Any vegetarians here?

I admire your plan. I was a pretty unhealthy vegetarian for a year too. I hanker to become a vegan if I could only navigate restaurants recipes and my cravings. Until then I just want to eat healthier in general. Feel free to add

I've been a vegetarian for 3 years this summer
feel free to send me a request!

I started Vegetarian eating this month. Right now it's more "Flexitarian". I have eaten one meat based meal this week. And plan to eat either 100% Veg or at the most, one meat meal a week.

Would be great to have friends with similiar food interests!

~Chris

I've been an ovo-lacto vegetarian for about 20 years or so now. I guess I've always been a fairly healthy vegetarian but I'm *really* struggling right now with protein. I'm trying to get more protein than I ever have since I've started lifting/strength training, and I also need to follow a low-sodium diet, which pretty much rules out all the processed/frozen Moringstar farms/Boca stuff. I love tofu and tempeh but so far finding a marinade or sauce that's not loaded with sodium is seeming impossible. Looking back through my diary I've averaged about 30 grams/day and that's been mostly the frozen processed stuff. gah!

Vegetarian for 16 years, with a briedf stint as a vegan. I am dairy free and trying to get back to gluten free.

I've been an ovo-lacto vegetarian for about 20 years or so now. I guess I've always been a fairly healthy vegetarian but I'm *really* struggling right now with protein. I'm trying to get more protein than I ever have since I've started lifting/strength training, and I also need to follow a low-sodium diet, which pretty much rules out all the processed/frozen Moringstar farms/Boca stuff. I love tofu and tempeh but so far finding a marinade or sauce that's not loaded with sodium is seeming impossible. Looking back through my diary I've averaged about 30 grams/day and that's been mostly the frozen processed stuff. gah!

Kale & quinoa, & quinoa pasta for protein...
Make your own marinades or check out your local health food store.
Usually the employees can help you find what you need.

im almost totally converted to a high carb raw vegan [mostly fruitarian] diet now. anyone feel free to add me

I've been a vegetarian for six years in February and I'm trying to go vegan (again)

I would love to become a vegetarian but I am clueless on how to even begin. I love meat so much how can one get away from that craving for it? I'm assuming its like trying to quit smoking? If it is I'm in for a lot of trouble huh? I have lost weight so far but I'm not losing it as quickly as I hoped. Any suggestions would be appreciated, Thanks

Just start weaning yourself off of it slowly. I was a flexitarian for 4 months before I went fully vegetarian, and now I barely crave meat. If you want a meat-like texture, try eating mushrooms or making yourself some bean burgers. There's also always the option of things like chicken-less strips, meatless meatballs, etc, though those are processed foods so I wouldn't eat too many of those.

Ya.. Only use stuff like that in dishes you feel like your completely missing the meat.
Like Gimme Lean "hamburger", I make it into ground beef in our spaghetti sauce. My husband couldn't even tell it wasn't the real thing.

I've been a pescatarian (veggie + seafood) for the last 7 years, but was vegetarian for 8 before that. I'm 29, so over half my life.

The best advise I have to give for healthy eating as a vegetarian came when I started to analyse why people always asked me what I ate. I couldn't figure it out for the longest time; what do you mean what do I eat? Everything you do, except meat. I finally realized that most people (or at least the ones I'm around) tend to think of their plate in terms of meat/veggie/starch. So maybe one night it's chicken/broccoli/rice, or steak/peas&corn/potato, or whatever. They're trying to figure out what to put in the "meat" part (which also explains why they ask "do you eat a lot of tofu"). My plate almost never looks like this, unless I'm making a meat alternative dish such as a lentil loaf (kinda like meatloaf). More often than not it's a stirfry, or a casserole, or a pasta, or a soup/stew/chili...you get the picture.

I'm not going to say I've been perfect (heck, I'm here aren't I?) but for the most part over the years I've eaten a pretty balanced diet.

Good luck!

vegetarian for 2 years. main consumption of dairy products are greek yogurt, labni, eggs, and fine cheeses. no milk.

My partner is vegetarian so the majority of the meals I cook everyday are vegetarian... I still have meat in my diet but it's far less frequent than I used to. Feel free to add me as well.

Ok since there are plenty of veggies here I have a question. Is there a difference between those who do it for healthy reasons and those who do it for cruelty reasons. I see many veggies that still eat stuff like cheese, parm cheese and cheese flavored products (example: Doritos, chips, Mac & Cheese) and some of the sweet stuff like candy, marshmallows, etc. Through trying to learn about vegetarain friendly products I learned that most of the named items are not vegetarain friendly so do ppl that become vegetarains for just healthy reasons still eat these things or is there a general gray area. I hope not to offend anyone I am just looking for advice from those that have been veggies for a while. I am not one and don't know any but my 16 yr old daughter just decided little over a month ago that this is what she wants to do b.c she don't agree with animal cruelity and I am trying to learn as much as I can to help her and be supportive of her. Trying to learn what she can eat since I do all the shopping. Thanks for any advice or info in advance.

If you are looking for help learning about all the nutrition you need as a veggie, grab the thrive diet by Brendan Brazier. That is a really awesome read, and it has great recipes.