Getting Started
Posted by jes, 2 years ago
I tried eating a vegetarian diet when I was in high school, but wasn't very successful. I ended up being anaemic and having low levels of B12. I'm now trying it again and slowly trading my meat-eating ways for vegetarian/vegan alternatives. I've found this to be a better process then a radical change.
The biggest issue for me is re-learning how to cook, and healthy ways to ensure protein and iron are still apart of my diet. Little things like adding flax seeds, almonds, and spinach, to seasonal vegetables makes delicious and healthy meals. Soya isn't the only source of protein, but it is a good one that is incredibly adaptive and easy to incorporate into traditional recipes. Understanding good fats and bad fats is important too. We're conditioned to fear fat, but fat is actually an important component of the food we eat. Saturated fats are bad and should be avoided, but what's great about a vegan diets is that few of the foods involved have any bad fat.
I found the following books really helpful in addition to asking questions when I shop at my neighbourhood health-food store.
