5 ways to slowly go vegetarian
When making a big change in your eating habits, it can be hard to decide where to start. While some people embrace the “cold turkey” approach to vegetarianism, others feel more comfortable easing into things. Here are five suggestions for how you can start your journey towards a healthier, delicious, vegetarian diet.
- Only on Mondays. Eating vegetarian food forever might sound daunting, but anyone can hack it for a single day. Check out the Meatless Monday website for some great resources and support for reducing the meat in your diet. Once you’ve got Mondays down, add another day of meatless eating to the schedule. And another. And so on.
- The elimination game. Choose one non-vegetarian food (beef, or chicken, or spam, or…) to stop eating this week. No fair choosing a food you don’t eat anyway! Once you are comfortable with that change (after, say, a week or a month), choose another food to eliminate. And so on.
- Stop buying meat. Depending on what you already have on hand at home, giving up meat might mean wasting a lot of food. Don’t let this serve as an excuse; just start altering your shopping habits. If you stop acquiring non-vegetarian foods, sooner or later you’ll run out of the meat products you have on hand, and your diet will eventually become vegetarian. Use the transition time to learn new recipes and get comfortable with your new way of eating.
- Focus on what you’re adding, not what you’re taking away. Becoming vegetarian can mean learning new recipes, discovering new favorite restaurants, and exploring lots of healthy, delicious new foods. Why not treat yourself to a vegetarian cookbook and commit to trying new recipes at least once a week? Explore your town’s vegetarian restaurants. Pick up a new fruit or veggie the next time you’re at the store. If you focus on finding vegetarian foods you can get excited about, the number of meat-centered meals in your life will naturally decline.
- Be bad. If perfectionism is standing in your way, give yourself permission to be a bad vegetarian. Slip up at parties. Have turkey on Thanksgiving. Forget to read a label or two. Nobody is keeping score. Give yourself permission to make mistakes along the road; just get moving in the right direction!
What are some of the tricks you used to move yourself towards a vegetarian diet?
I pretty much dove into vegetarianism. It wasn’t for health; it was because, for whatever reason, I spent around two hours each morning on PETA’s Web site. I read stories and saw pictures about how animals such as cows and chickens were “raised” and given drugs to grow faster, produce more milk, etc., as well as how exactly animals were tested for products. Simple sh*t like toothpaste and soap. And cigarettes!
I said to myself, “My God. I’ve been contributing to this all my life.”
So I stopped. Red meat and milk, immediately. Chicken and fish, a week after that. Products tested on animals, as I finished what I already had.
I’ve vowed not to buy leather or suede this winter. I don’t know about wool, because I still haven’t figured out why vegans are against it.
(Oh, I’m slowly aiming for veganism.)
I cheated once a few weeks ago. I had really bad heartburn, so I took a swig of milk (we still have it in the house, just not mine).
Thanksgiving and Christmas will be problematic. I most likely will cheat, but in major moderation.
I just stopped one day. Really. At first, the smell of my neighbors’ bbq (and every fast food restaurant I passed) drove me insane, but eventually it got easier to bear until one day I realized the smell of charred flesh actually grossed me out. Now I don’t have the apetite for meat at all.
My family was a hard sell at first, but the fact is they have to eat what I make for them (my kids are 5, 3, 1 and 31). They’ve come around. My kids don’t eat meat at all anymore and my husband will only eat the occasional turkey sandwich when he’s out.
My kids are oblivious to the reasons I chose to make our diet healthier, but my husband really appreciates the extra effort I make.
(my kids are 5, 3, 1 and 31)
LOL!
Great tips…wish I had had them when I made my switch. I just kind of dove right in, and then beat myself up when I slipped. I did find a company here in Los Angeles (not sure where you are located), that pretty much saved me during my transition. They deliver a whole week of vegan meals. They’re called Vegin’ out. Thought you might want to check them out. here’s their site: http://www.veginout.com.
Its really easy, just stick to ur schedual. It’s hard at first but hang in there it’ll all be worrth it. AND U’LL BE SAVING A BUNCH OF ANIMALS