnivore and have created a blog that shows what we eat everyday. (www.cooking4carnivores.com) it could be a good site for you during your transition too. you can see how i switch out meat based products for vegetarian friendly ones for my meals. i wish you luck - you can do this!

i would say cut out one meat at a time it could make it easier just doing it step by step and cutting them out one at a time i think most of us knw how hard this really is and how it is so hard to nawt eat it when any one else is in front of u it feels impossible but jut stick to it and over years it will b easy almost as easy as breathing i just started being a vegetarian last year i have cheated and i felt really guilty but im only human... hahahha i hope i helped! :]

Another kapha-pitta here.  It sounds like you aren't afraid of the kitchen - good for you!  I would suggest exploring lentils and chickpeas, both are meaty, filling and versatile, depending on how you need to balance your doshas.  The social aspect of eating is a tricky thing; obviously you can't control what other people eat, so it's really a question of whether you mind being lonely in your food choices!  Heck, just eating healthy is lonely sometimes.

Good luck!

Hey have been a vegetarian now for... umm about 10 yrs I guess, and wow did I used to love it... Meat 3 times a day, the reder the better if possilbe.  So to go from that to where I am now would have seemed impossible if you told me to do it.

One of my biggest break throughs came when some one asked me 'so you can't eat meat'

I responded with ' Oh no I can, I just choose not it'

It was like a light switch went off in my head.  I was not giving up anything, I was making an active choice to do something which I believed was positive.

As a response to that statement, I would once a year go out and not be a vegetarian, I would take my partner to a very expensive restarant an eat, all the meat I felt like (mostly sea food) after about 2 yrs of doing that, I really didn't even want to do that anymore and have not activily eaten meat in a VERY long time (one or two distasteful accidents have occured, mostly eating in forign countrys)

Once I felt it was a choice to or not to it was easy. Real easy.

I feel lighter, happier, way healthier.  Have not been sick in like 8 yr... No really (okay once 3 yrs ago, but that was when I tried the atkins diet, vege style... Stupid, NEVER EVER AGAIN) but I dont really count that one.

keep us informerd let me know if you need any advice or if you feel weak or well just need moral support

Love and Light

T

PS Vege nachos RULE

I highly recommend Quorn and Morningstar Farms Buffalo Wings (they are my go to food when I don't feel like cooking).  The strips from Morningstar Farms are also really good and great in stirfries.  All the veggie crumbles I've had (several different brands) are great in place of ground meat.  I also like the Tofurkey lunch meat, which is perfect for sandwiches.   Amy's frozen meals are also good when you don't feel like cooking or for a quick lunch at work.  

Go to your lcoal library and check out some books on vegetarian cooking.  I like the Garden of Vegan books and Vegan with a Vengence (and you can always use cow's milk cheese in place of vegan cheese- but these have more interesting and different recipes than a lot of just vegetarian cookbooks).  Also Moosewood Restaurants Simple Suppers we cook out of at least weekly (but don't buy their frozen foods, IMO they are inedible).

I've been vegetarian for 12 years and grew up eating rare steak regularly and meat every night for dinner.  I spend most of my time with meat eaters.  I've found that most are very accepting of my vegetarianism as long as I don't lecture them about not eating meat.  Live and let live.  I do always let anyone who I'll be staying with know I'm vegetarian ahead of time and usually suggest going out to dinner (and my treating them) to keep them from having to cook special food for me.  Has worked well for me. 

Some of my favourite meals:

Wholemeal pasta with pesto, sliced up lettuce and cherry tomatoes mixed in.

Hummus in wholemeal pitta bread with lettuce, cabbage, onion, tomatoes and garlic.

Stir fried Quorn chicken-style pieces with peppers, mushrooms, garlic, spring onions, beansprouts and soy sauce.

FALAFEL. With ANYTHING. Nomnomnom.

alright chica!

i've been a vegetarian for 5 years now, and im rocking at it lol,

well first: there's morningstar foods!!  morning star is this awesome vegetarian company who makes veggie meats, like chicken steak, burgers, hot dogs, ect. i truly recomend it, sorry to say, it is high in calories, but TOTALLY WORTH It!!!

although i would recomend NOT eating the steak or the chicken strips. and the ribs are pretty gross too, but the hot dogs, corn dogs, burgers, ground "beef", and anytype  of chicken tender or nuggets are amazing!

but if you want to not eat that because of calories, you cfan always just eat yummy foods like veggies and fruits, most personally i like eating eggplant pramashan(sp). its really good, and different, but amazing,

plus there are TONS of recipes online for stews, dishes, salads, desserts, and such that im sure you'll enjoy.

<3 libby :]

p.s. try tofu, i know it sounds good, but if you mix it with a stew or sememe veggie chicken its the BOMB

It gets alot easier if you realize that its not the meat that you like the taste of but the sauces and seasonings, if you were to eat meat without these it wouldnt seem as appatizing, also you can use the same spices on vegetarian food. i've been vegetarian for quite some time now and i don't even miss meat because of this.

I love Morningstar products. If you look at the serving size and the calories per serving, It isn't too bad. I am doing Weight Watchers program and can fiquere the points easily. I add lots of vegetables as side dishes. Merry

Hi everyone, thank you all for your helpful responses.  I have now not eaten a scrap of meat for 6 weeks and I'm finding it surprisingly easy!  Someone mentioned that once you realise it is your own choice rather than having something taken away from you, it makes it much easier.  I can definitely agree with that.  I'm also not even finding the need to eat meat substitutes, like fake bacon or 'chicken' nuggets etc.  I am still eating fish at the moment and for the time being will keep it that way but I can see myself stopping eating that too eventually.

I feel quite content at the moment because I have decided that I won't never eat meat again, it's just that I won't eat meat unless I feel fully satisfied and assured that the meat I'm eating has come from animals who have been well treated, free-range and happy!  Since there are so few places that can actually provide me with that assurance, I won't be eating very much meat at all I don't think.  Certainly not going out to eat, or eating at friends houses (unless it's my friend who lives on a farm and rears his own animals and meat - they're very happy). 

The hardest thing I have found is having to explain my reasons for being a veggie at what feels like EVERY meal!!  I used to ask people when they told me they were veggie what their reasons were...purely out of curiosity rather than judgement, but I had no idea how irritating it gets!  And people get defensive when I'm giving them my reasons, even though they have just asked me and I pass absolutely no judgement on their choices!  It's like people feel like I'm looking down on them because I have made this choice.  Wierd.  I have to constantly reassure people that I have no problem with them eating meat and it doesn't bother me.  As a meat eater, nothing irritated me more than a preaching veggie, so I am so careful to try to make sure I don't come across like that!

Rant over.  I haven't lost any weight though through being veggie - damn!  Then I guess I really DO need to stop eating my body-weight in food at each meal, regardless how healthy it is!  Portion control is definitely my undoing.  :-)

xxx