Being a vegetarian, has many reasons, whatever it may be for each person it's based either on what they feel strongly against like animal cruelty or different views based on ethnical beliefs, religious beliefs, cultural beliefs or health problems forcing you to cut down on meat.

Either way when becoming vegetarian you need to learn about nutrition, what kind of food group you should eat and when to eat to maintain a good nutrition flow in your body. Not even when people try to being a vegetarian knows what kind of nutrition they lack in their diet and don't compensate as they don't have enough knowledge about what the consequences are when missing certain nutrition. Being a vegetarian means also you need to a lot more than meat eaters as the protein in cereals and grains has a lower intake grade in our bodies. Also I think they need to have B12 vitamins which can be only found in red meats.

So what about me then? For me it's because I have diabetes type 2 right now and in the future I will be have type 1 so the best thing to do is getting used to more beans. Also I have been inspired to try different vegetarian dishes and had this thought going vegetarian for 3-4 days a week.

So my wonder if someone can be part time vegetarian half a week and the rest be able to eat other kind of meat. I mean that could be the ultimate thing to do for saving food for other part of the world if we starts to consume less meat in the western world.

I love veggies, and have considered becoming a vegetarian, but I'm not ready to give up meat. If it was a health issue I would.

I'm glad to see that you're planning ahead for your future health. I believe the changes you're making now will help you in the future. That's really intelligent on your part. Good for you!

I'm out making my weekly rounds. lol
Take care my friend and have a terrific rest of the week!

I am a half week vegetarian. There is no way that I can go full fledged. I still enjoy having meat. I have cut back though on the red meat and have been watching the fats such as on pork and chicken skin. I've been trying to eat more of the good healthy fats such as those in salmon, nuts and olive oil. I've been eating more legumes also. It's not easy cooking for a family when the rest of them don't care for vegetarian dishes. It's been a challenge. The allrecipes.com website has some good vegetarian recipes on it. You mentioned about the consequences of missing certain nutrients. Well I've discovered the hard way what some of the consequences are. I've suffered some very bad muscle cramps from lack of potassium and from lack of magnesium in my diet. I too am diabetic and have a bad heart history so I am learning a little late in life how to finally take care of myself. It's good to know that you are taking an active part in your health at a younger age. Yeah! for you!!! Keep up the good work.

I have a question that has nothing to do with your post topic....
Do you watch Chef Ramsey on Hell's Kitchen?? I hope you don't have to deal with any instructors like that on a daily basis at your schooling.

I think you are very wise to consider your diet at a nice young age. I too am a diabetic with serious heart problems. My doctor just suggests eating legumes and salads as often as possible instead of meat everyday. I know that people in the U.S. generally eat too much meat and fat. My husband won't eat fish or beans of any kind, so it is difficult to cook sometimes. Often, I just eat everything except the meat or maybe just eat a very small portion.

Hi there for the long time.
Sorry to hear about your condition. But type II unlike type I which is the severe form, is manageable by slight change in diet and healthy life style. Glad to hear that you are taking steps toward vegetarian diet.

Here is a link to food recommendation for diabetic diet.
http://www.lifeclinic.com/focus/diabetes/diet.asp

Cheers