How to start a Vegetarian Diet?

[John Wesley]

I want to do a 30 day trial of a vegetarian diet. My main hurdle in getting started is not knowing how to prepare vegetarian meals. I have no idea what groceries to buy and what to make. I've tried some Google searches on the subject but the results weren't very helpful. I was hoping someone could point me in the direction of some good resources to get me started.

[Antarananda]

Do you like Indian food? Since Indian vegetarian food evolved over thousands of years, there is much delicious variety in the cuisine. You can find many recipes online. Beats eating just salad all the time

I have a couple pdf files of Indian Recipe ideas. PM me if you're interested, and I'll be glad to email it to you.

[Erin Pavlina]

When Steve and I went vegan I was faced with the same problem. I could roast the heck out of a chicken, but what do you do with tofu?

What we did was get a very big vegetarian cookbook. I picked a bunch of recipes that sounded good (21 I think) and made a shopping list for the ingredients. Then for 2 weeks I just cooked all my recipes and ate them. Voila, I was vegan and wasn't even thinking about it. Just make the recipes and eat the food.

We also removed all items from the house that were not vegan so I knew that if I were to grab a snack or need to cook or bake something, it was automatically going to be vegan. If I was eating, I was eating vegan in other words.

I've since published a vegan cookbook that you might be interested in because all the recipes are easy to make and very appealing to people who are used to meat and dairy.

You can view photos of all the recipes too to see if any whet your appetite

Vegan Cookbook: Vegan Family Favorites by Erin Pavlina

[Mayo]

John, avoid soya! I read few articles about it and i have become scared of soya product, even non-GMO!!!!
Try to find articles where you don't have soya products (tofu, soy milk, ...)

Protect your sperm from soy(^_^):
BBC NEWS | Health | Avoiding soya 'may aid fertility'

I am not trying to scare you, just warn you. I will also thread the path of vegetarian way of living, and then the live-food way of living.

For energy booster use dates:
Date Palm - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

although dates are fart boosters (^_^)

Pls. i would like to hear more vegetarian experiences!

[Cron]

Best two veg*n starter kits out there. You can get both mailed to you as a very nice pamphlet for free. Awesome nutrition information. A nice collection of stater recipes:


TryVeg .com - A Guide to Vegetarian and Vegan Eating

Guide to Compassionate Living / Starter Pack

[escapee]

Most of the Vegetarian/vegan (including myself) i know tend to be at greater risk of mineral/Vitamin deficiency due to lack of nutritional knowledge. To minimize/eliminate the unnecessary risk , you should eat a wide variety of whole food diet ( that means no more refined carbohydrate like white rice ( take brown rice instead), white flour, noodle, pasta, soda, sugar and etc ). All of these refined food would only fill your body with mainly carbohydrate but little minerals and vitamin to help the actual metabolism and reproduction of body cell. Learning from those who have succeeded (like Erin and Steve) is also important before you get started . In addition, i would also suggest a vitamix/super blender as Steve talked about in another thread so you could make yourself a nutritious and delicious ice blend with various raw fruits and vege in it ( no sugar plz ). Finally, do not underestimate the importance of Methycobalamin B12 vitamin . Take my post as a grain of salt as i'm moving a little backward on the vegan thing ..

Additional note : Do not drink or cook you vege food with RO, distilled water

[Cron]

Originally Posted by escapee

Most of the Vegetarian/vegan (including myself) i know tend to be at greater risk of mineral/Vitamin deficiency due to lack of nutritional knowledge.

I've been a vegetarian for about 26 years and vegan for about 12. I like to read up on nutrition and in my unprofessional opinion the reverse of your statement is true for all but the most reckless of people. The standard american diet is incredibly deficient and unbalanced in many things. Look at what the top killers are.

You don't need to know a lot of nutrition to be a healthy vegetarian or vegan. Reading one of the thin starter guides I quoted above is more than enough.

[ReallyGoodIdeas]

We're doing mostly raw vegan, and I find an enormous fruit bowl to be the key! you can just eat fruits and vegies raw for meals. Maybe not exciting, but they taste good!
joy to you
Hazel

[escapee]

You don't need to know a lot of nutrition to be a healthy vegetarian or vegan. Reading one of the thin starter guides I quoted above is more than enough.

Yea, knowing some knowledge about nutrition is always helpful when you're raising vegetarian kids or under pregnancy. I see no reason why i would limit myself to tryveg . Hey, They are selling bunch of unnatural mock meat .

Glad to know we have a healthy vegan/vegetarian for more than 20 years .

Yahoo! Answers - What are the dangers (if any) to pregnancy if you're a vegetarian or vegan? Are there any benefits?

[The David]

I'm not a vegetarian, but I've found it's pretty much pointless to cook most vegetables. I could probably live off of salads and baked potatoes.

[escapee]

Originally Posted by The David

I could probably live off of salads and baked potatoes.

I 'm currently doing my best to avoid fried or baked carbohydrate/food to minimize the exposure to Acrylamide , a potential carcinogen .

[Cron]

Originally Posted by escapee

Yea, knowing some knowledge about nutrition is always helpful when you're raising vegetarian kids or under pregnancy.

Which most omnivore women do not know either. People really have the upside down idea that the way Americans normally eat is "safe" and going veg is a risk. People are suffering right now.

I see no reason why i would limit myself to tryveg . Hey, They are selling bunch of unnatural mock meat .

tryveg.com is not selling anything. Links to both starter guides offer a variety of types recipies . Reading them will reveal that. tryveg.com has links to the organization's recipe site which has even more variety of recipes.

I know the people who publish tryveg.com they include faux meats because their goal is to help ordinary people start veg*sm. They get feedback and adjust to it. They have learned that the best way to convince people to give veg*sm a try is to start people off with foods that are most familiar to what they already know.

[escapee]

Which most omnivore women do not know either. People really have the upside down idea that the way Americans normally eat is "safe" and going veg is a risk. People are suffering right now.

Cron, as a shortlived ex-vegan myself and now a near vegetarian. I just wanted to point out that, based on my personal experience and conversation with many former vegetarians/vegan ( Most of them suffered Anemia ), there is definitely a risk of nutrients deficiency without a well planned whole food diet and enriched food. I wanted to think that vegetarian/vegan of all forms are absolutely healthy as long as you don't include animal protein/fat . But how wrong was i ( the refined food - fruit juice with sugar, refined rice , trans fat, deep fried food , refined noodle with little nutrients are much worse ...).

Of course we both know that the Standard American artery clogging diet is very unhealthy.

[Cron]

I'm not an old man, but I am not as young as many of the people on this board. My family has weak genetics. Almost everyone has died of a cardiovascular issue, cancer or diabetes. All of my living family members have a cardiovascular issue and eye problems. I've been reading in poor light and have been glued to a computer for years. I am the only person in my family who does not wear glasses or contacts. Many of my friends do, I have no need.

I have none of the health issues that plauge other members of my family.

Vegetarianism and veganism have kept me healthy for over a quarter century.

The only major health problems I have had have been sports injuries and gaining a little weight while I have been recovering from those injuries.

While I am at a point in my life where I can afford to eat whatever I like, I spent the bulk of my teen years, 20's and 30's living off vegetarian/vegan food that can be found in any supermarket:

Brown rice, beans ( one of the cheapest foods anywhere ), vegetables, and fruit. I'm human, I've also worked some crappy food in there as well.

I do not, and have not gone around making elaborate meal plans, measurements, had numberous medical tests, been "real careful" or any of the other dramatic things that people who say veg*sm is difficult to do right say that you need to do, to do it right.

I've only followed the basic advice found in any decent veg*n nutrition book and which you will find in a condensed version in those starter guides.

No offense

[escapee]

There are countries ( eg : like ours ) where the main staple of diet is refined white rice/noodle(with no enrichment of iron and others ) and it's a little difficult to get brown rice and wild rice here because the demand is just too small. Perhaps that explains the high incidence of failure for people who attempted vegetarian/vegan diet even in short term (especially for women : Anemia (B12/ iron deficiency) , sudden loss of menstrual cycle , unusual fatique, nerve problem and etc ) in country like ours. I'm very keen to know the actual root cause.

I have read books like china study and it sounds very convincing. i 'm also a regular reader ofMercola health article and it sounds all too familiar to what i have seen and experienced. I guess i'm just confused. However i do know with 90% certainty that food such as

1) Sugar ( eg : soda .. )
2) Trans fat ( Margarine )
3) Deep fried food ( overcooked vege oil )
4) Smoking / Alcoholism
5) Artifical sweetener
6) refined grain
7) Excessive consumption of Vege oil ( causing imbalance ratio of Omega 6 vs Omega 3 ) Note : My healthy grandma is almost 90 years old and guess what she eats regularly ? Fatty Meat, vegetables ,some fruits and COD LIVER OIL rich in omega 3 fatty acid.
8) Stress and lack of exercise
9) processed food ( Potato chips loaded with carcinogen and hydrogenated oil )
10) Overcooked carbo and meat ( Acrylamide and heterocyclic amines )
12) The deplorable commercial based animal farming .
13)For the future .... GMO food

are most likely the main causes of today's common chronic diseases .

Correct me if i'm wrong .

[Adrienne]

Years ago when i went vegetarian, i found that pretty easy. I love fruit and soup, and salad. I lived in California and it was easy to find fake meat, organic fruits and veggies, and pasta.

I then moved to the Midwest which was food (and everything else) culture shock. There were months that i lived off of apples because there were few if any other fruits and veggies where i was. This is much better now. After a decade of being vegetarian, i tried meat again (i was 11 when i started being a vegetarian, against my families wishes) because it was so hard (not an excuse) with work to get anything i could eat. That lasted for just a little while, and i was so grossed out, sick, and felt horrible and i went back happily. I decided some time ago i wanted to be a vegan, once i was more aware of what animals are put thru. That was much harder.

I knew i wanted to be a vegan, it was not a trial, or a fad, it was a life change i wanted to make. I bought 5 cook books, a book on vegan nutrition, and then filled up on the vegan staples (egg replacer, almonds, cashews, vegan butter, peanut butter and jelly in case i totally botched a meal lol), read a lot of reviews online about what products ARE vegan and which aren't, what products did people like and others didn't? I bought the ones people liked.

I found an online recipe site (Vegan / Vegetarian Recipes and More for the Vegan Diet and Lifestyle) read the recommendations and recipes there. I then jumped in head first. I made mistakes, but now i am close to 100 percent vegan. I say close because i have been doing this now for about 6 months (love it) but i still make the occasional mistake (usually in a restaurant where i ask if something has animal products in it, explain what that means, and they say no, then i find out. Its amazing how many people don’t think chicken broth, fish, and lard are animal products)

Here are the cookbooks i love, all vegan.

The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook: Delicious Dairy-Free Cheeses and Classic "Uncheese" Dishes (Paperback)
by Jo Stepaniak
This is all the cheese you will ever need. I knew the two things i would miss the most were pizza, and ice cream. This took care of pizza, mac and cheese, stuffed shells, nacho dipping sauce, everything. And it is good.

Vegan Family Favorites: Tasty And Satisfying Recipes Even Your Kids Will Love (Paperback)
by Erin Pavlina
This was really good. Easy to make. Easy to clean up. It has a lot of food found in the standard American diet, but made vegan, so it is stuff you recognize.

Vegan World Fusion Cuisine : Over 200 award-winning recipes, Dr. Jane Goodall Foreword, Third Edition (Hardcover)
by Mark Reinfeld, Bo Rinaldi "
I just bought this book. I have to say it is the most beautiful cookbook i have ever seen. It has wonderful recipes, beautiful pictures, and quotes from rumi, Shakespeare, and others. I bought this book about a week ago. I sat and read it cover to cover. Then i took it over to my aunts house to show them, and i have not seen the book since. I am told tho (and have gotten to taste some of the wonderful meals that have come out of it) that it is wonderful and every recipe so far is a winner. This book has many raw food recipes as well which i have gotten to try and loved.

This is the nutrition book
Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Plant-Based Diet by Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina (Paperback - Sep 2000)
I read this once and use it sometimes as a reference. Good info. Basically what i took away from it is, dont be a vegan junk food eater (meaning don’t live off of chips because they are vegan), take a multi vitamin and extra B-12. I have found that i need extra b-12 then what i get in my diet. So i take a sublingual pill once a day and i am good..

Ok hope that was not too long nor too boring

Adrienne

[John Wesley]

Thank you everyone for all the great responses. I think this will definitely help me make that first step at the grocery store. Once I get started I'll let you know how my experiment goes.

[Cron]

Originally Posted by escapee

There are countries ( eg : like ours ) where the main staple of diet is refined white rice/noodle(with no enrichment of iron and others ) and it's a little difficult to get brown rice and wild rice here because the demand is just too small. Perhaps that explains the high incidence of failure for people who attempted vegetarian/vegan diet even in short term (especially for women : Anemia (B12/ iron deficiency) , sudden loss of menstrual cycle , unusual fatique, nerve problem and etc ) in country like ours. I'm very keen to know the actual root cause.

I don't know what country you are in, but other choices for whole grains are kasha ( buckwheat), oats/oatmeal, millet, quinoa, amaranth, barley, and cracked wheat. An iron deficiency wouldn't come from white rice. The lions share of vegan calcium would come from legumes and some seeds

I would take anything Dr. Mecrcola has to say as being an invitation to further research, not as a last stop. He has a reputation for being a bit of quack among regular medical professionals and he also has a reputation for being anti-vegetarian.

[escapee]

I would take anything Dr. Mecrcola has to say as being an invitation to further research, not as a last stop. He has a reputation for being a bit of quack among regular medical professionals and he also has a reputation for being anti-vegetarian.

Sometimes i just dont know who to believe anymore. But I think there is a general consensus among the vegetarian/vegan and "anti"-vegan that those 13 plus items are generally negative for health and there may serve as a very powerful baseline for those who wish to improve their health.

I guess i have to follow what my body tells me too and adjust my meal accordingly. I found a lot of Mercola's articles to be informative and helpful.

[NotesMaeve]

I thought I'd post here rather than starting a new thread, but trying a 30 day trial of vegetarianism, and 8 days in, it's great. I've switched out some other things, like more whole grains, less refined sugar, and I've noticed already my skin is better. Been getting my vitamins, and this weekend I plan to pick up more fruits and veg. Tonight planning on some delicious vegan burritos, and for lunch, a veggie sub on wheat with pesto, balsalmic vinagrette, mozzarella, lettuce, and tomato, with a dry side salad dumped on top for more veg (has olives, tomato, lettuce, red onion, flakes of sharp cheese). Much easier than I thought!

[Erik]

Hi,

This is my first post to the forum but I have been following Steve's Blog for quite some time now.

The combination of reading Allen Carr's book on dieting (don't know the English title but translated from Dutch it would be something like 'and now: reduce weight') and Steves articles on food and vegan diet convinced me of the advantages of not eating meat.

I had the idea linger for a while and then I just quit eating meat. That was it! As simple as it sounds, it was actually that simple! I never missed the meat for a second, and right now I don't think I could go back to eating meat, at least not without a very very pressing reason (can't think of one).

Don't worry about the how, just do it and figure out the problems later.

Hope this helps,
regards,

Erik.

[CoolStuff]

Originally Posted by escapee

Additional note : Do not drink or cook you vege food with RO, distilled water

You realize they are selling an ionizer on their site?

[NotesMaeve]

16 days in. No meat. Feel fine. Suspect at end of it will start consuming seafood.

[CoolStuff]

That's good man, stay at it. I noticed I think there were some days that I didn't eat any meat and barely noticed it. I do eat too many of those meat substitutes though.

[NotesMaeve]

Originally Posted by CoolStuff

That's good man, stay at it. I noticed I think there were some days that I didn't eat any meat and barely noticed it. I do eat too many of those meat substitutes though.

See, I don't eat those too often. I LOVE those corn dogs though! Haven't had those in years. <3

[Minsc]

Originally Posted by NotesMaeve

mozzarella

..Isn't mozzerella a type of cheese, which would make it not vegetarian?

Unless you decided to keep milk products.

[NotesMaeve]

Originally Posted by Minsc

..Isn't mozzerella a type of cheese, which would make it not vegetarian?

Unless you decided to keep milk products.

That'd be not vegan. Vegetarian? Yes. I do plan on being somewhat lacto-ovo, for now.

[JimOfferman]

After finding out that my digestive track didn't respond to well to meat (or, perhaps, to my diet-with-meat as a whole), I switched to a pesco-vegetarian diet in April, which for me was as easy as skipping the meat section of the super market during my shopping sprees. I did review some articles on veg*sm while making the switch, just to have some sense of what I was doing.

I opted to keep the occasional fish in my diet, since it's a source of B12 and because many restaurants here think that preparing a vegetarian dish is nothing more than leaving the meat from the platter...

Other than that, I just eat more of the fruits and vegetables that I like.

So far, I'm doing great. Smooth sailing all the way!

[Thando]

Im overweight and currently a nursing mom. I have been trying to let go of meat and hopefully in time everything animal. I read the following message and jumped out of my skin. Any help you can offer me: recipes, tips, support and a structured way of eating will be greatly appreciated. Your stories will also assist me. I look forward to your feedback and thank you in advance.

Originally Posted by Antarananda

Do you like Indian food? Since Indian vegetarian food evolved over thousands of years, there is much delicious variety in the cuisine. You can find many recipes online. Beats eating just salad all the time

I have a couple pdf files of Indian Recipe ideas. PM me if you're interested, and I'll be glad to email it to you.

[firenexx]

Go to the grocery store. Buy lots of fruit and vegetables, especially fruit. Buy a very wide variety, so not like 5 of one thing but like 1 of 5 things.

Eat lots of fruit for breakfast; eat a huge salad for lunch along with more fruit. Eat fruit with every meal. Also eat lots of carrots.

Herbs and spices are full of antioxidants. Get ginger, turmeric, cumin, cayenne, onions, garlic, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, basil, parsley, etc., etc., etc. Use them liberally.