Hi all,



Ive been a vegetarian for a little more than 3 years and Im seriously considering going back to eating chicken and fish. Im just not sure why Im doing it anymore and since Im not that much into cooking; its been a really difficult (and tedious) trying to find foods to eat. I wish I had found this forum sooner.



My question is, do I need to start back slowly or can I just begin the new diet? Ive heard that vegetarians can get sick if they go back to eating meat after not having it for years.



Thanks for any info!

you know tofu tastes like chicken and you don't have to worry about getting sick. (or salmonella)

but seriously why are you considering meat. veggies are easier to cook and there are plenty of good reasons not to eat meat.

your looking for support to go back to killing 93 animals per year to satisfy your cravings for flesh?



on a vegetarian message board?

1. I doubt you're going to get much help from a bunch of veg*ans on how to go back to eating meat.

2. Most veg*ans who go back to eating meat just do it. They don't ask for advice on how to do it. So I think you really feel guilty about it and you just want support for your decision to go back to eating meat, which you won't find here. Sorry.

There are a several reasons why Im considering the change:



I keep reading about how American soy is not treated properly, that is has excess estrogen, etc, etc. Since my diet consists of a lot of soy, this is a bit disturbing.



Im not a cook. My lifestyle keeps me on the go all the time, so its hard for me to find time to cook. Theres also very few restaurants that have a good vegetarian menu in my area and almost no fast food places except Taco Bell.



Im not getting healthier, Im not losing weight and I seem to get sick more often. I know thats a Veg stereotype, but in my case, it seems to be true.



I dont think any creature should be made to suffer, but my being a vegetarian isnt helping to stop that. It seems that my time would be better served joining Peta rather than worrying over food. Wellmaybe not Peta.



I dont know; my heart just isnt in it like it once was. I dont ever plan on going back to red meat and Im just not sure how much healthier my vegetarianism has been.

There are probably websites where people would LOVE to help you go omni again... but this isn't one of them.



I can't answer your comment about not being sure why you're vegetarian any more. Only you can really resolve that.



As for finding food to eat... Okay, I'll admit that beans and tofu are pretty BOR-ING. And I'm not much into cooking either. But I learn. I get books out of the library and try out recipes I think I'll like, and if they're good, I copy them. I also cook and freeze good-size batches of beans, freeze them in portions, and thaw them out as I want them.



I recently made a pretty decent lentil stew using only dried lentils, water, canned tomatoes, carrots, celery, margarine, and an assortment of herbs.

No, I'm looking for an answer to a question that concerns my health from fellow vegetarians.

tofu does not taste like chicken



if you're having a hard time finding food to eat, have to been to the grocery store lately? you mention fast food/restaurants, but what about the store?



true, portland is probably more veg-friendly than a lot of cities, but even still... safeway & kroger have huge vegetarian food selections (i mean processed/frozen foods), as does Trader Joes. Just pop something in the microwave, and voila - dinner.

I'm not asking for support, I was asking about the immediate dangers of returning to meat.

If you were to go back to eating meat - which I think would be a very bad choice - chicken is the worst kind of meat to eat from an animal welfare standpoint. It also seems to me that if you are concerned about finding something from the menu and not being a cook etc., eating fish would get rid of that problem. So I don't see the need to eat chicken, even if you did go back to being an omni.

Agreed.






I actually plan on moving to Portland in the near future, so maybe I'd pick the vegetarianism back up there, but here in Tennessee, our Krogers have a very small veg section and most of it is outrageously priced.

I don't think there are any, from a digestion standpoint.



There are, of course, dangers of food poisoning, saturated fat, cholesterol, etc -- but nothing you couldn't get from eating a poor diet in general (too many tings, potato chips, french fries, deep fried food, etc)

It's a cop-out to say that it's tedious to get vegetarian food. I eat out A LOT, and I'm Vegan. I don't live in a major metropolitan area or anything, just a small city in Idaho, and I have no problems getting something to eat at almost every restaurant in the city.



Obviously, you aren't veg due for A/R reasons, because no animal gets treated worse than chickens in today's meat industry.



If you want support or recipe ideas, or good things to order in restaurants, this is a great place. But I agree with others, we sure aren't going to tell you how to start eating dead things again.

It does if you use the right spices. No one with taste buds and common sense intact will eat raw tofu just by itself.

Ok, that's what I was asking. Thanks.

Okay- I read your more recent reply.



I would say that being vegetarian does reduce suffering and death. The fewer people who purchase meat, fish, etc, the fewer animals are bred and killed to meet that demand. Some have pointed out that if you don't eat meat, and an animal isn't bred for you to eat, that's not exactly "saving" a life- the animal simply would not have existed in the first place. I see this point. But I don't want to be the cause of an animal being born just so I can eat him/her.



About soy.... a few people here have argued about soyfoods. You can choose not to consume them if you wish. Most of the meat analogues and other veg convenience foods appear to be soy-based, and I'd miss them if I gave them up completely. But I don't live on soy either.

That's too bad about the prices. Out here, they're not that bad. Well, I guess it depends. I'm more than willing to pay $3.49 for a vegetarian microwave meal. But compared to Michelena's or something, that's awfully expensive. So I could see how it could be considered outrageous when you're making comparisons.



How about eating wild-caught (pole-caught or hand net) fish now & then? Less chance of mercury poisoning, less damaging to the environment, not fed artificial foods or dyes... then again, it's not that cheap and may be harder to find in TN than it is in OR.

Maybe I'm just ordering the wrong things, but I'm really tired of veggie-burgers and whatever pseudo-Italian dishes most restaurants have.

Well, I'll admit to not having taste buds... (Where's a "sheepish grin" smiley when I need one?)



The firm kind of tofu isn't so bad. But I have amused my veg friends by admitting to eating the stuff au naturel.

well. try to cut back on the soy if thats a concern.

also - try more raw things - especially if you dont like to cook.



im sure you'll find the combination of raw and non-processed soy will get you feeling healthier.







When I was eating alot of "transition foods" I still felt sluggish - not as sluggish as when i ate cheese, but still somewhat - when i started increasing the amount of raw, or unprocessed foods, I felt alot more healthier.





today havent cooked at all actualy -



cereal (kashipuffs + banana slices) for breakfast.

a superpretzel as a snack...... or 2....

lunch was two sammiches made of (avocado/cucumber/green onion/onion/salt)

and a tomato, with a glass of OJ.



dinner will prolly be pasta with veggies, but its super easy to do, i just boil my noodles and frozen veggies in the same pot - throw some olive oil and basil - done - only takes a few minutes.. cooking yeah.. but not a whole lot



easy - relatively healthy - and very yummy.

Apparently I lack taste buds & common sense.



Seriously, though, I've never had tofu that tasted like chicken, even with seasonings. I've had gluten which came close, but not tofu. It tastes like... seasoned tofu.

Ok now two people have admitted to eating raw tofu. This is starting to scare me.



I once ate tofu in a Thai restaurant and it tasted like chicken as far as I remember.

I appreciate the advice. Even that much cooking makes me cringe, though.

Closing this thread. Advice on how to go back to eating meat isn't appropriate here.