Recently became vegetarian, what exactly can i not eat?!
I dont eat meat or fish (i'm not going to eat anything with eyeballs) and i know i cant eat anything with gluten, but does anyone know anything that i could come across in day-to-day life that has animl products in it without me knowing? or what i could look for in the ingredients so that i'll know it has meat in it? thanks in advance =)
Answers: Please dont say 'meat' or try to be a smart-*** in your answer.
I dont eat meat or fish (i'm not going to eat anything with eyeballs) and i know i cant eat anything with gluten, but does anyone know anything that i could come across in day-to-day life that has animl products in it without me knowing? or what i could look for in the ingredients so that i'll know it has meat in it? thanks in advance =)
Sorry but there is no very simple answer. Its a question of learning about it and gaining experience.
Try the vegetarian society for lots of useful fact pages, here is thier page on stumbing blocks which most answers your question:
http://www.vegsoc.org/info/stumbling.htm...
If you eat processed foods you should only really be eating those as labelled suitable for vegetarians. Its almosts impossible to instinctively know the source of all the ingredients or the processes they used to make the food.
i recently became one too about 13 weeks ago, i found out that some cereals have egg, and of course cookies and cake and all of that yummy stuff. :( but oh well. we can live.
anyways....make sure you just read the ingredients at least two times b4 u eat it
Gelatin- found in some candies like skittles and starburst.. some sour creams and yogurt, most gummy candies.. JELLO
Lard- found in some baked products, but not too many anymore, fortunately.
rennet- in some cheeses.
all of these are slaughter by-products.. which mean that an animal had to die to produce these ingredients.
Uhm "gluten" is part of flour, which is from wheat, and is fine for vegetarians. ARe you allergic (many people are)?? or did you mean "Gelatin"??
Try to avoid most processed foods if you're going vegan. It helps when you're first starting if you bake/cook most of your own food. You'll also get the most nutrition out of your food if you prepare it yourself from whole foods (unrefined, unprocessed, raw).
Be careful...it's not just the ingredients it's the process. Refined cane sugar and some beers/wines/liquors are processed with animal products (blood or bone ash). B12 is another tricky one, it's a bacterial product that is often grown in a lab but could come from animals. Whey is in everything and it's a milk product.
A quick way to read labels: check the allergy notice at the bottom of the nutritional facts label. It will often alert you to animal products.
Some companies sold in natural food stores will say vegan...very helpful. When in doubt Google the ingredient or email the company that manufactures the food. I have had good success asking the source.
Make sure to check in with yourself as you go...it's not what you can or can't eat but what you are morally comfortable with. You can think yourself into starvation or malnutrition, often with bad information...do as much of your own research as you can. I always recommend reading "What to Eat" by Marion Nestle to start. She's a nutritionist and she's informative without being opinionated.
Ok, so you're not a Vegan right? Righ. So I guess ther's nothing elese I can think of, but meat, u can still eat eggs and cheese and stuff. So yea thats all I can think of.
well lots of chewy sweets, jelly and soups have meat in-soups have veg stock and you know about gelatine.
just watch out for that, hte most important thing is that you dont eat the major parts!
good luck.
It's really up to you how strict you want to be. Some vegetarians do not eat actual pieces of meat but have no problem with gelatin, others avoid gelatin as well. Some eat fish and some don't. If you just became vegetarian recently, I'd suggest you focus on not eating actual meat, and don't worry about eggs and gelatin.
natural flavoring is a beef by product. cheese enzymes are rennet which is th stomach lining of baby cow and lambs. how could anyone with any empathy kill any animal let alone a baby animal.