How to get started as a dominantly vegetarian?

Because of high blood pressure and other health issues, I want non-meat products to dominate my diet. I have high cholesterol, hypertension and other related health issues. I have no idea how to go about this. Please help.

By the way, I work in S. Korea, so a lot of low-sodium foods and meat replacements are not easily available here. Fortunately, I love fruits and vegetables; I only hate beets

It couldn't be simpler. Eat lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, and eat beans, peas, lentils, nuts and seeds. Limit the amount of chemicals you consume by eliminating highly processed foods. Drink fresh juices and lots of water, and do what you can to cut back on medications.

Best wishes.

Good for you!

You might want to make a gradual transition; slowly replace most of the meat in your diet with vegetarian versions. Start out by making a list of your favorite foods and recipes, and figure out how you could turn them into veg versions. (For instance... pasta and meatballs ---> pasta and Nate's Meatless Meatballs).

See a list of popular faux meat products here:
http://vegcooking.com/guide-favs.asp

If you eat out a lot, this site is a great resource:
http://vegcooking.com/eatingroad.asp

Also, this site has a little guide to making the transition: http://www.tryveg.com/cfi/toc/?v=06makin...

See these two sites for tons of info:

http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/i...
http://www.tryveg.com/cfi/toc/

Good luck!

Get a cook book that offers foods you are already interested in - like Chinese, Mediterranean and so on - a favorite series of amazing vegetarian cookbooks comes from the Moosewood Grill and can be purchased on Amazon.com or checked out at the library if you just want to try it out. The important thing is to not sacrifice flavor in favor of less meat. There are many ways to get great rich flavor with spices so try a good cookbook first. Another nice option is VegWeb.com a wonderful resource for assuring you get the right combinations for proteins from vegetable, nut and legume sources. Good Luck!

Buy more vegetables. Soy is good too, but it's fine if you don't like it. Just eat lotsa different vegetables, and nuts. I know you've been told nuts have too much fat your whole life, but ignore it.

Try the Portfolio Diet; they must have soya milk and tofu products there.

Start by cutting out red meat. This change alone may lower you blood pressure a great deal. Then poultry, seafood, etc.

Make sure you are eating enough fresh fruits and vegetables. You will be amazed by the healing powers of nature. However, if you are anything like my brother and hate these two sections on the food guide pyramid, you could try juicing your vegetables or making smoothies. Even drinking low-sodium V8 juice would be beneficial.

well you're more likely to relapse if you give up meat suddenly. but just try making your favorite recipes but just use boca (a meat substitute) whenever the recipe calls for meat. it's not difficult to be a vegetarian it just requires more work. but trust me, it's worth it.