Good afternoon!! For health reasons I have decided after much research and thought to begin the converstion to my current diet to a vegan diet. I have done some looking online and haven't found many sites extremely helpful in how to convert, they just say to do it gradually. I'd love to hear from some of you that have converted to hear helpful advise and ways to do it . My children are not going to be so "on board" with my decision, so I will be on my own at home , although my husband should be pretty game to tryign new things without having me make separate things for him and the kids to eat. I don't eat alot of red meat now, so that part should be okay, I get a BAD craving for it now and again, so that will be a fight..LOL I eat mostly chicken and fish, absolutely no pork...I do well with veggies and fruits...but as I said any helpful advise would be most welcomed! Thanks!!!!
Ok I apologize for that. do read the posts that mention startes, but also look to mixed household posts. we've covered this in lots of ways, and probably a previous anwer will encourage a question. again, I was crabby and out of line. I do sincerely apologize.
It's okay--when I posted I was at my office and didn't have time to read the zillions of other posts, I just figured it was easier to post it specifically.
I just went veggie myself about three weeks ago. For me it was a cold turkey kind of thing. I researched it for a while and then just decided to make the switch. For me it was also for health reasons. And after 3 weeks I'm already starting to feel better. I was veg about 15 years ago for a couple of years, but I did it all wrong. Instead of eating whole foods I just ate cheese on everything. I also continued to eat fast food, just choosing the veggie options. This time around I gave up all fast foods and have been trying to only eat whole foods. Nothing too processed. My husband is not on board with this at all. He says he wants me to get healthy, but he's not all that supportive of the change in my diet. He brings up things like how much all this extra food is costing us. Every weekend he has offered to pick up something for my lunch while he's out at McDonald's or Burger King. I really need to avoid those things like the plague. But I'm doing okay with the change. I fix a lot of the foods that we've always eaten that are veggie, spaghetti, manicotti, chili. If he wants to grill burgers, I have a veggie burger. So we eat a lot of meals the same or almost the same. I work late two nights a week so I fix something for myself those nights and he can have a meatfest. Actually he usually has fish which I have always hated. Try to think of things thatyou will both eat and focus on that kind of thing. Good luck, Kathi
Thanks Kathy for the info! I think I'm going to gradually ease myself into it. Cutting out certain things every couple of days. I can't give up the dairy just yet, but the meat and meat products will go, and maybe eventually the dairy will start to go too. Something about giving up my ben and jerry's isn't appealing to me right now..LOL! DH and I talked about it this weekend, and although he isn't willing to go veg, which is fine, he is ready to be as supportive as I need him to be. That helps alot! I have PCOS with Insulin Resistance and we both agree that with getting myself on a healthier way of eating, etc it will help my symptoms get better. Thank you again!! brandi
I've been vegetarian for about 8 months now, and even being lactose intolerant it's been the dairy that's been the toughest foods to get rid of. It seems I'd rather be sick than give up some foods. (sigh) Finding substitutes has helped with a lot of foods. Milk can be swapped for soymilk, though it seems that you'll either absolutely love it, or detest it completely so I'd start with a tiny container. There's also rice & nut-milks, but they're a little pricier. Cheese... yeah, I haven't found a palatable substitute for that. But it seems that just about everything else is out there if you look hard enough And if you get stuck the sweet people here have been super helpful when I've asked "what's the veggie substitute for...???" There are tons of meat substitutes out there. My husband is working hard to support my new diet, and keeps bringing home things like veggie chicken strips, veggie brats... those tastes-like-meat foods, so I won't feel "left out." Recently he found some "steak" strips and whipped up a mean stroganoff for me... and even HE liked it! (He's a dyed-in-the-wool carnivore, so this was a huge shock to both of us) Most of them are pretty good, but to be honest what I really REALLY love is the freedom I have now to really experiment with my veggies. A grilled portabella mushroom cap makes the most incredible "hamburger" I've ever had! I haven't missed meat much at all, but I find that it's the condiments that call to me. I'll pine for something with mustard, or barbecue sauce, and then go looking for something veggie to eat it with. Once I realized that this is what I was really missing, the very last of my "meat" cravings went away completely. love, mom
I use rice milk. I'm a little afraid of soy because of the phytoestrogens. I have way too much estrogen in my body already so I'm afraid to add to it in any way. since they don't know how soy effects the estrogen levels I'm choosing to leave it out. Rice Dream makes a wicked good ice cream. Not Ben and Jerry's, but pretty good. I usually avoid ice cream to help keep the blood sugar down. Kathi
Mom, are those Morningstar Farms strips? We love 'em. I usually don't get to them in time before my young meatosaur gets to them. THey feel like Gyro meat to the touch. I tend to like subs less than the Meatosaurs. And I LOVE rice dream mint patties and Tofutti cuties in peanut butter. I use rice milk, because a sMom said, it's like licorice and the Grateful Dead: love or hate. I like licorice and I like GD but soy was a strike out. (too thick, I think. When I did have milk, it was always skim) Agreat book on Stepping down is Lisa Tracey's "The gradual Vegetarian." She does go to macrobiotic but the concepts are solid enough, esp her living With Bologna Lovers chapter. Another good one (funny, too) is Mark Reinhardt's "The contented Meat Eater's Guide to Vegetarianism."
Yep, it was Morningstar's... and yeah now that you mention that it DID seem a little like Gyro meat! Hmmmm... DH loves Mediterranean foods... (I'm still on the prowl for incredible veggie meals - we've switched to Meatless Mondays and DH is actually getting into it!) I prefer more tastes-like-veggie foods than imitation meats myself too. But every once in awhile it's kind of fun to bake a couple chix nuggets & eat "the same thing" as my kids. 8th Continent makes a light soymilk that has a thinner consistency. I get that one when I can, but my favorite store tends to run out of it pretty quick. When I can't find that, I have to water the silk & store-brand soy down 'cause it still reminds me of eggnog. Great for smoothies, but maybe not as good on cold cereal. love, mom
As in subs? Paul likes Veet (which is also the name of a hair remover whattha?) which is mock chicken. I like lemon sauce and on a slip about a decade to 12 yrs. ago had lemon chicken and liked it (until it rebelled and worked against gravity, but that's why I stayed veggie) so I picked up another Morning star, the chicken tenders (pricey, but it's just me for quick fix) and a jar of lemon sauce. The boxed Nature's Burger is good, except for the burger. (I contend that it looks like puppy barf) Tastee Bites Indian entrees are good. Buy /make hot chutney. Arlo liked the veggie corn dogs when he was quite young.
Actually we've been working on more raw/organic/unprocessed meals. Substitutes are fine, but I want them to know how good veggies can taste, not just how to get around eating meat. Yesterday it was vegetarian sandwiches. I had multigrain buns with a little hummus as "spread" and a table full of sliced raw veggies (and cheese for the kids) that they could pick & choose from along with homemade watermelon pickles, and cantaloupe & blueberries for "dessert." It's too hot to turn the oven or stove on, and nobody would eat anything hot anyway so we're living off of raw fruits & veggies. DH came home with some chocolate ice cream for the kids this evening, and they turned it down in favor of splitting the strawberries he'd bought for tomorrow morning's smoothies Somewhere along the line I think I'm teaching them something right. love, mom
Thank you for all of the suggestions and the book referrals. I have tried a few of the morning star things, and really like those. SURPRISE TO ME!! I use the meatless crumbles in spagetti and chili, etc...and love the boca burgers, and I have gotten the riblets too, forgot who makes those. So I'm trying to bring in this new stuff.. My son is allergic to milk so we tried the soy and rice milks back then, and he liked the rice milk, complained the soy was too thick and tasted nasty. so we keep that one around. I have been checking out some sites and have gotten some pretty decent recipe ideas too! Now I'm trying to come up with a good idea for a dish to take to my husbands family reunion--they are a bunch of meatavores...so I have to have something I will want to eat, plus something that maybe someone else will like too. I always like to take something that is a little "different" LOL!
