Easing In – The Gradual Approach to Going Meatless
Taking changes one step at a time makes the process more manageable and, for many people, makes the entire transition seem far less daunting. It also makes it fun – with each step, you change a little something, learn some new information, and try a few things you’ve never tried before! As you master each new skill, you become more confident in your ability to maintain your new lifestyle, plan your meals and handle yourself in any number of social situations.
There are two main advantages to taking a gradual approach to switching to vegetarianism. They are:
You’re more likely to make the changes permanent if you change your habits slowly. By changing your habits gradually, you change the way you think about eating as you go along, learning more and creating a strong base on which to anchor your new, better, healthier habits.
Making a number of small changes gives you the chance to adapt them to your current lifestyle as you go along. You probably have so many things in your everyday life going on at once that you often feel overwhelmed already – making a slow transition is simply less disruptive to your family life, job, etc. than making one huge, sweeping change.
The downside to the gradual approach, as we’ve already discussed, is that you might find yourself losing focus and taking longer to complete the transition to a completely meatless lifestyle. If you take too long, you never make it to your goal. Be honest with yourself – if it’s been months since you started changing habits and you’re still not there, you may want to take a hard look at where you are, where you want to be, and what steps you need to take to get there.
It’s also possible, if you make changes slowly, you may get stuck in one place and stay in a state of semi-vegetarianism permanently. You might decide to stop eating red meat, but never move on to giving up fish and chicken. You might intend to eventually eat an entirely vegan diet, yet you never give up eggs and cheese, and end up feeling like a failure. So if you want to make a slow transition, plot out the changes you intend to make, set specific goals and follow a structured plan.
Your Ten-Point Plan to Becoming a Vegetarian
For those craving guidance and structure, what follows is a simple ten-step transition from meat-eater to veggie lover. Of course, you don’t have to follow this course of action to become a vegetarian – but sometimes having a carefully thought-out plan in place before beginning a major venture can make you feel more secure about the unfamiliar path you’ve chosen to take. You’ll notice that, at the beginning, we’re only making changes to your evening meals – dinner is perhaps the single most “planned” meal of the day, the time when families eat together and put thought into main course, side courses and dessert.
If you think about the variety in your current diet, you’ll discover that you already draw from only a handful of recipes to make family favorites over and over again, relying on basic meals that you enjoy and have made before. You may go out to a new restaurant for a special occasion or try a new recipe now and then, but we all keep going back to tried-and-true favorites several times a month. Planning vegetarian meals is no different. During the steps of your transition, you’ll discover a number of delicious new meals – and you’ll revise current favorites to make them vegetarian – so that you have as many meal options at your disposal as you did as a meat-eater. Maybe more!
As you develop healthy new habits and learn more about nutrition, you’ll find that your previous ideas of what constitutes a complete evening meal will change drastically. Ever since the era of “Ozzie and Harriet,” we’ve been told that an appropriate family dinner includes a large portion of meat, some veggies on the side, a starch of some sort and, often, a big glass of milk. Soon you’ll be abandoning that idea –eating a healthy satisfying vegetarian diet isn’t just a matter of replacing meat with something else while continuing the same old method of consuming “four squares.” A quickly put together veggie stir-fry with a multi-grain roll is a fast, nutritious evening dinner – so is homemade macaroni and cheese accompanied by a green salad. The old ways of eating don’t apply to you anymore, so go ahead and forget what you were taught about meal planning – you’re about to develop your own rules, based on what your body needs.
Step 1: Eat three meat-free dinners during the week that you already enjoy.
Make a list of vegetarian main dishes that you and your family already like – macaroni and cheese, vegetable soup with bread and salad, cheese quesadillas, vegetable stir fry, quiche and cheese pizza are just a few of the meatless meals you already eat. This still leaves four nights a week that you can include meat in your meals – but you’ve taken the first step toward thinking differently about your eating habits.
Step 2: Adapt three favorite recipes to make them vegetarian, and add them to your week’s dinners.
A wide variety of main course meals can be turned into delicious vegetarian fare, allowing you to enjoy healthier versions of foods you already love. Take a recipe for vegetarian chili and make it your own by using the same mixture of spices in your own ground-beef chili; leave the beef out of your lasagna and replace it with sauteed zucchini, eggplant and mushrooms; make your favorite soups and stews using coarsely chopped Portobella mushrooms; mix up a zesty taco salad with the usual lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream and salsa, but replace the ground beef with a mixture of black and kidney beans. The possibilities are only as limited as your imagination!
Step 3: Add three brand-new vegetarian meals to your repertoire.
During the previous two steps, you developed six vegetarian dinners that you and your family are happy to eat. Now it’s time to do a little research and find a few new tricks to spice up your menus even further with some new recipes. Purchase a couple of vegetarian cookbooks, borrow them from friends or check them out of the library. We’ll even provide you with some great recipes in Chapter Twelve, as well as a list of cookbooks to get your started. You can also search the Internet for recipes, and online vegetarian support groups are a terrific source for recipes from other veggie-lovers.
Find recipes that look tasty and give them a try. This is a time for experimenting – if something doesn’t appeal to you after you’ve served it up, discard that recipe and try something else. No matter what your level of cooking expertise, there are recipes you can make, and you’ll even find yourself becoming a better cook as you develop new skills.
