how can i give up meat?

Do as much research as you can into conditions on factory farms and in slaughterhouses. Make sure you know where the meat you are eating comes from. The more informed your decisions are, the easier you will find it to stick to them.

I'm vegetarian and I stopped eating meat by cutting different meats out one by one, first pork and then beef and so on.

Prepare by finding interesting recipes for vegetarian food that you will enjoy. Cook/eat with friends, especially vegetarian friends. Think about the positives of vegetarian food - it can be just as tasty, fun and interesting. It is sometimes harder to eat out though.

If you know you can get humanely raised beef, treat yourself to a BBQ every now and then using that meat.

Different people do it in different ways. My sister is a poor student but she's concerned about what she puts into her body. She eats organic meat when at home with our parents and when she can afford it. If she can only afford factory farmed crap, she eats vegetarian food or meat alternatives such as Quorn. My roommate chose to cut down on meat for the environment. Now when we eat together at home she eats vegetarian food (usually six days a week). When we eat out she is more likely to want to treat herself and take the meat option. We live in France so finding vegetarian restaurant food can be tough.

You'll find that your body will readjust and you won't want so much meat. Really, it's all in the mind. I used to miss some things like crazy, such as bacon, but now I can't imagine wanting it. The thing is to make sure that you eat a balanced diet. If you just eat fries and pizza, your body will think something is wrong and you will feel this as a craving for meat. As long as you're getting all the nutrients you need, you shouldn't have any major cravings. Besides which, you're not cutting it out completely anyway.

As for affording a vegetarian lifestyle - eat locally grown veg in season and it will be much cheaper. Ask your farmer friend if there are any farmers markets in your area where you can pick veg up cheaply. Also think of the money you'll save on vitamins!

It is a good idea to look at the PETA website. Yes, although I support their principles I think that they push it too far and end up alienating the very people they're trying to persuade. However, if you can look past this you will find that they do actually have some very useful information about cutting out meat and on vegetarian alternatives (in case the cravings do strike!) I think they even send out a free vegetarian starter pack, which might be helpful for you.

Good luck, and enjoy your new lifestyle! Think of the good you're doing for animals, the environment and your health!

After a while, you'll find that for the same price you can get a lot of veggies for the price of a steak. They seem more expensive now, but you get more bang for your buck. Also, the really cheap meat is incredibly inhumanely raised. You're lucky to have a farmer friend who can hook you up! If you started buying organic, pasture raised meat you'd find that it's much MUCH more expensive than veggies. That's the way it's supposed to be.

Get a really good vegetarian cookbook. Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian is a good place to start, The Moosewood Collective has a ton of good ones (Moosewood Cooks at Home is my favorite), or The Enchanted Broccoli Forest is good too. Start cooking your way through one of the books and you'll find really good ideas and recipes to adapt down the road. Commit to having X number of meatless meals a week. Eventually you'll find that you won't crave meat the way you might now.

And, at the end of the day, if you want a cheeseburger - have a cheeseburger. Just know where your food comes from. If I want a burger I have to go all the way across town, pay twice as much as normal for a grass-fed, organic burger. It makes me think twice, but when I do get it, it's SO good that it keeps me satisfied for way longer than any tiny corn-fed fast food burger.

Start reading. Check out vegan blogs to get ideas and recipes and find out more about nutrition and the lifestyle.

Here's one of my faves (but there are so many more and this one has a vegan blog search tool, linked in to 400 others, in the upper left so you can find recipes by name or specific ingredient):

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/

The way I did it was just to add more fruits and veggies and plant-based meals in and those naturally displaced the ones with animal products. It was easy, satisfying and a great learning experience and I've never been happier or healthier. :)

Good job!

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EDIT TO ADD: For the most part veggies are less expensive than decent meat though there's nothing to compare when it comes to heirloom tomatoes which are worth every penny. Beans and many grains are quite economical such as quinoa which is currently at about $2.99 a pound but that's the dry weight and cooks up to 4 to 5 times that in volume as do beans. One of the important things to consider is how healthy a plant-based diet is and how much less expensive than meds, doctor visits and hospitalizations for conditions such as high cholesterol and blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease, colon cancer, or a meat bourn illness as e coli, or mad cow, etc., can be.

Here are a couple links on inexpensive plant eating :)

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt...

http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/2008/10/depressi...

http://veganonthecheap.com/

I'm, a vegetarian and I find that it is much cheaper (where do u live anyway???) Before I became a vegetarian, I used to be in love with hamburgers. You just need to find a substitute for meat. Try some veggie burgers or soy products. They make like a vegetarian version of about everything. Just try it and be sure to take a multivitamin :D

There are lots of vegetarian meats at food stores, or if you have a Vegetarian Market in your town.

Morning Star and Boca are really good brands you can find at your local wal-mart.

just ask someone where there vegetarian food is.

But be aware that you must cook it properly for it to taste right

I think veggie meat is deliscious

hippos, elephants, gorillas all have very large canine teeth and are vegetarian.....very dumb comparison....we have very tiny useless canine teeth....

meat is difficult to digest and will slowly travel thru the digestive tract for 4 or 5 days putrefying inside your intestines and spreading poisons into your system...

autopsies have shown that people have 10 to 15 lbs of undigested meat products still in their colons and digestive tract....that isn't a beer belly it is a lazy colon....

a veg life style is half the cost of a meat persons grocery list....

I kind of weaned myself off. First I started by cutting meat out of my lunches. Then, I only had meat in my dinner a couple of times a week. Finally, I cut it all together. It made my body happier (less of a drastic transition), and got me in the right state of mind

while i became a baby, I favorite darkish meat for poultry and turkey, yet now as an grownup, my flavor has replaced and that i do unlike darkish meat anymore... So I prefer chicken...(i do no longer devour lots poultry now, although).

we do have canine teeth for a reason but that doesnt mean we HAVE to eat meat! and meat is only important for protien and anything with 5 or more protiens is considered a good source of protien.Also, it is not like vegitarians only eat veggies! they just dont eat meat.

when i did it i stopped eating meat cold turkey but i suppose you could try using the fake meat stuff you can now find at the grow store to psychologically food your mind into thinking its meat until your fully ready to ween your self off