Becoming a Vegetarian?!

I gradually become a vegetarian. First week i had 6 meals with meat, fornight late 5, fornight after that 4 and so on. I would suggest iron tablets, red meat gives you alot of iron so cutting it out could effect you. Iron makes heomoglobin, this carried oxygen around your body. Cutting out iron would effect your organs and make them unhealthy and not work properly. Dont forget your skin is an organ too, the largest in your body. Also, your brain relies on oxygen. Keep iron in your body!! Meat (not particulary chicken) contains alot of calories, especially pork. Watch your calories as your calorie intake may go down without you relising it. I became a vegetarian when i was 14 and it didnt change me at all.

If you are going to be a pesketarian (eat fish) try to eat alot of it. If not try quorn (meat subsitute). It doesnt have lots of flavour so add things like worchester sauce, pepper, chilli powder, curry powder etc. Vegetarians dont NEED salt, but it helps with seasoning food. 'Organic salt' is found in vegetables that havnt been cooked, so have alot of them to make up for the meat (contains quite alot of salt). I dont eat meat and live on 1000 calories a day (excluding veg and fruits) and have about 1300 including fruits and veg. So fruit and veg can make up the calories, bananas are good for this.

Why be vegetarian (some from the link below)

1. low in fat
2. saves animals
3. five a day (fruit and veg contain live enzymes and they break down food so its not stored as fat)
4. we dont eat dogs, cats, so why eat pigs. We keep micro pigs as pets!
5. less likely to be obese, get coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, type II diabetes, some diet-related cancers, diverticular disease, appendicitis, constipation and gallstones.

my brain :)
http://www.vegsoc.org/page.aspx?pid=519
http://www.vegsoc.org/page.aspx?pid=600

If god wants us to eat animals why are they capable of suffering? Either you need to give up meat or god, and since you are asking for advice on going vego then congrats on being able to define your own interpretation of your religion. Many of us raised in religions cant and give it up, but if you're happy stick with it and carry the vego message to others at your church/mosque/temple/coven etc.

The best advice I can give anyone is to join a message board. There is a massive one called veggieboards.com which has heaps of young (and older) vegos on it. You can swap recipes and get advice on just about anything there.

If you want some nutritional info on vegetarian foods try this website: http://www.vnv.org.au/site/index.php?opt…

If you want to be healthy and 'balanced', look at the food pyramid.

Food pyramid.

I am 22, I went vegetarian at 15 myself. I am a healthy tall guy and I haven't eaten meat since then, and have avoided animal stuff like gelatin, glycerin, lard.. this involves more than just your diet, as you search and find more videos of animals being abused, slaughtered, in different ways for the benefit of a human, you will find more ways to help save more animals. Products not tested on animals are important, otherwise known as cruelty-free products. You also have to watch out for deep fried foods at fast food places, because most of the time they cook all the food in one big fryer. The chicken, fries, and anything else they throw in. It's probably best to just avoid most fast food except subway lol. Anyways, I know you want to know more about the diet aspect so I'll just stick to that in particular. I have a very delicious but simple diet that I eat as often as I can. It is a mix of yogurt (no gelatin!), nuts and seeds of all types, like a trail mix, and a tablespoon of honey, maybe even some fruit chunks if you'd like. I basically eat that or chunky peanut butter and banana sandwiches when I'm at home :P When I'm out, it's basically only subway or a grocery store where I can buy decent healthy food. Just keep in mind, you don't really need meat. Theres a slim chance you will get sick or deficient as long as you replace to some degree, some nutrients found in meats, like protein for example. Vitamin supplements can be a great help too, but you gotta watch out because many vitamins use gelatin capsules. I personally take "Jamieson Vita-Vim Vegetarian" its designed to supplement the lacking aspects in a typical vegetarian diet. Just slowly make your transition, and if you have any questions along the way, use google to your advantage, or ask us on yahoo :) You can only do so much preparing, you don't need meat that much, you will discover a whole new world of food beyond meat dishes :D Good luck and vegetarians unite.

My experience thus far. 7 years and counting.

Hey congrats on your decision to become vegetarian! It's the best thing for your mind, body and spirit!! So great! hmm...for starters here is a site which has recipes given to me by my mom

http://radhasrecipes.blogspot.com/

as for some tips....I can tell you what I eat, so that you have an idea of what to eat. Also look up 'safe sun gazing', its something I started doing recently, helps a lot with vegetarian diet.

early morning.....Drink warm water with some orange juice (6am)
soak 3 almonds overnight ....peel the skin and have them before breakfast (8 am)
For breakfast , you can have fruits.....melons, apple, or grapes etc....just one type of fruit, don't mix (9 am)
mid-morning snack ....1 banana (10 am)
Lunch ....your choice.....(i normally have a big smoothie of fruits)
mid afternoon snack....1 banana
evening snack ...1 slice of whole wheat bread with peanut butter
night....dinner...you can make something from the link i gave you (1 cooked veggie item + 2 flat whole wheat indian bread (chappati) + lentils or yogurt)

This is just what I eat. you have to experiment with your own body and start slowly. Your eating habis are going to change as you learn more and more about your body-mind. Good luck!

Vegetarian since birth