advice

Hi Veggiegirl,
1st of all, it is called VEGEtarian, and your name is VEGGIEgirl, that is a big clue. The things you can eat are alllllll vegetables (and fruits, of course), all sorts of nuts, as well as grains and beans (unless you don't eat those). That is a LOT. You didn't mention it, so I don't know if you eat eggs - if you do, that's something, too. You make the fruits and vegetables and plant kingdom your main meal, perhaps you want to look at cooked vegan and raw vegan recipes on the internet, or even buy a recipe book.

I would advise that you avoid soy and soy products as a general rule. A little soy sauce here and miso there shouldn't hurt, just eat those naturally fermented soy products and use sparingly. Have you read the article about soy at http://www.thedoctorwithin.com? Also there are a lot of articles on soy at mercola.com, you might try doing a search there for the word "soy".

Don't think of being vegetarian as having to find a "substitute" for all the meat things you used to eat, such as "tastes like meat" soy burgers, nuggets, etc. Eat and enjoy the vegetable kingdom as what it really is. You can make some pretty yummy tasting "burgers" with things like vegetables, spices and grains mixed together. My aunt makes some really yummy mexican millet burgers.

It sounds like you have come a long way already, and have realized which things are really terrible for your health, like the cookies and potato chips, soft drinks, and now the soy. Those are all processed man-made weird creations. You'll do a lot better to buy fresh veggies and fruits in the produce section of the grocery store, the nuts, beans and grains in the dried foods section, and make things like lots of salads, spaghetti with fresh zucchini cut into noodle shapes, black beans and rice, baked peppers stuffed with rice and veggies, fruit salad, whole grain toast spread with almond butter or olive oil or hummus, etc. Real food. Limit the things like soy hot dogs and burgers to those occasional summer picnic cook-outs - or do like my aunt does and just bring a big portabella mushroom to grill instead.

Also keep coming to curezone to learn more about healthy living, and to get links to other great websites. You can do it!
~Squeaky Tweet