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As a vegetarian for about 6 years now, I can report no problems with vitamin deficiencies. I was a bit worried at first coming from a meat and potatoes childhood. I did get tested about a year after for vitamins B6, B12 and Iron (it requires a simple blood test) and all was normal.

Like other posters have mentioned, it's important to eat a variety of vegetables and legumes to stay healthy. I like to think of it as eating a lot of colors (bell pepper, eggplant, spinach).

As a vegetarian in a social meal setting, I have found it helps keep the critics at bay by filling your plate. Don't allow it to be assumed that you're missing out on something, that your meal is incomplete without meat. But at the same time, the critic has never been something I've ever responded to with hostility. I usually just smile and tell people if they ask, "I don't care what you eat, you can make your own choices but for me, I'm vegetarian for the following reasons (environmental, animal rights, health etc.) ." If you want a nice resource to back up what you say I would recommend the book Food Revolution

Finally, I have purchased this for every vegetarian and vegan I know. The nutritional chart used to be 5 dollars...ha ha ha. Anyway, it's a handy reference.
Good luck!

Learn how to put people's defenses down and get them to come to an understanding with what you are saying. Direct them to sites like www.chooseveg.com or get them to watch this speech --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es6U00LMmC4

If you want to be super prepared for how to handle people, you should read this book on psychology and social change for how to best get people to back down and consider what you have to say.

http://www.amazon.com/Change-Heart-Psychology-Spreading-Social/dp/159056233X/ref=pd_sim_b_1

I just got Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day a few weeks ago and everything I've tried so far has been delicious. Ditto Veggie Burgers Every Which Way.

Does he like Indian food? There are a lot of really good Indian cookbooks out there.

I got Vegan Junk Food a while ago and there is some pretty good stuff in there. The Vegonomicon is fantastic as well.

I like The Vegan Table for American food.

Quick Vegetarian Dishes has a variety of recipes from around the world. Not one uses tofu or fake meat. (One note: The recipes use Australian measurements, which are slightly different than American. It only really matters if you're baking, though, and even then, it is easy to adjust for.)

For Indian food, Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking seems to have hundreds of great recipes in it, but not a single one with fake meats or tofu.

I have all three of these, and have really enjoyed the recipes. Happy cooking!

If you're a microwave chef like myself PETA's Vegan College Cookbook is great because it is EASY PEASY! I'm a vegetarian not a vegan so occasionally I add cheese, use real milk and so on.

Great news: you can be paleo and compassionate!

http://paleoveganista.com/
www.paleovegetarians.com
http://www.amazon.com/Paleo-Vegan-Plant-Based-Primal-Recipes/dp/1570673055

http://www.amazon.com/PETAs-Vegan-College-Cookbook-Delicious/dp/1402218850/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311538779&sr=1-1

It's vegan. But. There's hella good food in it. I'm a vegetarian and I love it.

If you're looking to learn how to cook, I definitely recommend Rose Elliot's cookbooks. She's probably one of the most famous authors of vegetarian cookbooks. I taught myself how to cook using her cookbooks 20 years ago.

I also use the Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet cookbook a lot for simple recipes that are fairly easy to make.

Stop eating so much pasta.

you likely gained weight because you're using a lot more grains in your diet than before, and grains haven't been a significant part of our diet for longer than about 10,000 years. Way too short for evolution to have adapted.

When you eat carbs ( starch, sugar ) your insulin goes up, and there is only one thing that causes adipose tissue (fat cells) to expand, and that's insulin.

Read this book and then when you're about to make pasta, instead make lentils or something.

As for protein, it is impossible to be protein deficient unless you stop eating food. All food has protein enough to keep you alive and healthy. If you're trying to build muscle that's a different story but otherwise you're fine I guarantee.

Have the book in my hands now, (the one suggested earlier)! It's called Peta's Vegan College Cookbook, conveniently broken down into sections. Haven't tried too many of the recipes but they're all very simple to make and there's room to tailor the recipes for your specific palette, switching out topics or seasonings here and there. Of course nuked spuds aren't as great ones slowly roasted but the recipes still seem nice. Here's a link: http://www.amazon.com/PETAs-Vegan-College-Cookbook-Delicious/dp/1402218850. Enjoy!

A good place to start for you might be The Starving Students' Vegetarian Cookbook which has a lot of very "normal" and easy to make food containing easily obtainable ingredients. It isn't the healthiest cookbook ever, but for someone who is poor and trying to go vegetarian it's a good way to ease into it without having to subsist on fried food and cheese or learn how to make a bunch of weird new food.

And that's the thing: You don't have to completely overhaul your diet all at once. I think a lot of people look at all the options out there and get overwhelmed and discouraged. If seitan and tempeh and quinoa and amaranth sound weird and confusing to you then don't pressure yourself to start using them all at once. First figure out how to make a decent cup of rice and steamed veggies, then learn to read the labels of meat substitutes and compare them to make sure you are getting enough protein for your money. Hint: 4 grams of protein for a burger patty is not a meat "substitute"; it's a light snack.

All the weird food can come later when you feel more confident and want to branch out.

The Flexitarian Diet--first cookbook I ever bought as an adult; best cookbook I own. I am constantly referring back to it--the recipes are genuinely simple and so good.

Buy a good vegetarian cook book. Go through and cook all of the recipes that appeal to you.

My favourite book is the Rebar: Modern Food Cookbook

https://www.amazon.ca/Rebar-Modern-Cookbook-Audrey-Alsterburg/dp/0968862306

There are a lot of good ones and some crappy ones. Just find one that you like.

I would recommend reading Animal Rights, Human Wrongs: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy by retired philosophy professor Tom Regan. This clarified the moral dimension of the issue for me. For instance, if you still have persistent moral justifications for exploiting non-human animals, this book makes everything theoretically clear.

If you decide that alternatives are okay, this is my go-to.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0739KKHWL

Was one of the highest rated on labdoor.

http://zenhabits.net/how-to-become-a-vegetarian-the-easy-way/



http://www.amazon.com/New-Becoming-Vegetarian-Essential-Healthy/dp/1570671443

Google Books version of Becoming Vegetarian

Kurma is my guy

I just use garlic in place of anytime he calls for asafetida.

Vegan for Life, by Jack Norris and Virginia Messina. The authors are registered dieticians who lay out all the nutrient requirements for vegans and vegetarians and how to meet them by eating various foods.