Staying vegetarian can be daunting

Jan 2019 — Making resolutions doesn’t work well for some, but others swear by them. Some rely on tips while others prefer to wing their awakening. Some transition into becoming vegetarian while others stop eating animals cold turkey. There is no one way to become vegetarian. But since some readers make resolutions, below are suggestions on how not to waver drawn from my experience and websites She Knows, The Full Helping, US News & World Report:

Consider why you are becoming vegetarian. Are you just curious or convinced? The Benefits of Vegetarianism listed at the bottom of this article explains the benefits, immediate or long-range.

Select a pace that you find comfortable. If you are dragging your feet, transitioning to foods that look like animal flesh dishes might strengthen your resolve. Our September 2018 articles cover ingredient substitutions. Going vegetarian one day per week might help. So will joining others for the Meat Free Mondays at www.meetup.com .

Adding grains, beans and nuts to your plate will help you to gradually discard the animal items. Have them first with a smaller than usual portion of meat, poultry or fish; at later meals eventually replace them with those items or freshly picked fruits and vegetables from truck farms or farmers markets. (Plant Chicago at the Plant provides a monthly farmers market even in the winter.) Once comfortable, you can tackle the animal byproducts.

Learn your nutrition facts. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine provides a Vegan Starter Kit for less than $11 from Amazon or a free online 21-Day Vegan Kickstart Plus with or without the app. Tracy McWhirter’s guide focuses on African Americans.

Eat with other vegetarians. Visit vegetarian/vegan restaurants hosted by meetups to try tasty food you’d avoid if you were alone. Attend potlucks at the meetups; then try recipes for the dishes you enjoyed. Northwest Indiana Vegetarians and Southwest Suburbs Vegans usually have small events where you pay the restaurant directly. ChicagoVeg and Taste of Vegan negotiate discounted meals and penalize late cancellations for larger gatherings.

Honor your traditions. Take your vegetarian dish to the event, let others sample it, and converse with people you missed most of the year.

Benefits of Vegetarianism

• Improved health steers you away from the likelihood of not only heart disease, cancer, constipation, vision problems and high blood pressure, but also expensive medical prescriptions as the need for them declines. Lost pounds and clearer skin also improve your appearance.
• More money each month builds up your savings account. Because produce and other plant-based staples cost less than meat, poultry and fish, the extra money can be stored for your other less expensive desires. Of course, less prescriptions equal less expenses.
• Since factory farming increases the carbon imprint in our world and decreases land for feeding the hungry, your eating plants yields less climate change and world hunger. Minus these worries, we’ll have less reason to fight for land or to start wars. So being vegetarian indirectly leads to more peace in the world.