On the verge of switching
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On the verge of switching
| Mon, 12-26-2005 - 7:57pm |
Hi everyone. I'm here to get some tips and such on vegetarian living. I've been considering going vegetarian for awhile, and just never have. I've decided that I'm really going to try it and just see how long it will last. I love meat, but just feel weird and wrong whenever I eat it. So I thought I'd give it a try. My main concern is that I am anemic and have low iron. I take iron pills, which don't really seem to help much, and I'm afraid cutting out red meat (the little I eat now) will be worse for me.
I guess I'm just interested in getting some pointers or tips. I love fruit, vegetables, and pastas and such. I don't really eat a lot of meat as it is now, but am still a little hesitant to go completely meat-less.






For your iron there are other ways to get it, besides meat.
green vegetables such as watercress, broccoli, spring greens and okra, bread, fortified breakfast cereals
I took this from www.vegcooking.com. Some one asked about iron:
The first and easiest thing that you can do is begin cooking in a cast-iron skillet. This will help. Some foods that are rich in iron include broccoli, spinach, kale, and other dark leafy greens, as well as peas, beans, raisins, and other dried fruits. You can increase the absorption of the iron in these foods by combining them with foods that are rich in vitamin C, such as bell peppers. So how about an iron-rich stir-fry in your cast-iron skillet? Let’s see, sauté a little garlic in olive oil, add some bell pepper strips, some baby spinach, some cooked white beans, and a small handful of raisins. Garnish with toasted pine nuts. Season with salt and pepper.
Here is a helpful website on iron:
http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/iron.asp
If for whatever reason that you miss eatting meat when you become a vegetarian, there are meatless subsitutes. I personally think they are much tastier than meat actually. You can buy them at almost any grocery store these days.
I hope that this helps a little.
Thank you for your help.
Hi!
I used to think the same thing...that since I was already eanemic if I stopped eatingmeat then I would not be able to get the iron that I needed.
I have been vegetarian for about 3 years now and about 20 years ago I was vegetarian for 5 years.
I had my blood tested last year and my iron is better now than it has ever been.
I do eat a lot of kale ( sauteed or in a soup with potatoes) broccoli(stir fried), spinach coked or in salads and lots of nuts and seeds.
You don't have to go "Cold Turkey" forgive the pun! why notr try to go meatless for one meal a day and then slowly increase it to two and then to 3....it's hard to break a habit and establish a new one. This will give your body and your mind time to adjust. In the meantime you can do some research and try some new recipes.
Are you doing this on your own or are others in your family interested in joining in?
Let us know what foods you like/dislike and we can help you with some recipes and ideas to get you started.
Nathalie
Yes I was referring to veggie burgers.
There is an endless selection of meat alternatives besides the burgers.
Most grocery stores these days sells them. The biggest selection of those kinds of food I found is at the Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats.
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/index.html
http://www.wildoats.com/u/find/
Just click on those links to see if there is any stores near you.
Kale is really good for you and the good thing about it is that it sort of tastes like broccoli (but it's leafy) and it doesn't smell up the house when you cook it like broccoli does!
When I cut meat out of my diet completely, I actually discovered so many different, healthy foods, so "missing meat" was not a problem. For people who aren't vegetarians, living without meat is hard to fathom because so many meals are built around either chicken, beef, porc, lamb etc... My mom thinks that I've hardly eaten even when I'm completely stuffed with veggies, grains (rice, couscous, quinoa...), and legumes (beans, lentils, chick peas...). Just because I don't eat meat doesn't mean that there is something missing in my diet! I also eat tofu and drink soy milk, and they both contain iron and calcium. I don't really drink milk that much but I do eat cheese and get calcium from other sources. Starting a vegetarian diet can be really fun - just spend some time at the grocery store and discover new foods. I guarantee that you'll be eating a lot healthier since you'll be forced to find new foods to replace the meat you won't be eating.
And hey, if ever it doesn't work out and you miss meat too much, don't beat yourself up over it - being a veggie may not be for you! Good luck!
Hi, Jennifer!
You've gotten a lot of good responses, so I don't have too much to add, but I wanted to welcome you!
There are what I call "faux meats"- you've probably heard of tofurkey. There are soy immitaions of pepperoni, chicken, and so on. In fact many are so close to the real thing that I can't eat them- my senses tell me it's real!
As someone else said, you don't have to give up meat all at once. I did, more or less, but I had been planning to go vegetarian as soon as I moved out and I went to a university where the dining centers all offered a vegetarian option. I didn't have to deal with the planning and shopping until I was home for breaks, and I'd had a bit of practice when I got the occasional thing to heat up in my dorm room. My life at the time made it easy.
You could decide to try one new meat substitute a week (say, figuring out something besides ham to put on your sandwich at lunch) or to eat meat at one less meal. At some point you will need to declare yourself vegetarian because a lot of people in your social circle won't understand that you're only "cutting back" on meat but won't eat the thing that they made or bought (but then, if they don't see what you eat the next day it can't hurt them!) but you can do it at your own speed. If you're feeling more affects of amemia, you can eat a bit more meat while you look for ways to enrich it in your diet.
I know that deficiencies can be tricky. I have a condition that means I can not, under any circumstances, eat wheat, barley, or rye, and another medical problem that causes spastistity (muscle tension that's caused by a medical issue, not stress). A copper deficiency can also cause spastisity. Copper is mainly in wheat, barley, and shellfish. I have finally found a supplement that works for my body, but it was pretty uncomfortable for awhile. I am sure, though, that you can find ways to get iron. The cast iron pots, the iron rich veggies, and the methods for helping absorption are all good solutions, and my diet is unusually limited. A varied diet is important and is the spice of life. In fact my mother says I cook a wider variety of foods and put more types of dishes on the table than she did when she supposedly could use anything in the store. It can take some thinking and experimentation at first. We have tried things that were so bad they are running jokes (including a marinated tofu so bad that I can't convince my family to try another variation, LOL) but I have a file box, almost full, with just cards telling me where the recipe is (what book or binder) and what to put on the grocery list. There