♥ Vegetarian ?

Think before wanna become a vegetarian ? Here you go !

While being a vegetarian isn’t for everyone (and neither is Pamela Anderson), I talk to lots of people every day who tell me they’d like to become vegetarian, but it seems like it would be too hard and they don’t have the willpower.

But becoming a vegetarian, for me and for many others, is the easiest thing in the world :)

If you’re not interested in becoming vegetarian or vegan, please skip this post ( Don’t flame me in the comments ) So in this post we’ll look at some suggestions and tips for becoming a vegetarian without too much difficulty, and some reasons you might consider.

Why Become Vegetarian?

Again, let me state that vegetarianism isn’t for everyone. If you are fanatically devoted to meat, you might not be interested. If you already eat healthy or you’re not interested in your health, you might not be interested.

Yet there are some reasons, for the rest of us, to consider..

• Cut the fat. While meat provides a lot of protein, it also provides a ton of fat — especially saturated fat. Which means that by cutting out meat, you’ll be cutting out a lot of bad fat, and replacing it with things that are probably not only lower in fat, but that contain some good fats. This greatly reduces your risk of heart disease, and in fact numerous studies have shown that vegetarians tend to have a lower risk of heart disease, as well as hypertension, diabetes, cancer and other diseases.
  
  
• Less food poisoning. Food poisoning gets millions of people each year — and many of them from meat, which is a good breeding ground for harmful bacteria, especially if not stored, prepared or cooked exactly right. Cut out meat and you lower your risk of food poisoning (especially if you also cut out eggs and dairy, but that’s optional)

• Help the environment. There are actually numerous ways that the meat industry harms the environment, from a waste of our resources ( Animals raised for food eat enough grain to feed the world ) to a waste of fuel, to the pollution caused by their waste matter and much more.

• Help your weight loss. It’s possible to be vegetarian and eat very unhealthy foods, including Coke and fries and fried stuff and pizza and chips. But it’s much more difficult. Studies repeatedly show that vegetarians are slimmer and are less likely to be obese than meat eaters. If you’re trying to lose weight, being a vegetarian can be a good part of your program.

• Get more nutrition. In general ( Though not necessarily ), vegetarians replace meat with more nutritious foods, such as fruits, vegetables, beans, whole grains and so on. If you do that, you will be getting more of the nutrients your body needs, giving you better health, less illness, and more energy.

Tips for Becoming a Vegetarian
So, if you’d like to become a vegetarian, without too much trouble, here are my suggestions :

• Have good reasons. If you just want to become vegetarian for kicks, you probably won’t stick with it for long — not because it’s hard, but because any lifestyle change or habit change requires a little bit of motivation. You need to first think about why you want to become vegetarian, and really believe in it. The rest is easy.

• Try one recipe a week. My suggestion is just to try one new vegetarian recipe a week. If you like it, add it to your collection of staple recipes that you eat on a regular basis. If the recipe isn’t that great, try another next week. Soon, you’ll have a good list of 5-10 great recipes that you love to cook and eat. And really, whether you’re vegetarian or meat eater, that’s probably all you really eat on a regular basis anyway ( For dinner, at least ) Most people only have 7-10 recipes that they cook regularly. Once you have that many vegetarian recipes, you are good to go.

• Consider dairy & eggs. Vegetarians vary widely on this, so there’s no mandate to give up dairy or eggs if you’re giving up meat. Do what feels right for you. For one thing, they are often high in saturated fat, especially compared to soy alternatives. It was easy for me to give up eggs, as I’ve never been a huge fan, but transitioning to soy milk took a few days to get used to … although I can’t stand the taste of milk now.

• Have fun. Most of all, don’t make becoming a vegetarian be a restrictive, grueling ordeal. If you feel like you’re depriving yourself, you won’t last long. But if you feel like you’re doing something good, and trying out some great-tasting food, you’ll stick with it for much longer ( For life, I hope ) Have a great time along the way.

• Cook ahead. Another problem is when we don’t have any vegetarian food ready to eat, and so we resort to whatever is easiest ( If we don’t feel like eating or are too hungry to wait ) Instead, you could cook a big pot of vegetarian chili or soup or something and have it in the fridge for when you’re hungry and don’t have time to cook.

So, are you ready ?

Signing off,
Your truly, Lavender