I want to become a vegetarian. Since I was sixteen I read the books and researched options and blah blah blah. I'm actually alergic to dairy anyway so it seems like a logical choice. And yet, I can't stand tofu. The texture is weird and it has no taste. And I'm not crazy about soy either. And I get this weird, almost lust for meat. I'm sure it's my body craving iron but I'm useless at trying to resist what my body wants so I end up eating meat. Also, my three-year-old is a massive carnivore. If it were up to him, all he would eat is meat and probably raw. For two years he was vegetarian, practically vegan. But then he got a hold of a corndog and he's never looked back. Does anyone have advice for those just starting out? How do you make that transition? Please, please, please help me...
More than likely, what you believe is a craving for meat (or iron) is actually a craving for salt and complex fats. Try this: deep-fried eggplant or zucchini or whatever. It may not exactly be healthy, but it'll satisfy those cravings until you can get them under control. Another good "crutch" for people making the transition is Boca Burgers. Go to your local Denny's and try one. Man, they're awesome. I guarantee you won't recognize them as soy. After a few weeks you'll have purged the caveman meat cravings, and you'll be clear minded enough to make your own sensible dietary choices. It's easier than you think!
I had some meat cravings, and I fought them with beans. Not soy but regular beans. they contain a lot of good things, meat contains, a lot of iron and proteins, but in forms that are easier absorbed. I really got my cravings under control.
tofu is tasteless naturally and you cant cook it alone..i made the same mistake i imagine many others do when they first cook it since its often sold alone, you cant cook it alone, without having it taste like rubber or something. you gotta cook it with something... anything really, and it will absorb whatever flavor very easily. get the firm kind too, or maybe a kind in a pre-made dish like veggie chili or something. maybe your addicted to all the chemicals that are in your meat? i hear american meat is particularly sour tasting and full of a lot of chemicals that dont belong. maybe you could try buying organic relatively natural meat for a while, and then just replace it all together with healthier alternatives? and what soy products have you tried? theres so many, there has to be at least a few out there you like.... another aspect ive noticed is literally brainwasing. ive been relatively vegan for a while now and still when i see a fast food advertisement i feel a craving for a double bacon cheeseburger or whatever. but i know thats the last thing me and my body want, is fast food. so i just try to go into my kitchen and make a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich or something. so simply buying less meat and other things that fill you up could help probably. remember your not necesarily craving meat if you feel a craving... it could be the iron like you said, or maybe a pesticide in the meat, or maybe just salt or sugar or something. try to fill up with a bunch of other things before you resort to meat....
Also, try all those "mock meat" products. They have the texture, taste and look of meat, but are totally vegetarian/vegan. MorningStar makes veggie corn dogs that are great!
Well to answer the first question, the reason I want to become a vegetarian is really simple. At first, I thought it would be something different to try. Not really a trend because no one my age would have thought of it. I heard it somewhere and I thought it was cool. Then I went to the library and picked up a book about it. To this day, I can not eat pork. After reading the horror stories of what they do to animals, I couldn't stand the thought of eating it myself. That alone made me stop eating meat for a couple of months but I didn't know what I was doing and my grandfather cooked meals at my house so I didn't feel I had much choice. And to add to the advertising comment, I must say that commercials do not work for me. The only reason that's true is because I have actually worked at a fast food place. Every time I see a Jack in the Box commercial, I get physically sick. I can't remember the brand of soy I tried, I wish I could. I never really think of brands or kinds. If it's soy, I grab it. I'm a useless shopper. I tried these little marinated tofu cubes that my mom made for her vegan friend but I didn't like them. Maybe it was the wrong texture but it tasted like marinated rubber. It's just that I've seen so many vegetarian recipes that call for tofu. But thanks for all the information. I really like the idea of veggie corn dogs for my son and I never really thought about being addicted to chemicals but it's possible, I suppose. I'll try some of your suggestions and see what happens. Thanks!
to ride out meat cravings: smoke flavor in wheat meat (seitan) or TVP crumbles. Try stepping down, cut out critter A, then B then C and so on until no more critter, of reserve it only for holidays (legitimate holidays, not I had an orgasm in the shower day or something) as for your son, he's three. Step up and be the parent. He gets what he gets. You get to make the acceptance easier. My son, 13, is 98 percent veg at my home, omni at dads. He cooks omni, so the deal is whole foods and I lay off the indoctrination.
You can easily sub in beans, mushrooms, seitan, or tempeh into almost any recipe that calls for tofu (unless it's being used as an egg sub, like for quiche or cheesecake or something like that). If the step down method doesn't work for you, you might want to consider making a commitment to eating no flesh for 30 days. Some doctors theorize that meat and dairy are addictive. I know that I just stopped all at once, and after about 30 days, I noticed that meat, dairy and eggs all smell awful. I can't even imagine eating those things anymore. But that's just me. I know plenty of Vegans who still crave meat occasionally, even after a long time being meat free. Everyone is different. I also find it helpful to dive into the lifestyle. The more you learn, then less chance there is of going back. I'm Vegan for life.
My son's father is a meat eater and actually joked about how he'd feed him chicken the moment he left the womb. I try to taper off the meat eating but I'm not the only person that's feeding him. About the only thing he'll eat anymore is rice so I'm not intentionally "not being the parent", but I want to find some alternatives that give him the same joy as a hamburger. He's gotten older and he's just not as satisfied with pureed vegetables and rice anymore. But the complex vegetarian recipes I've come across wouldn't interest him much either. If he can't recognize it, he refuses to eat it. He won't eat applesauce anymore for that reason. I've just realized this whole picky eating phase he's going through is a nightmare... I think ridding the meat one at a time might actually work. I already don't eat pork. I don't even like chicken. It's just beef and fish I love. It's so weird to eat a hamburger and think, "I'm sorry I'm eating you but you taste so good,". I feel like a sympathetic serial killer or something.
Yeah, you dont have to eat tofu. I dont much like it either, and when craving iron, try dark green leafy veg, like silverbeet, spinach, buk choy and the like.
hahahahahahaha.....i couldnt breathe i was laughing so hard at this....that was really funny i made some stir fry stuff with some tvp and tofu in it for dinner and it was good....but yea tofu can be weird tastin....how do you get it to take on a different flavour really strongly?
you dont have to live off tofu to get protein for one. There are many other sources: beans, nuts, seeds, or try different brands of mock meats if you wish. [you have to experiment, because some brands of mock meats, or certain mock meats made by some co. WILL taste like shit in a package. But there ARE good ones.] I too, am lactose intolerant, and ever since I went vegan I have a lot less stomach issues. I never get "acid reflux" or upset stomachs anymore unless I'm actually sick with a virus. As i said before you dont have to life off of tofu, but also remember taste buds CAN adapt. I used to hate so many of the foods that are my favorites now, simply because I forced myself to keep trying them, as I knew they were healthy for me. And they became incredibly tasty to me over time. As a kid and a young teenager I pretty much hated every veggie out there, and now I cant think of one aside from eggplant that I dont like. No one can tell you HOW to go about it, you have to do it how it works for you... some people can cold turkey jump right into it, and for some people its a long process of cutting things out of their diet one by one. See a doctor or nutritionist [one that isnt a biased carnivore that is] if you need any healthy and helpful hints, that is my suggestion anyway
