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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
If you went from eating meat to not, what made it easier?
I have never been big on meat, I eat the occasional pork chop, hot dog, bacon, hamburger, ham (ok now it sounds like i am big on meat...) and more lately now that I live in Montana, but after watching a few cow slaughter videos on the CA slaughter house that was accused of abusing the animals-which is now reopening, I seriously can't even look at ground beef. 
So I am thinking about cutting meat out entirely, slowly at first, then hopfeully for good.
Any tips for this first timer?
Re: If you went from eating meat to not, what made it easier?
Have you thought about eating grass fed beef instead. Those cows graze on grass and be outdoors and are slaughtered humanely. Free range chickens from a farmers are also slaughtered humanely. This is the type of meat that I eat and it's also a lot healthier for you and tastes better too. I get health problems when I don't eat enough animal products and dairy is out of a question for me.
If you still want to avoid meat then you should definately eat enough dairy such as butter. That butter should also come from a farm where the cows are treated well as described above. If you don't object to the way fish is caught you should also eat enough fish.
I've been a vegetarian for almost 9 years. I started the same way; I couldn't eat meat after I learned where it came from.
I started by giving up red meat for a week and then moved onto white meat and finally fish. I highly recommend Morning Star Farms soy "meat" products or Quorn "meat" products if you don't want to eat too much soy.
It's really not that hard. People sometimes ask me stuff like "What do you eat? Do you only eat vegetables?" and I find that hilarious. I eat a lot of rice and beans, pasta, quiche, potatoes, etc whenever I eat out. Cooking at home, I can make almost anything thanks to the fake "meat" products I mentioned earlier; today I'm using a bag of "ground beef" to make vegan chili.
Check out some vegetarian recipes online or get a cookbook. A good thing to also research is high protein foods (again, the tofu/soy products have tons of protein). My favorites are nuts, peanut butter, beans, and spinach. Soy milk or almond milk have a lot of protein and more calcium than 2% milk. Talk to your doctor if you are worried about nutrition or if you start feeling anemic.
hi there!
I went from an American diet to Vegan about 4 months ago. YES. Vegan.
I just couldn't take it anymore. It wasn't so much for animal cruelty (although it's obviously nice to be free from that guilt) but for environmental conservation. the more research I did, the more depressed and concerned I became.
What made it easier was being a clean eater to begin with. I never was a heavy meat eater, so the only things that were hard to change were dairy items. I swapped out regular milk for almond milk (which is amaaaazing and we really shouldn't be touching cow's milk anyway), my greek yogurt for coconut milk yogurt (omg.. sooo creamy and amazing it will shock you!), and the rest kinda well into place. Because I was a clean eater before, I try to stay away from all the fake cheeses, sour creams, tofu, etc, but every now and then I allow it in.
It also makes a big difference to have friends/family that don't tease you. That gets old FAST. At first I felt like the biggest burden on the planet, but now I'm becoming more confident because.. I know I'm a vegan for great reasons (and more importantly, it's MY body and no one but ME gets to tell me what I shoudl be putting into it.).
PLEASE feel free to PM me or ask more questions. It's been an interesting few months, but now I love it and feel AWESOME. :]
I have been a vegetarian for 17 years and I can't imagine living any other way - when people ask me, what do I eat? I just laugh! Vegetarian meals are easy, satisfying, healthy, great for the planet and animals - so many reasons to be vegetarian or vegan!
A little advice I will give on what I think is the best approach - when I am thinking what do I want to make for a meal, I first consider what grain do I want to eat? This can be rice, quinoa, faro, barley, pasta, buckwheat, bread... Then I think what protein should I pare with it - lentils, beans, paneer, tofu, eggs, tempeh, seitan, nuts... Then I think what vegetables should I make? Those options are limitless!
So for example we might have green curry with vegetables and tofu over buckwheat or tomato soup with quinoa and black bean patties.
For starting out ideas there are a lot of great vegan and vegetarian blogs you can follow: fatfreevegan.com, foodandspice.blogspot.com - or just google vegetarian cooking blog, etc.
Good luck!
Oh! Mixie reminded me..
If you want to just get some insight on the vegetarian/vegan world there are some great magazines that are fun to read, informative (sometimes a little guilt-ridden.. not gonna lie.. I don't need to know that sheep buddy up and keep their besties for life -__- ), and have so many amazing, easy recipes to help things seem less scary.
Since I'm vegan, VegNews is my go-to but I know there is a Vegetarian one as well (and that is usually easier to find since there are more vegetarians than vegans).
Ditto this. I follow a paleo lifestyle so vegetarian/vegan is pretty much the polar opposite of what I believe. Do some research on grains and legumes and what they can do to the digestive system. But I remember watching Food, Inc. and become a vegetarian. That lasted about 3 months b/c the lack of protein was not allowing me to feel my best. Now I only eat meat that is humanely raised. I pay more money for it, but feel that it's worth it. I have been paleo for a year now and have never felt or looked better.
Just my 2 cents! Good luck in your decision.
So I'm all for eating healthier and cutting out meat for animal cruelty reasons, but I would suggest seeing a nutritionist or dietician before doing something drastic. Proetin is a vital part of nutrition, and animal fats are actually really good for the body, as opposed to chemically processed oils (soy, corn, margarine etc.) And these natural fats and proteins have a large effect on your hormones, which bascially control everything! Yes there are eggs, which are the awesome wonder food! And nuts and beans have protein, but not really enough to sustain. Soy products have been genetically modified into "nutrients" that aren't made in the body naturally which may not be recognized or hold any value, and therefore may not be so great for you. If you decided to take the leap, for whatever reason, get your hormones tested every once in a while, and I mean ALL of them. find out if your levels are normal, because food is the ultimate medicine. Everyone says it. Your health/weight is 80% diet.
While a lot of this is true, I'm 100% vegan and don't touch soy unless it's fermented (Fermented soy is the only way to go, but even that is minimal in my diet)... And still get about 100g of protein a day. (More than my recommended daily amount, but I spend about 2-3 hours a day at the gym so it's necessary). Ultimately it comes down to getting enough of the essential proteins, which one cannot do from solely one protein source unless it's meat... but why eating different things with proteins it's absolutely a non-issue.