I'm becoming a vegetarian

I went to a show last night and we picked up a PETA cd rom. It was horrifying. I read Fast Food Nation, but I think it was actually seeing the animal torture that did it. I've previously switched to only eating chicken for health reasons, so it shouldn't be too difficult. As I expect there are several vegetarians on the board, what do you suggest for protein?

Well, there's always soy protein isolates.

eggs, nuts, cheese, meat imitation products <~~ theres lots if you look

Dear Bill,
Why don't you join us in the veggie group? There is plenty of advice.
Love,
Bridget
PS-I'm sorry your mom is dating the gym teacher. He's a butt-patter.

are you going lacto-ovo, or vegan?

read labels, just about everything has protien in it, and it's pretty easy to get as much as you need.

Cottage Cheese, tofu, beans, milk, and eggs are all very high in protien. I eat a lot of veggie dogs. For some reason, I am addicted to those things. I never even liked hot dogs... but veggie dogs... mmm...

If you're opting to continue eating milk/eggs, but are quitting meat because of animal cruelty, you may try to find small, local farms that treat their animals better than large factories.

Chicken was actually the easiest thing for me to quit. Well, that and pork, which really grossed me out anyhow... I still relapse sometimes on beef, but less often lately because it makes me sick...

All the vegetarians i know are angry. Good luck.

www.themeatrix.com

It's because they hate plants, not because they love animals.

Thanks for the help. I'll probably still drink organic milk, I never liked eggs, so that wasn't an issue. I thought about free range, but they're still being killed. I'll look to the group for additional info.

First of all... congratulations.. Going vegetarian is a great way to oppose animal cruelty.

The Internet, as I'm sure you're well aware, is a vast resource for information on alternative foods. One stop by www.google.com should put you in touch with thousands of websites full of answers to questions like "how do I get protein now?" and "why are vegetarians so much sexier than meat eaters?". A good start would be to follow Bridget's advice and join the Veggie Group...which will put you in touch with all the other Vegan/Vegetarian members of the site such as myself.

Pick up some cook books.. hit the web, talk to your friends... talk to the veggie group.. the resources are right at your fingertips.

I suggest if you cook, a great book to have on hand for grocery shopping is a book called "Animal Ingredients A-Z" , which is a nice pocket size book which serves as a reference to all those ingredients in things you buy when you can hardly pronounce them, let alone know what they're made of.

And stop by http://www.veganchallenge.com (don't let the name scare you) It's full of good information as well.. and what's even better, it's Olivia's site! So check it out.

Congrats!

Fish . . . no, wait. nevermind.

Well, maybe those goldfish crackers?

Oh and one more thing.. Now obviously this is going to really depend on how deep your convictions go to not wanting to support the torture you saw in that PETA video.. but supporting the dairy industry is roughly equal to supporting the meat industry you're trying to get away from.. They have obvious strong ties. Dairy Cows are treated just as poorly as those cows simply raised to produce beef, and once they're done producing dairy they go to the slaughter houses as well. Don't be fooled by labels like "free range" or "organic", they have very little to do with the living and dying conditions of the animals.. If you want to drink milk, at least get it from a local resource where you know the animals are being treated with some sort of compassion.

Actually Ricky.. that'd be Pescetarian.. not Vegitarian. =)

i was but i lost 10 pounds and was dying hehe, not bc of lack of meat but rather bc the vegeatbles could not stop my hardcore outside influences

[Edited on Jun 22, 2004 by marigold67]

I only eat organic meat etc. There are also cases and people I personally know who went vegitarian and developed several physical and mental problems due to the drastic diet change. Do your research befor you do this protein is in alot of other foods but not as abundant as meat. 1 teaspoon of meat has enough protein to get you through the week as apposed to other. One interesting fact they play muzak to the cows to keep them calm before they are slaughtered because if there scared then they release a chemical that causes there blood to clot. And they can't get the blood to drain properly.

GO ORGANIC IT BETTER FOR YOU AND IT TASTE A HELL OF ALOT BETTER.

I only eat organic meat etc. There are also cases and people I personally know who went vegitarian and developed several physical and mental problems due to the drastic diet change. Do your research befor you do this protein is in alot of other foods but not as abundant as meat. 1 teaspoon of meat has enough protein to get you through the week as apposed to other. One interesting fact they play muzak to the cows to keep them calm before they are slaughtered because if there scared then they release a chemical that causes there blood to clot. And they can't get the blood to drain properly.

GO ORGANIC IT BETTER FOR YOU AND IT TASTE A HELL OF ALOT BETTER.

Dialysis: In regards to the people you know who've developed several physical or mental problems due to the drastic diet change; More than likely the reason these people developed problems was not because of the drastic diet change, but because their diet was not balanced at all. To imply that a vegetarian diet is inherently dangerous to one's health is as silly as saying that a carnivorous diet is dangerous to one's health. No matter what diet you choose, not balancing that diet will lead to problems. A vegetarian diet can be just as, if not more, healthy than a carnivorous diet. Any and all diets require a balance of the right nutrients.

As for your reference to the protein content of 1 teaspoon of "meat", I'm going to assume you made this up to try to prove your point, because if you'd done any research on this you would know that, for example:

One ounce of Poultry = 7 grams of Protein
One ounce of Peanuts = 7 grams of Protein
One ounce of Beef = 7 grams of Protein
Once ounce of Soy Beans = 10 grams of Protein
One ounce of Fish = 7 grams of Protein
One ounce of Lentils = 6.5 grams of Protein

So, as you can see.. meat hardly dwarfs vegetables in protein content.

Either way, on a side note.. the intention of this thread was to get more resources on how to be vegetarian.. not to ask if one should be vegetarian or not.. So , if you're going to try to convince someone otherwise, do your homework.

Don't forget to check out the veggie/vegan SG group!
Lots of good stuff (information) going on there.

I added a little bit of science to your thoery, I was just covering all the bases, Lentils, soy beans, and peanut butter, that hardly covers vegetables
monosaccharide is a single sugar molecule

[Edited on Jun 22, 2004 by dialysis]

[Edited on Jun 22, 2004 by dialysis]

[Edited on Jun 22, 2004 by dialysis]

[Edited on Jun 22, 2004 by dialysis]

You're right.. my intention was not to give a full and complete representation of every vegetable, but to simply show to show that, contrary to your statement about a teaspoon of meat vs. vegetables, vegetable and meat protein content is very comparable. But of course, I thought that would be obvious by using the word "example". =p

Anyways.. I'm going to stand by what I was saying, which is any diet is possible, sustainable, and healthy if the right balance of vitamins and nutrients is maintained. The removal of meat from a diet doesn't make your body any less able to process protein.

and in my first comment I said "in some cases people have side affects"
anyways not trying to be a dick. My girlfriend is vegetarian I do cook a mean vegi green enchalada. Respect.

Supposedly that's where bbq got started... a way to cook the most difficult meat of all... people. G*d bless the Food Network.

My friend who I havent seen in awhile came into town (not philly) this weekend.... he had become a vegetarian since I last hungout with him. Over the weekend I had to drive to several restaraunts and preview the menus and leave when they didnt have an acceptable meal.... I respect your decision to become a vegetarian but be prepared to cook alot more. I'm not sure what kind of options there are in Silver Springs. Good Luck.

On the other hand I did eat a vegetarian restaraunt in Chinatown before the SGBurlesque show... it wasnt too bad, the fake chicken that is.