30 Day Veg Pledge

Liann

Liann

Cathlete
Ok, I am ready to take the plunge, or at least test the waters a little. I've decided to try the 30 day veg pledge and see if I can hack it. http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/30_day_veg_pledge?qp_source=vegpledgegen I know there are several vegetarian/vegans on board. Any good additional resources for someone switching over - cookbook suggestions, etc?

Also, any other brave souls up for the 30 day challenge??? I hate to go it alone and I don't know if I'll ever be able to get my DH fully on board. :/
 
Oh My God!!! This is horrible. I am a vegetarian since around 8 years and soooooooooooo happy to be but so sad to see that people still see animals as food... so sad

it's not hard to be vegetarian.... it's harder to eat meat. it's just in this society that's all we know to eat.

When someone asks me "You eat no meat, no fish, no chicken... what do you eat". I respond: "what do you eat else than meat??" there are amaizing healthy and very tasty vegetarian meals. We just need to know them and in this society, all they show is meat and we actually believe that it's so important.

sorry.... Just after viewing this video...
 
Darine - Did you watch the one with Pam Anderson too? That one had me crying! It's the one about KFC. I'm still recovering from that!
 
The more & more I've been "thinking" about animal abuse, etc with all the crap in the news these days, the more it does make one stop & think about how we humans raise animals to kill & eat. I was brought up in a family that loves animals & have always had numerous pets but yet there we sit eating hamburger, chicken, ham, etc...

I am not sure I am ready to take the plunge yet but that being said the only meat I currently eat is during the work week for lunch, I take a south beach diet wrap kit daily so it's chicken, processed but still meat. Besides that though, I really don't eat any meat.

Darine-You are correct, lots of choices out there that are so good... actually I was sitting there eating a bowl of Kashi GoLean cereal the other night & I was thinking of how good it is and it is fiber twigs, soy protein grahams, and honey puffs & I personally think it is so much better than a piece of meat!

I need to figure out something else for lunch during the week & then I could be meat free...of course my loving hater girls will probably get on me more since my diet right now is basically protein bars, whole wheat wraps, kashi cereal, and fruit! :)
 
Going vegetarian isn't that hard at all. I went vegetarian in 1976 and never turned back (now vegan). Good general info "Becoming Vegetarian" or "Becoming Vegan," two books by Vesanto Melina.

www.vegsource.com has info, including recipes.

For recipes, you can probably think of several things already that you eat that are vegetarian, and some others that you can adapt (ie: chili without meat).

Also think about dishes from other traditions:
Asian
Middle-Eastern
African
European
Going vegetarian can open you up to a wealth of different food choices, and a variety of tastes.

Ideas:
Breakfast options:
cereal with milk (even non-dairy milk)
cooked grains (oatmeal, but also quinoa or kamut, or buckwheat or barley)
scrambled tofu
a smoothie

Lunch/dinner:
wonderful, dark-green salads
wraps (filled with hummus and veggies, or beans/rice/veggies)
sandwiches
 
I am doing my best to be (mostly) meatless - going strong since April! :)

I continue to eat eggs (free range - from the Amish market), dairy (yummy yogurt), and seafood. Well, I live in Maryland - how can I give up crabcakes?


Not to start a flame war but here I go...
I have four carnivorous pets. And they do eat meat. Animals *are* food. To other animals. I have no problem feeding my cats and my dog meat.



Good luck to the original poster! I found the Moosewood cookbook to be very helpful and highly recommend it! I got it from amazon.com along with a book for teens wanting to go veggie. I use the Moosewood one all the time. In fact, the spine's about cracked on the page for felafel - yummy!

I have not cracked the tofu code yet, but I would not recommend tofu dogs. Hot dogs made of soy. Blech.

Morningstar makes great burger-substitutes.

Plus I try to be careful of how much soy I ingest because of the possible link between soy and breast cancer (the theory that soy acts like estrogen and can aggravate cancer - especially to those who've already survived the disease.)

FWIW, I do credit my (mostly) meatless state with my being able to keep off the 37 pounds I lost last year. I hover around 155 pounds. So I'm not completely where I want to be (150), but I found I gained some weight when I started working out/lifting again.

Susan L.G.
 
Susan - no problems with "flaming" here! If I was to put my pets on a vegetarian diet, the weiner dogs would revolt. Plus, I don't think my bp's would appreciate "veggie mice". ;) It's not something I would ever impose on them :). I'll be lucky if I can even get my DH to go along with it, although I will admit he was pretty disturbed over the whole KFC thing too and he loves KFC. Baby steps...
 
OMG...I just watched that little video clip that's on that site and I feel positively sick to my stomach....;( ;( ;( ;(
 
Oh my! I couldn't make it past reason #15 without getting sick to my stomach. Oh.....MAN! My bigget problem, though, is my kids. I'm not looking for an excuse to NOT take the plunge, but my kids love meat grilled or baked. How do I switch them over too?

I'm about 95% there already. An occasional craving for a steak or a grilled chicken breast hits me. I also eat tuna on my salads. And EGGS! What do you sub for regular eggs that won't break the bank (VERY tight, FIXED budget in this house).

Oh....I'm willing to take the plunge!

ETA: I signed the pledge. I'm willing to give it a 100% effort. But I'm wondering about eggs, yogurt, milk. Are we talking just meat? I'm assuming so! I CANNOT DO THIS ALONE! I need company! Liann, I'm with you!

Gayle
 
My husband and I went veg (not vegan) a year ago this July after reading Skinny Bitch, and it's been much easier than either of us would've thought when we were meat-eaters. My advice is to make friends with the god-sends that are Morningstar, Boca, and Gardenburger. Some do things better than others, but they've each got something delicious to offer. My faves are Morningstar's sausage patties, bacon, and buffalo wings (GREAT on salads), plain ol' Boca burgers, and Gardenburger's Black Bean Chipotle burgers. Also, if you can find it in your area, Quorn is fantastic stuff, and not soy-based like the others. It's the most meat-like of anything I've tried, high in protein and very low calories. I was skeptical of their "Quorn Roast", but it was actually great! A perfect substitute for roast turkey, and great on sandwiches.

Now I've gone and made myself hungry!
 
I agree - the Moringstar crumbles are very tasty in breakfast dishes!

My DH went along with me very willingly - if just to get me to shut up about the chickens!

Everytime I'd mention the latest video I saw on the 'net that day he'd say, "Oh, Christ, not the chickens again!" Or when I watched how the baby chicks are sorted by gender on Dirty Jobs (and some show called "How It's Made", or something like that), then put in all those plastic bins to be innoculated and shipped off!

Sniff! :(

Susan L.G.
 
>Oh....I'm willing to take the plunge!
>
>ETA: I signed the pledge. I'm willing to give it a 100%
>effort. But I'm wondering about eggs, yogurt, milk. Are we
>talking just meat? I'm assuming so! I CANNOT DO THIS ALONE! I
>need company! Liann, I'm with you!
>
>Gayle


Gayle - I am just starting with no meat. To go without eggs, yogurt, milk etc. would be to become a vegan and I am definitely not ready for that! :) I may transition to it eventually, but for me eliminating meat is the first step. I talked to DH about it a little more last night. Not sure I will ever quite win him over. I definitely can not do this alone either! Maybe we need a veggie check-in? ;)
 
OK....I'm ready! Today! And I'm also starting with meat. Maybe eventually the yogurt and eggs and dairy, but not yet. Small steps, right?

And I'm up for a veggie check-in too! I may need ideas and motivation at time.

Although I will share with you a homemade veggie bean burger that I make in big batches, then vaccuum seal. They're very tasty and I don't miss a beef burger. I'll post that later when I get a chance. For now.....I'M IN!!!!!!!

Gayle
 
Susan makes a good point...many animals (including cats and dogs) eat meat. They would die if they were deprived of it. Humans however, do not need meat to survive and actually live much healthier lives without it (if there is an abundance of fruits and veggies, of course).

It is not killing animals for food that is the problem, it is the way in which it is done. Some of the living conditions of these animals (cows, chickens, pigs) are just horrible. I can't imagine a human being capable of such horror. It is the mental state of these people I worry about, not the animals.
 
Awesome Gayle! :) Any suggestions from the peanut gallery of what we could call a vegetarian check-in?
 
>Oh my! I couldn't make it past reason #15 without getting
>sick to my stomach. Oh.....MAN! My bigget problem, though, is
>my kids. I'm not looking for an excuse to NOT take the plunge,
>but my kids love meat grilled or baked. How do I switch them
>over too?

Kids often do best with meat analogs, like soy burgers, hot dogs, etc. (but try not to make them a huge part of the diet). There are also some veggie cookbooks for kids, and when they have the chance to be part of preparing the food, they might like it more (or not!).

Again, www.vegsource.com probably has some articles, resources, for feeding veggie kids.

And you can find some good books at:
http://www.bookpubco.com/
http://www.vrg.org/
 
Good for you, Liann! :) I would sign the pledge, but I'm already veggie. Well... mostly. I suppose I could make it official and give up fish too (which I don't eat much of anyway). ;)

As for cookbooks and other references...

My favoritest cookbook is Vegan Planet. :D But don't be scared by the fact that it's all vegan recipes. They are good recipes. The chocolate chip cookies my DH makes are from this cookbook and they are AWESOME. Some of my favorite soup and pasta recipes are from this book too. So yummy!

The Vegetarian Times website has tons of recipes you can search through. wwww.vegetariantimes.com

The veggie meat substitutes that are available are very good, but I try to caution people against relying on them too heavily, because I would not consider them clean foods (they are highly processed). With that said, I absolultey adore the Morningstar Farms Chik'n patties and Corn Dogs. :7 They are a very tasty treat!
 
Emily-would you join us in a check in??? I'm always looking for new recipes. And I was just thinking the same thing about the processed meat replacements, for my kids. But then I worried about the PROCESSED part. I'll have to think about the kids a bit yet.

I was just thumbing thru my recipe box at home here, and it's not going to be hard for me to go meatless (like Emily, I may occassionally eat my tuna or salmon or tilapia). I've got a ton of recipes that I've collected since I lost all my weight, and a bunch of them are already vegetarian.

I'm all excited about this now!

Gayle
 
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