ive been a vegetarian for 5 month...?

Question

Im a vegetarian and have never felt soo happier for being one but i think i want to go vegan, can anybody give me any advice please?
Suggestions would be appreciated thankyou xx
I will never eat meat or animal products again

Answer 1

Congratulations!

I'm one of the vegans who regularly posts here and who is contactable as Michael H mentioned.

The vegan society website is brilliant and very helpful. Another web source is http://www.animalaid.org.uk which has a very good shop as well as excellent advice on going vegan.

I could go on all day about the benefits, but the best way is probably to send me an email about your concerns and I'll try to go through it with you, also my wife's vegan so she'll be able to help too.

I had a similar query from someone on the site a while ago and they're taking it step by step and getting there slowly. It's well worth it, I've been vegan for 18 months now and I'm loving it.

Probably worth chatting to Andie as well as she made the switch at new year - think her profile is set to contactable too, if not, she's on the veggie facts group at Yahoo Groups.

Chat to you soon I hope. Take care, and go vegan, it's the best decision you can make for you, the planet and the animals.

H.

Answer 2

I feel for you. It must just be awful not trusting your family members with your baby! What are your other options? If you don't feel that she is safe being alone with your parents and in-laws and sister, is there anyone else in your family, or a close friend, that could watch the baby sometimes? Are you able to keep a close eye on your family while they are with the baby? If my family was so disrespectful I would keep the baby away from them until they cut that **** out. It's not their kid to raise the way they want and you're not expecting a whole lot here just by wanting your kid fed a certain way. They have no right to be feeding her meat and chili against your wishes. If she was starving and malnourished that would be one thing, but if she's a perfectly healthy kid, they shouldn't be butting in. Maybe they are hopeless but you could try to show them some information on a vegetarian diet for babies, or even tell them you have spoken to a nutritionist so maybe they will believe it. I really hope that they will come around and respect your wishes soon.

Answer 3

hi there, like some people have said, just take it step by step. however, remember that things you might not even think about at the moment become things you can't eat. like honey, (a vegan friend of mine took ages to realise about honey!) biscuits and cakes, and most of the margarine spreads (though the pure range is good if you can find it where you are).
look for things like casein and whey in products as they are dairy related.
make sure you also read up on what you need in your diet to help you stay healthy.
hope you make the cross over successfully :)
it can be hard being vegan (i did it for a little while for health reasons, but am now back to being veggie though i only have butter and eggs occassionally) especially when you eat out, but don't let that put you off. you'll probably find that you become a really imaginative cook and a really good baker as you tend to want to make things yourself from scratch as you then know exactly what's in them!

Answer 4

Go slowly. Little by little. Replace what comes from a cow, with what comes from healthier sources. Find a rice or soy ice cream you like. A soy cheese. Milk alternatives.

Get two books, Being Vegan and Vegan Living for Dummies. They are the best. Also, Sarah Kramer's cook books and Isa Chandra Moskowitz's cook books.

Yum Yum!

Read up on the damage factory farms are doing. This will help a lot in weak moments.

Be kind to yourself. Don't get angry if you "fall off the wagon."

Answer 5

good for you. I'm working on my second month as a vegetarian. Just take it slow as you work from vegetarian to vegan. There are probably a lot of things that you can't eat anymore that might be difficult to get rid of... just make it progressive and not too sudden. that might make it a bit easier.

Also, if you would like a good vegan alternative to cheese, try Vegan Gourmet. It's great.

Good luck. =)

Answer 6

eh, i waited 2 years. and even as a vegetarian i did not eat eggs. i found its best to remove eggs, then start drinking soymilk. later you can look on some websites for "hidden animal products" such a gelatin, honey, ect. and i loved the feeling i got when i stopped wearing fur. vegan was the best thing ever, but it's a journey- you learn new things everyday.
congrats, love :]
(ps: the websites everyone gave were retro, and goveg.com is another awesome one)

Answer 7

Hi.

Well done. It's a lot easier to be vegetarian\vegan these days. Hundreds of products in the supermarkets now.
(Bet a lot of Brits aren't eating turkey at present).
The Vegan Society are the people to contact:
http://www.vegansociety.com/html/

Answer 8

Congratualations Hayley,

I've been veggie for 27 years so its perfectly healthy.

For the step to vegan, i suggest you contact the vegan society.

There are also a few vegans that post regularly on here, they have thier email as "contactable" so i'm sure they wouldn't mind with a little advice if you contacted them.

Ignore answers that say eat dairy and fish. You know its nonsense, right ?

Answer 9

one great tip is to get informed! know what chemicals and foods contain animal products, and train yourself to always read ingredient labels and make sure that if you go out to eat, you ask not only what's in the food, but how it was prepared.

if you don't already know how to cook, you should learn. the healthiest and most promising food you can eat can only be found in your own kitchen. there are a lot of great meat and dairy substitutes out there, find the ones you like and experiment with different recipes.

Answer 10

The crossover takes time but you wont regret it!
I was hooked on cheese and yogurt and I just needed something to replace these foods to become "vegan". A friend introduced me to the wonders of Tahini and nuts and showed me how I could use them in super yummy recipes that won my taste buds over cheese and yogurt! Just find something to replace those food that have been hard to forget.