Any Vegetarians Out There??

I think you'd be surprised what has protein in it. A lot of veggies and fruit have protein (although not huge amounts). You also need less that what you probably think.

Here are some good protein sources:
greek yogurt, eggs/egg whites/beaters, cheese, cottage cheese, beans, quinoa, breads/grains, protein powders and bars, tofu, tempeh, soy milk, edamame, seitan, nuts, nut butter, special k protein cereal, tofurkey/morningstar/etc products... I'm probably forgetting a few things but that is mostly my go to list.

As far as other nutrients and vitamins, I find I get a ton of Vitamin A and C. I get a lot of A from veggies and C from fruits (although this isn't always true, I just find it better to think of it that way in my head). calcium and iron is where I lack since I don't really eat dairy. I get my calcium from almond milk, my protein powder (use sparingly), cottage cheese, and greek yogurt. My iron is usually a little low but cereals tend to run high in iron as well as veggies like spinach. I take about 20mg iron supplement when my levels on here are low.

I'm sure youll get a lot of responses here. there's also a vegetarian group on here if you'd like to join.

YES it is healthy to cut out meat!
I've been a vegetarian since September. Honestly, I think chicken and burgers taste delicious - I eat Veggie Patch "fake" chicken nuggets when I crave chicken and I eat veggie burgers.
I eat a lot of veggies, fruits, and beans. Chickpeas are AMAZING. I have started to eat some tofu too. What else ... I eat rice, oats. Potatoes are good to eat too (I don't really like them personally though).
For dinner today, I had some potatoes (my boyfriend wanted them lol), zucchini, and lightly breaded tofu ... soo delicious!

I've tried fake meat, and I just can't eat it. I'll give tofu a shot, though. I've never had it before, and it's one of those foods that people cringe at when you bring it up, so I've always assumed it was gross. But I'll definitely give it a try!(:

You can be vegetarian and never eat fake meat at all. Beans, nuts and many grains are rich in protein, fiber, calcium, iron and vitamins. I also have to say the world of vegetarian convenience foods is huge--if one brand doesn't impress you, don't give up.

YES it is healthy to cut out meat!
I've been a vegetarian since September. Honestly, I think chicken and burgers taste delicious - I eat Veggie Patch "fake" chicken nuggets when I crave chicken and I eat veggie burgers.
I eat a lot of veggies, fruits, and beans. Chickpeas are AMAZING. I have started to eat some tofu too. What else ... I eat rice, oats. Potatoes are good to eat too (I don't really like them personally though).
For dinner today, I had some potatoes (my boyfriend wanted them lol), zucchini, and lightly breaded tofu ... soo delicious!

I've tried fake meat, and I just can't eat it. I'll give tofu a shot, though. I've never had it before, and it's one of those foods that people cringe at when you bring it up, so I've always assumed it was gross. But I'll definitely give it a try!(:

I honestly was the pickiest eater before going veg but now I eat so many different things. I would have never tried greek yogurt, beans, tofu, and even the thought of anything that resembled a burger made me want to throw up. I personally am not really a fan of the fake meat. Occasionally I'll throw in fake turkey slices or chik'n slices just as something different but it's expensive and not something I enjoy. I love using tofu though. there are so many ways to use it. I usually buy an off brand organic firm tofu just because it's cheap ($2). Sometimes I crumble it and put it in a salad or in with my eggs. The best way for me is to freeze it and squeeze out all the liquid. From there you can marinade it, bread it, use it exactly like chicken. My grocery store has I think deep fried tofu and it is incredible but I've never been able to make it myself. I definitely at least recommend trying it when it has the water drained, you may like it. Try to be open.

The group is called Happy herbivores. it should be near the top of the list, I think.

Also a question for any vegetarians/vegans: what do you do at functions where the main dish has meat in it? If someone takes the effort to make a meal, I don't want to be rude and not eat it but I also don't want to eat meat. Just load up on sides?

Yeah, eat the sides. I don't really think people would think you're being rude. It's not really shocking these days to not eat meat. If I'm out with friends, they usually all know that I'm not going to eat the meat. If it's something major (ex: I went out of the country and had to let the tour guides know I was vegetarian), you may want to let them know ahead of time.

Mostly pescetarian here. I stay away from land meat for the most part, I eat fish regularly though Tonight we had soy burgers for dinner, awesome! It feels great to know your eating something better. Every time I used to eat land meat, I cringed - I honestly have no problem eating fish though

Get a good vegetarian cookbook. I suggest "The Vegetarian Family Cookbook" by Nava Atlas. It's available on Amazon. Atlas not only includes some great recipes, but also a lot of background on eating vegetarian well! I have about 2 or 3 books I go to regularly. The Internet is also a great source for recipes. Tons of vegetarian foods have iron and protein, so no worries there.

I would also take supplements. I take a good multivitamin.

I have been eating plant-based for about 15 years. Not only do I find meat unsavory, but also I object to factory farming. I find it cruel as well as gross!

Explore your options! It's fun and tasty and yes, healthy, to boot!

I too am in the process of becoming a herbivore. Mainly for my personal ethical and environmental reasons - not that i think meat eaters are 'bad' thats not what it is about at all, just something that sits right with me. Dont get too tied up in labels ie 'I am a ....' just educate yourself and make choices to eat a wide variety of unprocessed whole foods and you will find it easy to get the nutrients you need. Keeping up with your logging in the food diary really helps. It can be a gradual learning process. Use the internet it has a HUGE source of information easily found and also pick up a few books.

My turning point (where i really started to think about what i put in my mouth) came about when i read Peter Singer - The Ethics of What we Eat - check it out. I still eat meat when i am being lazy ( Ihave to cook 2 meals in this house if i want a meat free meal) but i find that this happens less and less.

Dont forget to look into herbs as well for nutrition, nettle tea is a good one for iron for example.

Ive been veggie now for about 3 months, and id never ever look back, i feel soooo much happier now i no im contributing to helping the suffering of animals !! If anyone wants to share diaries etc, feel free to add me

I've been vegetarian for about 8 years for ethical reasons. I started in high school. A major bonus is it really helps me maintain/lose weight. I did a fitness evaluation for work last year and the nurse said my bad cholesterol levels were the lowest she had seen in a long time and I was one of the healthiest people she had seen! She asked me how I keep it so low and it's because I have been a vegetarian for so long.
Becoming vegetarian took a bit of effort for me at first. You have to really learn what is in the food that you buy and order at restaurants. As in, you pretty much can't eat soup unless you make it yourself or buy it at the store and comb through the ingredient label. Chicken broth is in pretty much EVERY type of soup, even broccoli cheese which most people assume is vegetarian. Most restaurants even make their macaroni cheese and creamy pasta dishes with it. Look for gelatin in cereals, candies, etc. Feel free to add me, my diary is open!

You will feel soooo much better in everyway.... I don't like to get too opinionated about all of this because people tend to get offended and I certainly don't mean it. I've been vegetarian for about 4 years now and it's one of the easiest things I've done. There are a lot of GREAT supportive sites and books out there. Veganist by Kathy Freston - LOVE her, Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr, the China Study, the Beauty Detox (forgot auther) and anything by Joel Furhman. My niece is surviving a "fatal" brain tumor, has amazed and stunned her doctors, and it's largely due to feeding her body the right nutrients to fight it off through juicing and eating a plant based diet. Sugar feeds cancer and meat also turns cancer off and on "China Study". Your skin will clear up (especially if you cut out dairy which is horrible for us!). Good luck with it and feel good that you are doing something good for yourself, the planet and our animal friends.

Anyway, I was wondering if there are any other vegetarians on here who have tips about how to get enough protein and vitamins normally provided by meat into my diet? I know that just cutting out meat isn't healthy, and you have to substitute those vitamins and minerals with something else.

I would love some feedback!

The vitamins I take are spirulina and flax seed oil. I try to eat a lot of the superfoods from the list:
http://www.foodmatters.tv/content/superfoods

I buy them from this company:
http://www.navitasnaturals.com/

I drink protein shakes often, whey protein is not vegetarian, so I get this brand:
http://www.sunwarrior.com/product-info/classic-protein/

I eat nuts and tofu daily for protein. I use almond milk in my protein shakes where I get a lot of calcium from. If I don't add tofu to my dishes, I end up hungry and thus eat a larger portion of pasta.

I'm a vegan, started two years ago when my blood sugar started going high and my doctor recommended that I read Dr. Neal Barnard's book "Reversing Type II Diabetes". I read it, kept reading, read more, changed my diet and haven't looked back. I LOVE it!

You can get all the protein you need from vegetables - beans, whole grains, broccoli (it's loaded with protein), and of course soy. I eat mostly beans and grains for my protein - used to do soy milk but have gotten away from it (much prefer almond milks) - there's also peanut butter, almond butter, etc.

I recommend taking a look at Barnard's "Turn Off the Fat Genes" - corny title for a book but lays out the basics - personally I follow Dr. John McDougall and Mary McDougall's recommendations on a plant based, no-added-fat/oil diet largely because they've published so many darn fantastic receipes! - so I also recommend their books or you can just Google "Dr. John McDougall" and you'll hit his website, which has many resources, a forum, and allows you to subscribe to a free newsletter that usually also includes recipes (no, I don't work for him!)

I should also say my targets are 75% carbs, 15% protein and 10% fat. I do fine on that; most adults do, but they do OK on other variations as well. I strongly recommend seeing a nutritionist who is expert in vegetarianism if you'd like help setting targets, rather than relying on the internet.

The trick is to eat a varied diet to get the nutrients you need, and "clean" - as little processed C**P as possible. In any given week I eat black beans, red beans, green beans, lots of greens (collards, kale, beet greens, mustard greens), brown rice, plenty of potatoes (I favor Yukon Gold and sweet potatoes but do the occasional Russet as well), whole grain bread (rye/pumpernickel), whole wheat tortillas, broccoli, salad (tomatoes, mixed greens, broccoli slaw, carrots, bell peppers, onions, radishes), dark chocolate (vegan), fruit (bananas, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, mangos, oranges), take lemon and/or lime with my water...etc. When I started I ate alot of meat substitutes and I occasionally still get links or "vegan dogs" and mix them with baked beans when I'm harkening back to childhood, but that's rare. I don't eat much in the way of processed food anymore; instead I spend most of Sunday afternoon cooking up the weeks' food and munch to my heart's content, adding a potato or some rice or whole wheat spaghetti here or there. If I'm feeling a bit peaked and/or have done alot of exercise and want to spike up my protein I just use a soy-based protein additive/mix/powder in my morning shake.

The vegetarian group here is "Happy Herbivores" - I encourage you to lurk and take a look - and keep taking baby steps, make changes in your diet as you go - I think you're going to love it!