I've recently decided to stop eating meat, starting off as a vegetarian and transitioning to vegan in the future. I've been a heavy meat eater my while life, so right now I'm in the "wow, there's nothing to eat stage"

Advice from anyone who's gone veg?

I've been veg for 15 years. Best advice I can give is: don't ever tell a carnivore you don't eat meat or they're likely to react like you're trying to take away their 2nd ammendment rights. If they ask you why you don't eat meat, don't bring up health benefits or ethical reasons or they'll get even more mad.

And it begins.

wrt what to eat, there are vegetarian versions of lots of foods you already eat--pasta, chili, burritos, burgers, Indian and east Asian food--so those are a good place to start. Bean dishes are really easy to make, are inexpensive, have lots of protein and fibre and can be seasoned however you want, and there will be tons of recipes on the internet.

To broaden your horizons, find a vegan restaurant and try new things and then google how to make them yourself. Get a hippy girlfriend and go to lots of vegan potlucks with her. Don't just eat chips and pizza.

My girlfriend is a vegetarian and has been for about half of her life. I am not a huge meat eater, but I must say that for the most part this is true.

I don't get mad at her, but I do laugh at her from time to time. The only health issue I see with meat is the amount of hormones these factory cows receive, no way that meat can be good for you. Grass fed is something I wish I could buy all the time.

But please, don't tell me humans are not supposed to eat meat. That is where I draw the line. If you don't want to, I don't care, but It does get under my skin when I hear that we aren't made to consume meat.

Because of her though, I have been going down the road to healthy eating. Fast food, and soda have been completely removed from my diet.

As a non-vegan from a very vegan/vegetarian family, I'll say that the food can actually be deliciously. My brother has on multiple occasions prepared tofu dishes for his friends, telling them its chicken, and not had anybody notice.

I actually never had tofu. Can't wait to try it.

Lol grass-fed beef - hope you don't drip any grease on your bib! It's pork-fed beef or nothing for me.

OP, remember that 74% of taste is smell, so if you are having a hard time with the taste of vegetables, try holding some bacon under your nose while you chew.

I definitely prefer vegetarian chickens.

gregorio is currently reading the "Cooking a good steak" thread and touching his nipples.

book it.

-1

u could try going to a farmers market os; if you can, if you haven't!

maybe that would help

i live off of morning star and gardein frozen food...lots of protein and taste pretty good...

Don't get your hopes too high.

zero

I'm eating a Bocu veggie burger with Silk soymilk. Not as good as the real thing, but doable

I grew to like Boca Burgers. Silk Soymilk, especially the chocolate milk is so damn good.

Haven't tried chocolate yet. I'm used to drinking whole cow milk, so soymilk did taste noticeably weaker. Just takes getting used to.

Hahahahaha.

OP-

Why?

Acceptable -
1. Ethical reasons
2. Get laid

Dubious -
a. Health benefits

Best answer so far is to get vegan girlfriend and go to vegan pot lucks.

My reasons were mainly ethical. Never even considered using it as a tool to get laid. Tell me more...

It honestly doesn't really work. It's another imaginary tool some dudes think works when in reality it doesn't, they are just having a bunch of false hope build up.

Crash, What is wrong with doing it for Health Reasons?

My GF is vegetarian and has been one since 6 years old despite growing up in East Texas. She is a true vegetarian in the fact that she doesn't like anything with the texture of meat either (so no BS tofu or seitan).

Can confirm from personal experience that it is much easier to eat healthy.

Although I definitely eat meat less and eat veg a couple of days a week it is great she doesn't care when I am stuffing my face with foie gras or something similar.

Being a vegan would be awful. Neither of us like super creamy or buttery dishes but I can't imagine going without eggs or cheese.

Edit: I think health reasons is perfectly acceptable. Have a buddy who was always in good shape but never able to get his weight down. He has gone semi-veg (he avoids cheese as it makes him pack on pounds and still eats fish regularly) and eats a lot of veggies and lentils. Will eat beef or chicken on occasion but he has definitely lost weight he was never able to before changing his diet. He likely could have done the same by changing his diet and keeping meat but I definitely think it is easier if you just try to go veg as help you avoid a lot of temptation.

Hippie chicks are easy and vegi diets are an in. You can't go from a no game havin carnivore to a vegi and BAM you are a lock to get laid - it just opens up more avenues. If OP found himself in social circles where it made a difference he'd know it and own it. He doesn't, so it isn't a factor.

"Health Reasons" is way too amorphous to attempt to address. What specific health problem are you hoping to solve by eliminating meat and animal byproducts? Yes, I've seen Forks over Knives and am prepared to link to several studies debunking the conclusions from the China study.

You could get the same result from cutting out gluten or refined sugars. The reason isn't that those specific foods made any difference, it is that there was an overall calorie reduction made easier by eliminating an entire class of food from regular inclusion in the diet.

Well I can link you studies to debunk anything and everything someone says, it doesn't mean much. There are always both sides to ever accusation or story or what have you. My "health reason" issue is that the cattle we eat now is pumped with hormones, antibiotics etc, and sure sure there are some studies that show those aren't passed through to us when we eat the meat..but why should I accept that? Why should I be OK with pumping cows full of hormones and then going ahead and eating it? It's the argument that Raw Milk is dangerous and store bought Milk is good for you, it's bull****.

I wish grass-fed in my area was cheaper.