Transitioning to a vegetarian diet?

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!

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!!