any vegetarians here?
 

I'm thinking of going veggie.

I read an article and some stuff about vegetarianism...it seems like something that might make me feel better. I"m not huge on meat replacements....but I think I can do it.

anyone?

also, hopefully I'll be back. I have been so busy, the last few months have been a blur. I haven't been dieting, but once again, I haven't gained, but haven't lost. I'm hoping to get going full throttle with this vegetarian thing. also, I might not be around till next week, I"m going out of town for a wedding and OMG I AM SO SICK OF BEING BUSY.

haha.

I got lots of exercise going to the ZOO the other day, and getting off at the wrong bus stop and walking miles. :P

hope everyone is doing well.

I REALLY DO hope to get back to posting and to be on my diet hardcore again. I miss you guys and your support. I need to lose some weight before september so I can go to the amusement park. :)

if anyone here has aim, my sn is xicanbecruelx drop me a line, or just email me here, SOMEONE SAVE ME, keep me coming back. I beg of you. :)

There is a whole vegetarian section of the forum. However, going veggie is no guarantee that you'll automatically lose weight. I went vegan over a year ago and yes it's made me much more aware of proper nutriton, whole foods, new veggies, fruits, and grains but I still struggle with eating too much. Going veg is a healthy thing to do when done correctly - ie eating veggies! Good luck, there's a lot of good info on here. Also, here are some other sites that have good information:
http://www.vegsoc.org/info/basic-nutrition.html
http://www.veganhealth.org/

I've sort of become a vegetarian since living on my own. Only because I don't like preparing meat lol. Are you planning on eating dairy or eggs? That would make it much simpler in terms of getting proper nutrition in. You definately don't need meat substitutes if you don't want them.

I'm a semi-vegetarian. I don't eat meat, but do eat a little fish (no shellfish), only salmon, tilapia, cod, tuna. As a pp said, going veggie will not guarantee loss, there is a lot of junk out there that is meat-free, but if you concentrate on healthy whole foods and veggies you'll be on the right track.

Good luck!

Same as Beck here! :wave: I am a life long veggie (both my parents were when I was born) who has forced herself to add in some fish because of the health benefits.

My big warning about the whole lifestyle is what one of my vegan friends said to me (as I was chowing down on one of her delicious and most likely high-cal muffins): "Just because it's vegan doesn't mean it's automatically healthy." (i.e. Don't eat crap just because it doesn't have meat in it.)

Also, brace yourself for a lot of questions. Any time I tell some one I'm a veggie, I usually get at least a couple, like "How long?" "How do you live without beef/bacon/chicken nuggets/etc?" "Are you grossed out/bothered by the fact that I'm eating a hamburger right now?"

Good luck and let us know how it goes! :)

I was vegetarian for 8 years. I think it depends on how your body is. I felt terrible on a vegetarian diet. I now eat meat and feel much more healthy. I used to think vegetarian was the best. I now lean toward the studies of Weston A Price and Sally Fallon. I love the book Nourishing Traditions.

There's also a good website that explains healing. There are a lot of articles on how to eat to heal your body. healingnaturallybybee dot com.

Also, I never lost weight as a vegetarian. I actually gained 50 lbs.

My teen daughter became a vegetarian over a year ago. As a result, our family has been eating a lot of vegetarian meals. I recommend using recipes and creating meals from tofu, beans, whole grains and fresh or frozen vegetables. These meals are tastier and healthier than the pre-packaged "vegetarian" foods.

Also, IMO......unless you can afford the grain fed/ free range/ organic meats that don't include a ton of hormones, eating vegetarian is much healthier for you. I can tell you that I feel much better on the days that I don't eat meat.

I follow a vegan diet and I feel awesome :)

I would recommend reading "Eat to Live" and "The China Study". Both are excellent and talk about health and vegetarian diets.

I personally feel that animal proteins are detrimental to our long term health.

Thanks everyone, I am well aware that you can be unhelathy and veggie. I have a veggie friend who gets fries and wraps each fry in a slice of american cheese! I also have overweight vegan friends.

but the difference might be that they are vegan/veg, because of wanting to not be cruel to animals, where i"m doing it specifically for health reasons therefore wouold not be chowing down on chips or all the vegan/veg 'munchies' that they make these days.

I'm probably going ot buy eat to live, I've heard good things.

I'm very much considering going veggie. I wanted to when I was a teenager after seeing some very disturbing things about the food and had read a book about the meat industry, I was in a member of the Environmental Youth Alliance. But it never worked out.

Now I'm considering it again, especially after our meat up here goes bad so quickly and I've wasted money preparing meat only to find out that it's gone bad, so I'm getting turned off meat. Our options up here are so limited either way though I'd probably still eat eggs, chicken and fish. I hope you find a balance that works for you.

The book: A Diet for a New America by John Robbins

In case anyone was interested.

...There are no words. :o Besides, ew!

Those two books were part of the reason I decided to attempt a veggie lifestyle. I'll admit I am far from perfect but it is usually because I don't have what *I* need in the house to stay on plan. Then I get frustrated and eat whatever DH is eating. :(

I'm just finishing his other book Food Revolution right now.

I am on the opposite end of the spectrum. I do eat meat, but I try to be responsible about it and am learning to get face-to-face with what I consume. My husband is a vegetarian. With spending time getting started on my lifestyle change, I have decided to just cook meat on the weekends. That allows me the time to do the extra cooking and also reduces my total meat consumption in a week.

In terms of being responsible, what I am striving for is buying locally grown food (within 100 miles, if possible), including any meat that I eat. So, I am currently looking for someone close to me that grows organic meats and that I can actually know who is doing the farming. This is also in effort to get away from factory-farming. Fish is becoming harder to accommodate in this respect though.

But, in terms of the health benefits, my husband's diet is a testament to how you can be vegetarian and not eat well. He is really more of a carb-o-tarian! He is also lactose in tolerant (severely), but does eat eggs. But, he is unwilling to consume very many vegetables/fruits. So, he eats lots of past and rice. I worry about him!! Vegetarianism can be very beneficial to your health, but I agree with the other posters that becoming vegetarian is only part of the solution.

It seems I've always had major issues with eating meat, even as a kid. In fact I've looked up my issues and have read that I supposedly have a psychological "problem" since I can rarely stomach any meat that's full of reminders that it was once a living, breathing being (ie, recognizable parts, bones, veins, etc.) Even the thought of certain meats literally makes me gag.

Which made things difficult growing up at the dinner table, since my mom's meals revolved around all kinds of roasts, chops, fried chicken, steak, etc.

Unfortunately, the stuff I *can* stomach tends to be the meat that's processed beyond recognition, like hamburgers, hot dogs, lunch meat, etc. Oddly enough, I do like chicken breast as well, just as long as it's boneless and skinless.

I went vegetarian several years back, mostly due to wanting to make healthy choices. It seemed the hardest part at the time was trying to explain myself to others that told me I was doing the silliest, unhealthiest thing imaginable by cutting meat out of my diet. I only lasted about six months before I started to make myself sick in other ways and gave up on dieting altogether.

I was later told by my therapist that it was possibly a control issue for me . . . ?

I became a vegetarian for a few months last year, not by choice though. I tried to make myself eat some chicken thighs and got sick over them, and the thought of any meat made me sick for a while. I rolled with it until my body went back to its normal, usual self and actually went back to craving a small amount of it.

I may consider going vegetarian again sometime in the future now that I've chosen to eat much healthier. :)