trying to become vegetarian, any tips?!

I was a vegetarian for over 6 years. Peanut butter and eggs are good supplements once or twice a week. If you really want to stick with your goal. You need to find vegetables and beans that will help you with your iron and vitamin levels. If you are eating a lot of greens than you should be good with the vitamins and don't need to take a supplement. You may want to take an Iron supplement (possibly a child's Iron vitamin) Just until your body gets used to your diet. Tofu and beans are a great way to increase your protein, iron and other essential nutrients. I used to live on edamame It may be something you'd have to get used to but it's very good for you. Remember that raw nuts are better than the normal ones you get off the shelves. Raw almonds, cashews and sunflower seeds have worked very well with me when I was a vegetarian although I ate eggs and drank milk and ate cheese. Also hard cheese has more solids than other cheeses. So make sure you know what kind of nuts and cheeses you are eating.
While writing my answer to you I noticed a few articles talking about how kids younger than 18 might suffer some deficiencies. Obviously you are serious about being a vegetarian. Setting up an appointment with your family doctor would be a very good idea. That way you can go over with your doctor what he thinks you might need to take. As I have said. An iron pill is a good idea. IF you aren't out side for at least 20 minutes a day. Than I have heard that vitamin b12 or b13 is good and I think it helps with calcium absorption. Any time you change your diet it's really important to see a health professional.
You may want to wait till you are older especially if your parents will not cook vegetarian meals unless you can cook your own vegetarian meals. There are tons of vegetarian books.
Be careful of vegetable soups! Make sure you read what the ingredients are. Most of them are from chicken stock! Many onion soups are from beef stock! Begin a vegetarian is learning to read ingredient labels. Kosher gelatin = fish bones Gelatin=beef bones and pectin is our friend it = fruit skins and other parts of fruit. You would be amazed at how few yogurts are made with pectin. Also if you like yogurt try Greek yogurt. It's thinker, has a lot more protein per serving and with a little jam, some jarred or fresh fruit it's very good. You can also take some yogurt and frozen fruit and make smoothies. You may need to add a bit of honey, sugar or some sweetener but try it without first. I have a very sweet, sweet tooth.
Good luck!
I hope this helps you!!!

http://www.ehow.com/way_5140086_vegetari…
http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HealthInfo/health… look at the paragraph on energy!
http://www.livestrong.com/article/259866… look at the vegetarian food graph.
http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/iron/ This one explains more about iron and iron absorption.
http://www.chobani.com/ as far as I am concerned it's the best Greek yogurt out there! It has fruit flavors, plain and vanilla.

i've been living just on fruits and veggies. you need to understand the benefits of each fruit and vegetable and then eat them accordingly. its simple as that.
here is a link that goes through the details of all fruits and veggies from A-Z.
http://thasneen.com/cooking/say-yes-to-f…

Stay healthy and eat your fruits and veggies.

http://thasneen.com/cooking/say-yes-to-f…

you have to eat lots of vegetables.
vegetables have alot of protein in them, especially green ones.

just eat fruits and vegetables. as well as beans, rice, lentils, etc. you'll be fine :) and congrats on being a veggie!!

hey just dont eat meat or animal products its quite simple

Dun eat anything with meat in it, I know you'll prob want to eat it. but.. yeahh.:D

stay away from meat

When you give up meat, getting protein and iron can be very difficult. You need to up the amount of protein you are eating. The best way to do that is to eat soy products. It is most likely that your local supermarket will have things like "Not-hotdogs" and "not-chicken" (Not the actual names, but that's basically what it is). They are made of soy, and taste really good. You need to eat a lot of it to replace what you aren't getting from meat. One of the brands I know of is "Sanitarium, vegi delights", so you could try to look for that...but I'm not sure if that brand is available everywhere. Either way, there should be something like that. At my local supermarkets, they are usually near the cheese and stuff (In the fridge isles) so have a look- It'll do you the world of good.
Also, eat a lot of nuts and seeds and stuff. Try tofu and lentils, and try different ways of cooking it all until you find a way you like it.
Good luck! ^_^ Hope this helps! :)

Faith xx

make sure you get plenty of fruits/veggies, and not just iceberg lettuce or celery that has no vitamins. instead, have carrots, beets, babyspinach, broccoli, ect. they will actually make you feel more energized, since all the saturated fat in meat is not slowing you down.

Feeling tired? have some avocado. they really do perk you up.

try to avoid processed meat substitutes if at all possible (i.e. instead of a Boca burger, have a black bean burger.) also be wary of only eating eggs and cheese. they really aren't that healthy for you.

eat more beans for protiein, and keep up the whole grains. they are so much better for you!

Best of luck :)

Vegetarian for 1.5 years :)

don't get paranoid about proteins etc. Just relax and plan your meal. Whole wheat and fibre is ample in fresh fruits and vegetables it will also take care of VITAMIN A,C etc
If you wanna focus on proteins nothing like soy products, lentils and milk but excess can be harmful so do take it in moderation.
there is an article for teen veggies why don't you go ahead and read it

http://www.simply-vegetarian-recipes.com…

I think the biggest problem with new veg*ns is not getting enough calories. Vegetables may be filling, but they don't contain many calories compared to meat. Protein, iron and calcium are nutrients veg*ns need to be especially watchful that they get enough.

For example, protein is made up of amino acids. Meat contains complete proteins. Different veggies contain different amino acids, but most of them don't contain complete protein like meat. So you need to eat a wide variety of different veggies to get all the amino acids needed to make the complete protein your body needs.

Iron from veggies is non-heme iron and is not as well absorbed and used by your body as the heme iron in meat. So, again, you need to eat a lot of the high-iron veggies to get the iron you need.

You probably should consider a food diary. Keep a log of everything you eat and see how many calories you're getting.

Here's the Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) website: http://www.vrg.org/. There is information there that might help. Good luck....

Stay away from the peanut butter and pick up some whey protein, peanut butter as a great protein source has to be one of the most harmfull myths ever, serving per serving the stuff is loaded with calories and a puny amount of protein, the myth most likely got started because it packs a whopping serving in 2 small spoon fulls, meaning you could get a massive amount of protein just spreading some of the stuff on a sanwich because the serving size is so small, but the thing people forget to mention is that you will also be getting a massive amount of calories.

Try boiled eggs, egg whites with salsa cooked on top, beans, quinoa, whey protein, even those sugary protein bars would be worlds better than peanut butter. Honestly I reccomend waiting until you're grown before you go vegatarian, your body builds the same amount of muscle as a fully grown natural bodybuilder does every year at your age, even if you just sit around all day. The only thing you have to do is give it enough protein.

I know you're a girl and may not be all that concerned about building the max muscle possible in a year but it's very important, the muscle you build now will likely be the thing that determines your metabolic rate for the rest of your life unless you get into weight training and muscle nutrition as an adult.

That said, I'm a vegatarian bodybuilder and I can vouche that it's possible to get enough protein for the average person and then some without meat, but it's so much simpler when you eat meat and as a kid I don't think you know enough about nutrition yet to get adequate protein without meat, heck since you're growing I know you don't because your protein requirements are higher than a normal person as a teen, I think you should wait till your 20s to make the decision to go vegetarian, until then remember things such as grilled chicken and fish, those are healthy low calorie protein sources.

I'm a vegetarian bodybuilder

don't listen to anyone who tells you you are not getting enough protein. it is ridiculous. plants contain plenty enough protein for a growing body. If you eat alot of eggs milk and cheese these contain heaps of protein, especially eggs. you might be tired if you are not getting enough iron in your diet. eat alot of green leafy vegetables like spinach to get iron. i would reccomend going to your doctor to get a blood test and checking your iron levels.

been vegan for 4 years and vegetarian for about 5 before that

First let me tell you how I quit,
I never really cared for the stuff, my parents started me on it late in life,
Once I saw the movie ''Babe'' I never ate pork again,
and as I got older, to puberty, I didnt like it, I love hamburgers, when Id go out id order double ones, but i started getting blood in my stool, and Id get a tummy ache, and I loved animals, and so when my cat died, I had something with meat once after, then I stopped.
Im proud to be a vegaterian! ^_^
Eat lots of salad, try spicing it up, eat up to 10 veggies and fruits a day take protein pills, eat your fave nuts, :)
congrats

Life

stop