Tips for becoming vegetarian

ryanna01

I've recently decided to cut meat from my diet, unfortunately I'm pretty clueless on where to start. If anyone has any tips on how to get the protein, iron, calcium, etc. in my diet that'd be amazing. And if you have any other tips.

rainbowbow

what were you eating before?

lemurcat12

There are many good lists of non meat protein sources, which largely include things like dairy, eggs, beans, soy/tofu, and then to a lesser degree various nuts and seeds and grains. You will get a little in veggies too. I googled around a bit and too many of them seem incomplete or are slideshows (ugh), so I'll let someone else point you to a favored one.

What I'd do is look at such a list, think about how you eat now, and consider whether you already incorporate these foods and how much protein you are getting from them. If you don't eat much that contributes protein other than meat, I'd probably start by phasing meat out and replacing it with other sources of protein, maybe starting with lunch and breakfast (which probably isn't so hard for most people) or dinners a couple nights a week and then expanding.

I used to eat vegetarian quite a lot (during Lent, sometimes Advent, typically a couple of times a week also) and have largely stopped that (I still eat a lot of fish and am trying to be more consistent in doing a vegetarian day at least once a week) just because I tend to find it easier to structure meals around meat (including fish) when I'm trying to both eat lower calorie and meet the protein levels that seem to work best for me, but now that I'm at maintenance I'm changing that.

Anyway, there's no reason you can't make that change and enjoy it, but I'd be thoughtful about what you plan to eat and think about meat planning in advance.

There are lots of vegetarians around here and probably a vegetarian group where you can get more practical advice too and see examples of how others currently eat.