Becoming vegetarian

[Celeborn Skywalker]

In the past few weeks, I have decided that I would like to try and become a vegetarian (though I probably wouldn't give up cheese or eggs), mainly for health reasons, and I was looking for some advice. Should I go cold turkey (pun intended) off meat or should I gradually reduce my meat consumption? Which do you think generally works better in the longterm? Thanks in advance.

[livinginphotographs]

1. It depends on the person.

I had kind of a personal ethical crisis, so I had no problem going cold turkey. But even just reducing your meat consumption is helpful.

Sorry for the non-answer, but it's really up to you.

[smbolisnch]

2. Yes, it just depends on you.

I too went totaly cold turkey, but then again, I didn't feel as if I was giving anything up! If you have some of those thoughts, you may want to gradually reduce your meat consumption.

Congrats on your decision to make the change!! Hang around here and join in! :D

[RebelOne]

3. Actually, I think you should do it gradually.

I stopped eating all meat, but I still eat seafood, which I am trying to wean myself off. I eat dairy food, but drink soy milk instead of the real thing. Actually, it tastes much better.

[Warpy]

4. Cold turkey is an all or nothing proposition that only zealots can

manage to cope with. The last thing I clung to was chicken stock. Even now I'll eat free range chicken once a year, just to remind myself of what it is like and that fanatacism is worse for me than meat is. Since organically raised chicken is so much more expensive (and since I just can't cope with the idea of factory raised animals), my flesh consumption is practically nil.

The best way to do any life change is gradually, easing vegetarian menus into every week and finding out what you like and what you don't like along the way. Eventually you'll just get to the point where you have enough of a repertoire of vegetarian dishes that you like that you'll just make the transition without thinking about it until you realize one day that you haven't eaten any meat for a couple of months.

It also helps if you're clear why you're going vegetarian. If it's one of those "should" or "ought" things, you're probably not going to be successful. If you really are uncomfortable with the amount of hormones, antibiotics and cruelty that goes into factory farmed meat animals, or if you really don't feel as well if you eat a lot of meat, or if (like me) you've never really been that crazy about meat you'll do better.