[Closed] vegetarian lifestyle ?

Does fish cause a problem? That can make it a lot easier while still avoiding meat (mammals and birds)

Does fish cause a problem

no. I eat salmon and mackeral, and feel fine.

Eating any new diet could potentially muddle the issue of food intolerance as you will be adding a wider variety of food without having identified a ‘culprit’.

Are you sure you don’t have an ulcer or IBd or something? I’d go to docs first and see what’s up.

As for vegetarian diet - we eat mostly plant-based diet (wife 100%, I eat fish sometimes) and it really isn’t an issue.

Where there was roast beef, there is now a nut roast or veggie haggis
Where there was minced beef, there is now dark green lentils and/or soy mince
Where there was sausage, there is veggie sausage.
Where there was a beefburger, there is now a veggieburger

Eat a much wider variety of foods now tbh, and cook a lot of indian or mexican style foods because they taste great IMO. Also learned to choose, roast and season veg instead of bung it on as an afterthought. I also learned that a lot of tasteless, ready-prepared veggie and vegan crap is being sold. Obviously offering ready-prepared alternatives to the similar tasteless crap with animal parts in it. Just buy a good blender and make your own stuff. Plant/oat milks, tofu, stocks, minces, curry sauces etc. Home made always tastes so much better with better texture.

I do miss roast chicken though, and if I had my own free roaming chickens I could see one or two getting their necks stretched 😬.

But yeah, see the doc...

* +1 As others say, eat more plants/less meat and dairy anyway. Better for the planet and often for your health if you do it properly.

Other tip is cook large batches and freeze. Right now have a freezer compartment full of veggie bolognaise, ragu, chilli non carne and root veg stew with dumplings. Costs so little to make and just needs pasta or rice to make a meal.

First piece of advice, go to the doctors, they can do some simple tests and tell you what it actually is
Second one; Go for it, I cut out meat for moral reasons and dairy for health reasons earlier this year. I do occasionally eat both but very rarely now. The surprising benefit was how healthy it has made me feel. I don't miss it all that much

Give it a go. The worst that can happen is that you don't like it and give it up.

Would just eating a bit less meat help rather than a total change of lifestyle? I've not eaten meat since I was a kid as it didn't agree with me. But I eat fish, and more just don't feel any draw to eat meat now. So my kids have pretty much eaten a veggie diet at home, but have always been allowed to choose what they want out of the house. Out of the two adult daughters one eats more meat but some veggie stuff still, and the other more vegan/ veggie with the occasional bit of meat. And my youngest prefers a packed lunch for school which is primarily veggie as it's from home, but has meat when we eat out. They just don't seem to get stressed with things having to be all or nothing and seem healthy enough.

Have been basically meat free for 37 years. There's the occasional bacon butty and if it's a case of something meat based or starve then ...

Going meat free is one of those things you think will be harder than it actually is. I'd cut down on eating meat without actually realising it so it wasn't a big step to cut it out altogether. I opened the fridge door one day and there were just two sausages in there so ate them and turned off the fridge. (the house had a cold slab that I used for butter, cheese and those sort of things. Don't drink milk)

Should be much easier now since not eating meat isn't the fringe, weird, choice it once was. And of course if it doesn't solve your problem you can always just start eating it again. You can also just work your way in to it and have say two or three meat free days per week and see how it goes or do a variation on the 5:2 diet with the two days being the omnivore days.

I am seriously considering becoming a vegetarian.

HaHa! There's about as much chance of you being a permanent vegetarian as you buying an Orange 5.

You were a Tyrannosaurus Rex in a previous life don't forget. 😉

You could just cut out sausages... I mean, what is the wurst that could happen?

Are you sure it's not aliums? That's what does it for me and onions and garlic are in bloody everything in some form or other!!

As a long term vegetarian, eat less or no meat if you want, but please whatever you do, don't take up the lifestyle too, I'm sick to death of the preachy obnoxious ****ers 🙂

Bloating could be a symptom of anything, that needs checking out first IMO.

Beer is a culprit, obvz.

Vegetarian food isn’t just cutting out meat, so if you think it’s just the meat... cut that out first, along with the bread/wheat (unless Gluten free) and Dairy. Give that at least 3-4weeks to let your system settle.

It’ll take some commitment about food choices, but thankfully we don’t live in the 70’s and choices are vast and simple.

Curve ball. Try removing sugar.

I've suffered for years and that causes me all sorts of grief.

Different for everyone I know.

so that leaves meat, which I will be honest about, I am a greedy bastard with.

Lol, always love your honesty big man!

We as a family only eat chicken or fish once or twice a week these days, and pretty much never eat red meat. I could quite happily go vegetarian, and eventually plant based, and prbably will once my daughter is up and away from home.

Feel much better for it, though I haven't drank since june 2018 which also has an effect as well.

As above, have a go and see how you feel, even if you just give up on over-processed stuff like sausages, burgers etc, and see how it goes?.

Ton you've already changed a fair bit of your diet. As others have said I'd take it slowly maybe reduce the amount of meat rather than cut it out. It wouldn't hurt to get advice from a doctor or a dietician.  For what it's worth I eat very little meat but do eat fish regularly.

I don't use sugar, as in putting it in tea and coffee.
I only drink on a Saturday, and this thing is after every meal with meat. if I have beans on toast or a jacket spun n beans, I don't get the bloating.
I shouldn't have said lifestyle, I don't want to become a preaching vegan type person.

so that leaves meat, which I will be honest about, I am a greedy bastard with.

sorry if this seems obvious but is it worth trying just eating 'normal' portions of meat, a couple of times a week? Might not need to go mad over it!

I shouldn’t have said lifestyle

(Google's vegetarian lifestyle). No, appears you’re fine.

Along with ‘cycling lifestyle’, ‘ vegetarian’ and ‘vegan’ are things most often defined by detractors by their using gross negative stereotypes. you can wax lyrical about the benefits of bacon all day, but don’t ever try that with lentils unless you’re looking for a fight. Unless you’re a Hindu.

‘I’d like to try the cycling lifestyle, you know, buy a bike for fun, use the car less, and lose weight, help reduce pollution’

‘Nah, you don’t mean ‘lifestyle’,that’s for those preachy cyclists who hate cars, ride naked, and put hypocritical plastic rainbow flags on their disgusting hippie pseudo-bikes’

‘Oh yeah, I didn’t mean lifestyle, I don’t want to be one of those. I’ll just buy a bike to ride’

‘Correct. Don’t ever say you feel better for riding it, make sure you never mention ‘pollution’ or ‘in place of car’ and you’re golden’

I think in retrospect the best thing is to talk about veggie and vegan stuff on the ‘correct’ fora. Same as bikes.

Imagine going to an Australian petrolhead forum and saying ‘I want to become a cyclist, what’s the best bike to buy?’ 🤣😂🤣😂

By default I'm a carnivore, but my better half was veggie (turned vegan this year) and I've always been paranoid about undercooking chicken, pork etc. So I eat cooked meat (either as ready made sandwiches as part of meal deals, or as packs to make sarnies at home) to have ~5 meals a week including meat. If we go out for dinner, either at pub or visiting family, I'll always take the meaty option.

But I still often gets days when I feel bloated, because I eat too much bread, cold-x buns, cereal etc. I think part of my problem is I eat too quickly, so I finish a main meal too quickly before my brain acknowledges my stomach is full, so I then often eat something else during that "lag" time.

This is a slightly different question than the usual one.

You're wanting to do this for health reasons, but at the moment you're working with anecdotes. I'd suggest starting a food diary, run it for a month writing down what you ate and when, and how you felt afterwards. That will give you evidence you can use to look for patterns, and will be invaluable if you find yourself talking to a doctor / dietitian.

Other than that there's some good advice here and not much I can add to. Often folk ask questions like "what are the rules" and really there aren't any. Eat what you're happy eating, avoid what you're not, that's it. The poster earlier who said they've been veggie all their life other than the odd bacon butty when there's nowt else, that's totally fine if that's what they want to do (other than giving ammunition to the butthurt omnivores that pop up with tedious regularity to take the piss). It doesn't have to be all or nothing (going cold tofurkey?), you could say drop red meat and still eat chicken / fish, see how you go with that.

There's two roads you can take, either meat substitutes (veggie burger instead of beef) or eat things which are veggie to start with (I'm rather partial to a vegetable madras). There's nothing stopping you doing either or both, it depends entirely on what you want to do. Not all veggie "meat" options are equal though so you'll need to experiment to find what works for you.

I only drink on a Saturday, and this thing is after every meal with meat. if I have beans on toast or a jacket spun n beans, I don’t get the bloating.

Beans are clearly the antidote.

Have you tried eating beans with meat?

Like those ones with the little sausages in?

It’ll take some commitment about food choices, but thankfully we don’t live in the 70’s and choices are vast and simple.

Very true. I became vegetarian in 1984 (and have been since) and it is a lot easier now that it was then.
As others have said, as it is for health reasons rather than ethical/moral then it is easier as you can eat fish, potentially smaller amounts of meat etc,. and don't have to stick to something 100%.

As it’s autumn Ton, here’s a one-bowl complete meal I’ve gotten good feedback from

-Sweet Potato and Lentil Chilli-

1. Dice: 2 x onion, 1 x medium/lge sweet potato, 1 x green bell pepper, 2-3 fresh chillies, a big carrot, 4-5 cloves garlic, sweat the lot in a couple of tablespoons of fave veg oil in big pan over med-low heat for 10 mins

2. Add 2-3 diced fresh tomatoes, stir and cook another 5 mins on mdm heat.

3. Add a level tablespoon ground cumin, another one of red flaked chillies (less or leave out entirely if cooking for crying chilli-wimps), handful of dried or fresh oregano, tsp English mustard, teaspoon of brown sauce, salt and black pepper to taste, tin of plum toms, teaspoon of marmite or similar, tablespoon tom puree, 1/2 tablespoon of cocoa powder, half a can drained chickpeas, can drained red kidney beans, small can of drained sweetcorn.

4. Add hot water to make up sauce not too runny and cook for 10 mins until boiling.

5. In another pan add a cup of dried dark-green speckled lentils (ie puy etc) to a cup or two of water with two heaped tsps of veg stock powder (or cups of yr own chosen stock) , bring to boil then simmer until soft. Add these to chili sauce you made earlier, add a handful of rice and cook for twenty minutes. Add more water as required.

6. Sweeten with a few spoons of honey and stir. Let stand awhile. Bob is your mothers brother! i think thats about it. Easy to modify with whatever. I’d use mesquite liquid smoke early on if I had it, but a few teaspoons of good quality smoked paprika works well as an alternative (add at step 3)

More trad meat-lovers chilli tex-mex recipe

Pack of Meatless Farm Co meat-free mince (from Mozzers, Sainsbury’s etc, £2.50)
Tin plum toms
Large onion diced
Bell pepper diced
1 tin (drained) red kidney beans
3 fat cloves minced or smashed garlic
1 tsp marmite
1/2 tblspn tom puree
1/2 tblspn ground cumin
1/2 tspn dried oregano
1 x squirt of fave brown sauce
tspn of English mustard
chillies to taste

Soften onions in oil in nonstick saucepan, add mince, Stir and brown a little, add toms before it sticks, and then the rest of ingredients *except for tin of kidney beans*, which you add during last ten minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste? Takes about 40mins to cook nicely on low heat, stirred occasionally. Serve with nachos and soured cream, or Oatly creme fraiche if dairy-free.

If don’t like soya mince etc, then just use dried dark green lentils for the ‘mince’. Cook them up first in twice their volume of stock until they are soft and plump, then add as per mince.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/vegan-burritos

Had those last night, albeit not vegan as I do like a bit of grated cheese on my burrito, but they were awesome. I won't be going back to my usual chicken burritos, much lighter and fresher, so much so that I ate quite a few of them. 🙂

There are lots of good reasons to cut out meat. Best advise is to not make a big deal out of it. My Mrs has been meat free forever and it just isn't a big deal at all. Kids and I only eat red meat about once a week, without really thinking about it as an actual thing, it is just how our diet is. We rarely buy meat replacement stuff like nut roast or Quorn.

I would suggest not thinking about becoming a vegetarian, just instead don't eat meat (if that makes sense)

Someone served me up a lentil stew recently with a side order of fried baby toms and almonds. Ye gods it tasted amazing. Roasted almonds & tomatoes are now on my A-list, something I’d never have thought of combining. Very difficult not to burn the almonds in a pan yet still get them properly-cooked, but you can roast them instead.

With that in mind, I reckon this is worth a try

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/perciatelli-with-roasted-tomato-and-almond-pesto-360609

Fried almonds in general:

https://www.food.com/recipe/fried-almonds-347911

^ With those:

- Sprinkled over cooked vegetables, such as broccoli or asparagus doused with lemon juice

- Added to yogurt, the saltiness making a nice counterpoint to the tang of yogurt and sweetness of fruit

- Tossed into salads, from spinach to kale to delicate lettuces

- Scattered over very simple pastas, particularly pesto pasta

- Add to grains, such as rice, oatmeal, quinoa, or farro

- Use as a garnish for avocado or nut butter toast.

- Scattered over creamy soups, such a carrot, tomato, or cream of broccoli.

- Just gob them from the jar as snax.

cheers fella's. some of these recipes look spot on.

I would suggest not thinking about becoming a vegetarian, just instead don’t eat meat (if that makes sense)

this make perfect sense to me. cheers.

Just be wary of the inevitable round of questions asking you to justify exactly what you chose to eat every single time someone finds out you are vegetarian.
After 25+ years I just try to hide it to avoid being asked. Yet again.

Just be wary of the inevitable round of questions asking you to justify exactly what you chose to eat every single time someone finds out you are vegetarian.

Just whisper that you’re ‘flexitarian’, they might wind their necks in.

‘Flexitarians, always banging on about how flexible they are...’

so that leaves meat, which I will be honest about, I am a greedy bastard with.

Just be less greedy. Don't eat meat as often and when you do, eat smaller portions. Difficult I know but it's what I've done - not because of any health issue but just an acknowledgement that I was too reliant on meat in my diet. I eat more veg and fish these days - often veg only meals, curries, pasta sauces, risottos, etc.

I bet he has something with meat in next Saturday night....😂