I was thinking it would be good to have a little check-in for those of us who aren't quite all-the-way vegetarian yet to share our successes, slip-ups and temptations.

I'll start

My name is Kristy and I'm a recovering Omnivore. I haven't eaten any land animals or dairy products in 10 days. My big success of the day was not eating the cream cheese wonton they served me with my tofu stif-fry at lunch today. I have a goal to be land animal and dairy-free for 30 days. Then I'll start working more diligently on eggs and seafood.

hahahah Funny post!

I haven't eaten a LAND animal in hmm 4 or 5 years
the last time I ate seafood was hmmm 3 or more months ago.. I have a serious problem with it. I crave it about 2 times a year.

EKKK

there
off my chest haha

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Funwithyourfood
:help:

Hey, Kristy! Congrats on your success so far! I've been on-again-off-again vegetarian for a few years, but I just recently got rid of fish, and I'm going for dairy now. I went 2+ years without dairy a while back, but now that I eat it, and now that I know how hard it was the first time to let go of, I know it's going to be a very tough battle... I've been trying my best to cook without dairy lately, but I just ate nachos for dinner :sick: Ah...

It's really great to hear that you've made it so far in just 10 days; I hope you reach your goal in 30!

I seriously can't really see myself eating chicken or beef again. I've never been a big fan of the hunk-of-meat-and-pile-of-potatoes kinda meal. My family thinks I'm a freak.

My daughter told me this morning that she's going to stop eating sausage since I told her what's in it :D She was also inspired by the "Hot Dog Eating Contest Contestant" beer commercial on the radio. I think it was the "I hope I'm not eating rear end" line that grossed her out.

I think I belong here, I swing from omni right through pesco, lacto-ovo veg, ovo veg, vegan, and all the way back again (though when I do eat meat I only by free range/organic and I'm UK so it does have meaning here). I just find it really haard to exist without some sort of meat, I went two weeks full out vegan and by the end I was really miserable and hungry all the time (and I was eating protein at every meal), I couldn't get satisfied off my food so I swung right back to omni. I'm not someone who never really liked meat, I find it much more satisfying than any veggie food I've found and I feel better physically when I'm eating meat, but at the same time I'm not comfortable with it morally.

peasoop, I'm from the UK and I wouldn't say that free range has much meaning.

Congrats everyone for making it this far! When I was giving up dairy I tried to find as many replacements as possible - vegan chocolate, milkshake, sweets, etc. Made it less painful :lol:

I feel sick looking at meat, I could never eat it again.

Way to go, people! Hang in there!

There are quite a few good threads around here, from Tesseract's "Tip Of The Day" thread to recipes (a boon for me, because I'm not a very good cook). I eat almost no animal foods now (I think my margarine has whey in it), but I don't think I ever really lost my taste for meat because it still smells good.

I began transitioning to a vegetarian lifestyle about 30 days ago. I started by cutting out beef and pork. Within a week I had cut out poultry, which I've always been ambivalent about anyway. I still eat seafood, but want to eliminate that by my birthday in November or before. I haven't stumbled and surprisingly haven't really missed meat...yet.

Good job and high five to all of you! :vebo:

I became vegetarian in January. This past Sunday I decided to try being vegan for just one day to see if I could. Today is Wednesday and I am still eating vegan.

well codemonkey, I tried meat a few more times, and it really was so indistinguishable to boca burgers to me that I easily avoided it. I feel a lot cleaner inside and lighter in a shorter amount of time, not toxic or bloated when I eat veggies. The missing saturated fats really are the main reason. I think after a while (say near a year) of staying away from fats you actually feel gross after eating them. It is easy to get accoustomed to them again-- but whats the point. I can forgive myself because I am not in this for self flagilation. I'm doing it becasue I am convinced it is a good thing to do. Everyone i know really respects me for eating vegitarian. And I have cut my milk and egg consumption since last month to nearly nothing too. Doing that really jump started my weight loss-- (I am anti sugar and cake, so I dont eat that stuff anyway). Without the cheese and milk, suddenly I am really slimming down. I know You will get where you want to be. Sticking with it is not hard. Finding restraunts that serve veggie dishes is not hard-- nor is cooking for yourself (many times the appitiser or a-la-cart menu is the best). I can get excellent braised veggie subs at a lot of places with or without cheese. Let go and let your higher veggie power take over!

I've discovered that vegetarian cooking is actually quicker and easier. I can usually crank out a complete dinner with a protein, grain and veggies in less than a half an hour.

BTW, my meat-eating husband actually asks for boca burgers in restaurants now. He likes them better than the real ones.

BTW, my meat-eating husband actually asks for boca burgers in restaurants now. He likes them better than the real ones.

Yippie! Its a start!

We've actually been eating boca burgers for YEARS (since I started dieting.) My husband loves 'em, my kids love 'em. I also have to hide the box of morning star farms veggie corndogs when I buy them or he'll eat them all and I won't get any!

I think I belong here, I swing from omni right through pesco, lacto-ovo veg, ovo veg, vegan, and all the way back again (though when I do eat meat I only by free range/organic and I'm UK so it does have meaning here). I just find it really haard to exist without some sort of meat, I went two weeks full out vegan and by the end I was really miserable and hungry all the time (and I was eating protein at every meal), I couldn't get satisfied off my food so I swung right back to omni. I'm not someone who never really liked meat, I find it much more satisfying than any veggie food I've found and I feel better physically when I'm eating meat, but at the same time I'm not comfortable with it morally.

:lol:

Good job and high five to all of you! :vebo:

I became vegetarian in January. This past Sunday I decided to try being vegan for just one day to see if I could. Today is Wednesday and I am still eating vegan.

Congrats! :) I wish I had the willpower (and $ and time..) right now to go vegan also. It'd be a whole lot easier if there were actually a couple of vegans around here (Georgia..haha) to keep me on the right path. But that's why I like VB - keeps me pushing for it at least! :guitar:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/svj/vol1301/two.pdf

I stand by what I said no matter how many of you are laughing at me, organic isn't a term you can just stick on anything, there are laws about treatment of animals where the meat is labeled as organic. I know the animal still has to die (I'm not dense) but I have done research, I'm not just pulling random things out of the air.

Hey, Peasoop! You misunderstood me... I agree with you! I was laughing because I know that "organic" holds meaning elsewhere, but definitely not in the US. I used to think it was wonderful how many more organic food places are opening up around the US these days, but then I realized that the US does that with just about anything... make it look good, put some certificate stickers on it, put a nature-y picture on the front - it's organic.

It was a nice laugh, promise :)

Sorry, yeah, got the wrong end of the stick there, I can get a bit defensive!

:hungry: haha its good to know im not the only one that gets weak in the knees when it comes to seafood!

i havent eaten a land animal for almost two years now. i was doin good about not eating seafood until 3 weeks ago. i cheated. ahh! there its off my chest!

:lovesign: ahimsa,
tu

Okay, I'm on day 14! I honestly don't think I've EVER gone this long without a cheeseburger (or french fries since they tend to go hand-in-hand.) I'm feeling great (other than a little cold I've picked up in the past few days.) I think my husband's starting to crack though. I need to take him out tonight for some meat or he might go completely mental.

I seriously can't really see myself eating chicken or beef again. I've never been a big fan of the hunk-of-meat-and-pile-of-potatoes kinda meal. My family thinks I'm a freak.

My daughter told me this morning that she's going to stop eating sausage since I told her what's in it :D She was also inspired by the "Hot Dog Eating Contest Contestant" beer commercial on the radio. I think it was the "I hope I'm not eating rear end" line that grossed her out.


You've got one smart girlie there! :yes:

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funwithyourfood

:hungry: haha its good to know im not the only one that gets weak in the knees when it comes to seafood!

i havent eaten a land animal for almost two years now. i was doin good about not eating seafood until 3 weeks ago. i cheated. ahh! there its off my chest!

:lovesign: ahimsa,
tu

woo hoo i'm not the only person with a seafood weakness!
I feel bad when I eat it too.. i'm trying tho! I resisted sushi the other night. I was VERY proud of myself

:nana:

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Funwithyourfood

It's been 2 years since I haven't had meat, and 3 months without dairy. The thing I miss the most would be the iced capps from Tim Horton's, and the Moolattes from DQ. But since I'm lazy to walk by myself down there anyways, it's not such a huge deal.

Hi, I'm Paige. I'm a recovering Omni.

I have not eaten meat in four months or something.

I recently just touched a real dead chicken that my b/f was eating in order to give the dog his meds, but other than that, I've been doing good. :D

(not that I object to touching meat, but that was the first time in all this time I've even touched meat)

Paige

2 weeks down!!!!!! I've decided that something I can live with long term is to cook vegan meals at home (with the exception of honey) and lacto-ovo occasionally when eating at restaurants. I'm avoiding dairy right now as a weight loss measure but I'm not at the point where I can give it up permanently.

Last night we ate at Chili's and they made me veggie fajitas with portobello mushrooms and only charged me $8 for it (it wasn't on the menu.) It was soooooo good! Who needs chicken when you can have portobello mushrooms?