How to become more vegetarian?

Scarcity of protein in a vegetarian diet is a myth Seconded. Worry about iron. A little green leafy takes care of that pretty well, though. As a vegetarian, I have little use for tofu, finding it generally squishy and unappealing Seconded! I've never eaten meat, and I've lived through advice for egg excess, "protein combining" theories, and, now, the mainstreaming of soy industrial byproducts. It's silly. I have come into contact with actual dieticians a couple of times, and the only concern ever raised is the iron. (I do eat egg and dairy; vegan diets are another story.) There's just no need to overthink it. I just finished a little plate of homemade lasagna. Pasta, spinach, mushrooms, ricotta, mozza, tomato sauce. I'm healthy and well-fed off stuff like that. I pick up vegetarian cookbooks primarily to snark; best, I find, to just go with cookbooks you like, and learn to adapt recipes -- mushrooms, and to a lesser extent eggplants & zucchini, work well in place of meat and are not blecchy soy. I realise that doesn't quite address your "How do I make sure I'm feeding myself well?" -- but I don't think it's much to worry about. One's taste buds complain if veering off into deficiencies, which is why nobody lasts on a 'vegetarian' diet that ends up all salad or all cheese pizza.

How do I make sure I'm feeding myself well? How did you know you were feeding yourself well on a meat diet? It's a semi-serious question. It's easy enough to track nutrient intake through a site like fitday.com, which I'm positive you've seen linked off and on around here. The only nutrients which you would need to supplement with vegetarian diet are Vitamin B12, and with a vegan diet, Vitamin D. I know you were asking about nutrition info more than recipes, but...I can't resist the urge to link to http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/ which has incredible photographs and recipes on a regular basis. Love, love, love it.

I was coming here to say what MonkeySaltedNuts said- start treating meat as a condiment. I find farmers markets to be very inspiring- how can you not want to cook exciting things like squash blossoms? Deborah Madison's book mentioned above, and also Madhur Jaffrey's World of the East Vegetarian Cookbook have both been very useful. Nutrition wise, B12 and Iron seem to be more of an issue than protein. Protein is pretty easy to come by even in vegan diets. I say phooey to most fake meat. It's not necessarily good for you, and there are much yummier things to eat. Tempeh and tofu are worth learning to cook properly- they have special qualities all their own.

-Start by adapting the dishes you normally make , like chili ,lasagne, stir frys etc to use less and less meat and more alternatives like beans, lentils, cheese, nuts, tofu , textured Veg Protein. You will get to the point where you dont think meat is automatically a part of every meal. -Go to farmers markets for tastier produce. or grow your own. -when starting, the "sundays at moosewood" cookbook was my bible. -try to like like beans, lentils more -Tofu is best fresh but it may be difficult to find this

A vegetarian diet can absolutely meet all your needs, but you should educate yourself as you go. Be aware that many strict vegetarians experience some vitamin deficiencies (as mentioned above) and symptoms of anemia after about three years of the diet. I'd strongly recommend you undertake some thorough study of nutrition so you can assess for yourself if you are getting the nutrients you need before you develop a health problem.

Honestly, the best way to start cooking vegetarian is to just do it. There are plenty of cookbook recommendations here, and every vegetarian cookbook I've seen has information about nutrition and health. Find some recipes, try 'em out, if they work, look for more. You don't HAVE to enjoy tofu or tempeh or whatever else, just try things! Buy produce at the farmer's market and figure out what to do with it. If you're still worried about nutrition, use common sense. Eat your fruits and veggies, eat whole grains, get some non-meat-based protein in there. (Did you read that Michael Pollan article in the NYTimes? The ideas in there seemed to promote your goal.) I started out as a cheese and bread junk food vegetarian, and eventually became more balanced as I figured out that grilled cheese sandwiches are not the answer to everything. (Eggplant burgers on the other hand....yum.) Now I'm not vegetarian, but I basically never cook meat. After a while, you will probably get used to this. It can take some time, but pretty soon your recipe core will be much bigger and you'll know how to experiment...have fun!

If you need a vegetarian cookbook with plenty of dietary info, I'd recommend http://www.tenspeed.com/store/index.php?main_page=pubs_product_book_jph1_info&products_id=687, which has a big appendix in the back with articles, tables, and charts, so the recipes aren't bogged down with nutritional details. the recipes themselves feature fresh vegetables and whole grains, and tend to be fairly straightforward. They are a bit dairy-heavy, but she also provides some balanced menus, something many people have trouble imagining for themselves. You state that you don't need the recipes so much as the nutritional data, but perhaps the most accessible place to find the data is in a well-researched vegetarian cookbook. I'll echo what others have said about protein needs: if you're over thirty, you probably grew up hearing that vegetarian diets required tedious matching of complementary proteins. If you read the updated Diet for a Small Planet, you'll see that this model --- careful protein complementarity --- is now outdated. Most non-vegans are getting plenty of protein without worrying too much about complementarity. (I'm not suggesting vegans are protein-poor, just that I haven't done that reading, because it doesn't apply to my household.) Someone upthread recommended Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, a lovely cookbook that just happens to be sitting three feet from me at the moment. It's sometimes described as the vegetarian Joy of Cooking, which seems about right. Feel free to email me now or later if you want to chat about menus or recipes. I love to cook and to talk about cooking, and I'm compiling a vegetarian cookbook (for use by friends and family, and perhaps to send out to publishers someday). If you're interesting in being a recipe tester, let me know! Good luck!

One gradual step is to treat meat as seasoning - just small quantities as an ingredient rather than as a course in its self. This is the traditional role in much of Africa and Asia where a typical dinner is a vegetable stew with a small quantity of meat served with a starch such as rice. Actually the stew is seasoning for the large quantity of rice and the meat is seasoning for the stew. A typical American dish is beans flavored with a small bit of smoked pork. Or you might consider sandwiches that contain only one thin slice of meat.

Check out veggiemealplans.com. Great site with weekly recipes complete with shopping lists.