Salt! It's what's for dinner.

hmm I'm not sure about the salt thing it but folks are big on putting loads of oil/butter/ghee in everything, and flour, and batter and frying things

as someone who absolutely doesn't cook this is like a double challenge for me now, change/be more conscious about what you eat + figure out the shopping/cooking options

I've already been feeling like "i need an orange" instead of like "i need a [random snack or sweet thing here]" though. My brain is really cooperating so far!!

who got tips on what to make

Congrats! When I first went vegetarian, I got really into raw foods. Not because I believe the woo-woo hype around them, but because they're so easy to make and most of the raw cookbook authors out there have put a lot of work into making delicious, savory foodstuffs out of incredibly simple and healthy ingredients.

A few things your kitchen should always have on hand (IMO): miso paste, tamari, nutritional yeast flakes, bragg's liquid aminos, celtic sea salt, vegetarian bullion cubes.

Wouldn't butter and ghee negate the vegetarian aspect?

Ardiril, you can eat butter, eggs, cheese, milk and stuff like that and still call yourself vegetarian. It's vegans who aim to use no animal products at all.

This happens to vegetarians in the US too -- all too often, the teenagers in the programs I've worked in would declare themselves veggie, only to subsist on a diet of french fries and grilled cheese. And of course, in the world of fast food and convenience food and a lot of restaurant food, those are the easiest-to-find non-meat options. You really do have to cook at home to avoid meat and also get good nutrition...well, that or be a super smart snacker.

Congrats! Just google for simple veg/vegan recipes. Or feel free to e-mail me with questions. I've been veg for over 25 years and vegan for about ten. It's easy and incredibly healthy. Oh, and, the woo-woo hype on raw is all true. I wish I were more raw. iconomy is pretty into it. No worries about the whole anemic, weak vegetarian stereotype, either -- this guy is vegan, after all.

Oh shoot, I made the most awesome vegetarian thing the other day - miso vegetables and tofu. I'm craving it right now. So good - strongly flavored, with lots of bite and texture.

I used broccoli and snow peas for the vegetables, and I sauteed the tofu. And used red miso instead of what she recommends. Next time, I'm going to bake the tofu, and try to find some white miso.

Other awesome vegetarian things I've eaten lately:
- brown rice with kimchi
- kale salad with lemon dressing
- sweet potato and chickpea salad with tahini dressing
- spicy carrot salad

None of these are too hard - mostly chop the veggies, cook if necessary, mix up the dressing or sauce, combine, and nom. Let me know if you want recipes.

Thanks for the advice all! I'm reading and learning.

I hate to admit this but the 'social proof' that suddenly tipped me over is I came across a blurb about Bill Clinton rapidly changing his health after changing to a mostly plant-based diet (youtube link). I'd been frustrated with just how much weight I've been gaining (I can't reach 100% of my shoulder blades anymore with my hands when showering which is just annoying) and I was like hey this might work

I've been able to exert more self discipline these days than usual; a couple weeks ago I decided I want to cut rice out of my diet and I just 'did', and if I try to set X amount of money aside I just 'do', it's like no-big-deal to my brain anymore to just be like "yeah that's not something I'm doing" so it's good timing at least so far.

Also recently I've been thinking about things like cutting out processed foods, cooking for myself, examining types of breads (as a simultaneous effort to flex my aesthetic taste muscles besides the health thing) so yeah, it's just a confluence of recent thought processes/mental modes coming together.

So now I'm trying to learn/read more about nutrition off and on and I'm kinda turned off by some of the more specialized stuff; like I don't really want to be comparison shopping for particular metals in supplements and things like that, and also there's a lot of quackery out there when it comes to people (charismatically!) selling diet as a magic cure for things so yeah just been learning to navigate that information context.