Going vegetarian in 2010

best of luck to you!
i was a strict vegetarian for a while and now i will only eat the occasional chicken or turkey.

my best advice is to eat lots of eggs and beans in order to bulk up your meals. also, if you are not opposed, you should try soy or tofu products.

i found that it was easier to cut back slowly as opposed to going cold turkey.

allrecipes.com has a good amount of vegetarian dishes:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Healthy-Cooking/Main-Dishes/Vegetarian/Main.aspx

aisha

Hi there!
I have been a veggie now for about 14years, made the choice when i was a young teen. Im not one of those annoying preaching types or think that not eating meat will miraculously change the world I Love animals, and am happy with my choice not to eat meat.
Id say that being veggie is so much easier these days, quorn has really expanded and provides lots of meatfree equivalents. Also remember you can still eat everything you did as a meat-eater, you just have to improvise. For example make your own anything! A nice stew with beef-style chunks..... toad in the hole..... cheese and meatfree bacon quiche.
Also look around, theres so many meat-free things such as soya, tofu, quorn, own brands. Or down the packet isles you can buy burger mix etc. Holland and barretts sell porkless porkpies, salami sticks..... theres so much variety!
All id say is, it will take you some time to adjust to the flavors of the meat-free stuff, i have been a veggie for so long now, meat-free to me is what i believe meat to taste like! but when i offer it to friends they really notice the difference.
Well good luck with your big change! and if you need any advise drop me a line
xxxx

My husband and I started feeling real crappy about 7 months ago and we started to notice it was after we ate red meat. We cut all the red meat out and started feeling much better. One night after eating chicken out...we were grossed out by it and decided to just go for it. We do eat some sort of fish or seafood about once a week and we do still have dairy (I am a huge cheese lover!) but overall, we both feel sooo much better!

You can really eat the same kinds of foods that you do now, just without the meat. MorningStar Farms makes really good meat substitute products. Some of them you can not even tell aren't the real thing. Also, I don't know about where you are, but here in Florida, Burger King even offers a Veggie Burger selection. (Denny's does also)

Make sure you still get plenty of protein though! Also, as a vegetarian, you will find sometimes that you will eat smaller meals and more often. I also recommend that you use a lot of fresh veggies and fruits. Not only do they taste better, but you won't get all the sodium. I also eat eggbeaters in place of regular eggs. (no Cholesterol)

The only thing I can really warn you of...is don't trade meat for "everything else" Do your research and find things to cook and experiment with. When we first started out, we didn't have a plan...so we ate literally everything but meat. Needless to say that isn't a good idea for the waist line!

Good Luck! You won't regret the change!

Wow, great posts from everyone and so much good advice. I've been reading and doing my homework. I'm especially tuned to the fact that I can't have "everything else". I just saw a recent Dr. Oz show about this huge obese guy who was a "vegetarian" - but not only did he not eat meat, he also didn't eat any fruits and vegetables either!! Huh?!! Turns out he ate a lot of bread and cheese based stuff - like macaroni and cheese, pizza, etc. So I'm being careful not to keep a balance on the "everything else" part. Today's menu includes homemade split pea soup with lots of onions, garlic, carrot, celery...and let me tell you, this is comfort food. Tastes great! We are super cold here today...freezing ....here in Northeast Florida!!

That's the kind of vegetarian I was...ate no meat, but also ate nothing healthy. It's surprisingly common. Now I eat chicken and turkey and occasionally fish (and chips), and still basically no vegetables.

I think chili is a staple of a vegetarian diet. Red kidney beans, tomatoes, chili powder, a touch of brown sugar, and whatever veggies you want to add.