Transitioning to Vegetarian

I'm a vegan and have been a vegan( but before a veggie) for a long long time. Honestly all I did was one day stop eating meat In can't actually remember much transition (though it was 30 years ago) I just did it the same way when I became a Vegan. You're lucky that there are so many good vegetarian resource s now. If you have an ingredient just Google and you'll find numerous recipes. What I will caution you about is going vegetarian or vegan is not some instant way to a healthy diet. You can have unhealthy meat free diets as well as healthy ones containing meat. I know some vegetarians who I would consider to have terrible diets consisting of French fries and chocolate. Try not to do the mistake that some new vegetarians seem to do and replace all their meat with dairy. Good luck and feel free to add me as a friend if you wish

I've been a vegetarian for about 5 years. I stopped eating meat thinking it would help me lose weight (I didn't know any fat vegetarians at the time). I slowly weaned myself off of red meat first, which wasn't too hard because beef and pork wreak havoc on my digestive system. Then I started to cut out chicken, which was very difficult because IT'S EVERYWHERE. Luckily I've always made most of my meals at home, so the only time it was a real challenge was when I went out to eat. I gave up seafood last, and that was hard because I love it. I still have a bite or two every now and then when my husband's eating it and I'm in the mood.

Somewhere in your journey you may find that you're happier being a pescatarian (vegetarian except for seafood) or an ovo-lacto vegetarian (like me- I eat cheese, yogurt, and eggs, but can't do milk and ice cream because of lactose issues), and that's fine. As you decrease your meat intake, increase your veggie intake and add in proteins like lentils, tofu, nuts, soy, rice, and beans. The nutrients and vitamins you'll get from a richer, more varied diet will keep you feeling awesome and energetic and make it easier to exercise. Be careful not to get into the 'french fry/ cheese pizza vegetarian' mindset. When you remove a group of foods from your diet, make sure you add something healthy to replace them.

One last tip: you're going to need to grow some thick skin and practice saying, "There's protein in everything, even vegetables" in front of a mirror. If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me where I got my protein, I could buy every single one of them a semester of nutrition classes. That being said, you DO have to watch your macros more closely and you may indeed need to supplement your protein with a shake every now and then. My diet was kind of my hobby for a while until I got the hang of it. People will always question you when you make a big change in your life, so prepare yourself mentally to talk about it til you're blue in the face.

Best of luck!

My mom was a vegetarian growing up and my dad ate meat--I think there are a lot of benefits to even just minimizing the amount of meat we consume. You ask about making the transition, and I encourage you to be gentle with yourself at first. Maybe try doing just two or three days a week entirely meatless? Big changes like that can be really challenging, and with a few days a week meatless, you can begin to learn how to cook nutritious, filling vegetarian meals without changing your entire eating style at once.
Things like tofu often take a few tries to get used to the texture of, or a few different recipes to find one that cooks it the way you like it. Google around and try a wide variety of vegetables, beans, soy proteins, etc. I also encourage you to think about different kinds of seasonings. There is a lot of interesting vegetarian food that draws from world cuisines--Asian inspired stir-fries, Indian-style curries, Mexican bean dishes. I love the Moosewood Cookbook for really interesting vegetarian cooking based on whole foods. It's older now, but still one of the classics of vegetarian cooking.
It isn't difficult to work in a few vegetarian meals a week, and can really challenge you to develop a wider variety of cooking skills! Basically, you can't just cut meat. You have to figure out what you're going to cook instead. Use it as a chance to try new things! Good luck!

If you look at nitrates in meat and cholesterol, etc. it makes sense to me to eat none of it and more fruits, veggies, beans, whole grains, etc. I will still eat eggs, cheese and milk but only in small quantities. My family has a strong history of heart disease and cancer and if I can make an attempt at preventing these things then I will do what I have to. I am a nurse and have seen many people going through cancer and have heart attacks, strokes, etc. I don't want to go down that route. I am also excercising, doing HIIT training and cycling. So yes, there are some vegetarians who make poor food choices and are heavier, or unhealthy, but I have faith in myself that I am doing this for the right reasons.

From the looks of your diary your diet looks pretty meat heavy. Good luck.

Honestly, a vegetarian diet is no healthier than a meat-eating one.

From a health perspective, as long as you get a good balance of food sources, meat is fine.

However, if you still wish to become a vegetarian, you need to be very cognizant of what is in things as meat and fish based products are in a lot of foods you would not expect.

Make sure you get plenty of protein. Dairy, seitan, soy and nutritional yeast are complete proteins. Most vegetarian food sources are not - which is not an issue as long as you get protein from a variety of sources.

You also need to be careful to get enough B12 (it is usually included in tofu and nutritional yeast) as well as iron. Non heme iron needs Vitamin C to help the absorption, unlike heme (meat) iron.