Tips for Becoming a Vegetarian

▲Person holding green vegetables. Photograph: Pexels

People become vegetarians for a variety of reasons, including fitness, religious beliefs, concerns about animal welfare or livestock use of antibiotics and hormones, or a willingness to eat in a way that conserves natural resources. If you are interested in becoming vegetarian, here are a few suggestions before you get started:

1) Have legitimate reasons for doing so: If you just try to go vegetarian for the sake of it, you won't last long — not because it's difficult, but because any lifestyle or habit shift takes some motivation. You must first consider and really believe in why you choose to become a vegetarian. The rest is easy.

2) Take a look: Read as much as possible about anything you’re going to do before starting something new. It is recommended that you try vegetarianism. Get a couple of nice books from the library to read such as Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone or Veg: Easy & Delicious Meals for Everyone or better yet, borrow from vegetarian friends). In addition, there are a plethora of helpful websites available on the Internet like GoVeg.com to help you have a better knowledge about this.

3) Look for healthy recipes: You don't have to go out and buy a bunch of new cookbooks, but it's a good idea. However, there are plenty of fantastic recipes available online. Post Punk Kitchen is another of my favourites (also see their forums). In reality, it's all a little overwhelming at times... But don't worry, you won't have to make any decisions. Easily search the recipes, make a mental note of a few that look especially appealing, and plan to try a few of them. You've got the rest of your life to experiment with new recipes!

4) Try one recipe a week: Try at least one new vegetarian recipe each week. If you like it, make it a daily part of your list that you eat regularly. If you don't like the recipe, try another one the following week. You'll soon have a list of 5-10 great recipes that you enjoy cooking and eating.

5) Find alternatives. Often: instead of using beef, consider using a meatless substitute in your favourite recipes. So, if you like spaghetti or chilli, for example, use a ground-beef alternative from Bocca or Morning Star and cook it the same way you would usually. There are meat options for almost every kind of meat, and some of them are very tasty. You will continue to eat as normal, except without the meat.

6) Consider dairy & eggs: There is no requirement for vegetarians to give up dairy or eggs if they are giving up meat. Make the decision that feels good to you. However, if you're going meatless for a while and want to take it a step further (in terms of wellbeing, the climate, and alleviating animal suffering), these foods are worth considering.

7) Consider your staples: Making a list of the foods you consume for breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts, and snacks is a good exercise. Ingredients, not meals. After that, consider vegetarian alternatives and build a new list. You may, for example, instead of eating chicken in a stir-fry dish, you might try sausage. You should have no trouble filling your fridge with a new selection of staples.

8) Fast food: Again, if you eat fast food, you can be a vegetarian and still be unhealthy. Being a vegetarian does not permit you to consume junk food (though you may eat a little more now that you aren't consuming meat). For the most part, stick to fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, almonds, soy protein, low-fat dairy, and other healthy foods.

9) Prepare ahead of time: Another issue arises when we don't have any vegetarian food on hand and must depend on whatever is most convenient (if we don't feel like eating or are too hungry to wait). Instead, make a large pot of vegetarian chilli or soup and keep it in the fridge for those days when you're hungry but don't have time to prepare.

10) Vegetarian restaurants: you can live in an area with a variety of excellent vegetarian restaurants. Give them a chance! You could come across some delicious food, and you'll be thankful you decided to give vegetarianism a try.

11) Convenient vegetarian foods: You'll also find a lot of vegetarian foods that can be refrigerated in the frozen section of your store. You should try any of these and know that, like most fast foods, these are more costly and, more importantly, less nutritious than home-cooked meals. In any case, it's still a good idea to have a few essential foods in the freezer.

12) Have Fun: Lastly and most importantly, don't make being a vegetarian a punishing ordeal. You won't last long if you feel like you're depriving yourself. However, if you feel like you're helping others and trying new foods, you'll be more likely to stick with it for a longer period of time (for life, I hope). Enjoy yourself along the way.