Switching to a meat-free diet is a great way to feel better about yourself. While it can be difficult for some people, it's a lot easier if you can share the experience with others and if you have access to the right information.
Find Your Motivation
If you're going to change a dietary pattern that you've followed all your life, you need to have a good reason. There are lots of reasons to drop meat from the menu, and the more of them that you know about, the easier it'll be for you to stick to the plan.
John Robbins' The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World is an excellent, nonjudgmental introduction to the topic,
as is Eric Marcus' Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating. Don't let the word "vegan" scare you - remember, vegans are vegetarians too!
Dr. Neal Barnard has some great health advice in Food for Life: How the New Four Food Groups Can Save Your Life, and he provides an interesting perspective in Breaking the Food Seduction: The Hidden Reasons Behind Food Cravings---And 7 Steps to End Them Naturally. Actually, Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Plant-Based Diet is one of the best nutrition books that I've ever read, and even if you plan on eating meat in the future, you should give it a read.
If you're interested in the animal rights aspect of vegetarianism, please check out Peter Singer's Animal Liberation or Gail Eisnitz's Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, and Inhumane Treatment Inside the U.S. Meat Industry.
What To Eat
Without meat in the meal plan, there might be a big gap in the middle of your plate. While you could go the route that Howard Lyman went when he became vegetarian and eat nothing but lettuce and dairy products (as described in MAD COWBOY: Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat), there are a lot of great cookbooks out there.
I can't say enough about Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard's books, How It All Vegan!: Irresistible Recipes for an Animal-Free Diet and The Garden of Vegan: How It All Vegan Again!. In fact, they're pretty much the only cookbooks I use! They include recipes for just about any occasion, combined with lots of helpful tips that you don't normally find in a recipe collection, like how to make a sock monkey. Really.
Have Fun!
It's all too easy to get too serious about your new diet, and where's the fun in that? Sure, if you've done your research, you'll have a whole lot of information that you'll want to share with the world, and a lot of it might depress you, but it's important to know how to relax and enjoy yourself. I like to kick back with a Get Fuzzy collection, like Fuzzy Logic Get Fuzzy 2. I don't think the author is vegetarian, but the main (human) character is, and there are usually a few good strips on the subject. Remember, if you're not laughing every 20 minutes, you're not trying very hard!
Dropping meat is one of the most powerful choices you can make for your own health, the good of the planet, and the well being of animals. If you've taken three minutes to read this far, there's a good chance you can spend an hour enjoying your next meal without meat, and I bet you can make it a week from there. Challenge yourself, and you'll be amazed at all the great foods you never even knew existed!
|
See all 102 customer reviews...
