You don't
need it, you just really want it. There is a difference and unless you can identify that difference, it will very very difficult for you to stick with vegetarianism.
A good way to make the transition easier is to take a slow approach. Every month, or every week, cut out one animal product from your diet. Start with the stuff you don't eat very often and on the last week/month, finally eliminate what you eat the most of.
Example using a monthly process:
Month 1: Cut out pork and pork products, including bacon, sausages, deli meats, processed meats containing pork
Month 2: Cut out beef and beef products, including beef broth, hot dogs, sausages, any processed meat containing beef
Month 3: Cut out poultry and poultry products, including chicken broth, and any processed meat containing poultry
Month 4: Cut out fish, shellfish, molluscs, and other edible sea creatures you may eat
Month 5: Begin reading labels and ingredients, cutting out any non-vegetarian ingredients such as
gelatine (marshmallows, jello, some yogurts, cheap desserts, low-fat ice cream, etc),
lard (not common any more due to it's general unhealthiness, but it is found in some baked goods and some old school fry places still deep fry in lard),
rennet (in many cheeses, although a microbial or rennet-free process is being used in many commercial cheeses--this is a debatable ingredient amongst vegetarian circles, actually). PETA actually has a very
inclusive and exhaustive list of any possible animal ingredients you may encounter, it is designed for vegans who eschew all animal products, but it is useful for vegetarians too. At this point, you may also want to think about eliminating beauty and toiletry products made by
companies that test on animals and/or contain non-vegetarian ingredients.
I will offer you some resources on being vegetarian. Many people fail at being vegetarian because they think they can just do it cold turkey, over night, without any planning. Being a vegetarian is not just cutting out the meat and just eating the side vegetables, leaving a huge hole in your plate. Or even worse, replacing all meat with cheese (hello weight gain!). If you want to be vegetarian and healthy, you have to plan, organize, and be mindful about why you're doing it.
Many vegetarian websites and resources are actually vegan, so many of these guides assume you will want to be vegan someday. You don't have to be. You may choose to ignore the vegan suggestions or preferably, read up on veganism as well, because as a healthy vegetarian you will be eating many vegan meals (whether or not you planned on it or not).
I will offer some more PETA links.
This is not support for PETA and any users wishing to argue about PETA may do so in another thread. PETA's tactics may not be for everyone, however, their websites are very useful to new vegetarians.http://www.peta.org/living/vegetarian-l ... n-101.aspxhttp://features.peta.org/VegetarianStarterKit/https://www.vegsoc.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=519#http://vegetarian.about.com/od/vegetari ... ogoVeg.htmhttp://www.vegansociety.com/become-vegan/http://www.happycow.net/why_vegetarian.htmlhttp://www.the-green-diva.com/2010/04/3 ... -eat-meat/http://www.tryveg.com/cfi/toc/Note: Click on the links, don't copy and paste, as Pofo shortens the URL.