Transitioning to a vegetarian diet?

kolie518

I have been going back and fourth about switching to a vegetarian diet. I already do not eat seafood of any kind, and rarely eat red meat or pork products. I mainly only eat chicken or turkey, and already incorporate meatless meals into my diet. I have been doing a lot of reading about the health benefits, and some reading on the meat industry, and I'm thinking I may give it a try. I am curious to hear from any of you that have switched to a vegetarian diet. How long did it take you to completely switch over and how was it for you?

I am also curious about food and nutrients, mainly Iron in my diet. Are you taking supplements or have you found other ways to get enough iron in daily? Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

Polly758

The benefits of a vegetarian diet will not be noticably different from the "mostly-vegetarian" diet you're currently on. However if it's the meat industry you're concerned about, and you don't have local, kind sources to buy from, by all means cut the last of the meat out of your diet.

If you eat plenty of leafy greens-- spinach, kale, collards-- you'll get the vitamins you're missing from red meat, including iron. Spinach is great because you can pretty much dump a handful in anything.

Another important thing based on what I've read is to make sure you get enough fats, either from vegetable (olive oil) or cream (butter, full-fat milk, etc), because those are necessary for your body to process the plant-based nutrients.

I'm mainly vegetarian myself except I do eat red meat-- the opposite of most "almost vegetarians", I know :laugh: It wasn't difficult because I'm already used to eating whole foods and taking time to prepare every meal. Plan ahead, stock up on beans and grains and greens, you'll be fine!

welsh_lass86

I'm currently a pescatarian but I was a vegetarian for almost 7 years. I went straight from a heavy meat diet into a lacto ovo vegetarian diet and I must admit I did find it hard in the first few months, mostly because I didn't really have a clue what vegetarians actually ate (other than veg obviously).
You already sound much more clued up than I was at the time. Look up some veggie recipes and good meat alternatives (quron has come a long way) and you'll be fine.

Check out these websites for recipes:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/recipes/healthy/iron-rich-vegetarian/
http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/vegetarian

shaynak112

Back last September/October, I went on a "one month, no meat" challenge. The only meat I really ate much of was chicken, turkey, and hamburgers. Still - I thought it'd be sooo hard. The month was kind of difficult. I'd totally crave hamburgers. lol!! BUT then I discovered veggie burgers! And after that month was up, I tried a small piece of chicken. I hated it. I thought it was gross.

Sooo ... I decided to stay vegetarian for good.

Since then, it's gone really well. I eat a lot of beans (chickpeas are my favourites). A LOT of veggies and fruits. Rice. Fake meats. If you ever crave meat, check out Veggie Patch products or Tofurky products. Veggie Patch has great fake chicken nuggets. Tofurky has great fake sausages/hot dogs. A lot of "fake meat" sucks BUT you will find things that you enjoy.

Now, when I think of meat, I just think of the poor animals that were killed and tortured just so people could have something tasty. A lot of people don't REALLY think about what is in their meats. You can get the taste of meat from many other things as well. It's also much healthier to eliminate meat from your diet. So really, there is NO reason why anyone has to eat meat.

Anyway, what do I regularly eat?
- shirataki noodle stir fry
- steamed vegetables
- fruit
- rice - all different types (I enjoy frying it and adding veggies and soya sauce)
- cornmeal/polenta
- oats
- potatoes (mashed, fried, boiled, etc.)
- pasta (only sometimes!)
- homemade pizza (obviously with no meat - I like tomatoes and olives but obviously any veggies work!)
- salad!! (lots of it)
- tacos with black beans
- chickpeas (I've done sooo many things with chickpeas. chickpeas with spices, chickpeas in soup, chickpeas with eggplant)
- soup

Sometimes I do feel like I haven't had a "hearty" meal after I've eaten. Veggie burgers are very "hearty". So are potatoes, pasta, pizza, stir fry. I'm really into this stir fry with shirataki noodle thing right now, OMG, delicious! Many things, you can just take out the meat portion of it. Good luck!!

momtokgo

I went from eating steak, bacon and chicken to eating nothing overnight. I had to cut out steak and bacon for health reasons, and chicken grosses me out. I don't miss it at all, but I had a hard time eating it to begin with.

Then I went from vegetarian to vegan fairly quickly (all I had left to cut out was eggs, I had already cut out dairy)

As for the iron, I will know in 2 months how my levels are, they were pretty bad as a meat eater so I'm no help with that one.

You do need to take a supplement for B12 though, that is a meat based vitamin. You can also eat nutritional yeast, it also has B12.