Any CAG's vegetarians? Any advice for a newbie?

Lyricsborn

Lyricsborn

CAGiversary!
Highly thinking about becoming a vegan. Ive been googling the benefits but I always get direceted to websites claiming it's more destructive than beneficial. So I was wondering if any CAG's have any advice first hand experience.
 
Heads up : loads of people are going to tell you how unhealthy it is. Blah Blah Blah just ignore it. Although they are not lying. It can be if not done properly. Sitting around all day eating salads is not going to cut it.

Step one : Load up on recipe books. Eating the same thing over and over again can get boring. You want to have a variety of stuff to keep you entertained.

Step two : The MOST IMPORTANT step is to plan. The reason veggies get a bad rep is because a ton of vegetarians walk around looking like anorexic supermodels. That is super unhealthy, and terribly common. You MUST plan to put the essential nutrients that meat typically provides in your diet. If you want to be a healthy vegetarian, you must be willing to put more work into your eating habits than most. Otherwise you are not doing any favors for yourself.

Step three : Spend money. Good veggie food cost money. Don't be afraid to spend it.

Step four : Please, for the love of god, don't force your views on others. Whether it is for health issues, or because you are an animal lover, nobody likes an annoying pusher. And when someone starts shoving their meat loving ways in your face, just ignore them.

Just a few things off the top of my head. The internet has plenty of information, but books about the topic seem to be more focused and reliable. My two cents.
 
[quote name='DrMunkee']Heads up : loads of people are going to tell you how unhealthy it is. Blah Blah Blah just ignore it. Although they are not lying. It can be if not done properly. Sitting around all day eating salads is not going to cut it.

Step one : Load up on recipe books. Eating the same thing over and over again can get boring. You want to have a variety of stuff to keep you entertained.

Step two : The MOST IMPORTANT step is to plan. The reason veggies get a bad rep is because a ton of vegetarians walk around looking like anorexic supermodels. That is super unhealthy, and terribly common. You MUST plan to put the essential nutrients that meat typically provides in your diet. If you want to be a healthy vegetarian, you must be willing to put more work into your eating habits than most. Otherwise you are not doing any favors for yourself.

Step three : Spend money. Good veggie food cost money. Don't be afraid to spend it.

Step four : Please, for the love of god, don't force your views on others. Whether it is for health issues, or because you are an animal lover, nobody likes an annoying pusher. And when someone starts shoving their meat loving ways in your face, just ignore them.

Just a few things off the top of my head. The internet has plenty of information, but books about the topic seem to be more focused and reliable. My two cents.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the advice. I don't intend to force others into the lifestyle just my own choice.
 
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I believe that there was a thread on here a few years ago on this topic. Don't know if it would still be searchable. I'm not a vegetarian, but my wife is and I don't eat meat often. We don't cook a lot from scratch and enjoy Morningstar brand frozen foods a few times a week. Check out the various brands of "veggie" foods at your grocery store or walmart. Walmart has a great price on them (burgers, chick'n nuggets, corn dogs...). That's a start and definately vary your diet and get some recipe books like DrMunkee suggested.

Good luck. I've done it off and on and decided that life is too short to limit my diet.
 
[quote name='crystalklear64']Why do you want to be a vegan?[/QUOTE]

Multiple reasons. I've always eaten meat for about almost every meal. I was always proud of the fact but then began to realize that it might be unhealthy. Cost wise it's just too much. Then today (this is gonna sound like a stupid reason and comedic one to boot) but I was at a BBQ and was eating a piece of steak meat and started chocking on a string part. Coughed it up but was the butt of countless jokes as all my friends and coworkers were laughing their asses off. So let's just say that was enough to push me over the edge. Now I can't wait to tell everyone I'm a vegan, they'll proably laugh and then I'll tell them no I'm serious.
 
So the difference between the two is a vegetarian won't eat meat, but a vegan won't eat anything that comes from an animal at all (such as milk, cheese, etc.), correct?

Working in food services, I get frustrated with vegans and vegetarians, lol. It's like pulling teeth trying to please them. Most I've run into can never just tell you what the fuck they want to eat. They just say "I'm a vegetarian." like it's a basic guideline and you're supposed to conjure up a meal for them. Nothing you give them is ever good enough. The worst is a vegan with a gluten allergy.

I do come across more than a few that are oddly fine with chowing down on some eggs (unborn chicken fetus) or fish (because it doesn't cry when you kill it).

I don't even consider those real diets, there's just too many nuances. i guess the same goes for canivores, I'll eat steak, but would feel kinda fucked up eating rabbit. Venison is another meat I just can't eat. It tastes "off" to me.
 
Eggs generally don't contain any kind of developing chicken. You're eating the shit that the embryo would live off of if the egg was fertilized.

I find eating fish odd, but only if you're not eating meat because you care about animals. Otherwise it's probably not that inconsistent.

So OP, you're not trying to be vegan, or vegetarian really. Pescetarian would be the word for it, but nobody really uses that.
 
The topic title says vegetarian, your original post says vegan, and now you say you'll eat fish, eggs, and milk still.

Well, pure vegetarians don't eat fish. Vegans don't eat eggs and milk or other similar animal byproducts.


If you think meat is unhealthy, then get off the red meats and stick to lean and healthy meats like chicken and turkey (not the salted deli shit). Even some cuts of pork can be healthy options.

Instead of going vegetarian, eat less meat and more fish. Eating stuff like salmon (but not cheap ass tilapia) is good for you. But even with fish you need to know which ones are healthy and which ones aren't full of mercury and other crap.

Again, like someone else said, if you're going to do vegetarian right, its not like its going to be (that much) cheaper than eating healthy meats. And if you're going to do the vegetarian thing, you've got to find vegetables that replace proteins and other nutrients you're losing from no longer eating meats.

Considering you're doing this to avoid ridicule (by creating more different ridicule), and apparently for monetary reasons, you probably won't last long.

Just eat healthier. No need to subscribe to a dieting philosophy like vegetarian or vegan.

Finally, to quote the Simpsons:
"I'm a level five vegan -- I won't eat anything that casts a shadow"
 
Well I guess you could call me an herbivore then. I rarely eat eggs or fish. Cheese and milk for calcium. My switch is more motivated to improve myself than an ethical or religous reason. Sorry for the mix up.
 
why not just substitute the meat sometimes with chicken or turkey? otherwise, you're going to have to learn to love tofu. I've eaten it before, it's not bad depending on the recipe you use with it, but a lot of people don't like it.
 
Wait a sec - you want to change your diet because some jackholes you ate with laughed when you choked on a cord? That was the last straw? Damn, why not just ditch them instead?

Biggest problem for lots of folks isn't eating meat so much as not getting enough other food - usually veggies, which so long as they aren't starch oriented (e.g. potatoes), you can eat as much as you want, and legumes, like beans and lentils.

Maybe experiment with ditching meat and see how you feel, or try different meats and keep meat meal portions to around 4-5oz. Am always experimenting with different foods to see how I feel, so you may want to self-experiment instead of outright going vegan/vegetarian/whateverian. Just an idea.
 
As mentioned in my first post its also because it isn't the healthiest and finacially it just dosent make sense. I've been considering it for a while and the BBQ thing just made me say eh the hell with it.
 
[quote name='Lyricsborn']Ok I'm just a person who dosent eat any meat.[/QUOTE]

Except for fish...? :roll:
 
[quote name='Lyricsborn']As mentioned in my first post its also because it isn't the healthiest and finacially it just dosent make sense. I've been considering it for a while and the BBQ thing just made me say eh the hell with it.[/QUOTE]

My room mate from last year is a vegetarian, and I can tell you that our diets cost about the same amount. And I meat for EVERY meal.
 
Yeah, going completely vegan costs buttloads of money. Going Pescetarian doesn't cost nearly as much. By the way, you may want to consider just cutting out the dark meats, since those are considered the worst for you. IE eat chicken too.
 
Why not just try to limit your intake of meat instead of cutting it out altogether? It's not a bad idea to cut down on red meats but I couldn't imagine never having a hamburger again. I eat a lot of fish and a lot of salads but I do grill chicken and make fajitas a couple of times a week.... mmm.... fajitas...
 
[quote name='Lyricsborn']I wouldn't consider fish meat.[/QUOTE]

Meat is muscle. Fish have muscles. Fish is meat.

You're not really trying to be a vegan/vegetarian/whatever... you're trying to eat healthier and save money by bringing more vegetables into your diet. There's no special word for that, it's just a good thing to do. Use the vegetarian (or even just diet) cookbooks to find good recipes to replace the less healthful stuff you eat.

And honestly? Cutting out meat becuase your friends picked at you a bit at a BBQ is silly. You could've just as easily choked on a stringy celery stalk and gotten a similar ribbing. Eat better for yourself- it works better that way.
 
You keep saying you wanna eat healthier ..... well how is your lifestyle besides what you eat?? Like exercising ... you have to exercise .. always!!! People in this country do not understand it .. eating healthier will not in a sense make you healthy ... you have to exercise. Oh & it seems since you made the decision to go the vegan route cuz people make fun of you at a BBQ ... I mean come on really??? LOL ... BBQ's are fun .. its all about the beer , cooking meat , rocking out to some good tunes .... life is too short!!
 
[quote name='kodave']
Instead of going vegetarian, eat less meat and more fish. Eating stuff like salmon (but not cheap ass tilapia) is good for you. But even with fish you need to know which ones are healthy and which ones aren't full of mercury and other crap.[/QUOTE]

Eating more than one single 8oz serving of farm raised Salmon per month poses an unacceptable cancer risk due to contaminants and most salmon you get in the store or while out to eat is farm raised salmon. So unless your catching it yourself which I realize most people can't do make sure your buying wild caught fish which again is very rare depending on where you live or whether it's salmon season in Alaska in which case stores usually have it for a month or so. Farm raised salmon's fillet color also looks nothing like that of the actual color of wild salmon because they are fed a diet specifically to make them look a nice appealing red color. I worked in seafood market/processor for awhile and farm raised salmon are also horribly deformed almost always due to contaminants and shitty raising conditions and being highly inbred as I used to fillet and steak hundreds of them daily.
 
[quote name='blissskr']Eating more than one single 8oz serving of farm raised Salmon per month poses an unacceptable cancer risk due to contaminants and most salmon you get in the store or while out to eat is farm raised salmon.[/QUOTE]

What? I've never heard this before...
 
Yeah, any farm raised fish isn't great for you due to that kind of stuff and should be limited in frequency.

Same with any bottom feeding fish like catfish (higher mercury levels). Wild caught, non-bottom feeding fish are your best bet, but are harder to find and more expensive.
 
I just never understood the "hmm I should cut back on meat....oh fuck it ill just go vegan" logic people seem to have. i get that it's appealing to assign yourself to a group and undertake a group experience (it's why people buy consoles at launch, lol), but if you truly want to be healthy just balance your diet out like any normal human being.

just eat less meat, you get the best of both worlds.
 
[quote name='blissskr']Eating more than one single 8oz serving of farm raised Salmon per month poses an unacceptable cancer risk due to contaminants and most salmon you get in the store or while out to eat is farm raised salmon. So unless your catching it yourself which I realize most people can't do make sure your buying wild caught fish which again is very rare depending on where you live or whether it's salmon season in Alaska in which case stores usually have it for a month or so. Farm raised salmon's fillet color also looks nothing like that of the actual color of wild salmon because they are fed a diet specifically to make them look a nice appealing red color. I worked in seafood market/processor for awhile and farm raised salmon are also horribly deformed almost always due to contaminants and shitty raising conditions and being highly inbred as I used to fillet and steak hundreds of them daily.[/QUOTE]

I'd love you see your source on that cancer risk theory. Never heard that before, and quite frankly, I don't believe it.

None the less I agree about eating wild fish over farmed fish.

At least when it comes to salmon, the most common type you see out there is the farmed Atlantic salmon. And to me, that tastes like rubbery shit. I can't eat it unless its heavily coated in something or mixed with something else like crab meat. I try hard to avoid it, both at home and in restaurants.

During the summer, Costco actually offers a nice selection of wild steelhead salmon that hasn't been farmed (though they often have the farmed variety too along with the farmed Atlantic salmon). The strange thing is, I believe the wild steelhead is priced cheaper than the farmed Atlantic crap, but whenever I'm there, tons of people are always scooping up the farmed Atlantic salmon.

Unfortunately I've never seen wild salmon at any of my local grocery stores. Just the farmed Atlantic crap.

And from what I understand, wild or farmed, the fish all have color added to them. Its just like every fruit and veggie you buy from the store is covered in wax and has other preservatives added to maintain its color. I've never seen anything that indicates the color additives are bad for you. With fruits and veggies, its my understanding the big concern is pesticides which is why some people choose "organic" instead of the regular variety. With fish, like I said before, you have to watch out for stuff like mercury contamination. But I've never heard about any serious concerns or problems with color additives.

Here is a guide for eating fish that considers health and ecology: http://apps.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=1521
Its from an environmental group so you may not like their taint, but I've seen similar charts issued elsewhere. Just Google for them.
 
[quote name='DuelLadyS']Meat is muscle. Fish have muscles. Fish is meat.[/QUOTE]

I think it's that some people only really equate "meat" with "fat", and that farm animals just sit around being lazy all day. Whereas fish spend their entire life exercising, swimming even when they sleep, hence less "fat." Same way some people that eat meat will only eat chicken because it's not "red" (where the fat is camouflaged, so it's "healthier", ;)).
 
Chicken (especially boneless, skinless chicken breast filets) and most types of fish are much lower fat and thus much healthier than read meat or pork.

I don't eat muc red meat or pork as it just has too much fat (and I just don't like pork much). A steak or hamburger is a rare treat rather than a staple of a healthy diet.
 
[quote name='kodave']I'd love you see your source on that cancer risk theory. Never heard that before, and quite frankly, I don't believe it.

None the less I agree about eating wild fish over farmed fish.

At least when it comes to salmon, the most common type you see out there is the farmed Atlantic salmon. And to me, that tastes like rubbery shit. I can't eat it unless its heavily coated in something or mixed with something else like crab meat. I try hard to avoid it, both at home and in restaurants.

During the summer, Costco actually offers a nice selection of wild steelhead salmon that hasn't been farmed (though they often have the farmed variety too along with the farmed Atlantic salmon). The strange thing is, I believe the wild steelhead is priced cheaper than the farmed Atlantic crap, but whenever I'm there, tons of people are always scooping up the farmed Atlantic salmon.

Unfortunately I've never seen wild salmon at any of my local grocery stores. Just the farmed Atlantic crap.

And from what I understand, wild or farmed, the fish all have color added to them. Its just like every fruit and veggie you buy from the store is covered in wax and has other preservatives added to maintain its color. I've never seen anything that indicates the color additives are bad for you. With fruits and veggies, its my understanding the big concern is pesticides which is why some people choose "organic" instead of the regular variety. With fish, like I said before, you have to watch out for stuff like mercury contamination. But I've never heard about any serious concerns or problems with color additives.

Here is a guide for eating fish that considers health and ecology: http://apps.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=1521
Its from an environmental group so you may not like their taint, but I've seen similar charts issued elsewhere. Just Google for them.[/QUOTE]

Steelhead are in the salmonid family but they're basically just sea run rainbow trout. If you do a quick google search on what the EPA recommends as the maximum limits for pcb toxins in fish you'll see that the epa which only looks at health risks to humans level is 40x lower than what the fda allows in the food supply here's the epa's report http://www.puresalmon.org/pdfs/organochlorines_alaskan_salmon.pdf more info can be found here http://www.meriresearch.org/RESEARCH/ToxicContaminantsinbrFarmedFish/tabid/88/Default.aspx. And as someone who worked for six years in a fish market/processor I have filleted and steaked thousands of salmon both wild caught Alaskan fish when in season and farm raised atlantic; the farm raised fish are always highly deformed most the time due to massive inbreeding and poor living conditions. And only farm raised fish are colored through special feed additives not wild fish. I've seen countless people in the past when working in the market that turn their nose at wild Alaskan salmon because the fillets don't look as nice and the color seems 'off' because people are accustomed to artificially colored salmon as being the way salmon should look. And any fresh fish you buy in the store even if your right near a coast like I am is usually between 3-5 days old once it even gets to your average supermarket; which is why I advocate if your not near the source your fish is coming from or not catching it yourself to buy it frozen if possible and avoid fresh. The key to this also is pay attention to where the label tells you the fish is from the government passed a law a few years back that requires the country of origin to be stated on seafood and method of origin fresh/farm raised to also be listed. I would avoid at all costs any fish labeled as coming from China personally and I see frozen fish labeled with this becoming more and more common.
 
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Wow, I'm impressed that there are a lot of thoughtful posts giving really good, helpful advice. Also, don't think that eating less meat means eating more dairy/carbs. You get rid of meat, you need to add nuts and beans. Adding more carbs and dairy will do more harm than good. Dairy and carbs are only good in smaller amounts or you get tons of fat and calories that don't fill you up.
 
I started the vegetarian lifestyle/diet on Jan 1st of this year. I went 5 months before I ate meat again, and only because it was a special occasion. I don't cut meat out of my diet because of my love for animals or anything; I do it because I wanted to try something new, to see if it made me feel healthier. I realized that just about each time I ate meat I felt terrible and bloated. That one time eating meat again brought it all back up. So I've stuck to my guns so far, and trust me it isn't easy at all.

Tips and suggestions:

DO NOT overeat what you allow yourself to eat in place of meat. Example: One of the most common mistakes that new vegetarians make is to overeat cheese. This is AWFUL for you, obviously.

As stated before, you must change it up constantly to avoid boredom. Look up recipies, take dishes you love and remove the meat; force yourself to get creative.

Excercise, excercise, excercise. You don't need to attack the gym but get into a healthy routine, such as a brisk jog/walk each morning before work.

Watch your carb and sugar intake. This is obvious with any diet of course.

Don't get fat about eating your vegetables, i.e. Don't drown your salads with ranch, don't coat your celery sticks in cheese sauce, etc. Be smart about what you eat.

Don't allow yourself to have unhealthy snacks in your home. My favorite snacks are raw almonds, celery, carrots and unsalted popcorn.

Dont make excuses for yourself just because you don't eat meat. "Oh, it's okay for me to eat a tub of ice cream because I don't eat meat anymore." I know this sounds dumb but I've heard/seen it happen far too often.

Watch your sodium intake. Trust me, this is hard: I am sadly in love with sugar free Red Bull and I have had to cut back because the amount of sodium in a serving is staggering. Excessive sodium leads to bloat, weight gain, high blood pressure, etc.

Good luck with your diet! Stay strong.
 
[quote name='blissskr']Steelhead are in the salmonid family but they're basically just sea run rainbow trout.[/QUOTE]

I did not know that, so thanks for the info. I'll still recommend it as a good salmon substitute. I prefer the taste of that to the farmed salmon. Wild sockeye is probably my favorite though.

If you do a quick google search on what the EPA recommends as the maximum limits for pcb toxins in fish you'll see that the epa which only looks at health risks to humans level is 40x lower than what the fda allows in the food supply here's the epa's report http://www.puresalmon.org/pdfs/organochlorines_alaskan_salmon.pdf more info can be found here http://www.meriresearch.org/RESEARCH/ToxicContaminantsinbrFarmedFish/tabid/88/Default.aspx.
Click to expand...
I did some searching and also found this, dismissing the salmon/cancer fears, from the American Council on Science and Health: http://www.acsh.org/healthissues/newsID.1009/healthissue_detail.asp

Funny enough I found this report that basically says grilling basically meat/fish/poultry is going to increase cancer risks too: http://www.cancerproject.org/media/news/fiveworstfoodsreport.php

I'm with you that farmed salmon probably isn't that great for you, especially since you can just take dietary supplements to get omega-3. But as far as the cancer risk being that significant, I'm not sold. I think if the evidence was more definitive we'd be hearing a lot more about this and there would be more than a couple of scientific studies on it. But again, I will definitely keep in mind to approach farmed fish with caution if I do choose to consume it.

And as someone who worked for six years in a fish market/processor I have filleted and steaked thousands of salmon both wild caught Alaskan fish when in season and farm raised atlantic; the farm raised fish are always highly deformed most the time due to massive inbreeding and poor living conditions. And only farm raised fish are colored through special feed additives not wild fish. I've seen countless people in the past when working in the market that turn their nose at wild Alaskan salmon because the fillets don't look as nice and the color seems 'off' because people are accustomed to artificially colored salmon as being the way salmon should look. And any fresh fish you buy in the store even if your right near a coast like I am is usually between 3-5 days old once it even gets to your average supermarket; which is why I advocate if your not near the source your fish is coming from or not catching it yourself to buy it frozen if possible and avoid fresh. The key to this also is pay attention to where the label tells you the fish is from the government passed a law a few years back that requires the country of origin to be stated on seafood and method of origin fresh/farm raised to also be listed. I would avoid at all costs any fish labeled as coming from China personally and I see frozen fish labeled with this becoming more and more common.
Click to expand...

Trust me, I believe you and your experiences. Like I said, I generally stay away from farmed salmon. I generally try to avoid things that are imported from foreign countries (except Canada, they're America's hat after all), and I sure as shit wouldn't knowingly eat seafood from China.

I will probably start looking more into wild fish thats been frozen after its been caught though, especially since I can only consume so much of the fresh fish that I buy at once and I end up freezing the rest anyway. I'm in California so I'm probably not more than a few days away max from fresh fish truck transit for the Washington/Oregon/northern California fish. But again, just buying frozen for the most part seems to make the most sense for my eating habits.

[quote name='Gden']If you have a trader joe's near you its a great place to get wild caught fish, supposedly[/QUOTE]

And I'll have to give Trader Joes another look too. I should probably just shop there more anyway.
 
I know a few of you also said to exercise. There was a recent study that showed exercising 30 minutes a day added to a sedentary life style doesn't do anything helpful long term. If you're a construction worker or something of that nature instead of an office worker, you're set.
 
The easiest places to find frozen, wild caught fish are Whole Foods Market, Trader Joes and those kind of stores. Trader Joes is probably the cheapest of the bunch and has a good bit of frozen wild caught fish in the frozen food section.
 
[quote name='elessar123']I know a few of you also said to exercise. There was a recent study that showed exercising 30 minutes a day added to a sedentary life style doesn't do anything helpful long term. If you're a construction worker or something of that nature instead of an office worker, you're set.[/QUOTE]

On it's own exercise won't do much. Diet is more important to getting/keeping body fat and cholesterol etc. in healthy ranges. But excercises is still important for strengthening the heart, reducing stress etc.

I'd agree 30 minutes isn't enough to do much though. To get full benefits you really need to do strength training and cardio. It usually take me 60-90 minutes to get my workouts in.

Strength training will add some lean muscle mass and help raise metabolism, while cardio is important for working out the heart and lungs etc.

But diet is key. There are far too many people who go to the gym and stay overweight as they thinking working out is enough. It's hard to burn more than 500 calories or so in one gym session, and most overweight people are eating more than 500 excess calories a day thus working out has little impact on their body fat percentage.
 
[quote name='elessar123']I know a few of you also said to exercise. There was a recent study that showed exercising 30 minutes a day added to a sedentary life style doesn't do anything helpful long term. If you're a construction worker or something of that nature instead of an office worker, you're set.[/QUOTE]

Sounds like the study was commissioned by fatties.
 
No, it's totally right. If you're doing nothing but sitting on your ass and stuffing your face all day, doing 30 minutes of excercise a day isn't going to do anything. Especially since for a lot of people that 30 minutes is very low intensity exercise like going for a walk.

If one's going to truly get healthy, it takes living a fully healthy lifestyle. Doing more like 60+ minutes of moderate to high intensity exercise at least 4 or 5 times a week. Proper diet--both in amount of calories and watching what you eat to get those calories (whole grains, lean proteins, plenty of fruit and veggies, avoid sugar etc.) Getting enough sleep. Not abusing alcohol, drugs or tobacco. Keeping stress low.

30 minutes of exercise on it's own is going to do very little if the rest of a person's lifestyle is unhealthy.
 
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