Let us discuss Frugal Vegetarian/Vegan issues/interests here. :)

I stopped eating any meat that has previously run around on legs, i.e., the only animal protein sources I now eat is from eggs and fish.  I love, love, love vegetables, and I eat only whole grains.  The only real trouble I have is giving up sugar.  It is so hard!

Number 4:

The only real trouble I have is giving up sugar.

Have you used Stevia?   If not, you might want to consider that.

Stevia is a natural plant that grows in the rainforests.  It's 30x sweeter than sugar and helps regulate the blood sugar so it's safe for diabetics.  The only sugar I have is the colored kind for holiday sugar cookies.   The rest of the time, I use Stevia and buy in the box of 100 packets so it's easy to carry around.  I even have gotten my boyfriend weaned off of the pink stuff and using Stevia now.

If you are lucky to have an organic nursery in your area, you might want to see if they have Stevia plants in stock.  You can dice up the leaves for fruit salads, etc.  And it's also kind of fun to just graze on a leaf....it's so sweet! 

I like the www.RawFoodTalk.com and www.CureZone.com sites a lot because of the like minded people.  I've been intrigued by the people that are on the Stretcher forum because, and this is just my opinion, they seem highly focused on the cheapest meals (Ramen Noodles) or calorie rich foods.   When I've made comments about eating healthy the comments range the lines of "who can afford that?"  The question I think back is "Who can afford not to?"

I find it troubling that so many are discussing their medications, stress levels, etc. on this site but then raving about what "10 for $1" specials they got.  I wish they could see the correlation between what they are eating and how they are feeling physicall and mentally.

After a good fast / detox, the body needs less food because the nutrients are being absorbed into the blood stream so easily.  Less food, more nutrition, less medical bills, lower food costs.  

I would be intrigued to learn other's perspective on the Vegetarian board think about this as well. 

I took a container of hummus to a potluck meal at work on Friday.  One gal (who I convinced to go vegan, yay!) said she really liked my hummus, but no one else would try it because they said it looked yucky, they didn't know what it was, etc, etc.  (Wimps!)

I then told them it was a different form of bean dip, and it was gone within a half hour.  Pathetic, huh?  You have to refer to convenience crap in order for anyone to understand what a good, natural food product is that came straight from my kitchen.

On a more positive note, one of my best friends (that works there with me) was converted to eating fish and seafood (a die-hard fish hater!) when she tried mahi mahi at my house.  She is really excited now about replacing some of the junk in her diet with healthier alternatives.

When I was in college in Georgia I would occasionally go to eat at a health foods store/restaurant. I used to order this sandwich. It was called Amy Carter.

2 slices whole grain bread
peanut butter
honey
alfalfa sprouts

This sandwich sounds weird, but it was actually really good. I am not a vegetarian or a vegan and I did not miss eating meat whenever I ate this sandwich.

Number 4:

On a more positive note, one of my best friends (that works there with me) was converted to eating fish and seafood (a die-hard fish hater!) when she tried mahi mahi at my house.  She is really excited now about replacing some of the junk in her diet with healthier alternatives.

Fish/Seafood are NEITHER Vegetarian nor Vegan. A diet that includes vegetarian dishes and fish/sea-food is called Pescetarian

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pescetarian

Virginia Needlewoman:

2 slices whole grain bread
peanut butter
honey
alfalfa sprouts

This sandwich sounds weird, but it was actually really good. I am not a vegetarian or a vegan and I did not miss eating meat whenever I ate this sandwich.

That sounds good.  Another good sandwich is one I learned from the book Fit for Life.is to toast wheat bread, slice avocados, tomatoes, and lettuce.  It's very filling.