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Trying to deal with cravings...

2K views 20 replies 19 participants last post by  VeganEnthusiast 
#1 ·
Hey guys I'm new to this forum. I decided to join because I've been trying really hard to become a vegetarian for over a year now and I've made progress but I'm struggling...
I want to become a vegetarian for the health of it. I'm not dieting per say, meaning I'm not doing this for any specific goal like losing weight other than just the general health it will give me... I feel so good about myself when I'm eating lots of fresh vegetables but the longest I've been able to stick with it is about 2 weeks and the cravings for pizza and burgers drove me nuts....:(

Instead of eating regular pizza I eat organic spinach pizza and I rarely eat burgers or fast food anymore but still, I find it very hard to stick to a full fledge vegetarian diet because I get strong cravings for red meats and cheese... I really like making Thai styled stir fry with low sodium soy sauce and peanut butter, but those cravings I get, I just don't know how to deal with them...

Does anyone here have any advice they could give me? I'd really appreciate it, please and thank you!
 
#2 ·
Have to get to the point to where the craving for being healthy is stronger than the illusive desire cravings of junk food.
Breaking from bad habits requires will-power. Can't allow outside influences in. Develop and cultivate reasons of heart. Care. Be smarter. Be more.
It can mean the need to get tough and choose the right instead of wrong.
People wanting to quit cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs etc.. go through the same thing.
Have to want to.
Plenty of good reasons.
Have to want to and get tough.
You only limit yourself as to what you make of yourself.
 
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#3 ·
Good advice above, you just have to get through it and not give in. Soon they will go away.

If you have internet access during those times, sometimes it helps to distract by reading food blogs, planning your next great vegetarian meal, or learning more about the health benefits of vegetarian food. Watch Forks Over Knives. Watch things like "Earthlings" or PETA videos like "Meet Your Meat".

Good luck.
 
#4 ·
Hi William,

One thing you might do if you have not already is cut down, or eliminate, junk food such as potato chips and such. Or make a rule that you will only eat them when you go out, but you won't keep them in the house etc.

Another thing you could try is this: For every meal you eat at home, *start* the meal with a small salad or simple vegetable soup. Every single time. This accomplishes two things: first, it will put some good quality fiber in your stomach and cause you to eat less overall, which means you will be satisfied with less cheeseburger or pizza. Second, if you make a habit of eating some vegetables or salad at every meal, it will help re-train your palette to enjoy the taste and texture of healthier foods. In time, meat-based foods will begin to taste very rich and fatty and just will not be as appetizing.

Persistence is the key here, and patience. It's actually really hard for most people to go cold turkey overnight, and I am not convinced it's a good idea. The more you discover veg foods you like, that satisfy you, the easier it will become to say no to the meat. But I've heard a ton of stories about people who decide they're just going to "do it," and after a few days of potato chips, carrots and soda they go back, concluding it's "too hard." Or, they eat nothing but salad and fruit (thinking they have to avoid carbs) and they don't get enough calories, and become convinced they "can't get enough protein" as a veg. IMO, it's far better to take a couple of years to transition, and use that time to investigate *how* to make it work for you, than to yo-yo back and forth. It took me 18 months to go veg, and another 6 months to give up dairy after that.
 
#5 ·
Have a think about what it is you're actually craving.

When I crave 'a cheeseburger' (which is something I crave less and less, but every now and then....) it's actually the sauce that I miss. Yes, I like the textures too, but the sauce was the thing I really loved. I used to miss anchovies on pizzas, till I put olives on them because surprise, surprise, I missed the salty taste.

If you can work out what it is you 'miss', if you can zero in on the texture or flavour, then you can go about recreating it in a vegetarian way.


As Rocket says, giving up dairy can be tough. So, why don't you just focus on cutting out the meat first? It's a good start.

I'd also recommend really thinking about why you want to give up eating animals.

For me, it was ethics. I didn't want to be part of that system anymore, so saying no to takeaway became really easy. My reasons for saying no, completely outweighed my reasons for saying yes to it.

Maybe you need to do the same thing. If eating a vegetarian diet makes you FEEL better, maybe the next time you go to eat takeaway, you need a way to remind yourself that it's not going to make you feel good. That eating a healthy vego meal instead, will make you 10 times better!
 
#6 ·
I tend to find that I don't miss meat, but I do miss the texture/density it offers sometimes. Particularly for spaghetti Bolognese / lasagne base which needs to be quite thick - I sub with shredded mushrooms though, which seems to work well. I don't really like quorn.

I want the right texture and taste from my food for it to be satisfying. Meat or not. With takeaway I find that a lentil-based curry or adding pineapple to my veggie pizza gives me what I want :)
 
#7 ·
Hi William

My journey to being veg*n is health motivated. I found it easier to transition to a veggie diet very slowly. I just incorporated more vegetarian meals in my diet and phased out meat. It probably took me about a year but it meant I stuck with it. I've been phasing out dairy recently and I'm 75% there. Sometimes it's easier to look at it as an addiction - take one day at a time and wean yourself off it. You'll get there in the end. :)

I also found that since including some extra protein (Chia seeds, mixed nuts and seed, spirulina & hemp) I've had fewer cravings.

Charlotte
 
#8 ·
You didn't specify exactly WHAT you were craving in the pizza & burgers. Taste, texture, fat content, etc. You should figure that out & see if there is a veg*n replacement, which would be waaaay healthier. Pizza is a health disaster, BTW.

Look at the ingredients of a carrot, apple, salad, etc. and then a Whopper. Compare the fat, cholesterol, calories, etc. It will be painfully obvious that a whole foods veg*n diet will be a whole lot better than a burger.

Not convinced? Watch FORKS OVER KNIVES or the VEGUCATED videos.

If health is what you are after, end the burgers ASAP & eat something healthy, that will prolong your life & create heath, instead of destroy it.
 
#19 ·
I think this is one occasion where being stubborn really helps. I became vegetarian (for ethics) just over 3 years ago, deciding one day to stop eating all meat. So I did. Didn't miss or crave anything, just stopped thinking about it. Then a couple of months ago, decided to become vegan, so did overnight again. And again, so far, no cravings or missing anything.

And for my junk food cravings - I've found a lentil-mushroom burger recipe that I really like and has the right mix of texture & savouriness, topped with smoked tofu (salty/smoky/slightly creamy like cheese), pickles, ketchup, onion. I serve it with homemade oven chips and have a real blowout.
 
#10 ·
You'll certainly starve as a vegetarian if you just eat veggies. You'll need to include higher-calorie staples in your meals that supply more protein, fat and carbs.

Here are a few good books explaining different plant-based diets. You might try each one for a few weeks and see what works best for you.

Eat to Live (Joel Fuhrman)

flexible macro-nutrient ratio, high in micro-nutrients; 1lb raw veggies, 1lb cooked veggies, 3-4 fruits, 1 cup beans, 1/4 cup nuts, 1 tbsp seeds

Starch Solution (John McDougall)

high carb, very low fat; 3 daily starch meals with unlimited veggies and 2 fruits

80-10-10 (Doug Graham)

raw vegan; 3 daily fruit meals with large salad at dinner, nuts/seeds/avocados
 
#11 ·
You have got some wonderful advice. So here's my tuppence worth.
I'm with Shallot above. Take it slowly.

If you're 'craving' and finding it difficult to go the whole vegetarian route, then don't try so hard. Certainly don't beat yourself up about it. What you're doing here is trying to jump right in to a completely different lifestyle and being vegetarian/vegan is exactly that - a lifestyle.

It took me nearly a year to go completely vegetarian, then about 10 years later nearly year to go vegan. It's all about learning how to create meals - food that is filling, satisfying and healthy and that, for me was the process.
I'm am in complete awe of those who just went cold turkey .... hahaha that's probably the wrong expression on this forum ...

Find out if there is a vegetarian/vegan group close by - Google it or even animal welfare in your area. Get to know these people and ask them for recipes or ideas on how to cook. YouTube abounds with cooking vids - I love them!!!

I don't know if you're into cooking - if you're not, then this can be your new hobby!!!! V Chef William - sounds brilliant!

Hang in there kiddo, you're going to be just fine!!!!
 
#12 ·
When I first became vegetarian, I started out simple with a lot of beans (black beans, pintos, chickpeas, etc.). Then I added in the salad greens and other veggies. Then I upped the fruit. Then I tried to straighten out the grains, etc. I'm a lacto-ovo, so I still consume cheese and dairy IN SMALL QUANTITIES (getting smaller, and smaller as time goes by). I think the main problem with the cravings is that you have to convince your brain (and stomach) that you aren't "missing" anything in your diet. I found it helpful to eat without being concerned about quantity at first. If I was hungry, I'd have a huge serving of a simple vegetarian chili and a bowl of fruit. I might eat extra chili or extra fruit. I might eat a smaller serving later in the afternoon. I made sure I didn't feel hungry or that I was lacking in any way. After about a week, this turned into smaller portions and more normal meals and the cravings were not as strong. You'll get there! Congratulations for all the steps you've already made in the right direction!
 
#13 ·
As someone else pointed out, what are you craving exactly? I realize I don't crave the meat more often than not I crave the seasoning or the flavor of.

That's why I have two different breaded tofu recipes. I have a mozeralla tofu stick recipe and a chicken nugget tofu recipe. Because I realize I like certain seasonings or flavors. It's not really the meat or the animal product I crave, it's the flavor.

And flavor is easy to recreate.

It's why I have liquid smoke in my panty and bacon salt. I find I like powder mustard in my tofu scramble over tumeric. I don't understand the tumeric thing.
 
#14 ·
It's why I have liquid smoke in my panty and bacon salt. I find I like powder mustard in my tofu scramble over tumeric. I don't understand the tumeric thing.
Never thought of putting powder mustard in my tofu scramble and I only use the tumeric for the color. I'm going to try that next time - thanks for the tip!!!!:)
 
#17 ·
Hello William :

I believe in honoring precisely what our body is telling us, yet only once you recognize you are able to believe in your body, and also once you've set up what you look for your body to recognise. For instance, if you are striving to stop consuming diary, it is critical to only keep battling it before starting indulging urself with your cravings. After u have acquired control over food, you may then make it possible for you to ultimately try it if you would want it.

And so then, in case you require some thing so you are in demand, you need to take that thing, little by little, and with thought. How do you experience previous to, while in, and also soon after consuming? I got this particular idea from Skinny *****, a book.

As said above. Those cravings will dissipate over time !!
 
#18 ·
You could always try conditioning yourself with negative renforcement. You can try to associate unpleasent things with those burgers. A freind of mine will not eat cereal anymore because he was eating some when he first saw a certain infamous video including a pair of women. When I went vegetarian it was because of the animals, and that thought in my head and heart was the thing that let me overcome my cravings, but since you are just doing it for your own personal health I doubt that would drive you. One thing I did was whenever I saw a commercial or got a craving I would put on a stern face and sound off an equally stern "No!" and that intensity that I forced myself to were would immidiatly become my own actual intensity. After that I would go on for a good while without even thinking of those cravings. Good luck to you. I hope this helped at least a little.
 
#20 ·
Congratulations on your lifestyle change and the immense willpower you are demonstrating. The first few weeks are the hardest, especially when your family, friends, and co-workers are indulging on some of your favorite dishes. Best advice I can tell you is just say no!! Many times i informed my friends and co-workers in advance about my diet and they were completely understanding when going out, many times they would ask about my diet and would order whatever I had just to try. If temptation was just too much, I would excuse myself from company lunches and dinners because I knew the temptations would be very high and any setback would be serious. They completely understood and respected the willpower. Hope this helps...
 
#21 ·
A method I found that has helped me with cravings is to just drink lots of water. This helps with the detoxification process.
Of course just drinking water isn't enough for me, having lots of green juices will help detoxify as well. Greens are packed
with anti-oxidants and healthy compounds.

Make drinking water to fill your stomach a habit that you follow one day at a time.

Hope this helps.
 
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