Best Vegetarian TipsTips on Being a Vegetarian

Mel Still answers:

Often the easiest answer we like to give a person who wants to stop doing something is simply to stop. That is a ridiculous and somewhat pompous assumption. Whether you are smoking, drinking or eating meat, you are up against an addiction, and quitting can be a very difficult process. Unlike other addictions however, meat products have been shoved in our bodies since birth, are easily accessible everywhere we turn, and offered to us as the obvious, easy and necessary way to live.

Becoming a vegetarian is generally a moral or ethical decision. A vegetarian lifestyle (just as a meat-eating lifestyle) is healthy or unhealthy depending on the decisions you make. Despite what some in our culture still believe, you can get everything you need as a vegetarian. But if your decision is based only on health reasons, just adopt a more healthy meat-eating diet. Read on if your are still interested in becoming vegetarian.

I am not sure how old you are, but the best way to begin a vegetarian life you can maintain is to get your own apartment. Just as it would be nearly impossible for an alcoholic to quit drinking while hanging out in a bar every day, it will be very difficult to stop eating meat in a home where it is constantly being served. In you own place you can do your own shopping and decide what food is served. As you become more secure in your diet and your body and mind quit craving that which they are missing, you can be in more meat situations.

Another great thing you can do for yourself is to learn how to cook quick and simple meals. When you eat good food you do not feel as though you are missing out. Often vegetarians look for vegetarian cookbooks. I use regular cookbooks and substitute the meat. Morning Star Farms has great vegan chicken and beef substitutes, and Ives has great vegan ground beef and lunchmeat substitutes. I personally love tofu. It is great for making Chinese food. Know which restaurants have good vegetarian substitutes for when you want to go out to eat.

When you are trying to quit, the first time in a day you give in to your addiction in sets the mood for the rest of the day. If you break down and eat sausage in the morning, you will probably break down at lunch and dinner too. Keep substituting and try to make your first meat later and later in the day until you can go an entire day. Also, when we crave meat, we often crave the fat and grease. A great fix is to cook a dish heavy in olive oil; you will get the fat you crave (but please don’t make a habit of it.)

Also, read some great literature and get a support system. One of the hardest (or most annoying) things you will deal with as a vegetarian is how meat-eaters will treat you. Know that they are doing this because your choice is inadvertently “calling them” immoral or telling them they are leading a bad life. You are of course not doing this, but some will verbally attack you. They will not know why, but the truth is that your choice is threatening to them. When possible, try to keep these people out of your life and DO NOT get drawn into arguments with them. You cannot win. Their only goal is to prove you are a hypocrite and flawed. Because you are human, you are naturally both of these things, but these are people who desperately need to prove it so they may never see these attributes in themselves. Sorry to be a bummer, but you need to expect these conversations.

Finally, don’t expect to change your life all at once. Start by only cutting out meat (yes, sorry, but a fish is an animal). Feel proud of your accomplishment. If you reach a point when you are secure in this lifestyle try taking away eggs. Later you can try to take the leather, wool, angora etc. Out of your wardrobe. When this works you may choose to stop eating foods with egg products or chemical names that are code words for meat. You do not have to stop eating/ wearing everything to conform to such a vegan lifestyle you no longer live in a house because houses are built upon concrete, which is made in part by animal bones…. So don’t allow anyone to make you feel inferior in your choices. You are on a path and trying to make decisions that will help you become the person you want to be, not a person anyone else feels you should be. All of life is a process. We will fail on occasion and we will make decisions different from what others will make. Be happy and secure in the things you accomplish and keep going. If you only cut meat out of your diet and never take another step, then you took a great and difficult step and should be proud.

After several years of being a vegetarian, I have adopted this one quick and simple answer for why I am a vegetarian: I don’t need meat to survive or be healthy; therefore it is a luxury, and no one/thing should have to suffer so I can have a luxury. It tends to be sufficient enough for anyone who asks.

Mel Still answers:

Honestly, I’ve never felt any increase or decrease.

Mel Still answers:

Eating meat is not necessary for the human diet.
Be sure and eat range-fed eggs for animal protein.
Will you eat fish? Fish are not slaughtered.
Fish and eggs are also the only animal products that are kosher as is.

Correct portion size and “calorie restriction” is the only thing proven to increase human lifespan, not vegetarianism.

Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie_restriction

This is the reason for longevity in the French people, not drinking red wine. They eat small portions of food.

Vegetarianism will reduce the likelyhood of colon cancer and many other diseases. There is an old saying that says “Death Begins in the Colon”

http://www.omx2u.com/articles/colon.asp

“According to the Royal Society of Medicine U.K – 90% of all chronic diseases are due to infection of the gastrointestinal tract”
This is mainly due to eating meat.

Good luck, this is a very good move and is one of the hallmark life changes of someone seeking a higher path spiritually. Spiritually, not eating meat will increase the “vibration rate” of your light body. Fasting also does this. In effect, you begin a lifetime of fasting from meat.

When animals are slaughtered, the feelings of fear and pain from slaughter remain in the body (meat) of the animal. When you eat animals slaughtered in a violent, non-kosher manner, you are taking in those feelings of fear and pain into your emotional body. That is the reason the Jews and Muslims slaughter the animals they eat in a Kosher fashion and do not eat animals slaughtered in non-Kosher ways.
There are Kosher butchers to buy meat from that has been slaughtered and prepared in a Kosher manner.

Mel Still answers:

The only health risk is if you replace the meat in your diet with mainly dairy products. Dairy is high in cholesteral, use it in moderation. This website, run by the Mayo Clinic and has a copy of the vegetarian food pyramid on it. Use it when planing your meals.
Vegetarian diet: How to get the best nutrition
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vegetarian-diet/HQ01596

Mel Still answers:

1. Whole grain pasta, vegan pizza made from scratch, meatless shepard’s pie (also from scratch), bean burritos, tofu sandwiches, peanut butter on toast.
2. Mmmm not yet. I’ve only been a vegan for about 1 1/2 months. I think my body’s still detoxing.

Btw congratulations on possibly going vegetarian! =D I really recommend this website for recipes, grocery item suggestions, and information about vegan/vegetarianism: www.tryveg.com
♥

Mel Still answers:

A well-planned vegetarian diet provides a decreased risk for heart disease, certain types of cancers, and type II diabetes. Those who follow a vegetarian diet are less likely to be obese. Look up the Seventh Day Adventist studies online because they provide good information on health benefits of vegetarianism.

“The beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters, and all automobile accidents combined. If beef is your idea of “real food for real people” you’d better live real close to a real good hospital.”
-Dr. Neal Barnard, MD

“The report reviews scientific findings on trans-fats and finds that eating any at all raises levels of low-density lipoprotein – the so-called bad cholesterol. Therefore, if a limit were to be set, it should be zero. Rimm said the panel, made up of nutritionists, biochemists, pediatricians and others, decided not to do that. “We can´t tell people to stop eating all meat and all dairy products,” he said. “Well, we could tell people to become vegetarians,” he added. “If we were truly basing this only on science, we would, but it is a bit extreme.”
-A Reuter’s press release

Mel Still answers:

Assuming you will actually eat vegetables (and not just a bunch of junk food), your diet will be low in fat as well as low cholesterol thus lowering your risk of heart disease. Cholesterol is only found in animal products. If you choose to be vegan, you’ll have to be careful to be sure you eat all the nutrients necessary for life. Othewise if you still eat items like eggs, milk, cheese then it is easier to make balanced meals. Don’t let the one-sided idiots on this forum berate you just for asking a simple question. I personally eat meat and don’t want to stop, but cutting down would definitely be more healthy for me.

Mel Still answers:

There is overwhelming scientific medical evidence that consuming meat leads to higher rates of many different types of cancer, heart disease, strokes, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis, auto-immune diseases, parkinsons, and many other common chronic illnesses. So the big benefits are lower risk of all those things. As long as you eat a highly varied diet including lots of different fresh fruits, vegetables, dark leafy greens, whole grains and legumes, the only risk is vitamin B12 deficiency – so just get a reliable source (I use nutritional yeast – or you can just take a pill or drops).

Mel Still answers:

Kimchee is a fermented food that is supposed to have loads of beneficial pro-biotic bacteria.

Also, supposedly, chile peppers help lower blood pressure.

Mel Still answers:

Well for a start it tastes sooo good! Marinade it in honey, oil and garlic and its just soooo good, then stirfry it with veg and a blue dragon lemon stirfry sauce, but as for health reasons:

Good source of protein with minimal fat

For women it regulates your hormones due to its estrogen content, thought for men just two servings of soya/tofu a week can lower sperm count

I think it’s good for your heart but I’m not sure about that one

It’s just really useful, I’m a non preachy vegetarian and I just love the fact you won’t give yourself food poisoning with tofu. I don’t know if it has any weight loss properties so to speak, just try it (I recommend cauldron tofu from the fridge section, about £1.10 from Morrison’s, not blue dragon, if you’re in the UK)