I've been readin on all the horrible things meat can cause to your body, and I'd like to eat less of it, but vegetarian and organic foods can be sooo expensive. Any sugestions?where do you find boca burgers or morningstars, and what exactly are legumes?

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Just eliminate all animal-derived ingredients and products, and substitute grains, fruits, veggies, legumes, etc. etc. As for cost: All food is pricier than it should be; that's just fact. What you save by not purchasing meat-fish-fowl, you'll spend on rice-pasta-beans/fruits-veg. Be sure to avail yourself of plain, old frozen vegetables (not sauced up with cheesy gunk: yecccch); they're not usually more expensive, and they're convenient.You are gonna feel so much better (physically and spiritually) that you're gonna wonder why you didn't go veg sooner. Congrats and much luck.

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Here are tips:1. Take your time - my journey from meat eater took about a year.2. Start out using some basic substitutes for the meat you are used to in foods where you won't even notice - ground meat replacements are available in the frozen food sections.3. Leave meat off things that don't need it - pizza, salad, spag, etc.4. Get some good cookbooks when you are ready to branch into more interesting foods - Moosewood books and New Farm Vegetarian are two of my favorites.5. If you are worried about what to eat check out the book "Diet for a New America" it will cover many of the health questions.A good start is to pick one or two nights a week as "veggie" night. Then work your way from there stopping wherever you feel most comfortable which might be 2 nights a week or 7 nights a week up to you.

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Hey Crazy Fool. We have got to stop meeting like this. Yeah, so check out the frozen section for the Morning Star and Boca products. Then go look at the frozen veggies and fruits. Veggies make a good and cheap side dish or you can make a stir-fry. Frozen fruits are good to make into smoothies, add some protein powder to make up for the less protein you will be getting through meat. or fruit can be added to plain and inexpensive yogurt. Energy bars like Cliff are good between meals and they have lots of vitamins (they cost about $1 each)Dont under estimate a good salad. You can make them interesting. Ingredients like lettuce (dont go all iceberg- I use a mix of iceberg, redleaf, spinach, etc because the darker leaves have the vitamins), broccoli, carrots, celery, cucumbers, tomatoes and olives are good and you can buy them all for under $10 and you can make several salads. I also like to buy bell peppers because colors are good for your diet, but those can get a little more expensive. When shopping for produce, dont buy the pre-packaged stuff (lettuce in bags, wrapped up brocolli, etc- these are huge rip offs because the packaging costs more that the actual produce inside) Then be sure to add your favorite croutons and dressing. If you feel like being adventurous, I know people who put pine nuts and craisins on their salads. Dont worry about going 100% organic. When you can find a good deal on organic food, buy it, but its ok if you can't always do it. A food that I always like to get organic is bananas because they are like 40 cents a lb regular but only 60 cents a lb for organic and they make an easy snack. Very cheap! Another inexpensive vegetarian meal is pasta. There are now the whole wheat kind and the kind made with vegetables (and you cant even taste the wheat or veggies!). By trying different sauces, you can make pasta more fun. Lastly, do you have a yard? You could consider growing vegetables like tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, corn, peppers, cucumbers, etc. If you plant them and take care of them, then you'll know they are organic! At your local nursery, baby plants will cost about $5-10 each or you can buy seeds (for next to nothing). Most of these plants are easy to take care of and as they mature, they will drop their seeds, bringing new plants (called "volunteers") the next year. So, it's usually a one-time investment. Let me know if you have any questions! Good Luck.Ah! I almost forgot. You should be taking a daily multi-vitamin if you are not already. They will help round out your nutrition and fill in any gaps left from your veg diet. There are so many options and brands but you can get a month's (or more) supplies for under $10.

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