New Vegetarian

I am reading a book called Skinny Bitch and I feel that it has changed my life already even though I am only a few chapters in. I just read the meat chapter and I was completely disgusted about all the chemicals that are in our foods. I knew before that there were chemicals but I never understood how much. From this day on I am not going to eat meat. I still would like to eat dairy as of right now (next chapter to read), but I was wondering if anyone knew of any good recipe websites that could help me find meals that are delicious.

Also, have any of you read Skinny Bitch? Did it help you in anyway?

vegetariantimes.com! i also get the magazine which was really cheap but i believe all the recipes from the magazine appear on the website soon after the issue comes out

I loved the book Skinny Bitch!  It really opened my eyes to some things that I wasn't aware of and clarified the things that I was hazy about.  I was already in transition to being a vegetarian and it scooted things along.  About 2 weeks after I read it, I became a full fledged vegetarian.  :3 great book

I'm not trying to change your mind, but consider that there are many chemicals used in the production of most foods. If that's your main concern, you'd be better off eating organic, rather than vegetarian. And avoiding cosmetics, commercial shampoos, perfumes, laundry detergents, swimming pools, lakes, cleaning supplies, plastics, cities...

For myself, I find it unhelpful to worry too much about "chemicals," as they're by and large unavoidable if I don't want to radically change my lifestyle - and I don't. Perhaps you do, and that's fine, but if that's truly your goal, just cutting meat won't help you get there.

And no, I haven't read the book. The reviews of it on Amazon.com don't give me much confidence in it - I get very turned off by angry vegans. Or angry carnivores, for that matter.

I will vouch for the book being amazing!  I was thinking about adopting a more vegetarian lifestyle before I read the book, but it put the final nail in the coffin.

I guess you could interpret the tone of the book 'angry', but it is so over the top in your face that I found it amusing, refreshing, and kept my interest.  If it was a dry nutritional book I don't think I could have stomached reading it in one sitting. I thought it kept the book more 'real' and it was like having a conversation with a friend and not a nutritionist.  But then again, I am a guy and my friends and I are cure and vulgar anyway!

Yes, the language is harsh, but I am desensitized to that enough that it didn't bother me.  An with the title 'Skinny Bitch', you gotta be keyed off as to what you're getting into!

I think the tone is less angry 'MEAT IS MURDER!' and more angry 'Dude wtf, wake up!  The food industry is not looking out for you and you need to look out for yourself!'

People that criticize vegetarians annoy me.

Don't let them get you down! But get used to it, because they are everywhere.

I have been a vegetarian for 6 years and I'm still hearing about it!  

Hooray for the morally superior!

Thank you for the support. Luckily, my bf that I live with is very supportive even though he is a big meat eater. I am in search of new recipes that we both can eat so that he will ease up on his meat intake. He normally cooks so this is going to be a big change for me since I need to learn to cook and eat different kinds of foods.

Still looking for new recipes, any ideas?

I am loving this book Skinny Bitch, I read it every night, just 1 or 2 chapters a night and it is helping me think of new ideas for food and it is keeping me motivated for this change. Curious, does anyone have any good book suggestions that I can look into once this book is finished?

My favorite vegetarian cookbooks are The Vegetarian Epicure, Vegan Planet, The Best of Lord Krishna's Kitchen, and The Vegan Gourmet. There are thousands of free recipes available online at http://www.vegweb.com/. Vegweb also has a massive directory of links to related organizations and companies, a section containing articles from a variety of authors, and a pretty articulate statement of their philosophical foundations in doing what they do. 

I haven't read The Skinny Bitch, but I have been a vegetarian for 13+ years. I was a vegan for a few years in there as well.

I, personally, did not become a vegetarian for health reasons, but it has become a more central concern over the past couple of years. There is little question in the medical community about the health benefits of a well-balanced vegetarian diet. It's important to watch nutrition whatever your diet, though - maintaining a healthful vegan diet particularly takes a pretty good understanding of nutrition. Most vegans who tell you otherwise haven't been practicing very long. I suggest that you start by looking at the American Heart Association (http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml? identifier=4777) and Mayo Clinic (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vegetarian-d iet/HQ01596) webpages on the subject. The Vegetarian Society (http://www.vegsoc.org/info/health1.html) and American Dietetic Association (http://www.eatright.org/ada/files/VegetarianP ositionFINAL.pdf) offer fuller analyses, if you are interested.

If your primary worry is with chemicals... well, we're all pretty screwed. A friend of mine, an environmental scientist, hasn't eaten fish in a decade and won't in the foreseeable future, because she says she hopes to have children one day. She does eat other animal products, including meats, but she has identified cumulative heavy metal and chemical retention in fish flesh as particularly dangerous to fetal development.

In a related note, my understanding of things suggests that our water supply is the most immediate health concern diet-wise, and bottled water is not the answer. I really recommend the film Flow if you're interested in knowing more about the risks, realities, and politics of water: http://www.flowthefilm.com/

In terms of general theoretical/critical books you might be interested in after finishing Skinny Bitch, I suggest: In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, by Michael Pollen; The Sexual Politics of Meat, by Carol J. Abrams; and perhaps some Peter Singer (though I don't agree with much of what he says, he's definitely an influential thinker). The writing of Derrick Jensen, particularly Language Older Than Words and The Culture of Make Believe, continues to have big impact on my perspective - though Jensen does not directly address vegetarianism and is not a vegetarian himself, he talks a great deal about cultural norms, exploitation and economics.

Hope this helps.