*sigh*
Over the past few months I’ve noticed that some of the celebrities I really like, and are aging fantastically are vegetarian or vegan - people like Joan Jett and Eric Stoltz (Go ahead and laugh, I know that doing something because it looks good on a celebrity is silly.)
Anyway, my point is - I’m now considering working up to a vegetarian diet. But I want some good resources. I can google all day long but at this stage I can’t necessarily tell good resources from bad ones. Any book recommendations, websites, etc. Especially cookbooks or recipe sites, I love to cook. Tips would be nice too.
I appreciate all answers. I’m sure this question gets asked all the time but I’ve seen websites rather than books and I’d really like a book recommendation or two. Thanks 
Oh, one extra question -
Any good evidence that a veg diet is good for cardiovascular health.
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June 23rd, 2009 at 9:08 pm
There are scores of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks out now. even just looking through regular cookbooks its easy to find stuff. look in the vegetable and pasta areas in them. Tofu is so flexible in cooking because it absorbs all the flavors its being cooked in. There is one website you should try that has a lot of good recipes. http://www.theveggietable.com/ the vegan chop suey is really good.
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone is an awesome cookbook. It has 1,400 recipes. Most can be made vegan, but all are vegetarian. (also its still great for those who would like to add meat and what not to it, that way if your cooking for others as well you can all eat the same meal)
Make sure you are still getting all the vitamins and nutrients you need when/if you switch your eating style to that of vegetarian or vegan.
If you currently have a diet that is high in meat/poultry and seafood (if you decide to no longer eat that as well, some vegetarians do still eat seafood) I would suggest that you gradually make the switch to make it less hard on yourself.
I no longer have a vegetarian diet, but I still greatly limit the amount of meat/poultry and seafood that I eat.
June 23rd, 2009 at 10:39 pm
http://www.chooseveg.com/vegan-recipes.asp
I recommend this website.
Another recommendation — look for blogs of mothers. It sounds a little weird at first, but seriously, you’ve never seen anything like the product a mother can get trying to find normal foods for a lactose intolerant child.
http://www.mothersclick.com/recipes/kid-favorites/madelines-dairy-free-nut-free-egg-free-chocolate-chip-cookies
For instance, that’s my all-time favorite cookie recipe — developed by a mother with a kid who couldn’t have dairy.
The best tip I can give is not a book or a website. It’s this: You can have whatever other people can, just in a different way. A lot of people seem to interpret “being vegan” as “eating plain salad greens with water for every meal” — and that’s the farthest thing from the truth. You also won’t find tofurkey in every vegetarian’s freezer — although, on that note, I recommend tempeh as an alternative to meat.
Read labels. You’d be surprised with how much “normal” food can be done without vegetables or milk products. Pizza crust is easily vegan, and sauce is even easier. There are great vegan cheeses available, and thousands of potential toppings when it comes to vegetables. Lasagna can be made easily, as well — not to mention spaghetti, baked goods, etc.
I also have a thing for a few different vegan bars — you can by them one by one in health food stores.
As for the cardiovascular health of vegans. that’s a difficult question to answer. Someone who is careful about what type of fats they’re consuming can have great cardio health, whereas a vegan who makes poor choices can have horrible cardio health. You don’t have to feel like you’re dieting or anything — just make sure you’re making healthy choices. Regular exercise can make you or break you, as well.
Now, I should clarify — I’m not vegan. I’ve tried it here and there, and it didn’t work for me — my current lifestyle and options don’t allow me to make vegan choices 24/7, and for right now, I’m okay with that.
Don’t be afraid of challenges — you can’t just step into a vegan lifestyle. It takes a lot of time to learn to read the labels, learn to scan a recipe and see if it’s right for you or if you can adapt it to make it right for you, etc. Also, don’t let yourself think that being vegan means you can’t have an ounce of meat in the house — I know a few vegans that keep “normal” foods in the house sometimes, as well. A vegan friend makes several kinds of meat every year for Christmas with her family. No one will kill you if you’ve got a bag of frozen chicken breasts in your freezer just in case you grill out and friends who might not be big fans of vegetarian cookouts stop by.
When eating out, don’t be afraid to ask questions or request a change with your food. I’ve tried living without meat here and there, not so much out of passion for being vegetarian but curiosity for the lifestyle. One of my biggest mistakes was that I didn’t really ask questions of waiters. If you’re not sure if something has meat in it, ask. If they don’t know, ask them to find out. They’re there to make your dining experience pleasurable, and if you need something, don’t hesitate to ask. In addition, if you find a dish that looks great but you see that it has meat in it, ask if it can be made without. Likewise, if you order a cheese quesadilla and it arrives with chicken in it, don’t be afraid to ask the waiter for something else that fits your dietary requirements.
Don’t be discouraged, if this is something you really want to do. It’s not easy — no major dietary change is. Like I said — I’m not vegatarian or vegan, and I’ve only tried it out a couple of times. However, for a couple of years I babysat two young children that were allowed no gluten or dairy and a limited sugar intake. There were many days I was with them from breakfast to dinner, and it took a while, but after some time, you get used to reading the labels, switching one thing for another, guessing alternatives, etc.
Oh, and another tip — don’t settle for one cookbook. Get a dozen. Go to a local bookstore, and sit there for an hour leafing through every veg cookbook they’ve got. When you look at a photo and say “Ooooh” out loud, you know it’s a keeper.
June 23rd, 2009 at 11:23 pm
chooseveg.com is really good I use it a lot and their recipes are simple and cheap.
Go to a local bookstore and search for a book. Try to pick a book that has more vegetable recipes instead of pasta.
I picked up one vegetarian cookbook and it had stuff that was really bad for you to eat on a regular basess.
One thing to always keep in the kitchen are salad fixings. (tomatoes, BELL PEPPERS (a lot of recipes require this), iceburg lettuce, romane lettuce, spinach, green beans, beans, peanut butter, garbonzo beans (to make a mean hummus recipe), fruit, soy milk, all purpose unbleached flour (to make quick and healthy sweets on occasion), oatmeal.
My advice sense you have internet excess. When you might want to make something that week or day. Type in what you feel like eating say a meatless meatloaf type it in and see what recipe you like. Sometimes the ingredients might turn you off.
Veg diet is the best for cardiovascular health because it is low in fat and cholesterol. The only way people go wrong is when they eat chips and bread instead of carrots and whole grain.