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Pondering Vegetarism for a month
Kyougu
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I been thinking about becoming a vegetarian for a month, for no other reasons than to challenge myself, and eat healtheir than I already do (I don't eat horrible as it is). I'm not doing this for any sort of compassion to animals or anything. I have no real idea how to go about this, so I figured I would come here for advice. My main concerns are:
1) This seems like a horrible time to do attempt it, with Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve meals. But if I push it off, I'll just keep holding off and making excuses.
2)Meals. Apart from vegetables, I have no idea what I would eat. I'm think I may allow myself fish, since that's healthy, right?
3) I work out 4-6 days a week, with a decent mix of cardio and weights, so I definately don't want my change of diet affecting that. I'm around 5'10 and 190 pounds (losing weight is another reason for this attempt).
So yeah, tips, resources, personal anectdotes would be appreciated.
1) This seems like a horrible time to do attempt it, with Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve meals. But if I push it off, I'll just keep holding off and making excuses.
2)Meals. Apart from vegetables, I have no idea what I would eat. I'm think I may allow myself fish, since that's healthy, right?
3) I work out 4-6 days a week, with a decent mix of cardio and weights, so I definately don't want my change of diet affecting that. I'm around 5'10 and 190 pounds (losing weight is another reason for this attempt).
So yeah, tips, resources, personal anectdotes would be appreciated.
Kyougu on
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Fish is good for you, for sure, but you wont need it if you find protein replacements.
5'10"/190 isn't really an unreasonable weight. I'm 6'4"/200 and rather thin. If you're working out 4-6 days per week and feeling fat, you're either eating total trash or you might reconsider what you're doing.
Edit: Also, breads are good and filling, and not all bread is evil. Look for multi-grain and wheat rather than white. The fiber is good for your cholesterol levels as well.
I'm not a vegetarian, but I do tend to eat vegetarian accidentally about half the time because I enjoy cooking with these ingredients and I find that I feel better than if I'm eating a ton of beef all week. Of course, I enjoy bacon and a good roast chicken to ever swear off meat entirely but it's what you make of it.
edit: Building on what Chanus says about multigrain bread - whole grains are fantastic, and you're not limited to just plain white rice. Try brown rice, millet, bulgur wheat, barley and quinoa too, they're all delicious.
You're going to need time to adapt to your new diet.
Then you're going to go back to your old diet.
And the only thing you'll have to show for it is two months of feeling like shit.
Why don't you work on finding where your normal diet needs improvement and fixing that?
Have you been doing the pondering for a month?
Or are you pondering doing this for a month?
1) It is a difficult time to not eat meat. Think now about what you are going to say when people ask you why you are not eating it. Try to be just vague enough so that they stop bothering you, because I find that some family members are super sensitive about meat consumption, and they might think that by not eating meat you are in a way offending them, their cooking, their lifestyle, whatever. Of course YMMV, but just be ready to have a solid answer.
2) If you eat fish you are a Pescetarian. (I think that's the right term) That's is your choice, but lots of people get along just fine without fish in their diet. I actually found that my diet became considerably better once I gave up meat. A typical day for me is egg omlete with peppers, onions and sometimes tofurky in the morning. A big bowl of lentil stew and an apple with some carrots for lunch, and for dinner I might have a mushroom burger, or a pasta dish, or bean tacos. I usually snack on nuts during the day. If you find that you are running out of ideas of things to make you are not trying hard enough. It is easy!
3) I also work out 3 days a week, you might see me post in the SE++ bigman thread everyonce in a while. Sometimes I think that I would get bigger gains if I ate meat, but I find that having a protein shake is a delicious way to get protein after a workout. If you want to lose weight on a vegetarian diet, it will depend on several things (including your previous diet), but I would stay away from big pasta dishes or lots of bread. Of course, I'm not mr. nutrition, so who knows. If you find yourself weaker than you think you should be during the first few weeks of working out while vegetarian, eat more. Eat a variety of things. Vegetarian diets tend to be low in sat fat, and I imagine you will be losing weight.
I could talk and talk about vegetarian, but I will try and cut it back. Here is the biggest thing - don't be lazy. Take 2 hours on a late sunday afternoon to cook a big batch of stew, or prepare breakfast for the next morning. Don't give up meat and suddenly just binge on candy because your body is missing calories. Vegetarian diets are easily doable, and are gaining more acceptance in America (dunno about Texas). You'll be fine good luck!
Also feel free to pm me if you have other questions.
Vegetarianism is not equivalent to healthful eating. Neither is veganism. They are a refusal to eat animal products (with what you define as an animal product becoming more strict the further you go).
I pull out the quote above because it makes me think you're not really understanding what vegetarianism is. If your goal is to eat healthfully, you should understand what healthful eating entails. Avoiding meat does not make your diet healthful. Being aware of how much meat you consume, and the type of foods you eat in general does.
Plenty of people become vegetarian for a variety of reasons. Most people do it for ethical reasons, be it animal welfare, ecological welfare, or other effects that meat consumption entails. However, those underlying reasons typically give people motivation to stick with a limited diet and make a point of eating only foods that fit with their diet, such as at restaurants or events.
Seafood is largely healthy, chicken is healthy, beef and pork less so but in reasonable portions it's perfectly fine for health. Personally, I don't draw much distinction between animals from the sea or animals from the land, but I'm not vegetarian so the difference doesn't affect my diet. I'm hardly anti-vegetarian, and know how to cook many very tasty vegetarian meals, and I even pay attention to "grill space" when cooking vegetarian food for veggie friends.
But I think you have to have an underlying personal reason for why you want to do this, or else you'll give up. It could be political, or that you just don't like meat, or whatever. Doing it for "health" is probably the only reason that's lame, because there's nothing inherently healthier about eating vegetarian, and if you're not cooking a diet that gives you enough proteins, you're going to just snack and end up with a less healthy diet than if you had stuck with meat. And that's why you need that underlying reason -- to force you to try new recipes, new foods, and stick with it.
This.
It takes a lot of self discipline to go cold turkey and won't necessarily be beneficial. Obviously you have a small attachment to meat and watching others eat turkey will just make you feel unhappy and associate vegetarianism with giving up the good life. Just cut meat out slowly. Eat less of it. Take some time to do it. I'm not a stated vegetarian but the only meat I ever eat aside tuna is when I go out/visit others and holiday meals... its mostly for budget reasons but the low fat intake is a plus.
I would recommend for you to just increase the fruits and vegetables you eat. Seek out vegetarian recipes and try them out. IF you like it enough before you know it you'll barely need any meat. IT will just slip your mind. Meat isn't that big of a deal, so don't make such a big deal about it and it will be easier to give up.
Now for the nutrition side of vegetarianism: this depends on the type. Some people associate vegetarianism with no dairy or eggs, or some people allow fish, and so on and so on. You will probably be lacking iron which if you do you will have unusually cold hands and feet and abnormally tired. Eat more beans (pinto, black, kidney). If you don't work out then you really don't need too much protein. I think something like ~30g is ideal. That's like 4 eggs. Or 5 glasses of milk. Or 2 cups of beans.
There are a lot of good vetarian resources. I'm a fan of Mark Bittman so if you want you can find his How To Cook Everything: Vegetarian edition or something like that. There's a ton of websites but I can't personally recommend anything. Debate & Discourse has a cooking thread. There's a few vegetarians that hang out there and can pass off some recipes. I have a large library myself but I don't want to dump a bunch here but I will respond to specific requests in the D&D cooking thread.
edit: oh yeah, and I agree with the two above me also
Step 2: Don't make those things with meat.
What are meals you normally make? If you make burgers, replace them with textured vegtable protien burgers. easy enough to make.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=textured+vegetable+protein+recipes&aq=1&oq=textured+veg&aqi=g10
I like tacos with TVP in them. I buy this taco mix in a box, add some more seasoning because I like it spicy, and cook it up. It takes way less time than cooking hamburger, only about 5 minutes.
but they're listening to every word I say
I'm kidding of course, but it does feel like that sometimes.
My Stepmom is vegetarian, and I'm all about it for her. She does fine with it, and all things considered gets the nutrition she needs. She does eat fish, and eggs, for protein, but I think that was more of a personal decision.
My sister tried it on the other hand, and basically replaced all the meat with just crap. Was on the verge of malnourishment when we finally had to talk about the decision.
If you want to do it, do it! But make sure it's for the right reasons like others have said. I personally would focus on ideas to more healthy eating in your current diet, or a slower program. Like if you want to cut out red meat at first.
Oh man that was awesome. Anyway, look into veggie-* (burgers, nuggets, whatever). It won't really taste like meat, but it's good, high in protein, and you can use it in a dish just like you would use meat. Protein shakes are also awesome.
Subway has a veggie patty which is surprisingly tasty and even more surprisingly high in protein.
Not saying it can't be for people, but this is entirely subjective. My wife is vegetarian which means most meals are vegetarian and it hasn't bothered me in the slightest. I'll go weeks without meat and not care. Though it may also have to do with the fact that she makes outstanding food.
And Kyougu, are you planning on just cutting out meat or anything at all containing dead animals? Things like Skittles and Jello are avoided by vegetarians because of the latter but most people don't know they contain animal products.
The sweet spot answer is "health reasons". I usually tell them it started with a girl, like any good story, but that my family has a history of lower intestinal cancer, and I don't think the meat industry in the USA is sustainable. Those three usually make them smile and nod.
Unless you're eating out at a restaurant.
But anyway - as a vegetarian for a year and a half now, I started simply because I didn't eat meat all that much to begin with aside from hamburgers and figured I could give it up. I ate things like turkey but didn't really enjoy it.
But basically italian food is pretty amazing and largely vegetarian friendly.
Pasta dishes, soyburgers, rice dishes, and be sure to get your protein through various means (beans, those soyburgers have the equivalent of four eggs in them) and eggs.
You should know about nutrition before attempting this so as to make sure your meal is balanced and healthy.
That being said, my personal opinion as someone who has done a lot of reading up on nutrition over the past several years: vegetarian diets are less healthy than omnivorous diets (and before anyone asks, no, I don't have any studies or anything backing me up; this is a purely personal opinion based on a variety of sources that I have read).
I know, I'm gonna have a lot of people disagreeing with me, and throwing studies at me and such, and that's fine, but the fact is that the one thing I think is most important when it comes to how one eats is variety; vegetarianism not only takes a big step into eliminating the variety of food that you eat, but it usually means that you're overloading even more on one of the two things that makes up far too much of the average American diet: soy. Tofu is soy. Most of the "meat substitutes" that people are talking about using in here are made from soy. Most vegetarian protein shakes probably have a substantial amount of soy in them, too.
That being said, if you do decide to do it, anyhow, I would highly recommend keeping fish and dairy in your diet. Other good sources of protein include non-soy beans and nuts. Make sure you're getting your protein from a variety of sources as well, because while protein from meat tends to be complete, protein from other sources tends to lack particular amino acids, so you want to get those amino acids from other sources.
Now I can see someones health improving from a switch to vegetarian, but that would be from side effects of the new diet - like no more wendy's or mcdonalds. Which is basically what happened when I went gluten free. I can eat literally none of the junk food I used to love. So I got way healthier.
If I had more money I would buy meat exclusively from regional and sustainable farms. It's very healthy, tasty, with none of the bad parts of the industrial food system. But, that shit's expensive, so I just do it part time for now.
Basically you need to cook everything and tofu is pretty terrible and you basically spend your effort trying to cover up/give it flavor. I think the dish I ended up making the most was a sort of tofu parmesan type deal where I would throw it in with pasta and sauce and cheese and the tofu would end up feeling sort of like a cheese and the other stuff covered up its musty flavor. Also did a spicy stir-fry but it was less appealing. (I got plain super firm tofu, maybe there is better stuff but it tasted like a dirty sock and had a pretty gross texture on its own.)
I gave up after about a month or so because it was a hassle getting the protein I wanted, I had to cook all the fucking time, and I wasn't enjoying the food.
To emphasize what me (and Than and a few others) are saying, compare, say, kidney beans, a plain, average bean, to chicken breast, a plain, average meat.
1 cup kidney beans (canned):
215 calories
13.5g protein
1 cup chicken breast (roasted):
231 calories
43g protein
In other words, for a mere 15 more calories, you get 3 times the protein, which will keep you full for longer (not to mention the general benefits of having an appropriate amount of protein in your diet). Likewise, if you want to compare "superfoods," shrimp kick's soy's ass!
That all being said, I would never qualify myself as a vegetarian, yet the majority of the foods that I've been eating lately are sea-based. Scallops & shrimp & salmon are cheap at Trader Joes, my grocery has v. cheap tilapia, and those are all very delicious foods with high protein and low calories (assuming they're not slathered with butter, of course). Could I swap the occasional land animal out and eat all fish? Sure, but since I already have a very healthy diet, it would serve no purpose. If anything, when I DO crave a land animal, I would probably end up eating more than I would otherwise because I still have a craving for it. And since I have no moral or ethical reason to not eat such a thing, I wouldn't be compelled to avoid it.
If you're committed to a vegetarian lifestyle, the diet choices are pretty straightforwards -- as emphasized by the wonderful posts by vegetarians above. There's a lot of support out there and you certainly wouldn't go hungry. But you have to choose that lifestyle for the right reasons -- and if you're already eating healthfully, I don't think vegetarianism has much to offer you as far as "upping" your healthfulness.
If you do decide that you disagree with eating land animals, I don't think anyone here would doubt your decision -- those are personal decisions, after all. I think we're just trying to make sure you're approaching this the right way.
Apparently, the higher up on the foodchain that the species of fish, the more contaminants. Said plainly, it makes sense -- a giant swordfish eats a lot of smaller fish over the course of its life, and the amount of mercury and other contaminants builds up because of that. It also follows, though, that smaller fish -- such as tilapia -- have very low levels of mercury, as what you eat when you cook up a filet is essentially most of the fish. Sardines and other "bite size" fishes are even lower, although those are typically prepared with oils and salts which carry their own negatives.
What I found most interesting is that these larger fish are also the most expensive.
The FDA, though, generally says that you don't really need to worry about the amount of mercury in your diet unless you're pregnant or a young child, which doesn't apply to Kyougu. It could apply to other people/parents reading the thread, though.
The FDA says that, but the FDA is assuming you have a relatively diverse diet. If you're eating fish as your primary source of protein (which basically no one in America does), it could possibly start to matter.
I know plenty of fatass vegetarians who don't get full at meals and end up eating a shit tons of chips, candy, and soda between meals. No meat doesn't mean double the carbs.
And that's why we fry it in a thick layer of corn
Thanatos is right, comparatively tiliapia may have less mercury than oh say Tuna, however using fish as a primary source of protein will leave a person with a much higher mercury intake than someone who eats pork, beef, chicken, and fish for protein intake.
To the OP, if you just want to eat healthier, I've found two ways of going about this. First, cut switch to multi-grain products wherever possible, ie breads, pastas, (brown rice instead of white,) etc. Secondly, cut out processed meats and only cook raw whole cuts of meat, to go further go lean cuts such as chicken breast instead of beef in that stir fry. Lastly switch all cooking oils to olive oil, throw out that butter. Basically eating healthier all boils down to cooking everything from scratch instead of relying on processed/prepared foodstuffs.
I once went 2-3 weeks without eating meat just to see if I could do it. It was suprisingly easy, and I'm a person that loves meat and would never consider giving it up permanantly. There are lots of cuisines that have great selection of meatless dishes. Indian comes to mind first, followed by Asian food. Vegetarian chili with beans is also very filling and delicious (of course, I normally prefer meat chili).
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my first attempt lasted about a month, I set out thinking I had to eat only vegetables and crazy vegetarian recipes online and blah blah blah.
turns out there's a substantial section of frozen foods, and prepared meat alternatives at pretty much every grocery store, combine this with delicious offerings I'd eat normally, like fruits veggies, hummus, pita chips, etc etc etc and I was able to enjoy being a vegetarian before the craving for meat won out.
that said, transitioning either way, for me at least, meant about 2 weeks of stomach pain and constant feeling like shit.
You also probably won't lose weight. If you're looking for structure in your diet, pick out a sane omnivorous diet with rules.
I was very comfortably vegetarian for a year until I realized I was living -- happily, but unhealthily -- on salad and dessert. I put ethics aside, at least temporarily, for nutrition.
If you don't have a good reason to do it, you will be put off by other people's resistance to vegetarianism. You will get flak -- especially from non US/UK folks who don't understand it, and especially around the holidays.
Best vegetarian cookbook: The Vegetarian Epicure. There's a new edition out, but my family has the old, hand-illustrated edition from the 60's, which recommends passing around a joint after a nice dinner party and then bringing out a dramatic dessert because "the blind munchies may strike at any time." The recipes are excellent, including the mac-and-cheese recipe that will change your entire worldview on mac-and-cheese.
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-It is very important you keep your diet varied
-The transition can be tough and make you feel really shitty if you jump right into it; most people I know (myself included) had a really hard time completely switching at once and not eating healthy.
-If you do decide to change your dietary habits for a while do not call yourself a vegetarian if you are eating fish. Other people have mentioned this but if you eat fish and other manner of seafood you are a pescatarian. You are not a vegetarian. Calling yourself a vegetarian when you're not will lead to confusion and is misleading and annoying.
-The holidays can be tough if you're not 100% dedicated to the cause- but don't think you're restricted to side dishes or tofurkey. There's lots of great ideas involving grains and fall veggies for stews, sautes, and more to fill you up.
Um, okay? I was on a vegetarian diet for a semester and I had all sorts of crazy, "This will make you not want meat" crap and what I really wanted after all of it was a medium rare Dallas filet.
Your experiences !> Everybody else's experiences
Relative to the population, a scant handful of people know what "pescatarian" means, so it's just a hundred times easier to call it "vegetarian" than having to explain it every goddamn time someone asks. It's like people who get all up-in-arms over the Alannis Morissette use of the word "irony," or insist that "America isn't a democracy, it's a republic." Language evolves, it's not always necessary to use the absolute most technically correct word possible, and it's fucking obnoxious to the rest of us when elitist cockbags start insisting that people "aren't actually X" unless they fit their exacting definition of it. Fuck, in some areas of the country, there are probably more vegetarians who eat fish than don't (more of my vegetarian friends up here do, at least). In short, get the fuck over it.
Some people do apparently miss meat.
Now that I recall, I've heard of people who feel physically ill without meat. If it makes you woozy, vegetarianism may not be for you.
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This kind of falls short when an actual vegetarian gets served a dead animal.
a) If someone identifies themselves as vegetarian, even if you don't get a hard on about defining the exact sub-grouping of vegetarian they are, it's pretty customary to ask if fish/poultry is selectively excluded before serving it up to someone. The only distinction I might draw is that the term vegan is well known enough nowadays that if someone says vegetarian I would probably presume eggs/cheese/dairy is ok. Any kind of actual meat though, I'd be sure as fuck to ask before hand.
b) Even if your diet is vegetarian/vegan/whateverthefuck for ethical reason and not health, you have to have a certain level of understanding that in a society of animals that consume meat, occasionally someone who doesn't know better is going to try and serve you meat. If you're not emotionally equipped to handle that, than I don't know how you get through the days, because that's basically a given in most of western society. Hell, the stereo type for a plain meal is steak and potatoes.
If you actually seek out vegetarian cuisine (buy tofu, eat veggie when you go out, etc.) you can start moving toward a vegetarian diet without throwing your body for a loop.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
I'd recommend buying meat free range and cooking your meat in a healthy way (i.e. no deep frying), and eating smaller portions, not cutting it out of your diet