It’s been over a year since I switched to a vegetarian diet. It was for health reasons and my doctor recommended that I go on a strict no-animal meat diet for 3 months. After 3 months, I just continued with it.

How to Switch to a Vegetarian Diet?

Some say you should do it gradually. Eating less meat, eating more plant-based meals in a week and gradually reducing meat intake can do the trick. Once you’ve tested what works, you can take the next step by committing to eat at least one plant-based meal every day. Start slowly but surely.

Others do it, abruptly. No meat at all for day 1 and so on. Whether to do it gradually or the other way, you have to think of the reason why you are doing it. It’s the strongest motivation you can have to make it successful.

We used to have chicken and fish at home, and a bit of beef when dining out. We usually prepare vegetable dishes with some of these meat.

When I made the switch, I started making the meals meat-less or at times put in a vegetarian meat alternatives. I used to cook two versions as I’m the only one on vegetarian diet but eventually, we are all on no animal-meat meals.

What to Eat when on a Vegetarian Diet?

So, what do we eat? Contrary to what most believe, we do not eat just salads and greens 3x a day, 7 days a week. I’m not a salad person and I need more than just salad to fill my tummy and have energy for the day.

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Vegetarian for 12 months 💚 No cheat days even when travelling or eating out! Can be challenging but can be done. 🥦🍍🥒🥬🍠🥕🌽 Here are some random photos of the food I ate (most were ordered from restaurants, some prepared at home). Yes, I did not just ate salad 3x a day for the whole year. hehehe 🥓🍗🥙🧆🥗🥘🍰 I learned (and still learning) to prepare simple meals, and always on the lookout for vegetarian/ vegan cafes, restaurants and groceries. Thankful for family, friends and the internet for the tutorials, for fruit and vegetable deliveries, and for neighborhood cafes who now offer take out food! Makes it all easy these times when we can't easily go out. #vegetarian #vegan #vegetarianfood #healthylifestyle #healthyfood #healthyeating #food #foodphotography

A post shared by Que Sullano-Gavan (@takbophchic) on Sep 16, 2020 at 9:51pm PDT

To make it easier, I made a list of food that we regularly eat and paying more attention to vegetarian meals that we like. Beef and broccoli is now gluten and broccoli. Chicken afritada is now choplets afritada. Chicken curry is now tofu vegetable curry, or just all vegetable curry. Spring rolls have all vegetable filling (just as we used to). Chicken adobo is now tofu or mushroom adobo. Beef siomai is now mushroom siomai.

I have documented our Homecooked Vegetarian Meals (sometimes Vegal Meals) to I can go back to them when I seem to run out out idea on what to prepare.

We also checked the supermarkets for spices, sauces, and vegetarian versions of hamburger, sausage, chicken or bacon so we can add them to our dishes.

Yes, we missed some dishes, like the chicken inasal and kansi in Bacolod, or the beef gyudon bowls in our favorite ramen house. Hopefully soon we can find a healthier substitute so we can eat them again.