Vegetarians and vegans... I need some advice (1 Viewer)

[alo]

(we're on thread #70 y'all, there goes my perfect number of threads...)

so i'm a meat eater, brought up that way. it's a pretty big part of my culture, i'd say (i'm bengali, meat is a pretty big thing for us). and honestly, yeah, i love meat. but... yeah one day i'd like to go vegetarian, if not vegan. imo, the amount of enjoyment i derive from eating some mutton curry, or a chicken kebab, or a pork chop... is really not worth the pain these animals go through in the horrendous meat industry which also isn't very environmentally friendly. personally.

my question to you all... is how. how on earth do i go about doing this? it is very simple in theory, but it seems like a huge, daunting task. i don't really want to do it now since i still live with my parents - meal planning would become a bitch. once i move out, then i will. but then again... how? do i just go cold turkey? or should i do it more gradually? should i do a sort of "meatless monday" thing (though tbh many days do end up becoming accidentally vegetarian for us)?

also veganism seems all the more daunting to me. i'd always thought of going vegetarian before going vegan, but is that how to do it? or should i just directly becoem a vegan? also, is it really all that expensive compared to a vegetarian or a meat-eating lifestyle?

i'd love your advice and inputs on this cause i genuinely have no idea about any of this.

 

[Nina]

Trying cutting out on certain days, like your meatless monday plan.

Cook vegetable dishes in the same way you do for meat dish. Sub the meat for a veggie.
If you dont wanna alter your tastebuds too much look into Gujju recipes. Primarily vegetarian and you can keep the spices.

 

[SugarPoppinBSI]

I'm not Vegan or Vegetarian, HOWEVER, I know people that are.

Since you'll be cutting out a huge chunk of protein from the meat, make sure if you want to be either, you have to find protien in the rightways. Going vegetarian may be th ebest route for you tbh at first because you can slowly come off of beef and chicken and stuff. Some vegetarians eat eggs and some fish. Not all the time, but look into it fam. The protien can be found in different ways. and as long as you balance out your diet, you can totes do it!

The gradual slow way is the best to ween off anything because if you cut it off fast and quick, you'll crave it more, especially since Meat was important in the diet. Sooo...yeah...That's all I can say. Make sure you don't have certain allergies as well. THere are many routes.

 

[Wingfrost]

I would say find plant based recipes based off your favorite dishes and slowly integrate them into your meals.

 

[badcrookshanks]

as a proud vegetarian

you should start by trying to slowly eliminate different types of meat from your diet, starting from least favourite, something you dont eat that much anyway. theres also a lot of meat substitutes, sometimes you cant even tell, so if you miss the feeling of eating meat, you can always go for that. it may be hard at the beginning, but with time, you just have to develop new habits

 

[alo]

Trying cutting out on certain days, like your meatless monday plan.

Cook vegetable dishes in the same way you do for meat dish. Sub the meat for a veggie.
If you dont wanna alter your tastebuds too much look into Gujju recipes. Primarily vegetarian and you can keep the spices.

thank you! i'll look into gujju recipes, i quite like some gujju food already! there's also some really good bengali vegetarian dishes out there which i'd love to eat more often, they don't get enough love imo

I'm not Vegan or Vegetarian, HOWEVER, I know people that are.

Since you'll be cutting out a huge chunk of protein from the meat, make sure if you want to be either, you have to find protien in the rightways. Going vegetarian may be th ebest route for you tbh at first because you can slowly come off of beef and chicken and stuff. Some vegetarians eat eggs and some fish. Not all the time, but look into it fam. The protien can be found in different ways. and as long as you balance out your diet, you can totes do it!

The gradual slow way is the best to ween off anything because if you cut it off fast and quick, you'll crave it more, especially since Meat was important in the diet. Sooo...yeah...That's all I can say. Make sure you don't have certain allergies as well. THere are many routes.

thank you! i personally am looking into dropping eggs and fish as well (they're my least favourites anyway hahah). slow and steady does seem to be good i'll also have to look for good vegetarian sources of protein...

I would say find plant based recipes based off your favorite dishes and slowly integrate them into your meals.

that's a great idea, ty!

as a proud vegetarian

you should start by trying to slowly eliminate different types of meat from your diet, starting from least favourite, something you dont eat that much anyway. theres also a lot of meat substitutes, sometimes you cant even tell, so if you miss the feeling of eating meat, you can always go for that. it may be hard at the beginning, but with time, you just have to develop new habits

thank youu! meat substitutes are a good idea (no matter how much my parents will say "well if you're eating a substitute why not go for the real thing?") for when i get those cravings. i'll have to devote time to this, but i definitely will

 

[Selfmate]

not a non-meat eater but like other's have said above

try having meat free days like once a week or something and ease into it slowly
if you try go completely met free your likely to relapse and get withdrawal symptoms as I've seen from friends

 

[Ahsoka]

I’m very much not either and know little about, I just wanted to say that maybe if you worry about lacking proteins or maybe some other things by cutting out meat that maybe you can talk to a doctor or someone like that about it at some point? I don’t know how things are where you live and I also don’t imagine that you necessarily need to, but while online research can be helpful there are all too many “facebook doctors” out there that can spread misinformation, while a doctor may be able to give better advice (unless they suck ig). It probably wouldn’t have to be a super specialized doctor, if you have primary care doctors they’d probably be able to at least lead you to good online sources if not tell you straight up about it. That’s only if you’re worried about it to that level, if you feel confident that you can manage to find good sources on this topic without them then you’d probably be okay too, I’m more mentioning it if you feel a lot of worry about it.

 

[alo]

not a non-meat eater but like other's have said above

try having meat free days like once a week or something and ease into it slowly
if you try go completely met free your likely to relapse and get withdrawal symptoms as I've seen from friends

tyy for the advice!
yeah easing into it seems to be the general consensus out here...

I’m very much not either and know little about, I just wanted to say that maybe if you worry about lacking proteins or maybe some other things by cutting out meat that maybe you can talk to a doctor or someone like that about it at some point? I don’t know how things are where you live and I also don’t imagine that you necessarily need to, but while online research can be helpful there are all too many “facebook doctors” out there that can spread misinformation, while a doctor may be able to give better advice (unless they suck ig). It probably wouldn’t have to be a super specialized doctor, if you have primary care doctors they’d probably be able to at least lead you to good online sources if not tell you straight up about it. That’s only if you’re worried about it to that level, if you feel confident that you can manage to find good sources on this topic without them then you’d probably be okay too, I’m more mentioning it if you feel a lot of worry about it.

speaking to a doctor is definitely one of my plans! where i live, vegetarianism is pretty engrained in lots of people's cultures (many people are vegetarian for religious reasons - and to clarify, by vegetarian i mean that they don't consume meat or eggs, but do consume dairy. there's some who do consume eggs though), so i suppose doctors would be able to give good advice - especially and many would be vegetarian themselves. that said, i know vegetarians who've been told to consume some meat or eggs by doctors: (a) my cousin, herself a doctor, went vegetarian for a bit, but fell sick so she was advised to start eating meat again, and (b) my dad's colleague, who was told to eat an egg every day when she was pregnant. now, i do think my cousin was really sudden with the whole vegetarian thing, also i don't plan on getting pregnant any time soon,,, or ever. that said, i'll be careful, and definitely take a doctor's advice!