Why go vegetarian?

1. Improve your health. Vegetarians generally have more energy and stamina, suffer less disease, and live longer than meat-eaters. The medical evidence about this is clear, consistent, and overwhelming.

2. Save the earth. It takes 16 lbs. of grain to produce one pound of beef. Most agricultural land is used to grow grain to feed livestock. This means, compared to plant foods, that's 16 times as much pesticides, more water, more energy use, more global warming, more deforestation, and on and on. And don't even get us started on all the waterways polluted by livestock waste. (more...)

3. Save some lives. 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. But if we believe that certain animals deserve to not be eaten, why eat different animals just because we never got close to them?

• More on Why go vegetarian?
• ChooseVeg's Why go veg. video

The Best Recipe Sites

VegSource. Over 5000 recipes. They've got the Veggies Unite & the Fat-Free Archive listed below, plus more.

Veggies Unite. Over 2700 vegan recipes.

Fat-Free Veg. Archive. Over 2500 lowfat vegetarian recipes.

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

All about protein

Think it's hard to for vegetarians to get protein? Think again. It's actually nearly impossible to not get enough protein. You have to go out of your way to avoid it. See all about protein.

Health advantages

Here's some food for thought:

• Vegetarians live longer
• Vegetarians have more endurance
• Osteoporosis is caused by excess animal protein
• Animal foods cause cancer
• Meat contains more pesticides than fruits & vegetables
• Breast milk of vegetarians has less pesticides than that of meat-eaters

Beginner's Guides to Vegetarianism

Vegetarian Beginner's Guide by the editors of Veg. Times $5.98 new $5.50 used

Become a Vegetarian in Five Easy Steps by Christine H. Beard

Complete Idiot's Guide to Being Vegetarian by Suzanne Havala & Robert Pritikin $9.50 used

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

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

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 VeggieDate.com.

Film comedy w/vegetarian chef

Christmas in the Clouds is a comedy starring Academy Award nominee Graham Greene, who plays a vegetarian chef at a ski resort. Check out the video clip "So what do you recommend?"

Vegetarian restaurants in Austin

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

Best vegetarian websites

VegSource. This site is so incredibly comprehensive AND so well-organized that I'm simply speechless. This is the veg. site to take with you to a desert island.

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?

• See more vegetarian websites