Please Help Me! I want to become Vegetarian, but I don't want to rely on Soy Products. Please Help!?!

But, I don't want to rely on Soy Products such as Tempeh, Seitan, Meatless Alternatives, things like that.
--Actually, seitan is a product made of vital wheat gluten flour, no soy involved. Do you mean that you don't want to use mock meats? If so, that's perfectly doable. I've eaten maybe two veggie burgers in my thirteen years as a vegetarian. They're nasty and really not that good for you. I can also understand not wanting to try tofu and tempeh, since there is a certain stigma attached to them, and that is doable as well. My only question is whether or not you'd consider edamame (young soy beans) a soy product or a plant product. You don't have to eat them if you don't want, but they're a lot like lima beans and are a great source of complete protein and calcium.

I would like to only eat Fruits, Vegetables, Whole Grains, etc. Can this be done?
--Of course! Vegetarians can obtain protein by eating a balance of incomplete proteins each day (legumes with grains or legumes with nuts and seeds) or by eating approximately 50g of complete protein from the following sources: amaranth, buckwheat, hemp seed, quinoa, certain blue-green algaes (such as spirulina) as well as eggs and dairy products for those that allow them. Of course, soy is another complete protein, but you don't have to eat it if you don't want. There are also other fruit and vegetables--such as persimmons--that contain high quality protein in small amounts, but there are way too many of those to list. If you just strive for variety in your diet, you should get all the nutrients you need.

Is this a good book? I'm thinking about getting it.
http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Table-Unforg…
--As a matter of fact, that book is on my wish list at Amazon. (http://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/… I've flipped through it a few times at work (I work in a library) but there are two other employees there who are trying to go vegan, so I haven't been able to check it out yet.

Is there a such thing as Soy Yogurt and Cheese?
--I love yogurt and cheese, too, but I'm trying to go vegan. I switched to non-dairy yogurts a long time ago to avoid gelatin, and so far my favorite is Whole Soy & Co. If you're looking for something that isn't soy based, there are also companies that make yogurt with rice milk,almond milk, hemp milk, etc. My favorite is Turtle Mountain's coconut milk yogurt. It's called So Delicious, and it is, but it tastes a bit too dessert-y for me. Definitely try their coconut milk ice cream though!

Cheese has been a little harder for me. Nutritional yeast flakes work in some recipes, but you can't put them on a pizza and have a delicious ooey, gooey snack. There are a few soy cheeses, but I've yet to find a good one that isn't ridiculously over processed. There are recipes for making your own vegan cheese at home, mostly from cashews and other nuts. I even have a cookbook with a ton of great recipes (you can get it on Amazon for a cent, plus S&H: http://www.amazon.com/These-May-Freely-E… but I didn't have a cheesecloth until last Wednesday, so I can't tell you how they taste. My only word of advice is to look out for casein when shopping for vegan cheese. It's a milk protein, and is in a lot of non-dairy cheeses marketed at lactose intolerant individuals instead of vegans.

Oh! And PS: I mentioned ooey, gooey pizza. I haven't found a way to make my own, but there's a company called Amy's that makes two really great vegan pizzas, as well as a ton of other great products. http://amys.com/

http://www.wholesoyco.com/
http://www.turtlemountain.com/products/p…

Look for traditional vegetarian cuisines like indian. They have never used soy or cheese traditionally and it includes yogurt. Sounds great for you. There are other cuisines without soy too, this link is useful for some great recipes -
http://www.ivu.org/recipes/index.html

k

You can also find many different vegan recipes in the following link

http://www.fourgreensteps.com/community/…

Hi. I'm about 95% veggie I don't like meat especially since they inject animals with so many drugs and growth hormones etc... Also since most soy these days is GM I don't touch that either. My main sources of protein is kidney beans and chic peas. I mash them down and chopped onions and herbs for flavour according to my mood and then roll them in a ball and flatten them to burger shape the fry or grill them. I use coconut oil bought from a local Asian store as my source of saturated fats as it is pure and great for the skin when applied to it lol.
A varied and complete diet must be worked out so investigate some sites that deal with vegetarianism as you must learn to have a healthy and balanced diet for all round health.
Fresh and seasonal veg and fruit along with herbs help a lot and it's fun investigating the qualities and nutrients in the food that you eat. Avoid getting your fruit and veg at supermarkets as they are Irradiated to kill germs and prolong shelf life ... But this often damages many of the nutrients too..local shops supplied by local farms are best and you don't have to buy huge bags each time so it can work out cheaper.It's much better to avoid as many processed foods as possible. Invest in a good veggie cookbook or get one at the library or just look online...Eitherway have fun and enjoy your food while you find your personal likes and dislikes.
Good luck. ;)

Good for you for looking into being vegetarian, or vegan! Theirs no law saying that soy is illegal, but contrary to popular belief it's not terrible for you in moderation.

Fruits, veggies and whole grains are a great place to start, be sure to eat veg'n protein sources though, such as beens, lentils, veggie-burgers, nuts, nut butters, seeds ect.

It may be difficult if you go over to a friends house, or a restaurant and the only veg'n option is a tofu/soy based product, so you shouldn't be too rigid about that, but you don't have to eat it if you don't want to.

Yes. You really can. :D

I've never read the book, but The Accidental Vegan, and Moosewood are great veg'n cookbooks.

Their is soy yogurt and soy cheese, both are available at most natural type food stores such as Whole Foods, Molly Stones, and small independent type places.

Good luck, and good for you for looking into being veg'n! it takes alot of courage.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns feel free to contact me.

G'day LisaJ,

Thank you for your question.

Yes you can by just eating fruit vegetables and protein high foods such as beans or nuts. There is also a product called soyghurt made out of soy milk but I have no idea what it tastes like. According to Wikipedia, you can make your own by adding sugar to soy milk.

I have attached sources for your reference.

Regards

Serious eats http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2008/03/…
Wikipedia Soy Yoghurt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_yogurt
Making homemade soy yoighurt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_yogurt

Just because you don't eat dead animals doesn't mean you have to rely on soy products. That's just a steryotype. If you are thinking that is your only source of protein you are wrong. Some foods you probably allready eat with protein are beans hummus peanut butter whole grains leafy greens and avacado. The only time you have to eat this is if you are at a BBQ (but since it's November you won't have to deal with this for a while) they might only offer theese products If not veggies and non soy based veg meat but I doubt you go to BBQ s every day. You can replace meat by just not adding it in or finding a veggi meat with out soy and don't forget going veg can introduce you to slot of recipies good luck!

A vegitarian for almost two years

Well being vegetarian isn't as hard as people make it seem. If you don't want to reply solely on soy products, try more natural foods that will provide you with protein, like eggs, nuts, and beans. Tofu is also good, but as you might know, that's soy as well. However, keep in mind that if you want to be a healthy vegetarian, you have to eat some soy products. If you want to become vegetarian, don't let anything stop you! :) If you feel uncomfortable with eating animals, that's an indication that you should become vegetarian. Even though you family are firm meat believers, do what's best for you.

Keep in mind that the term "vegetarian" isn't just eating vegetables, as most people believe it to be. Vegetarians everywhere still get to eat protein, so don't just eat fruits and veggies :P

Good Luck! I wish you the best! :D

Experience :)

Hi, no, you don't need to use soy products at all.

The foods you mentioned, fruit, veg and whole grains are all really healthy and a great place to start.
You also need to make sure you're getting protein from things like beans and nuts.

As a general rule, the closer to nature a product is the healthier it is, so it's actually better for you to eat natural, whole foods rather than manufactured soy products. They're also more expensive and often contain added salt, so you can be perfectly healthy without them.

Beans are my staple. Any meal which could normally be made with meat, such as the burgers or tacos you had, can be made using beans instead.

Yes, there is such a thing as soy yogurt and cheese, although if you're going vegetarian and not vegan you can still eat dairy. The soy versions are great though if you do decide to go that way.

Good luck with it and good for you for making this choice.

X

Vegan

I'm a vegetarian and the only soy i consume is soy milk.

Yes you can buy soy yogurts and cheese...but they taste different than dairy as you can imagine

Go into any health food store and they'll have everything you need

Thanks for going vegetarian :) x x

well if you go to peta.com you can order a free vegetarian kit! Well good luck, and thank you for being a vegetarian!!! :D

me!

Of course you can live without tofu. vegetarian anyways, vegan may be a little difficult.
Soy milk tastes horrible imho. and so will soy yogurt. I wouldn't recommend it. Also you dont have to be that strict with yourself. it's not like you swore to god to never eat anything from an animal again. If you like yogurt, eat yogurt.