Reply #4: Cold turkey is an all or nothing proposition that only zealots can [View All]

manage to cope with. The last thing I clung to was chicken stock. Even now I'll eat free range chicken once a year, just to remind myself of what it is like and that fanatacism is worse for me than meat is. Since organically raised chicken is so much more expensive (and since I just can't cope with the idea of factory raised animals), my flesh consumption is practically nil.

The best way to do any life change is gradually, easing vegetarian menus into every week and finding out what you like and what you don't like along the way. Eventually you'll just get to the point where you have enough of a repertoire of vegetarian dishes that you like that you'll just make the transition without thinking about it until you realize one day that you haven't eaten any meat for a couple of months.

It also helps if you're clear why you're going vegetarian. If it's one of those "should" or "ought" things, you're probably not going to be successful. If you really are uncomfortable with the amount of hormones, antibiotics and cruelty that goes into factory farmed meat animals, or if you really don't feel as well if you eat a lot of meat, or if (like me) you've never really been that crazy about meat you'll do better.