I'm trying to make the shift from meat to meatless, but I sometimes get stuck! If any of you vegetarians wouldn't mind giving me an example of a day in your food life, I would really appreciate the insight.

Sure!

Breakfast
Raisin Bran
Skim Milk

Snack
Banana

Lunch
Health Valley veggie soup (Pasta Fagouli, Pasta Romano, etc.)
Applesauce
Sugar snap peas

Snack
Banana bread or blueberry muffin

Dinner
Couscous with steamed veggies
OR
Pasta with spinach tomato sauce
OR
Veggie lasagna
OR
Veggie chili

I hope this helps.

Sallie

This is what I have had to eat today,

BREAKFAST: ff, high fiber muffin
ff yogurt

LUNCH: 1 cup Lentil soup
1 kick arse salad with 2 T ff dress
half a pita with tom slices & 2 slices Yves vegetarian slices

Snack: Pudding

DINNER: TVP sheperds pie w milk and possibly some steamed brocoli

For dinner i also eat veg. chili, homemade bean soup, tofu stir fry, cous cous, baked beans, It s really not that hard as long as you get your protein points.
Erika

Here's one day from last week and one from this week:
DAY ONE
Breakfast - Soy flake cereal with soy milk and raisins
Lunch - "Bacon" (veggie style), lettuce and tomato sandwich on high fiber rye with lemon mayonaise; cut up red bell pepper and cucumber
Snack - fruit salad with 1T coconut
Dinner - Stuffed cabbage (I used a recipe from Cooking Light magazine and substituted vegetarian bulk sausage for ground turkey) with steamed red potatoes
Dessert - orange sherbet and biscotti
DAY TWO
Breakfast - Yogurt with oatmeal stirred in, sliced cantaloupe
Lunch - Taco salad with lettuce, tomatoes, olives, green onions, cheese and tortilla chips served with salsa
Snack - bag of popcorn (munched on all day)
Dinner - seasoned black beans with spelt tortillas, salad
Dessert - Cafe twist (a cookie I get from Trader Joe's), decaf coffee and amarretto

Hope this helps. I remember back when I first started (more than 20 years ago!) and my biggest tip as far as weight goes is if you are going to be a lacto-ovo vegetarian, really try and not rely on just cheese, eggs and dairy for your protein. Who said vegetarians were slim? Certainly not me after eating 8 ounces of cheese in a day!

Many thanks. I think that I'm making this more difficult than it really is!

D.D.P.

Glad we could help! I remember years ago the first cookbook I read about vegetarian cooking was "Cooking for a Small Planet" by Francis Moore Lappe. She said one of the problems people initially have (especially if they're trying to get their family to eat less meat too) is that we, as Americans, have always defined our meals by what meat we're serving. For example, when asked "What's for dinner?", it's "pork chops" or "chicken". When you become a vegetarian, you lose that "connection". Her advise was to make it a gradually transition so you could start re-thinking your answer to "what's for dinner". I find this a very "freeing" thought, now "what's for dinner" isn't limited to 4 or 5 meat choices, but is only limited by my imagination. Sometimes, I think in terms of a country - like tonight is Chinese night or Thai night; and I've learned not to say dinner is "beans". I now appreciate the different flavors of probably 15 to 20 different kinds of beans and dinner can be lentils, or garbanzos, or black beans. All of these are unique in flavor, just like ground turkey and ground hamburger are unique. Sorry to ramble, but I love to cook; it's a real hobby for me, something I don't want to lose while the pounds melt away. If you need any help, feel free to e-mail me. Good luck!

its not that hard to make the change. I'm not vegetarian, i'm pescetarian (means I still eat fish).

Daily, I'll eat:

Breakky: 1 egg + 3 egg whites scrambled with a little tomatoe and onion. 1 slice of multigrain toast. A piece of fruit

Lunch: lentil soup or beans/rice/veggies or a hummus & veggie sandwich

Dinner: similar to lunch. Veggie chili, veggie burgers, tofu or fish could be found here.

Snacks: fruit, veggies, ryvita crackers...the usual!

There are many levels of vegetarianism. Slowly work your way into it and it will become natural.

BTW - WHY do you want to be a veggie?

Why do I want to be a veggie? My husband is still asking me that.

It's a sad thought that something walking around died when I could be eating something else.

A great many of the families that I work with have farm animals. These animals have names, they recognize family members (the cow "Molly" who gets all excited when she sees the family's mom come home), and we're killing these guys to eat a hamburger? Eew.

I saw a great bumper sticker: "I'm not vegeterian because I love animals--I'm vegeterian because I hate plants."

D.D.

Hi calamity! I grew up being a MAJOR meat eater! If I had anything less than "ribs or steak" I thought I was eating "light". Then I started owning dogs, watching them I saw how different they were from each other, what personalities they had, their likes & dislikes and the idea that I was eating animals began to seriously repel me.

I have been a vegetarian for 6 years now. Once I was in a grocery store and was hungry I saw a block of tofu and I thought "Boy, I wish I could eat that right this minute!" and I knew my food tastes had CHANGED. Ten years ago I never would have eaten tofu never mind "craving" it when hungry!

A good product that I get is Zoglos Vegetarian cutlets, chicken patties, mini loaves (which are like meatballs but even better). They are imported from Israel. I am in Canada so I buy these meat substitutes at the health food store in the frozen food section. I have bought them in the United States. I think it was Albertson's. Anyway they are just delicious!
Best wishes to you all!

[This message has been edited by judi (edited 02-07-2000).]

Hi Judy,

In which stores do you buy Zoglos cutlets,
mini loaves etc.

In am in Canada also.

Thanks for the info,

Hélène

Hi!! I buy Zoglos in Capers. They are really good! Even meat eaters like them.

I have been a vegetarian for about 6 years or so, give or take. It's nice to see I am not alone in that here, sometimes I feel like the "only one" when visiting diet/weight loss boards!! A typical eating day for me would be something like this:

Breakfast: Bob's 5 grain organic hot cereal w/a tsp of honey, ICBINB spray (instead of the real butter it calls for) and a half a sliced banana on top

Lunch: Steamed broccoli & cauliflower w/low fat garlic tahini sauce and a piece of pita bread
OR (yesterday's lunch)
Saffroned basmati rice w/chopped leeks, 1/2 a whole wheat roll, sliced celery and carrots w/fat free italian as a dip
OR
lima bean dilled basmati (we eat a lot of rice)

Snack: Apple, or tangerine, or if really craving protein I'll have a tbsp of freshly ground saltless almond butter spread on a brown rice cake

Dinner: baked potato w/salsa or FF sour cream, cut veggies etc OR a few steamed asparagus spears
OR
Lentil Dahl
etc.

I'm allergic to soy and don't care for meat replacer products much, so I go in another direction entirely. I do love veggie burgers though, I use the grain-type mix called Nature's Burger in BBQ flavor. I use it for the occasional burger but mostly in tacos w/fat free mini corn tortillas, healthy choice pizza cheese, salsa and veggies. They're really good!!

Hi,
I was just reading this thread, because I was curious how you could do w.w. and stay vegetarian. I've always wanted to stop eating meat, but thought I would be too hungry, and never lose weight. Maybe I will give it a try.. Seems like you ladies are successful.
Calamity Jane, I also live in a rural area, and the people up the road, get a calf every spring, and slaughter it every winter. I walk up that road everyday, my two dogs greet the calf, because he always comes running up to us. It was so upsetting to find that this loveable animals, with those gorgeous big eyes is someones dinner right now. When you go to the supermarket, you just see packages of meat, but you never see the actual animal.

Another reason to be vegetarian is all the growth hormones, and antibiotics they load these animals up with. Is this one of the reasons that people have all these cancers?

I would really like to give up meats and try vegetarianism for a while. I will still eat eggs, dairy and fish for a while.
WOuld anyone have a good book they could suggest, as far as recipes?
I have the "diet for a small planet".

Thanks for your help.
Mimi

I'm from South Dakota. That means meat and potato country and good luck finding any fresh gourmet veggies. I looked for shitake mushrooms for three hours the other night! I am never hungry with my vegitarian ways. I love mushrooms, and I use them as a replacement for meat in most italian foods. Portabello mushrooms have a hearty flavor and a thick texture so they work the best for this. I have sooooo many awesome veggie cookbooks. My favorite is "The best vegitarian cookbook ever." It has pictures for every step. It also tells you what to look for in buying fruits, veggies, and grains, how to clean them, and keep them fresh. You don't really realize how creative you are until you don't eat meat. I've tried many things that just make people cringe. Just start making substitutions and you will figure out what replaces what.

Thought I'd pass this on - I got the WW Versatile Vegetarian cookbook for my birthday in December and so far, the 4 recipes I've tried were excellent. My hubby even licked the bowl clean after I made the White Bean Pesto Dip. I highly recommend it.