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  • Protein Myths
  • Why be Vegetarian?
  • Is meat-eating natural?
  • Vegetarian Myths
  • Veg. & the Environment

  • Why go vegetarian?

    1. Improve your health. Thousands of peer-reviewed studies link meat with disease1,2,3 and fruits & vegetables with better health.4,5,6 The science on this is clear, consistent, and overwhelming.  Newest: Older adults who are vegan need 58% less meds. (VegNews)

    2. Help the Earth. It takes 16 pounds of grain to make a pound of beef.(source)  So compared to plant foods, that's 16 times as much pesticides, more water, more energy use, more climate change, more deforestation, and on and on. And don't even get us started on all the waterways polluted by livestock waste. (more...)

    3. Reduce suffering. Most people would be outraged if someone ate their cat or dog but most of those people eat other animals and think nothing of it.  So if we believe that certain animals deserve to not be eaten, why eat different animals just because we never got close to them?

    Vegetarian & Vegan Nutrition

    All vegetarians should take a Vitamin B12 supplement, and those who don't get enough sun should take vitamin D.  Good websites for nutrition info include:

    All about protein

    The ideas that vegetables are deficient in protein or that they're incomplete proteins is an urban myth.  The science says that protein is easy to get. See all about protein.

    The Best Recipe Sites

    VegWeb. Thousands of vegan recipes, many with pictures! A true community, with contributions and discussion from its users.

    Fat-Free Vegan. Hundreds of well-organized recipes.

    Fat-Free Vegetarian. Around 5000 lowfat vegetarian recipes.

    VegSource. Over 5000 recipes. See especially Marla's section.

    Vegetarian Resource Group. Choose a category (like "Lentil Mania"), and then see several complete recipes, all on the same page.

    Health advantages

    Here's some food for thought:

    Beginner's Guides to Vegetarianism

    Vegetarian Beginner's Guide

    by the editors of Veg. Times

    $1.07
    +shipping

    Become a Vegetarian in Five Easy Steps

    by Christine H. Beard

    $2.98
    +shipping

    Complete Idiot's Guide to Being Vegetarian

    by Suzanne Havala & Robert Pritikin

    $2.72
    +shipping

    The Perfectly Contented Meat-Eater's Guide to Vegetarianism
    A beginning guide with a huge dose of humor.

    by Mark Warren Reinhardt

    $3.00
    +shipping

    See more vegetarian books: Cookbooks   Pregnancy & Children   Nutrition   Environmental Benefits

    Join the Vegie group on Kiva

    Kiva lets individuals make microloans to people in third-world countries. I've made nearly 100 loans there myself. There's even a Kiva team for vegetarians there.

    Myths about Vegetarianism

    • "Humans were designed to eat meat."
    • "Vegetarians have a hard time getting protein."
    • "Plant proteins are incomplete."
    • "Vegetable oils are healthy."
    • "Tofu is a low-fat food."
    • "Milk is necessary for strong bones."
    • "Hitler was a vegetarian."

    All of the above statements are myths. For the full story see vegetarian myths debunked.

    What do vegetarians eat?

    See our massive list of what vegetarians and vegans eat.

    Vegetarians on Wall Street

    Some companies making vegetarian foods are publicly traded. See them on our list of socially-responsible stocks.

    Veggie Love

    Vegetarian singles can connect with each other at Veggie Connection.

    Vegetarian restaurants in Austin

    Austin is a very veg-friendly city. Check out our list of restaurants.

    Best vegetarian websites

    Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG). VRG is impressive -- they offer a free email newsletter, write & publish their own exceptionally practical books, have a guide to raising a vegetarian family, produce lesson plans for teachers, and more. Wow!

    The Vegetarian Site. They bill themselves as a "vegetarian portal", and that's pretty accurate. From an online store to articles about animals, nutrition, and the environment, they're clearly trying to cover everything.

    Vegan.com. These guys are hilarious. The slogan on their site is "Disparaging meat since 1997"! A lead article starts, "Ball Park Franks may plump when you cook 'em, but a recent batch may also kill you when you eat 'em..." A recipe collection, activist updates, their own interview with Howard Lyman, what more do you want?

    VegSource. The kitchen sink of vegetarianism. If you were wondering about it, it's here. Downsides: Tons of annoying advertising, and mean-spiritedness towards perceived enemies (in the editorial, but especially in the Comments sections).


    (Google picks the ads, not me.)