3 questions, help with one?

[karachanx]

ok so i am somewhat new to vegetarianism... and I have 2 problems...

1. I cant help my self!!! there is foods that I turn down for meat reasons, but when nobody is looking or when im alone, I eat or nibble at it. I know its wrong but as I said before, I cannot help my self. I feel so bad afterwards :(

2. How do I find hidden ingrediants? Like with some of my favorite foods? I dont know the hidden ingrediants so could sombody give me a list of some sort?

3. how am I going to tell my freinds about me being vegetarian? I dont really want to surprise them, but sort of... ya know, ease them into it? I hope you get what I mean lol



any sort of advice or answer will help tons!!! :sheep:

[karenlovessnow]

THis has been posted before...it might help.



http://caringconsumer.com/resources_...ients_list.asp

[karenlovessnow]

Doesn't seem to be working...here's the thread I got it from.

http://www.veggieboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=71315

[RoboMonkey]

http://www.peta.org/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=72

[New England Vegan]

1. I cant help my self!!!


In fact, you can. If you think you can, you can, if you think you can't you cant'. If you truly wanted to stop eating meat, you would simply stop. Make the commitment to yourself and to the animals and that's it. Take it out of your mind as a possibility, you don't eat it. I don't eat rocks, I don't eat meat. There are just things I don't eat and meat is one of them. I may not eat different things for different reasons, but the result is the same, I don't put them in my mouth. I wish you the best of luck, I know for some it can be difficult and I didn't mean to sound callous. But it really is just a decision and a frame of mind so it's all in how you think about it.

[rabid_child]

I think you should work on cutting out all obvious meat from your diet before you start worrying about trace ingredients. If you can't yet control your urge to eat dead animals, then work on that, then work on all the food additives.

[TigerLover]

Maybe you're telling yourself that you can't have meat. This is the reason why so many dieters can't lose weight as well. We can't have cupcakes, can't have pizza, can't have regular Pepsi, can't eat too much this or that. Can't, can't, can't.

For me, when I first went veggie, I craved, and sometimes cried. Then i realized, hey - no one's holding me down. The steak house is down the damned street if I want sirloin. Yes, I CAN have sirloin, but no, i won't have sirloin, don't want it today. Eventually, the cravings eased up. I don't know your living situation, are you with your parents or living with someone? If your alone, and want to go veg*n, meat shouldn't even be in your home. Don't buy it. Out of sight, out of mind.

Don't tell yourself that you cannot have it. Say, yes, I can have it at any time, but not today. One day at a time, not today, don't worry about tomorrow until it arrives.

I think many people fail at life changes because they tell themselves I can't have it, or can't do this or that and they panic. They look ahead, and oh, no, they can't do it for the rest of their lives. In truth, we're not doing it for the rest of our lives, just for today. Then when you wake up the next morning, you make a choice again.

As for your friends. I would be honest with my friends, however, you can always just not say anything, and just see if they notice anything different regarding your eating habits over time, and then let them ask you.

[icreep heather]

Don't tell yourself that you cannot have it. Say, yes, I can have it at any time, but not today. One day at a time, not today, don't worry about tomorrow until it arrives.

I think many people fail at life changes because they tell themselves I can't have it, or can't do this or that and they panic. They look ahead, and oh, no, they can't do it for the rest of their lives. In truth, we're not doing it for the rest of our lives, just for today. Then when you wake up the next morning, you make a choice again.




I agree with this. Remember WHY you're doing it...and don't think that you CAN'T have it..because ultimately CAN. It's just you are choosing not to, for whatever reason you decided you wanted to become veg in the first place.

[zirpkatze]

1. I cant help my self!!! there is foods that I turn down for meat reasons, but when nobody is looking or when im alone, I eat or nibble at it. I know its wrong but as I said before, I cannot help my self. I feel so bad afterwards :(

this is just a guess on my part but is it because you've told people you're vegetarian and you don't want to be weak in front of other people? when you're alone and tempted think about why you became vegetarian in the first place. you know the saying "if a tree falls in the forest...", it's the same thing. you know you've eaten meat and it makes no difference if anyone else sees you doing it, it happened.
it's hard at first, you're used to the taste and meat was part of your regular diet for so long. it gets easier once you discover new recipies and entirely new products that taste better than the meat you wanted.

[Beachbnny]

First of all, Welcome! Glad you're here :) I think the biggest thing for my transition phase that used to bug me was that I felt deprived. It wasn't until I adopted the mentality that I can make Anything vegetarian/vegan if I do it myself that that feeling changed. There's a close substitue for everything you usually eat. Granted, you'll eventually find so many wonderful new things to eat that your diet will change and expand and you won't feel deprived at all. Seriously, that feeling will go away cause you're not deprived you've just changed a few things. So there's no need to "sneak meat" if you have a veg version of what you crave on hand.

Good Luck! And remember why you're doing this in the first place :)

[derwenna]

You could tell your friends you're 'trying out eating vegetarian for a while', that way it doesn't sound like you're making a huge lifelong decision straight away, if you think it would help.

[animeidee]

My suggestion to you is to embrace your veg*nism. That sounds pretty strange, but seriously. Love the fact that you are veg, and that it makes you happy, and in turn makes you unique. Life is so much better because of the fact that everybody has differences. I love the things that make me "special". Your friends have things that make them different too. If they are true friends, they'll respect and accept you. (As long as you don't push them to go veg really hard.) You shouldn't worry too much about your friends. =D Good luck with your journey!

[SobeVegChick]

You could tell your friends you're 'trying out eating vegetarian for a while', that way it doesn't sound like you're making a huge lifelong decision straight away, if you think it would help.

I took this approach. It has helped my friends and family feel less threatened by the whole thing.

[NZVeggie]

You could tell your friends you're 'trying out eating vegetarian for a while', that way it doesn't sound like you're making a huge lifelong decision straight away, if you think it would help.

I also took this approach, although I quickly transitioned into saying "I'm a vegetarian". But in the beginning it was a lot easier, people didnt really question my vegetarianism and now that I'm comfortable with my decision I don't mind if people ask questions about it.

I'm actually doing the same thing again now but for veganism, I am defnitely not vegan yet but like to think I am on the path to veganism. And to make the transition easier, so I don't feel so much pressure I just tell people I'm trying to cut down on eggs and dairy. (which is what I'm doing as I still eat the trace amounts. However once I've cut the main things out like cheese I plan to cut out all the trace amounts as well!)

It makes me feel a lot better if I slip up and eat some dairy or trace amounts, people can't criticise me because I'm not a vegan yet. I know ppl aren't very likely to criticise anyway but my mind always thinks they will.