Becoming Vegetarian

My 14 yr old daughter has been a vegetarian for over 1yr now- really a pain in the butt! However, if its works then so be it. I make sure she gets her protein from cottage cheese, yogurt, oatmeal, eggs. There is something called TVP -textured vegetarian protien, which can be added to chili, spag sauce, soups if you like cooking

I was a vegetarian for years before I got pregnant and then craved meat so much again: I could have literally killed a sheep. So I have been eating meat since: 15 years!!! Ahhhh. I feel like you now, I want to cut it out of my diet again. If you do become veggi, eat proteins such as: nuts, tofu, dair, eggs. Get used to nut butters and Tahini. Beware of your B vits: as that is what can be difficult to replace. If I was you I would take a supplement to begin with.
I'm working on changing my diet again and at the moment if I do eat meat ( because I have a carnivores daughter and hubby), I will eat a very small portion: 3 oz with huge salad or mix veg.
For breakfast chop up a few pieces of fruit and add a tbs of nut butter and splash of honey or agave: mix it all up.
For lunch: lots of salads and steam veg or fried veg and 1/2 cup rice.
Dinners: soups, veg lasagnes, get into Chinese cooking and just stir fry a bunch of veg and tofu.

Tofu can be an interesting one: It should taste bland: that is the brand to buy! Then it's a great product to flavor, add sauces, even make devine chocolate chilli pies and mouses. Most people buy tofu and finds it has a weird taste and they think Tofu sucks. The reality is, they just brought the wrong brand!!! Like buying the wrong, cheap brand of a processed meat.

Oh by the way kefir: is FABULOUS!!!! you can buy starting packets in a healthfood store and use skimmed milk to make it. It tastes a bit fizzy and I add a spash of agave. It that provides you with B Vits and probiotics for your tummy.
Lets be buddies and support each other going veggi. Madcat is one of my feiends, he is good at support too. He's going vegan.

Hi, i became a vegetarian about 6 years ago and I'm 38 so I had to readjust a lot. Unfortunately I became what my husband called a carbatarian because he never saw me eat any vegetables when I first started because I didn't know how to do it right. I ate lots of potatoes, bread, cheese, because that's what they serve in restaurants when you are vegetarian, if you are lucky enough to find something on the menu without special ordering it. Anyway beware of the carbs when you first transition because I gained about 20 lbs, due to lack of understanding of the balanced eating I needed to be doing. So I started researching and have found lots of substitutes that at first took some getting used to but I love them now. And my 9 year old turned vegetarian around Nov of last year and loves most of the veggie products that I get. He actually asked me last night, "Are you sure you gave me the veggie hot dogs mom?" we have 3 meat eaters and 2 veggies in the household now. ) To help you transition from the meats to more healthy protien it might help to get some prepared meals, until you learn to cook the other protiens they can be a little tricky well I'll say different not really tricky. So I would reccomend going with some of the frozen veggie options they actually have started carrying them in the regular grocery stores now WooHoo. I like the Morningstar brands of just about anything they have, again the texture is different, but they try to make it close to real meat. So that may or may not appeal to you. They have veggie corn dogs, regular veggie hot dogs (though I would definitely have these will all the toppings in a bun), fake ribs, etc etc. These may or may not appeal to you, but try them they are usually made with a vegetable protien or a soy protein. If you go to a whole foods/farmer's market style grocer they can help you with the other types of foods to cook for your recipes. I just substitute our soy/veg protein "meat" with what my mother in law makes with real meat. It works everytime. I even make fake meatloaf with the soy products crumbles from Boca. :O) Good luck if you have any more ?s I'm happy to help a fellow veggie.

There's dairy and eggs still to get your complete proteins from. Whey protein is still an option, too, if you're having trouble meeting your protein needs, unless you're going the full vegan route. If these options are not included in your dietary choices, there's always soy, nuts and seeds, and a wide variety of beans and legumes to get your protein from.

congratulations on making a choice to be vegetarian!! ive been one since I was 4 years old..

My favorite protein source is plain greek yogurt or nonfat/lowfat cottage cheese. Other sources include eggs, peanut butter, chick peas, legumes, nuts, seeds, protein fortified cereals/oatmeals, milk...

Soy protein is not something I am keen on but I know many vegetarians that get protein from soy milk, tofu, and soy "meat" products.

Another important thought when deciding to be a vegetarian is to make sure to start taking vitamin B12 suppliment and a vitamin D suppliment!!

Oh so nuts are super helpful, but as a warning, I was a vegetarian for over 6 months, and I loved it because it suited my state of mind and personal opinions. However, I didn't do my research and ended up getting really sick. Reasoning? I didnt have enough vital vitamins in my system. I highly recommend that you go to a Health Foods Store, and talk to their vitamins/medicine person. They can help prescribe or suggest what vitamin supplements you should be taking now that you are cuting meat out of your diet

I was a Vegetarian for a number of years in my Hippy-cultish yrs ... LOL!! The Vegetarianism was one of the few intelligent, healthy choices I made at the time. I was an Adapted Vegetarian because I ate fish (Pesci-Vegetarian). In fact, I'm about to swing back that way now. I eat very little meat that isn't chicken, and I still eat a lot of fish. The rest of my diet consists of probiotic foods, dairy, fresh fruit, and fresh vegies, nuts, and beans. I just began considering the switch back to a Vegetarian lifestyle yesterday, so your post coming at this time has given me reason to think deeper about this choice. Don't forget that you only need about 35-45 grams of protein a day, and that really isn't difficult to accomplish .... Brown rice, Tofu, Seitn, and Tempeh can help with protein ... As well as eggs, nuts, and other beans. I was/am a Lacto-ovo Vegetarian (eggs & dairy) who is also a Pesci-Vegetarian (I eat fish .... However, I only eat it about 3x/wk). A lot of very strict Vegetarians/Vegans give up coffee and all other forms of stimulants (I'm planning to keep my coffee). Since you didn't say, I just figured that you're planning on adopting the generally known and accepted form of Vegetarianism which does include dairy and eggs, but you'll want to add more bean sources. I drink Soy and Almond milk so my dairy is mostly cheese and yogurt. I also lean VERY strongly toward the Macrobiotic form of Vegetarianism which excludes refined and processed foods, no foods with preservatives ... My big drift away from that is the coffee.

Here are some helpful sites:

http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/vegan.htm
http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/vegan.htm
http://www.mypyramid.gov/tips_resources/vegetarian_diets.html
http://www.fatfreekitchen.com/nutrition/iron.html
http://vegetarian.about.com/od/healthnutrition/f/Vegnutrition.htm
http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/protein.htm

Feel free to add me as a friend if you want because I'd love to have a few friends who are adopting Vegetarianism as a new choice on their Journey, but if you delve into the Forum a little more you'll probably find a thread for Vegetarianism/Veganism as well.

KIM Good Luck!! Happy eating!

I haven't eaten red meat or pork in over 19 years and haven't eaten poultry in about probably 5. I don't make a conscious effort to eat protein and I never have a problem getting more than enough. You'd be surprised at how much protein you get from non-meat sources.

Iron is a much bigger concern, for me anyway. I've been anemic for a long, long time. I would definitely focus on iron. Of course, everyone is different and this is just my experience. My doctor has me taking three 65mg iron tablets per day. I got a lot better after awhile (I can tell when my hemoglobin's really low) and I stopped taking it a few weeks ago when I started making a concerted effort to eat Total cereal most mornings for breakfast. 1 cup is 133% of your daily iron (a serving is 2/3 of a cup).