How Hard Is It To Make The Transition To VEGETARIANISM?

It really depends on you. Some people have an easy transition, others will experience cravings. It takes some will power.

Most restaurants will have vegetarian options. Just ask the cashier/waitress what they have for vegetarians. They may not list them on the menu.

Well, see that's the thing about being a vegetarian. Most restaruants WON'T have your food. That's another reason why we are healthier. Forget fast food restaruant when you go vegetarian. I went cold turkey. I don't eat meat anymore because it's bad for you. Go online and google what they do to animals and the antibiotics they feed them. Or something like that. I read a book about it. That completely turned me off from eating meat. That's how I went cold turkey. And for the record, there are different levels of vegetarianism. You can eat meat and still be a vegetarian. You can only eat pouletry though. You can eat chicken, turkey, and fish. I don't eat meat at all though. There's also Vegan. Vegans don't eat animals or anything that comes from animals. Anything that contains milk, eggs, or anything of that nature are not allowed for Vegans. Decide which one you want to be. And you really need to get that refrigerator running. Basically anything you eat will be fresh unless you eat canned foods or junk foods.

Eat all the things you LOVE that don't have bodies in them. Beans, fried rice, noodles, peanut butter on toast, baked pumpkin with cheese, pasta, stuff like that. If you need to eat vegetarian burgers and bacon, there are lots of types. Look at Indian food- lots of curry dishes and vegetarian is the main cuisine. Buy FRESH, not old tofu, and pressed tofu. Get good tofu chicken, tofu tuna etc and FRESH tofi from a good asian shop- thai, chinese or korean, they'll sell the real stuff. Get used to eating cleaner, good wholefoods. Get used to sauces, marinades, and different spices, because there are thousands of foods out there and different cuisines which don't ever use animal pieces.

So let me get this straight: You plan to eat completely at fast food restaurants for the rest of your life, and you think that bananas are somehow a factor in becoming vegetarian.

You live somewhere so slummy that you don't have a fridge and you're okay with that, you plan to work around it.

And you consider fish to be a plant, cause you want to stop eating meat but you think fish isn't included in that.

Scary stuff! Good luck with that.

To correct the person above, plain "vegetarianism" is actually defined as not eating red meats I believe. However, I don't think it should be defined this way. If you eat no meat (that means not eating fish as well) but eat eggs and dairy, you are a lacto-ovo vegetarian. When you stop eating eggs and dairy as well, you are a vegan.

And, you can go to places like taco bell and order pretty much everything, but just say "beans instead of meat".

Also there are meat substitutes you can buy in the frozen section of the grocery store by Morningstar Farms.

Hope this helps!

im also working to become a vegetarian. At first I stopped eating all cows and pigs, which was not very hard, because I really didnt eat hambugers and hotgogs and things of that nature very much anyway. next was fish, which was also pretty easy. the one thing im trying to stop eating now, is chicken, which is the hardest but i hope to acheive my goal soon.

Contact one of the national veggie groups, they will probably send you a free go veggie pack and they can give advice on eating out too. They may be able to put you in touch with a local group too, a local veggie group will tell you about the best places in your area

Also search the HappyCow website which lists veggie places to eat all over the world.

www.happycow.net

Finally veggies do not eat fish (or any seafood)

Good luck

um.. please don't call yourself a vegetarian until you stop eating fish.. fish is meat.. vegetarians do not eat fish..

but it's fine to take it slow and leave fish as the last thing to give up if you want..

You're free to eat whatever you want, I'm just asking you to not spread the allready widespread confusion that exists regarding fish and vegetarianism.. the definition of a vegetarian is someone who eats no meat.. fish IS meat (The flesh of a dead animal)

Anyway.. enough of that.. Subway the veggie delight and veggie patty are all good choices..

Mc DOnnalds, t here aren't alot of choices.. chips (we call them french fries here in US).. sometimes salads.. but you have to make them leave the bacon or chicken off..deserts are yummy.. they have biscuits (scones) on their breakfast menu, hash browns, eggs, pancakes..

Shoneys.breakfast food!! French Toast... pancakes.. scrambled eggs..

Pizza Hut-I prefer plain cheese pizza, but some veggies are fine too, if you like.. If you liek the spinach pizza.. sure!

Movie theater- your choices sound fine..

apples and oranges should keep allright..

The key to no refrigeration is you just have to shop European market style, meaning just buy a little at a time, just what you'll eat in two or three days.. Crackers, cookies (biscuits), bread.. PB...don't need to be refrigerated

You'll have to wean yourself off of the fish and seafood to if you want to be a vegetarian:

http://www.vegsoc.org/info/definitions.html

Where do you draw the line? All ethics are arbitrary. That's easy: draw the line as low as you think you can, and reevaluate it from time to time.

I would agree that all ethical statements have some arbitrary component, but that does not mean we should abandon all ethics. The key is to be as reasonable as possible. The most ethical behavior probably would be to eat absolutely nothing so as to cause no impact on your environment. This is clearly impractical. The least ethical behavior would be to kill and eat anything you want, including humans. Almost all people would consider this wrong.

Everything in-between those two extremes is gray area. The best way to settle on a spot in that gray area is to carefully consider the issue and choose a diet which for you balances the ill of harming or killing creatures against the necessities of your life. Occasionally, you should evaluate your decision to see if you should modify it one way or the other. The most important aspect is that you give it some thought: consider the consequences of your actions.

As for where to draw the line, there are a few natural lines that make sense and are relatively un-arbitrary. Choose one of these lines and see how it works for you:

***Don't eat humans. That shouldn't be too hard to do, as it's illegal anyway. Most everyone follows this standard without giving it any thought.

***Don't eat primates. Well, most Westerners don't do this, but some people eat monkeys and even Chimpanzees. I'm hoping you don't.

***Don't eat any mammals, as they are very closely-related to humans. Also, mammals experience a broad range of feeling and many are quite intelligent. Despite the derogatory connotations associated with their name, pigs are some of the most intelligent animals on this planet.

***Don't eat any vertebrates because they experience high-order pain and other nervous responses in basically the same way that humans do. Some of them are quite intelligent, too.

***Don't eat any animals (Vegetarian, a.k.a. Ovo-Lacto Vegetarian). This is one of the least arbitrary standards, as there's a fairly clear line between animals and non-animals. All animals are sensate, react to pain, and are arguably a higher form of life than plants, fungi, etc.. Even some invertebrate animals, such as octopuses, can be extremely intelligent.

***Don't eat any animals or animal products (Vegan). This is also very un-arbitrary. Products such as milk and eggs come from enslaving animals in sometimes horrendous conditions. It makes sense that if you're trying not to kill animals, you also should try to avoid inflicting other forms of violence on them. “No” to any type of product derived from animals, including fur, leather and honey.

***Don't eat things which result in animal death when they are harvested. Mass-harvesting of grains, for example, causes the deaths of many creatures, including a variety of mammals, which are caught in the farm equipment. Meeting this standard is extremely difficult in modern societies as it basically requires that you eat only food you grow yourself or that come from a source you know to be safe. Over time, this may become more feasible. Consider however, that eating only meat certainly wouldn't help prevent animal deaths from grain harvesting. Meat animals eat huge quantities of harvested grain, and they also displace enormous numbers of animals from their natural habitats.

***Don't eat anything that is killed to become food (Fruitarian) - It may be possible to live without eating any dead things, including plants. Eating things such as nuts, fruits, and many vegetables does not directly cause any deaths. Personally, I see this as a somewhat unreasonable standard both because it sounds nutritionally near-impossible and because just taking a shower causes the deaths of countless microorganisms. I don't think it's reasonable to expect to be a human being and not cause some other things to die... I only look to minimize it. However, if you think you can live a Fruitarian life, more power to you.

***Don't eat the products of any living thing - Breatharian. I'm pretty sure this is impossible (at least in today's society), because it doesn't leave much to eat besides salt. However, it may be possible in the future that we could grow our food in enclosed environments (thus avoiding killing animals during harvesting), and that that food could be replicated through advanced cloning techniques, thus meeting at least the Fruitarian standard of not causing deaths. Right now, I'm not going to worry about it... but it is something to think about for the future.

In all of the above definitions, understand that not eating something also refers to not using it. Non-cannibals generally don't use human skin for ornamentation, and vegetarians generally avoid leather.

Or at least, it is reasonable to assume that people who are willing to consider the moral consequences of killing animals are more likely to restrain from violence against other human beings if at all possible.

Conclusion – Vegetarianism or veganism never stop at eating habit alone, but a “journey” beyond - Philosophy and way of life.