Lifestyle changes are the most difficult ones to achieve and one of the toughest lifestyle changes that anyone can attempt voluntarily is to become a vegetarian.
Often individuals find it more comfortable to become part of a support group while making lifestyle alterations; think of Alcoholics Anonymous, Weight Watchers or giving up smoking.
Joining a support group can help the student vegetarian as well.
The advantages of being a member of such a support group are many, but some of them are encouragement, advice and friendship.
You may not require the friendship, but you may like to socialize with other vegetarians so that you can see how they cope with eating out and basically just fitting into a society designed by and for meat-eaters.
However, whether you propose giving up your old friends or not, you might find yourself gravitating away from them after a time quite naturally.
Remember the old expression: 'Birds of a feather flock together'? This is quite normal.
You will have problems substituting something else for meat; you will become worried that your diet is lacking in some mineral; you will start asking yourself which restaurants serve truly vegetarian food and plenty more.
Your newly found support group friends will become a immense source of encouragement and advice in this sphere.
You might not like the concept of a 'vegetarian support group', yet you could just as easily join a vegetarian dining club or vegetarian cookery group, the effect will work out the same - you will learn and you will make new acquaintances.
If you have difficulty locating such a group by the regular ways of your local Yellow Pages and an Internet search, try going to the local community centre, where there might be yoga classes - a few of the attendees will be vegetarians that you can ask.
Or go to you local health food shop and ask there Likewise you could ask at a martial arts club or a Hindu Indian restaurant.
If all else fails, you could begin your own club.
If you organize your own club, find a supportive bar or restaurant that will prepare your meal suggestions for that night at a reasonable price.
After a time, I am certain you could build up a nice little club of twenty individuals and the landlord may let you have your own room to dine in once a month like the Masons.
If you think that this is too much in the early days, you could just set up a blog.
A blog is an interactive website, where you and others can post relevant information.
If you keep the name of the blog relevant to your town and vegetarianism, you ought to find that other people searching as you once did will find you, whereas you found no one.
Once you have built up a circle of local, on line vegetarian sympathizers, you could suggest meeting once a month in the flesh and take the dining idea from there.
An advertisement in the local paper would help too.
Often individuals find it more comfortable to become part of a support group while making lifestyle alterations; think of Alcoholics Anonymous, Weight Watchers or giving up smoking.
Joining a support group can help the student vegetarian as well.
The advantages of being a member of such a support group are many, but some of them are encouragement, advice and friendship.
You may not require the friendship, but you may like to socialize with other vegetarians so that you can see how they cope with eating out and basically just fitting into a society designed by and for meat-eaters.
However, whether you propose giving up your old friends or not, you might find yourself gravitating away from them after a time quite naturally.
Remember the old expression: 'Birds of a feather flock together'? This is quite normal.
You will have problems substituting something else for meat; you will become worried that your diet is lacking in some mineral; you will start asking yourself which restaurants serve truly vegetarian food and plenty more.
Your newly found support group friends will become a immense source of encouragement and advice in this sphere.
You might not like the concept of a 'vegetarian support group', yet you could just as easily join a vegetarian dining club or vegetarian cookery group, the effect will work out the same - you will learn and you will make new acquaintances.
If you have difficulty locating such a group by the regular ways of your local Yellow Pages and an Internet search, try going to the local community centre, where there might be yoga classes - a few of the attendees will be vegetarians that you can ask.
Or go to you local health food shop and ask there Likewise you could ask at a martial arts club or a Hindu Indian restaurant.
If all else fails, you could begin your own club.
If you organize your own club, find a supportive bar or restaurant that will prepare your meal suggestions for that night at a reasonable price.
After a time, I am certain you could build up a nice little club of twenty individuals and the landlord may let you have your own room to dine in once a month like the Masons.
If you think that this is too much in the early days, you could just set up a blog.
A blog is an interactive website, where you and others can post relevant information.
If you keep the name of the blog relevant to your town and vegetarianism, you ought to find that other people searching as you once did will find you, whereas you found no one.
Once you have built up a circle of local, on line vegetarian sympathizers, you could suggest meeting once a month in the flesh and take the dining idea from there.
An advertisement in the local paper would help too.
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