September 30th, 2011
Building a Vegetarian Support System
People often ask me how tough it is to go vegetarian when so many people AREN’T.
The answer’s pretty simple: you have to build a support system.
By building a support system of friends, family, and other like-minded folks, you’ll find that sticking to your new diet plan is cake.
Mmmm…cake.
You can start by talking to people you already know and trust. This means family, friends, or maybe even co-workers. Find someone who’s willing to be your accountability partner; someone you can check in with once a week and talk about what your biggest successes and challenges were this week about going veg. Ask for help and suggestions.
And although it helps if your accountability partner is vegetarian, it’s not absolutely necessary. Just find someone with a kind ear and is willing to stay consistent with you.
You can also look online for vegetarian message boards to make some new friends and get information. Sign up for a free forum, put in a post introducing yourself in one of the newbie threads, and then private message at least 5 people who seem like they might be fun to talk to on a regular basis. Don’t be afraid to ask those folks for advice, either.
Finally, you can check out local cooking classes and vegetarian events, such as potlucks and restaurant visits. Where I live, they have a veggie chili cookoff at least once a year, where hundreds of vegetarians and vegans gather.
However, you might live in a place where these events don’t happen very often. So you might just try going to the most veg-friendly place you can find, and then start asking around and see if your server, the owner, the chefs, etc., have any thoughts on where you can meet local vegetarians in your town.
Good luck!