Many people do not understand that vegetarians do not eat animals. It is very sad. Please do not call yourself any kind of vegetarian if you eat animals. Many people also don't understand how to find credible websites. So let me help.

http://www.vegsoc.org/newveg/fft/index.html is the best and most credible website around. It is the globally recognized source for vegetarian info and help.

If you click on the link that says "The Basics" it will share the following info about vegetarianism.

"Vegetarians don’t eat:
• Meat
• Poultry
• Game
• Fish, shellfish and crustacea
• Slaughterhouse by-products such as gelatine, rennet and animal fats.

Vegetarians do eat:
• Italian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Turkish, Indonesian, Thai, Spanish, French, Vietnamese, Mexican, African and Greek cuisine.

• Roast dinners, fry-ups, barbecues, soups, salads, pizzas, burgers, stews, casseroles, bakes, pies, cakes, biscuits, stir-frys, wraps, chillies and curries.

• Vegetables, pulses, grains, bread, cheese, eggs, fruit, nuts, cereals and seeds.

• Chocolate, chips, crisps, dips, olives, yoghurt, custard, ice-cream, sweets, cream, artichokes, asparagus, walnuts, cashews, pecans, maple syrup, honey, sun-dried tomatoes – do we need to go on?

People who don’t eat red meat but do eat chicken or fish are making a very important first step, but they aren’t vegetarians. We usually call such people meat-reducers.

People who avoid all animal products, including eggs, milk, dairy products and honey as well as meat, poultry and fish are called vegans."

The site also has very easy to understand guides to nutrients and the vegetarian food pyramid. http://www.vegsoc.org/newveg/fft/balance.html Please look through it, and if you have any more questions, just come back and ask.

Good luck and congratulations with your decision.

Is soda pop an animal?

There are a lot of variables.

Vegetarians, by defenition do not eat meat. They do eat eggs, fish, milk and anything else that is not actual meat.

The rules are not set in stone. You can eat what you are comfortable with. Soda Pop is vegetarian as it contains no meat. If you are worried about your health, consider staying away form anything processed. There are lots of web sites with vegetarian info on them.

http://www.vegetarian.com

Good luck

no soda sorry… read those labels and learn what the ingredients are made of or where they are derived from. soda has animal product in it like most candies, processed foods, gelatins, ice creams….

here's some sites to get your started…

http://www.savvyvegetarian.com/

http://www.goveg.com/

http://vegweb.com/

http://www.thevegetariansite.com/

http://www.vegsource.com/

http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/

this is a small start to a big endeavor.

the whole thing about vegetarians who eat eggs, milk, dairy products is crap, they're not vegetarians so look into that also.

and yes dear soda is made from animals… you'd be surprised what has animal product in it. so read labels and get educated about things like additives, processed foods and some 'fake meats' some soy vegan products claim to be vegan but have dairy in them.

Congratulations on making a good health choice. For some information and vegetarian cookbooks I would go to your local Adventist Book Center (ABC). Most Seventh day Adventists are vegetarian. there you can get meat analogs (made from soy and some even taste like the real thing). My favorite is Stripples (Breakfast Strips is another name for them). They are just like bacon. I think if you click my name you can email me and I can send you 2 recipes that I really like.

Soda is okay to drink.

if you are no longer going to be eating meat, make sure you read up on what vitamins you might need to be taking as a substitute for those vitamins you'll be missing that only come in certain meats. if you stop eating meat and don't start taking vitamins, it could make you weak and ill.

Like someone else said, there are different types of vegetarian, but assuming you are a "standard" vegetarian, you won't eat meat, poultry or fish, but will eat dairy and eggs – thats what I'll base my answer on You should look for gelatin – a lot of food products contain that, and it is also called "gelling agent" (although if it says "gelling agent pectin" that is ok because it means that it is plant derived. Also, buttermilk is a dairy product that is sometimes made with gelatin – it usually will just say buttermilk, so you won't know if it contains gelatin or not – I just avoided it completely (I'm vegan now so I avoid it all anyway). Carmine and Cochineal is an ingredient made from crushed/boiled red beetles and is often in red drinks/food, it also has a number (I don't remember what it is, but you can look it up) that stands for the ingredient, but the number is different in the US and in England, so depending on where you are, you will find a different number. Shellac is also made from an insect, so you should avoid that, and it is also called glazing agent – it is found in a lot of medicines. That is all I can think of right now, although there are lots more. Hope this helps a bit, Good Luck!!

My friend gave me this list of not-so-obvious ingredients to look out for. This list comes from a Vegetarian Times article. It's not exhaustive, but it's a good guide.

Gelatin
* frosted mini wheats
* starburst
*skittles
*planters dry roasted peanuts
*lucky charms

Lard
* pillsbury pie crusts
* ortega refried beans
*bush's BBQ baked beans

Carmine (cochnieal extract or carminic acid – beetles)
* dole's peaches in strawberry all natural fruit gel
*yoplait thick and creamy lowfat strawberry yogurt
*tropicana orange strawberry banana juice
*wegman's fruit cocktail
*kikkoman sweet & sour sauce
*some applesauce, fruit drinks, puddings

Isinglass (protein from fish air bladders)
*guinness stout
*bass ale
*foster's lager
*boddingtons ale
*some sam adams

Vitamin D3 or cholecalciferol (additive made from fish oils or oil from sheep wool)
*some milk and margarine
*florida naturals fortified orange juice
*america's choice milk
*horizon organic milk
*promise light margarine

Rennet
*denmark's finest dill havarti
*tine jarlsberg semi-soft part-skim cheese
*president fresh goat cheese
*francesco rinaldi's tomato, garlic and onion pasta sauce
*classico four cheese pizza sauce
*these are ok: horizon organic cheddar, boar's head colby, land o'lakes mozzarella, organic valley monterey jack and check out cheese.joyousliving.com/Default.aspx

Pepsin (a clotting agent from pigs' stomachs)
*used in some cheeses and vitamins

Stearic Acid (a fatty substance from pigs' stomachs, or from cows, sheep, or dogs and cats euthenized in animal shelters)
*used in some chocolate and vitamins

Cetyl Palmitate (waxy oil derived from sperm whales' heads or from dolphins)
* used in some margarines

Urea (comes from urine and other "bodily fluids")
*used for "browning" some baked goods, such as pretzels

"A" is very ignorant. No, you don't eat JUST vegetables.

You can have fruit, nuts, nut butters, soy foods (and they are delicious, although they sound nasty) such as edamamme, tempeh, tofu and seitan. Soy milk is delicious. While it does not tastelike cow's milk, the flavored ones DO taste like melted ice cream. Silk is the best brand.
And Galaxy foods "Veggi shreds" are the absolute most delicious cheese alternative…..and it actually does taste like lower-fat cheese.

Some veg's eat dairy and/or eggs,Vegans do not.

"Quorn" has alot of absolutely Delicious products (a bit expensive, though) that taste very much like meat, chicken, etc and "Amy's" and "Morningstar Farms" make yummy foods too.

If you want to know more, Buy the book "The Complete Idiot's guide to becoming Vegetarian"

It answers almost any question you have and gives tips, meal ideas and even has a product directory.

Be leary of soups…make sure they are made with vegetable stock or vegetable broth

And unless you are thirsty for pork flavored soda…I think that is save (but high in sugar)

And make sure you get enough B12

One thing that many people don't realize or understand is that there are different types of vegetarians. Each individual vegetarian has his or her own personal reasons for choosing their diet, and these reasons determine exactly what foods they eliminate. Although a few different reasons and motivations are described in the Why? section, below is just a brief definition of each type of vegetarian.

Total Vegetarians eat only plant food. They do not eat any animal foods, including fish, eggs, dairy products, and honey.

Vegans not only omit all animal products from their diets, but they also eliminate them from the rest of their life. Vegans use nothing from animals, such as leather, wool, and silk.

Lacto-Vegetarians will include dairy products into their diet of plant food. exsept eggs

Lacto-Ovo-Vegetarians eat both eggs and dairy products.

Pesco-Vegetarians include fish into their diets.

Pollo-Vegetarians eat poultry, such as chicken, turkey, and duck.

The protein scare is the biggest misconception about vegetarian diets. There are quite a bit of misconceptions so here are some web sites I think will help. The first is a list of vegetables with protein and how much the second are calcium sources in raw veggies. The third is an article about B12. It is actually a microbe found in soil and is abundant in seaweed, tempeh, miso, and root veggies. The last one is a list of foods with iron and how much.

http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/protein.htm

http://health.rutgers.edu/factsheets/iron.htm

http://www.carrotcafe.com/f/calevel.html

http://www.pamrotella.com/health/b12.html

Don't let people try to sway you and trust me they will but this is your decision and no there's. Any arguement that they come up with has been put to shame before so if you have any questions or need clarification feel free to ask them here.

Just remember that vegetarians do not eat cows, pigs, chickens, fish, shrimp, scallops, snails, ants or any other animal or by-products of their slaughter.

If you want to become a lacto-ovo vegetarian, the transition should be quite simple. Almost all meats have widely available commercial replacements. All that you have to do is replace any flesh in your diet (beef, pork, poultry, seafood) with meat analogs or just leave it out altogether.

You should keep in mind that a journey such as this can be quite short but should just be the beginning of a longer one to a plant-based diet with no animal products. This is because of the reality of factory farming in which animals that are kept alive to produce milk, eggs, etc suffer much more and longer than animals that are raised to a certain weight and then slaughtered.http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/
http://meat.org
Some people use the word "vegan" in reference to this idea, but be aware that applying that label to yourself should always come with the inclusion of wise activism and advocacy.http://www.veganoutreach.org/advocacy/index.html
Two extremely important examples of this are that you should never speak to someone about vegetarianism/veganism without their consent and genuine interest or as a comment on what they are eating AND your dietary beliefs should never be used as an introduction or explanation of who you are as a person. Veg*ism should be something that comes up AFTER people get to know you and they offer you a situation that makes it confusing to withhold the information/discussion. Also, if you are presented something that you choose not to eat or you are
ordering food/eating together somewhere/picking the best place to eat.

When you you hold off on the subject until it's necessary and then act like it isn't a big deal at all, people are usually surprised and WAY more interested and curious than if you were to bring it up when someone's eating or just using it as a conversation starter.

A responsible vegan ALWAYS studies the subject of their own health and how to keep their body completely provided for in every sense. http://www.veganhealth.org/sh
To neglect their body is to define a plant-based diet as unhealthy and is the opposite of helping the animals.

Just to clear things up, the vegetarian/vegan diet is not composed of salads, vegetables, fruit and fake meat. Fruits and vegetables are always important but they DO NOT make up the largest portion of any healthy diet.
A balanced plant-based diet includes grains(breads, pasta, rice,cereal), legumes(soy, beans, peas, lentils), fruit and vegetables.
http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/food_groups.html
http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/
http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/eating.html
Being vegan can be an art, one whose challenge is to take things that involve the suffering of the innocent and change them into something free of cruelty.

A vegan woman can create an ENTIRELY NEW,HEALTHY HUMAN BEING INSIDE OF HER. Many of these children stay vegan and grow up to be perfectly healthy adults. So just keep yourself educated about what you eat and don't let anyone tell you that a veg diet is lacking anything essential.

Technically the term "vegetarian" does imply that you don't consume anything that comes from the body of an animal that requires killing it. Many ingredients such as gelatin and glycerin are found in many candies, Fig-Newtons, and many of other foods as well as rennet found in many cheeses.
http://www.happycow.net/health-animal-ingredients.html
The best thing to remember is to take your time so that for example: when you are comfortable not eating beef and pork you can then give up chicken when you are sure you can make the commitment permanently.
Depending on your age or reliance on parents or regional options, it may not be best to give yourself a label. The important thing is to do your best to make progress and be committed to your compassion towards animals. Never put your focus onto what you or other people use to describe yourself.

If you meet someone that talks down to people for eating meat, dairy, etc or to you because they think they are "more veg" than you, laugh in their face and tell them they are a disgrace to the entire philosophy. People like this only hurt the idea of veg*ism AND the animals. The point of all of this is to live compassionately and and as free from cruelty as you can, all the while maintaining your health and a positive attitude. People who don't maintain either, need not open their mouths and represent our beliefs.

If you actually choose to read all of this, I hope it helps. If not, feel free to e-mail me if you have questions.

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I'm vegan and these are some of my favorite things to eat:

Breakfast: bananas, cream of wheat with brown sugar and soy butter, cereal, pancakes or french toast with real maple syrup, vegan "sausage" patties, smoothies.

Snack: BRUSSEL SPROUTS =) no joke

Lunch: VEGAN "SAUSAGE" SANDWICHES, sandwiches with vegan deli slices(Tofurkey is the only one that's kinda funky), fruit, dinner leftovers, couscous salad, vegan sushi, potato or pasta salad.

Dinner: sloppy joes, "sausage" and gravy with homemade biscuits, Spaghetti and Trader Joe's "meatballs" or TVP, lasagna, Thai pad see ew, pad khi mao(drunkard's noodles), pad prig king, tofu+eggplant with basil sauce, yellow thai curry with tofu or vegan chikn and veggies and jasmine rice, Indian dal with homemade roti or dosai, channa masala, aloo gobi, vegetable or minestrone soup, pizza, STEAMED "PORK" BUNS with potstickers or spring rolls, sweet&sour/orange/lemon chikn, vegan pho or wonton soup, baked tofu, BBQ homemade seitan (tastes like BBQ'd ribs)

I use these sites to find recipes:
http://www.foodnetwork.com
http://vegweb.com
http://www.recipezaar.com

There have been vegan Olympic gold medalists and a vegan woman can create an ENTIRELY NEW,HEALTHY HUMAN BEING INSIDE OF HER. Many of these children stay vegan and grow up to be perfectly healthy adults. So just keep yourself educated about what you eat and don't let anyone tell you that a veg diet is lacking anything essential.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Lewis
http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/advocacy_933_ENU_HTML_(Draft).htm