Vegetarianism

[Venger]

Rani, First off I once heard the human body can be indefinitely sustained on a medium raw potato and an 8 oz glass of milk eaten three times a day. Not a great diet but enough of what is needed daily to live.
The real reason for my reply was this. My nephew was adopted from Columbia and is very sensitive to gluten. If he eats any he gets very sick and it is for the same reason you are sensitive. In Columbia the diet is meat veg and corn. They consume very little wheat or oats.
My sister feeds him lots of chicken and some beef. He eats steamed veggies and potatoes (boiled,fried,or mashed all good). Also rice is used a lot. like the bread he eats is made from rice flower. He eats corn too. like breakfast cereal that is all corn or rice. Things to avoid are wheat,oats,and rye. most pachaging now has a G marked on it for having gluten so look for that as well. hope some of this helps. My sister live in Rochester,NY but if you pm me I can give you her number to discuss this with an "expert".

[Decapitated Toy]

if your doing this for the sole purpose of feeling better and having more energy why not just start working out some? something as simple as walking a few miles a day will give you a huge boost in energy and you will also get more of that weight lose thing you said couldnt hurt. just my 2 cents

[Pretender85]

I couldn't do it..but then again I don't eat mostly meat in my diet either...I usually balance stuff out when possible and run/walk a couple miles every day when it isn't sub zero outside...like right now.

[rahl071]

Honestly, I say stick with a balanced diet that includes meat. If you're really attached to the concept of vegetarianism, stick with fish as your meat, because as previously mentioned it has all the essential goodies your body needs; you can afford to eat it less frequently, and it's healthier for you. But really, look at your teeth. You have canines because you, being human (I hope ) are evolved or designed (your choice, that's for a different forum) to have meat in your diet. If we were configured for plants, you'd have large flat oned and no canines. Think horse or cow. If you decide to go with it, let us know how it goes.

[The Russian]

I was a pescatarian of four years for the sake of my digestive system and did the vegetarian thing for about one year. Both are AMAZING for the body, but the biggest mistake people make is not taking the right vitamins! I was recommended GNC's Ultra Mega vegetarian multivitamin and mineral formula which is a once-a-day time released caplet and I've been using it since I started with no negative health issues. Always consult a medical professional (i.e. your doctor) before making serious changes to your diet.

If you do decide to go cold turkey on the meat and are concerned about how the diet change will effect you, try monitering your current diet and comparing it to your new one while making sure to support it with the right nutrients.

[spectrum055]

Well I used to have a friend who was a strict Vegetarian... and I asked her basically you know what about protein and what not.. pretty much everything you need from meats and she said she took Vitamins for all those things missing in her diet...but there is a super fine line I have noticed from people claiming to be Vegetarian's and two people who I've seen this strictly in are my sister and a friend from school.
They say they are Vegetarian but they are clearly Startchatarian. and my sister from her diet has turned into a complete bitch who now is very obese and has diabetes and my friend you can tell from his diet even with brushing, his teeth have gone to shit and he just looks kinda sick all around.

I tried it but I don't know I like meat, though I usually go for Organ meats when I can mostly, like heart, and what not. Granted I am overweight from early years with junk food and bad portion control and a lack of drive to exercise. But I am getting my eating taken care of now.

All in all I would say well it's your body to do with what you want. But if choosing to do something as such find foods or vitamins that take care of the things missing in your diet and you should be just fine... I have been thinking of trying a military type diet, that basically you take a pill before each meal and if you overeat well welcome to the throne. Which would teach me perfect portion and balancing then mix that with exercise and I might be able to just get my old body back and be at a good weight.

But all in all I wish you good luck on your choice.

EDIT: there is something funny though with my sister's choice of Career... she is a Dietitian, so keep that in mind when speaking to Dietitians about this sort of stuff.

[MechAnt]

My best advice is to consider a "pescatarian" diet. No meat except seafood.

I did this for about a year (more or less unintentionally believe it or not! and decided to keep it up) and it was great. Dropped a nice bit of weight and gained a good bit of lean mass (fish contains naturally occurring creatine) but I went back to red meat and the like cause a friend bought me a Double-Double and game over.

Otherwise, if you are serious about considering vegetarian, balance in meals is quite important. Mushrooms have tons of protein and taste awesome, eat rice AND beans together (those two together create complete proteins), and have your way with dairy. Soy is great but don't be eating it all the time as studies have shown that excessive amounts of it cause a hormone imbalance on the estrogen and progesterone side. Utilize complex carbs and complete proteins to make a nourishing meal. Never let anyone tell you that a vegetarian meal doesn't fill you up cause that is a straight lie! I had the most amazing eggplant lasagna once and I died.

[redjako]

I'm mostly a vegetarian via "accident." I don't have any moral compunction with eating little critters, rather, as I got healthier and healthier and added more and more veggies (which, I am up to a few bags of broccoli and froze green beans a month, 2 x bags of spinach a week), I just started to not enjoy meat nor be able to properly digest it.

I was unable to enjoy a beautifully cooked expensive steak without getting sick.

Its like "diet" which is being silly, rather, you change your entire food regimen slowly but surely a week at a time, such as: 1 week quit drinking soda, then quit eating desert, then cut down on white-carbs, then add veggies to every single meal, etc.

Now I eat a crap load of veggies, a ton of kidney beans, Quona (spell, its a very high veggie based oat type protein carb) and eggs.

I'll still eat a burger sometimes, and sometimes eat some shit-pizza.

My body ultimately rejects "crappy" food, because it does not need it.

Hence, I eat a ton of veggies, can't really eat meat too well (chicken is disgusting now, I'll eat turkey every now and then) and I feel much more healthy.

My friend is trying to force herself to go vegetarian, which is the wrong way to go about it. If your craving meat, you need meat. Eat what your body craves, thought not in a silly "DAMN I NEED BEER AND CHOCOLATE" and you'll eventually end up very close to pure-vegetarianism, as its more healthy.

Sample day of eats:

Breakfast: Either frozen broccoli and green beans with kidney beans, pepper, and some olive oil.

Or, 4 eggs, kidney beans, spinach

Later, I'll have whatever I didn't eat for breakfast (so switch em)

More veggies at night

Sometimes a slice of wheat bread with peanut butter

Spinach salad or something at night



Or, throw some Quona into freakin anything.

I'll eat what I want whenever I want, but I really don't crave crap food. When I do, like a double-pastrami burger, I'll eat it, and be sick the next day

[rufus]

I highly recommend the paleoprimal diet/lifestyle, mainly lifestyle as thats what it is a lifestyle. I started living primal about 5 months ago, I slowly weened myself off of body harming grains(wheat, corn, rice). I'm 6' 3'' and weighed 350 when I started, I'm down to 295 now. Check out marks daily apple its a great site with loads of amazing info, especially the definitive guides; also check out the book: The Primal Blueprint its a great read.

Calvin

[PSU Smoker]

Just wanna throw it out there about the atkins. The reason most people dont loose too much weight is because of the nature of the diet. In the first week you will see about 5 pounds of weight loss but after this the weight loss slows. The reason for this is you loose all of this from depleting your glycogen stores (stored carbs). But as soon as you eat carbs again your weight pops right back up.