V-E-G-G-I-E
Photo by mckaysavage found on Flickr
I’m trying to become a vegetarian. It’s really hard! Last night I had a dream about hamburgers.
I need a coach.
Right now i’m eating vegetarian chili and i wish that my zucchini and beans were replaced with meat. I don’t think i can do it!!!!
tips?
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I was a vegetarian for about 9 years. And I was vegan for 2 of those years. I tell you a couple things that made it easier for me.
1. In trying to be vegetarian, do not slowly scale back!
Vegetarianism is easier than dieting (contrary to conventional wisdom). Why? Because it’s about cutting an entire category out what you eat. It’s much harder to make yourself only eat a little bit of something than to quit entirely. This is what makes a diet so hard. If you’re dieting to lose weight, you still must eat a healthy amount of a variety of foods. Except if you’re becoming vegetarian, you can quit entirely one group of foods. Take advantage of that.
If you really must go vegetarian bit by bit (which, like I said, will only make it harder on yourself), do it by cutting animal after animal out of your diet (i.e., food category by food category). So, you might start by not eating any red meat (i.e., only eat poultry and fish) for a while. And then only fish. And then no fish.
2. It’s easier when others around you are vegetarian.
That said, when I vegetarian for the first few years (in high school), I didn’t know any others. But still, it’s easier with vegetarian friends. So, volunteer at your local food co-op? I’m not sure what my advice is here, actually. I’m not really telling you to quit your current friends.
3. Anything with meat can be made without meat. Learn how to cook and have fun with it.
Go out to Borders/Barnes & Nobles/Local Independent Bookseller and splurge on a great vegetarian cookbook that’s both practical and makes you excited about cooking. And then have fun trying to cook new vegetarian recipes. It will make you forget how good meat is and demonstrate how good non-meat can be.
It wasn’t until I worked at a vegetarian restaurant that I really realized how great vegetarian food can be. And it wasn’t until then that I also realized that vegetarian cuisine is actually much more creative and varied — by necessity. It seems that most meat dishes are forever Meat + Sidedish. But vegetarian dishes allow for more creativity. In my opinion.
Good luck!
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