How do I go meatless?

“Can a world-class athlete get enough protein from a vegetarian diet to compete? My best year of track competition was the first year I ate a vegan diet.” Do you know who uttered these words – Carl Lewis the nine-time Olympic gold medallist, who has been vegan since 1990.

If you have been a meat eater all your life, you may find it very difficult to be convinced that it is possible to have an enjoyable meal without meat or that switching to a vegan diet is actually far healthier for you. Not all vegans are necessarily healthier or more health-oriented, but the very nature of their diet makes it healthier. A well-balanced vegan diet includes lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains and legumes as also a lot of nuts and seeds.

The nutritional and health benefits of such a diet are wide-ranging. The foods provide roughage. They have a lot less fat than what meat would contain. And the kind of fat that they contain is mono-saturated fat, probably the healthiest of its kind and most importantly vegan diets with their emphasis on vegetables and fruits, containing phytonutrients that are extremely health-promoting. Therefore, switching over to a vegan diet will start yielding very quick results, making your body feel lighter and healthier. You will find a spring in your steps and your mind feels uncluttered. Thus, you are not only making way for a more healthy body but a healthier mind as well.

However, there are many other reasons as well which may set you wondering if you should be going meatless. For instance:

You are concerned about your health – Research has shown that many medical conditions are linked to non-vegetarian diets, especially to those that are high in animal products. In fact you may be surprised at the long list that includes but is not limited to heart disease and strokes, high cholesterol, obesity, liver and kidney disease, arthritis and osteoporosis, and other colon-related diseases.
You are concerned about the environment – Environmental groups have been trying to inform people and communities of what it costs to produce and maintain animals meant for production of meat both in terms of the damage to the environment as well as the actual high costs.
You are concerned about the treatment of animals – Many people who give up meat are compelled to do so by their religious or spiritual beliefs, some because of ethical concerns over the treatment of animals and some of out sheer compassion for fellow living beings.
You are concerned about the safety of the animal products – Mad Cow Disease and Bird Flu are just some of the epidemics that have recently caused much concern amongst meat eaters the world over. You may want to turn meatless because of the general fear of contamination in animal products.
So, now for one or more of the above reasons, you have decided to go vegan and give up eating meat. You may give yourself a good pep talk, run through all the advantages that a vegan diet is going to give you, steel yourself for a diet filled with soya, sprouts and tofu and generally consider yourself a martyr, either for your own cause or for the greater cause of animals or the environment.

However, you will very soon find out that going vegan is not so difficult after all. In fact, a majority of meat-eaters find themselves making the transition without any problems at all. There are, however, a few hard-core meat-eaters who may have some trouble initially to a completely meat-free diet. But by using innovative and delicious diet ideas, even they will soon come to love their new vegan diets.