I am considering, on a trial basis becoming vegetarian for a month, or damn near vegetarian - say 95%. If it works for me & my family, we’ll try to follow a more vegetarian lifestyle. I can’t say I’ll give it up completely, but minimize it sure. Not a vegan, lets not get carried away. I hear so much about the benefits of a lower red-meat life style that it’s worth a try (none that i can think of, but it sounds good). I love a good steak/burger/cow, turkey, chicken, (all good) but don’t really need them to live.
Are there any signs on what to watch out for?
Should I increase any one particular vitamin, or food group to compensate for what ever is missing?
I know this will make me faster – with out riding more –
This will also answer – which I will keep to myself of course – which is better clincher or tubular
I guess you would call my diet “flexitarian.” I am mostly a vegetarian, but I do eat some dairy and I’ll eat fish about 2 times a week. There were some times in my life when I have been vegan.
I truly don’t think there is any need to supplement for any vitamins or minerals, especially if you are increasing the amount of fruit, vegetables and nuts you are eating. THose things are CRAMMED with nutrients.
If I had any advice to you to help the transition a little easier, it would be this. Take your regular dinner, say piece of grilled chicken with some rice and steamed vegetables. Now rethink it so that you make the rice and the vegetables more interesting. Your meal might become basmati rice and vegetable stir fry (with a spice peanut sauce), with a couple of strips of chicken. I think there is a lot to be said for changing your whole mindset about the way you present your plate.
Lots of books and other sources of information on nutrition that can help.
2 things you about which you should be slightly concerned: iron and b12.
Iron is easy - beans of all kinds, lentils etc. If you are dropping meat, especially read meat low iron could be an issue but beans a few times a week will fix that, and you need protein anyway.
B12 is the other one, found only in animal and dairy products- I take sub-lingual B12 few times a week.
I wouldn’t over think it, it’s not as hard as it seems. My wife and I decided to go to a primarily whole foods, plant based diet about 8 or 9 months ago. We aren’t vegitarian or vegan or any other specific label, we just don’t really eat meat or dairy products anymore. I travel a lot for work so when choices are limited I will occasionally eat seafood or something with dairy in it.
I just haven’t found it to be the challenge I expected. My wife loves to cook and loves trying out new recipies which makes it easier:-). We eat a large variety of fruits, veggies, legumes and whole grains (with some nuts thrown in). I am certain that our diet is more balanced than it was before, we clearly get a lot more fiber, and I believe our health is improved. Although we were pretty active and healthy before we both have lost a few excess pounds and have leveled off at a good lean, healthy weight. Athletically I feel better than ever and have set a number of PRs this year.
From what I’ve seen, I think many “Vegitarians” eat a pretty crappy diet so just being vegitarian is not the answer. In my opinion, whether you avoid meat completely or just limit it, I think the key is eating mostly whole foods and ensuring a large variety. If you do that I doubt you’ll have to worry about compensating for nutritional deficiencies.
I’ve been a vegetarian pretty much all my life, by choice because the smell and taste of meat, fish, and poultry just doesn’t do it for me.
Just make sure you supplement some with protein. I have a daily shake with soy milk, protein powder, and some fruit. Usually Bananas and/or blueberries. Frozen fruit from the grocery store work great and give you much variety. That’s pretty much my breakfast with something else.
Today everything is pretty much fortified with vitamins and minerals. Cereal, diet coke black, etc. The only thing I’m careful about is some B vitamins and iron. I supplement with Iron tablets. Make sure not to take anything else when taking the Iron supplement as other minerals have a tendency to compete for the absorption and not much of the iron will be taken up by your body. I usually combine some B vitamins with the Iron supplement I take.
Sorry to hijack a thread, but I’m curious as to where you find the recipes when you made the switch. We have already given up red meat, still eat chicken though. I love to cook as well but I’m having a hard time finding a good cookbook with pretty straightforward veggie recipes; any help would be appreciated.
Trav
we tried going vegetarian a few years ago, and due to our mindset of “must have a slab of protein on the plate!”, we used a lot of tempeh, tofu, etc with our meals. That, plus using soymilk, created a serious dizziness problem for my wife. She began to have vertigo-like symptoms 5-6 times per day, after a month of this. Turns out, excess soy can produce this reaction in some people. Within 24 hours of dropping the soy, her symptoms were gone. FWIW
B12:
Red Star nutritional yeast is B12 fortified, specifically formulated for vegetarians (and vegans) to deliver accessible B12. We use it as an “enhancer” on just about everything…
This is where I’m at - all arrived at by instinct, no book or formal training. (not saying this is any good, but it is what it is. And it tastes good.)
Breakfast
oatmeal/muesli
sometimes an egg
dried raisins
crushed pecans
seeds
ginger
wheat germ
fresh blueberries
fresh strawberries
Snack
cut fruit prepared the morning of…
papaya
cherries
kiwi
grapes
pinneaple
watermelon
orange
Dinner
couscous or pasta
tofu
onions
garlic
zuchini
steamed carrots, green beans,
avocado
tomatoes
lemon
sometimes one or two eggs
olive oil
dried herbs
some salt
lots of fresh herbs
Not to reiterate points that have been brought up before, but books always motivates me and many people. The China Study is a book that is usually highly recommended by anyone who has read it. I’ve been doing some research on Scott Jurek (include interview in the search and there are some interesting ones out there) and it’s amazing what he does as a Vegan. organicathlete.org has some good pro bios.
I didn’t see Quinoa listed and this is a great grain and easy to work with. Basically, if you stick with the produce and nuts, grains, beans bulk bins at a grocery store you are probably doing well.
From Wiki - “In contemporary times this crop has come to be highly appreciated for its nutritional value, as its protein content (12%–18%) is very high. Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete foodstuff. This means it takes less quinoa protein to meet one’s needs than wheat protein. It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten free and considered easy to digest. Because of all these characteristics, quinoa is being considered as a possible crop in NASA’s Controlled Ecological Life Support System for long-duration manned spaceflights.”