I'm trying to reduce how much meat I eat. One problem: meat cravings.

[deucemagnet]

23. I agree with both you and msongs.

Maybe this is just something that is common to new vegetarians and vegans, but I've been eating vegetarian for about 8 months and I don't like the imitation meat products very much at all. I love marinated grilled mushroom caps, black bean burgers, and even Burger King's veggie burger, but I find the "fake meat" to be nothing more than highly processed, high-fat vegetarian junk food. Field Roast products are an exception, but even those don't quite measure up to the real thing.

Here's my suggestion to the OP: try to cut your meat consumption down to a few days a week, and on those days opt for smaller portions of high-quality grass-fed and organic meats. Like I said above, I actually enjoyed a Burger King veggie burger recently, and when I thought about it, I realized that I never really ate at BK because I wanted a tasty burger, it was because I wanted something quick and convenient. With the quick and convenient (and rather tasty!) veggie burger on the menu, I'll never eat one of their low-quality dog food burgers again.

Anyway, the point of my little anecdote is that maybe if you can wean yourself off of the crappy meat you eat out of force of habit while simultaneously spoiling yourself with smaller portions of higher-quality, responsibly-raised meat on your meat-eating days you'll have a little more success, and in my experience the meat analogues don't measure up when you're used to the real thing.

Best of luck!