I'm thinking of becoming vegetarian...?!
I'm thinking of becoming vegetarian...?
Can I get some tips on how to stick to it?
What are some alternatives to meat?
How can I get enough protein in my day?
Answers:
I am a vegatarian. I usually try to get my protein and iron through soy milk and other soy-based products. I eat a lot of beans and nuts, which both contain lots of protein and iron. I wouldn't be so concerned about the protein though. If you don't become vegan, an egg for breakfast every morning is a good start to the day and gives you all sorts of irons and minerals. You can always eat Boca or Morning Star meat alternatives when you eat at home or at a someone's house if they are serving meat. Its not a hard diet once you get into it. You sort of become used to not eating meat and you don't think about the fact that you are vegatarian as much. If you don't like eggs, however, its probably a good idea to take an iron pill as a supplement. This can help make sure that you don't become anemic, which is a problem many vegatarians and vegans face.
Try not to be one of those vegatarians that believes he or she can survive off of salads. Its not healthy and completely not worth the health consequences. Also, its not a great idea to eat vegatarian due to the desire to lose weight. It isn't a really fattening diet, however if you want to really stick to it, labeling it as a losing weight program won't help. Also, bean sprouts are a really good source of iron. (You can put them on salads or in sandwiches.) Kale, spinach, and other dark green leafy vegatables are good sources of iron as well. And again, soy is a great way to maintain your protein needs.
I hope this helps and good luck!
im not a vegetarian but sum good non meaty foods that i eat are tuna fish sandwiches, crab, shrimp...tuna also has alot of protein.
Don't.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...
Sorry, this question just happened here a second ago... I feel silly putting that gigantic answer here a few minutes later.
So, I hope you enjoy what I had to say because I truly believe it.
You will get enough protein in your day
Tofu is a great alternative; it makes for wonderful dishes.
You also have many wonderful fake meats like
IVES, Garden Burger, Bocca and Morning Star Farms (all have enough protein)
Or you can always make dishes made of various beans.
Good luck
Research it on the www
I've been thinking of becoming a vegetarian too, especially with the news of cloned meat not needing to be labeled (ewwwwww) when sold in stores.
Whenever I give up meat for Lent, I eat eggs for protein, and take vitamins. There are also some really good veggie burgers you can buy at the grocery store. Also, beans have lots of protein. Beans, nuts, eggs, and there might be some protein supplement vitamins you can buy, but I'm not too sure.
I think talking with a doctor would be your best bet to know how to keep your diet safe, healthy, and fulfilling!
some good alternatives to meat are eggs, chicken, and fish.
tips,. eat only food you like
tofu, and baked tofu, and don't go for fake burgers and fake beacon, they are no goodd
get proetin by drinking soy milk, drink 2-3 glass a day, you'll be fine
HELLO, fish, chicken, shrimp and crab ARE MEAT.
You cannot eat any of those and be a vegetarian, by any definition. True, there is such a label as "pescatarian" now, meaning someone who eats no other animals except for fish and/or sea animals, but they are not vegetarians, and no one in the veg*n community takes them seriously...
Actual vegetarian sources of protein:
Beans
Brown rice
Tofu
Wild rice
Tempeh
Wheat gluten
Bananas
Peanut butter
Almonds, pistachios, peanuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds, etc.
Lentils
Lima beans
Peas
Broccoli
Luna bars and Clif bars (both vegan)
Visit www.goveg.com for more, and for recipes!
Oh, by the way, the amount of protein your body needs is in fact GROSSLY overblown by mainstream American media. It is much easier to be damaged by too uch protein than too little. Excess protein puts strain on your colon, digestive tract and kidneys.
I eat on average no more than 25 grams a day. I mostly live on raw fruit, and my doctor says I'm one of his healthiest patients. I have pretty good muscle mass, and my hair, nails and bones are all in great shape.
Good LUCK with becoming a vegetarian. It's such a wonderful thing to do both for your health, and the planet. You can always email me if you want some support. :)
GoVeg.com
You will not have any problem staying healthy on a vegetarian diet- good luck!
"I'm thinking of becoming vegetarian...? "
- Great!
"Can I get some tips on how to stick to it?"
- 1.Know why you are becoming veg.
2. Learn all you can about it, health, environmental, ethical, and animal rights reasons.
3. Learn how to cook, if you don't know how.
4. Get a good cookbook.
5. Join a group or forum. www.veggiebords.com is pretty good. (PM me if you want more radical ones.)
What are some alternatives to meat?
- Your best off basing your meals off of things that are not meat substitutes This inevitably is the healthiest way to go as well. This is where the cook book comes in to figure out things to eat other then meat (or you can try websites such as www.vegweb.com). But if you find yourself wanting something Boca products are good. Any Grocery store will have them, I think.
"How can I get enough protein in my day?"
- if you are eating enough calories then you are getting enough protein. Period. If you are an athlete or are very active, then you may have to plan your protein intake slightly. Even then it's not a problem. (Check out www.veganbodybuilding.com if this is an issue for you.)
Good Luck, its much easier than it sounds.
P.S. Don't listen to the people who tell you that you can eat seafood. Fish, and all the things that fall under the title of seafood are animals. And as we all know vegetarians do not eat animals!
Why be vegetarian?
Improving Personal Health
It's no secret that compared to average meat-eaters, vegetarians generally live longer, are less likely to be overweight, suffer far fewer incidences of cancer and heart disease, and have more energy. These facts have been consistently borne out by decades of scientific research. The largest epidemiological study ever conducted (the China-Oxford-Cornell study) concluded that those eating the amount of animal foods in a typical American diet have seventeen times the death rate from heart disease, and, for women, five times the rate of breast cancer, than those who get 5% or less of their protein from animal foods. (See the references at the end of this article.)
Meat contains 14 times the amount of pesticides as plant foods, since pesticides get concentrated as they move up through the food chain, and since they're more easily stored in fatty tissues. In 1980, six years after the pesticide dieldrin was banned, the USDA destroyed two million packages of frozen turkey products contaminated with dieldrin. (And such contamination can routinely occur without detection.) In 1974, the FDA found dieldrin in 85% of all dairy products and 99.5% of the American people. The EPA discovered that the breast milk of vegetarian women contained far lower levels of pesticides than that of average Americans. A study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine found that "The highest levels of contamination in the breast milk of the vegetarians was lower than the lowest level of contamination…(in) non-vegetarian women… The mean vegetarian levels were only 1-2% as high as the average levels in the U.S."
Saving the Earth
All food animals consume several times more grain than they produce as meat. So several times as much land is needed to grow grain to feed animals, several times as much energy is used to harvest the grain and transport it, several times as much water is necessary, several times as much pesticides, etc. Worldwide petroleum reserves would be exhausted in 11 years if the rest of the world ate like the U.S. The least energy-efficient plant food is 10 times as efficient as the most efficient meat food. A nationwide switch to a pure vegetarian diet would allow us to cut our oil imports by 60%.
Over half of the water used in the U.S. is used to grow feed for livestock. It takes 100 times as much water to produce meat than to produce wheat. The water required to produce a day's diet for a typical American is 4,000 gallons. (It's 1,200 for vegetarians and 300 for vegans.) Compared to a vegan diet, three days of a typical American diet requires as much water as you use for showering all year (assuming you shower every day).
U.S. Livestock produce 250,000 pounds of waste per second -- 20 times as much as humans. A large feedlot produces as much waste as a large city, but without a sewage system. Animal waste washed into rivers and lakes causes increased nitrates, phosphates, ammonia, and bacteria, and decreases the oxygen content. This kills plant and animal life. The meat industry account for three times as much harmful organic waste as the rest of the industries in the U.S. combined.
It takes ten times as much land to produce food for an average American compared to a pure vegetarian. An acre of land can produce 20,000 pounds of potatoes, but only 165 pounds of beef. In the U.S., 260 million acres of forest have been destroyed for use as agricultural land to support our meat diet (over 1 acre per person). Since 1967, the rate of deforestation has been one acre every five seconds. For every acre cleared for urban development, seven acres are cleared to graze animals or grow feed for them.
Around 85% of topsoil loss is directly associated with raising livestock. We have lost 75% of our topsoil. The USDA says crop productivity is down 70% as a result of topsoil loss. It takes nature 500 years to build an inch of topsoil. Vegan diets make less than 5% of the demands on the soil as meat-based diets.
Caring for Animals
Around eight billion animals are killed for food every year in the U.S. alone -- a number greater than the entire human population of the planet. Each meat-eating American eats the equivalent of about 24 animals per year. What's worse, modern agricultural methods mean that animals are raised in cramped confinement operations instead of the pastures from childhood picture books -- a practice known as factory farming. Chickens are crammed into cages with no free space, and are debeaked to keep them from pecking each other to death. Animals are pumped full of various powerful drugs to kill diseases resulting from filthy living conditions, and to make them grow or produce faster than nature intended. When cows and chickens stop producing as much milk and eggs as the younger animals, they're unceremoniously slaughtered and made into low-grade meat (fast food and pet food). For some, vegetarianism and veganism are ways to refuse to participate in the commodification of animals
Tips:get a cookbook,when eating out(fast food) go to Little Ceasar's( uses vegetarian friendly cheese) or Taco Bell(uses vegetarian friendly beans) or Burger King(has a veggie burger),try to eat as much unprocessed foods as possible
alt. to meat:soy burgers(they have everything;chicken patties,chicken nuggets,corn dogs,salisbury steak,etc)
protein:eggs,milk,beans,whole grain breads,nuts
MYTH: "Vegetarians get little protein."
FACT: Plant foods offer abundant protein. Vegetables are around 23% protein on average, beans 28%, grains 13%, and even fruit has 5.5%. For comparison, human breast milk is only 5% (designed for the time in our lives when our protein needs are as high as they'll ever be). The US Recommended Daily Allowance is 8%, and the World Health Organization recommends 4.5%.
MYTH: "Beans are a good source of protein."
FACT: There is no such thing as a special "source of protein" because all foods -- even plants -- have plentiful protein. You might as well say "Food is a good source of protein". In any event, beans (28%) don't average much more protein per calorie than common vegetables (23%).
1. If you really believe in what you are doing, then it's easy to stick to.
2. Mushrooms, beans and the various faux meats are great subs. I particularly LOVE Quorn products.
3. Not enough protein is not really possible unless you live in a third world country. Everything has protein. If you choose to still consume dairy products and eggs, it's even easier. Whole wheat pasta and beans are great sources along with soy products.
Here's a link to a chart with the protein from non meat sources:
http://www.vegparadise.com/protein.html#...
well i'm not vegen, but the best way to get enough protein is beans. You will probably have to take a protein supplement also.