- Jul 11, 2020
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Unfortunately, I think I have been eating meat so long though that its difficult to wean my body completely off of it. I actually did try going full vegetarian once, but I felt so listless and lightheaded that I ate some meat and felt instantly better. See? My body is still so dependent on meat that when I don't eat it, I get bad side effects.
So how did you guys go full vegetarian? How did you successfully wean your body off of meat without feeling bad? I would like to know how to do it.
I struggled with it for many years, until I figured out that I needed to replace the meals I was accustomed to eating with meals that I would enjoy. The reason I failed was because I found meat to be more tasty, and I knew meat. I knew what tasted good and how to get the most out of meat preparation. I had to figure out the same thing, but with vegetarian alternatives. I replaced a number of my favorite meals with vegetarian versions. It took some time, but I started adding vegetarian dishes to my "meal plan". I say meal plan, but I had no real plan other than some dishes I knew I loved and enjoyed on a regular basis.
For me, the huge one to remove from my diet was hamburgers. I loved hamburgers. I also grew up eating hamburger in everything. Hamburger Helper, spaghetti sauce, chili, sloppy joe, stroganoff. You name it, it most likely had hamburger in it, because it was cheap. Also chicken, and tuna. My mother made tuna patties because salmon was too expensive.
Years before I decided to go vegetarian I quit dairy. I started buying soy milk. I got used to it fairly quickly. I switched to other milks like oat and almond. I mostly use almond milk now.
The first thing to understand is that your taste buds crave the foods you eat now, which makes it difficult to switch. It takes time. Switching a diet can be a slow process, because you are still craving the foods you love. Also, it isn't just taste, but texture that we find appealing in our food.
What worked for me as a segway was making burritos or wraps of various ingredients I like. Beans, a salad component, a sauce component, a vegetable flavor component like onion, additional flavor/texture component(s) like nuts. This got me in the habit of eating vegetarian, and it was tasty and appealing to me. I also made quesadillas.
I took an enchilada casserole recipe and made it vegetarian instead (using veggie burger), which was a huge leap forward for me. I then started to look at my favorite meals and adjusting ingredients to make them vegetarian and tasty enough eat. Chili was a big one for me. I always used hamburger in chili. The first inclination was to use vegetarian burger as a transitionary ingredient, and I did, but I eventually found I could add something like sweet potato and have a similar texture component to round out my chili recipe. For spaghetti I replaced the meat component with squash of various types. I research various spice blends and started to put together my favorite blends for use in my dishes.
There are so many things you can do with beans, vegetables, grains, nuts and spices. A good example is this Kyong Weatherby's YouTube channel. She has developed many vegetarian cookbooks. I also fell back on my church heritage of vegetarianism. I had a church recipe book from 1984 that had many of the recipes I grew up eating at home and at potlucks (even my own grandmother's recipes). I used that knowledge to make my own variations.
The more vegetarian dishes I put into my meal rotation the less I ate meat. I stopped buying meat at the grocery store after I was settled into a vegetarian diet with meals I enjoy. This was key to my success.
After eating vegetarian for a period of time your tastes change. It is now easy for me to go the grocery store and never buy meat, as I am perfectly happy with my new diet. It is not only good for me, but it saves me money. Meat is expensive.
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