Anyone considering a switch to a Vegitarian diet?

dnlake

read the book "the kind diet" it will enlighten you to the benefits (to yourself and on a global scale) of a vegie diet, and promotes an increase in plant based foods even if you don't go full vegie! it's a great book, easy read and chock full of wonderful info and some recipes too. i am not vegie but use meat as a side or cook in for flavor and don't necessarily eat it everyday. red meat maybe once a month, mostly use lean turkey chicken breast and white fish, salmon. the cleaner you eat the better you feel!

SMarie10

bump

greej

5 years ago I switched to a vegan diet, which I kept up for 3 years. I figured that I wouldn't be successful if I went only vegetarian. I lost 80 pounds in a year without trying, eating A LOT more vegetables than before but also cooking lots of vegan sweets. ...Of course, then I went on anti-depressants and gained most of the weight back. Discovering vegan junk food, then switching to a vegetarian diet didn't help either.

Now I'm vegetarian still, but trying to eat less and less animal products. Being vegan, I think, was very difficult on my friends and family. If I was living alone I think I would've been absolutely fine, because I could have made all my own meals, bought all my own food, gone out to eat in only vegetarian restaurants ... It would have been very simple, because I was literally never tempted to eat animal products after about a month. However, buying two versions of everything (milk, butter, cream cheese, yogurt, meat, desserts, etc. etc.) was hard on everyone who wasn't me.

Being vegetarian is actually stunningly easy compared to being vegan, even surrounded by meat-eaters. Sure, you buy your own tofu/meat substitutes, but other than that you just eat what everyone else eats. If your family is eating meat, potatoes, and green beans, you eat LOTS of green beans, potatoes, and a tofu burger. I don't find it difficult at all.

Midori_i

What is it with people becoming vegetarians or even vegans because of their cholesterol? Being overweight gives you high colesterol, not eating meat or dairy products, I thought?

I read a while ago that the high cholesterol in eggs was thought to be bad for you (giving YOU high cholesterol) which is why people have said for ages you shouldn't eat more than 2 a day - and that that is completely incorrect and cholesterol in the food you eat doesn't translate into cholesterol in your body. Eating unhealthy overall will.

Is it the same with cholesterol overall in animal products?

KyleB65

A big thanks to everyone.

It is nice to read so many notes & suggestions.

As many suggested I think that I will take a slow and relatively methodical approach to this and continue to make more vegetarian choices. As I have seen some success with my revised eating habits over the past couple of months. I am certain that eventually, I will no longer want or need meat in my diet.

As for the different types/levels of eating vegetarian. This is something that I need to think about and will also morph into my eating habits over time.

Thanks again and good luck to all.