Hello All,

I'm 21, overweight, and a vegetarian in transition. I had tried to go veg in the summer of 2005, but, due to my low self-control, I reverted back to non-veg ways. As of May 1st, I have dedicated myself to becoming a full vegetarian in 6 months. I have already eliminated red meat (and pork) and eggs from my diet. This will not be hard as I hate eggs and have never ate that much red meat.

Here's my plan.
May-June. Stay on the no red meat/eggs
July-August. Eliminate fish
September-October. Eliminate poultry
November-December. Eliminate animal byproducts...learn about food labling.

After that I may look into eliminating dairy, however I have a huge cottage cheese addiction that I'm not sure I want to let go of.

Um, now I don't have anything else to say. I've ran out of all my interesting things in one post. Darn :-)
=Drew
P.S. I'm not sure if this belongs here or the introduce yourself section....could someone tell me?

Good plan! I guess it would go in introduce yourself, unless you want advice...So why are you posting?

Just my 2 cents:

I also had very weak self-control before I went vegetarian. I tried to do the slow transition thing, and found myself rationalizing and making excuses to revert to old eating habits. One day I decided 'screw this, I am never eating animal products again.' It worked. I think because I had made a clear and irreversible decision, mentally.

Just a thought!

and welcome to veggieboards! you've found a great resource! :rockon:

Congrats for considering going veggie! The first step is the one that puts you in the right direction.

After that I may look into eliminating dairy, however I have a huge cottage cheese addiction that I'm not sure I want to let go of.

Remember that there are vegan alternatives to pretty much any animal product out there(cottage cheese included).

Welcome to VB! :hi: If gradual elimination from your diet works for you, then stick with it!

The plan that you have outlined is not only safe, but probably a good choice for a lot of people who want to make the transition.
I didn't exactly come up with a plan in advance, but I began to firstly eat less meat, but ultimately began to cut out certain types of meat entirely.
This helped me make the complete transitions to vegetarianism...even though I made the change "overnight", I had already cut out at least 75% of the meat in my diet anyway.

As I began to cut out things as a vegetarian, it made the process to becoming vegan (what I am now) easier as well.
Sometimes jumping right into veg*nism isn't easy...some people can make the change overnight and others find it easier to use a "step-plan".

Good luck on your transition!!1

Remember that there are vegan alternatives to pretty much any animal product out there(cottage cheese included).

I'm just going to go ahead and go against my own good judgment and say something to slightly counteract your slightly presumtuous point:

For somebody with a 'cottage cheese addiction', a vegan equivalent may not cut it. It's no secret that vegan alternatives to cheese are subpar to those who enjoy cheese. As somebody who was vegan for one year and tried them all- I can vouche for that.
I'm all for pushing the vegan message- but sometimes I feel like a lot of these statements are made in poor taste.

To the OP: Congrats on your transition- it sounds as though you've really thought this through! Welcome to the boards.

Anatta: Thanks for information on cottage cheese equivalent. I'm going to try to ween myself of the stuff :)
Steller26: Thanks for sticking up for my addiction ;)
Bethany17: I'm just introducing myself and seeing what people thought of my plan. Like I said, I have week self-control, I need support :)

Everyone: Thanks for the replies, it's more than I thought I'd get from a first post. This just may be one of the friendliest message boards I've been to after craftster.org's crochet board.

-Drew

i too am a vegetarian in transition...so far it's been almost seven months since i made the choice to cut meat out. started with red and white meat, slowly cutting fish out, and then i'll be where i want. i'm not planning on going full-on vegan at this point, so i will stick being a lacto-ovum. anyway, good to have you here, we can be transition-buddies :)

For somebody with a 'cottage cheese addiction', a vegan equivalent may not cut it. It's no secret that vegan alternatives to cheese are subpar to those who enjoy cheese. As somebody who was vegan for one year and tried them all- I can vouche for that.
Very true. I was a cheese freak for many years. I swear I felt like I supported the making of Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp cheddar. But....when I went vegan, I quit cheese and haven't looked back. I have not had really any vegan cheese alternatives that I really like, except ABC's and Chreese. But there are always going to be people who like them and find them to be maybe not the same but at least an alternative. I myself have chosen to live without any type of cheese substitute and I am fine with it. Though others may not be. I just think you may have been too quick to downplay the importance of cheese substitutes, especially for someone who is wanting to go vegan and also is most likely wanting help and support.
OP: Sounds like you are off to a great start. I have a book I bought quite awhile back, "The Gradual Vegetarian", by Lisa Tracy. It's in paperback and it's got ton's of info and recipes for someone in your situation. THough it doesn't go into veganism, it is at least a start. Good luck to you:D

Congratulations on your transition and good luck :up:

I used to be addicted to cheese on toast. I haven't tried vegan cottage cheese but I've tried vegan cheese ... but like Stellar said, I don't think substitutes ever taste 100% the same. They almost make me crave the 'real thing' more, because the taste is almost there, but not quite.

I find that hummus on toast or nutritional yeast on toast satisfies my cravings quite nicely. Because they are delicious in their own right and they have their own unique taste... so I don't really feel like cheese anymore. The only thing is now I've replaced my cheese addiction with a serious hummus addiction, hehe.

That make any sense? I guess what I'm trying to say is see if you can discover new tastes instead of trying to replicate the unvegan ones, because you might feel disappointed otherwise.

I just think you may have been too quick to downplay the importance of cheese substitutes, especially for someone who is wanting to go vegan and also is most likely wanting help and support.


I'm sorry if I came off that way. That's not the message that I was trying to get at.

Mainly, I was trying to get at the fact that people make statements similar to the one in which Anatta made all the time on this board, and I think that sometimes such comments come across as presumtuous and self-rightous; especially when said to somebody who quite obviously isn't at that crossroad at this point in time. I feel that it's almost like a race in these threads to see which vegan will come out first to tell the lacto-ovo what they can do to become more pure. Most of the time it's completely unsolicited and I think that's what gets me so wound up.

I don't mean to pick on your comment, Anatta- and I hope that you don't feel as though I'm picking on you, specifically. I guess I don't even know why I'm bringing this up right now. It's just been bothering me for a while and apparantly your comment was in my way at the wrong time!

I do feel that cheese alternatives (like chreese, which I do enjoy) can be important when a person is in need of a diary fix, but they truely don't live up to dairy cheeses (the one and only exception being Road's End Organic's Nacho Chreese Dip). I think that it's important that people who are trying to make the switch try alternatives in place of real dairy, but I do think that they should be aware of the fact that no vegan cheese out there lives up to diary cheese at this point in time. I know how disappointed I was when I tried vegan 'cheeses' for the first time after having been told time and time again how wonderful and indistinguishable they were in comparison to real cheeses. They might be someday, but right now they are far from it.

Sorry if that's long and drawn out and a huge SORRY to the OP for hijacking your thread! I just needed to explain myself better, and I think that I'm done now.

I'm sorry if I came off that way. That's not the message that I was trying to get at.

Mainly, I was trying to get at the fact that people make statements similar to the one in which Anatta made all the time on this board, and I think that sometimes such comments come across as presumtuous and self-rightous; especially when said to somebody who quite obviously isn't at that crossroad at this point in time. I feel that it's almost like a race in these threads to see which vegan will come out first to tell the lacto-ovo what they can do to become more pure. Most of the time it's completely unsolicited and I think that's what gets me so wound up.

I don't mean to pick on your comment, Anatta- and I hope that you don't feel as though I'm picking on you, specifically. I guess I don't even know why I'm bringing this up right now. It's just been bothering me for a while and apparantly your comment was in my way at the wrong time!

I do feel that cheese alternatives (like chreese, which I do enjoy) can be important when a person is in need of a diary fix, but they truely don't live up to dairy cheeses (the one and only exception being Road's End Organic's Nacho Chreese Dip). I think that it's important that people who are trying to make the switch try alternatives in place of real dairy, but I do think that they should be aware of the fact that no vegan cheese out there lives up to diary cheese at this point in time. I know how disappointed I was when I tried vegan 'cheeses' for the first time after having been told time and time again how wonderful and indistinguishable they were in comparison to real cheeses. They might be someday, but right now they are far from it.

Sorry if that's long and drawn out and a huge SORRY to the OP for hijacking your thread! I just needed to explain myself better, and I think that I'm done now.
No worries. I got what you were saying in your first post, but was just worried that it may throw someone off altogether. I do agree with you though. Vegan cheese is not up to par and I guess anyone can like it or leave it. I leave it but except for, like I said, the 123's and chreese or whatever it is. My kids love it. So it can't be that bad. I have some vegan mozzerella sitting in my fridge from three months ago that I was always scared to try. I'm sure that there is someone out there though that loves it. I've found that not eating cheese for so long I don't even want it anymore anyway. Weird :think:

I agree with the gradual approach, I remember it took me a good few months to completely cut out all meat and fish and become totally vegetarian, that was about 10 years ago now!
As to cutting out dairy, it's something I've failed to do miserably, I guess I like cheese too much, but as others have said there are now alternatives to dairy products that are worth trying

I just wanted to say hello to the OP. I'm following a similar plan myself. No more red meat or pork. Chicken is over as of August 1 (probably the most difficult hurdle for me). Seafood by November 1.

It's a long plan, but I find that consistency with a small thing over time is the best way for me to change. I'd tried to go cold turkey before in the past and failed, so a gradual transition works best for me, too.

Odd, I thought I went veg 'cold turkey' 10 years ago on May 4th. However that's not true--I became repulsed slowly. It probably took years before I finally got it. I'm what's newly called an 'ethical' vegetarian. The knowledge of what happens to the precious lives of those cruely turned into food turned me off--totally.

Realize that if you go 'cold turkey' or wein yourself, it's all good if you save lives of innocents.

Oops, let me also mention that it's very important to learn how to become a veg. You don't just drop meat from your diet, you go to the book store and find information in books written by professionals. Go to VRG.com for assistance.

Hope it's OK I gave that info here, can't imagine why not.

Anyway, good luck and best wishes.

Veg

We did the gradual approach too, but didn't plan it that way. It was like a natural omition of animals in this order, mammals, birds, sea animals, by pruducts. It took us about 3 months. Good luck to you! (BTW, when we went Veg, my husband lost 48 pounds!)