Vegan is my choice?

Question

Ok so after spending a great deal of time in prayer and research I can not and will not eat another living animal or it's by products. Any recommendations on my new vegan life style? I plan on buying a cook book. I love Italian and Japanese. By the way what do you eat when you go to non vegan restaurant?

I live in West Virgina so I've only seen 2 vegetarian advertised on-line and they are hours away from me. To go out to eat I would need to go to regular meat eating restaurant.

Answer 1

Get a book called BECOMING VEGAN - it'll be a huge help!
Beware of many veggie burgers at restaurants - they almost always are the kind that contain egg whites! My husband loves ordering a burger with an onion ring in place of the meat! It's actually YUMMY that way! You'll get used to ordering in restaurants. Here are my favorite things to get when we go out...
Mexican: plate of beans with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, onions, guacamole, salsa.
Italian: Johnny Carino's artichoke angel hair with no parm! Mmmmm!
Regular cafe: Burger with onion ring or custom salad made with a bunch of stuff from other menu items.

I mostly eat raw foods now, though, which means a lot of salads when I go out. When you get comfortable with your new way of eating, look into raw foods. Once I started doing research it made a lot of sense to me!

Good luck to you! You're doing a very great thing!

Answer 2

I can recommend a few websites to you:

www.vegweb.com for recipes.
www.recipezaar.com also has vegan recipes, but they do not vet them the way VegWeb does, so be careful.

For shopping:

www.veganstore.com, www.veganessentials.com, www.alternativeoutfitters.com, www.mooshoes.com are some great websites to find all sorts of vegan stuff. The first two have all sorts of things from food to cosmetics to bath stuff to bags and wallets. Alternative Outfitters and MooShoes have mostly shoes, bags, and accessories.

VegNews (www.vegnews.com) is a great veg society magazine--more stories than recipes.

When I eat at a nonveg restaurant, I look for places that have vegetarian options. If a place marks selections as vegetarian, so much the better. I usually eat a lot of Asian food when I eat out, as they are the most accommodating. There's also an Ethiopian place nearby that has excellent vegetarian options, and my boyfriend and I eat there every few weeks. Middle Eastern is also good--hummus, tabbouli, baba ghanoush, foule salad, falafel.

Just talk to the restaurant management ahead of time (if you can) to see how they can accommodate you.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. And good luck on your new journey!

Edit: To find vegetarian and veg-friendly places, check www.happycow.net and www.vegdining.com.

Answer 3

Good luck with non-vegan restaurants!! You'll probably get a boring salad that you'll have to pay through the nose for!!
Take your own food on planes!! When my brother was in the US on a trip, he had the choice of a chicken or a turkey sandwich on the flight and he had to pick the meat off himself

Banana chips and other dried fruits make great snacks

I'm sorry I'm not much help - I'm not a vegan myself but have heard lots of tips from vegan friends.

Answer 4

Some dishes are actually easy to "veganize", just by opting to remove the cheese topping (sprinkled) or by requesting for soy milk instead of regular milk.

But my advice, to avoid unwittingly eating meat and animal by-products, is to go to vegetarian restaurants only. These restaurants understand what a vegan can eat, so you'll have an easier time explaining your request.

Here's a directory to vegetarian restaurants, VegDining.com:


http://www.vegdining.com/Home.cfm

Good luck and congratulations on your compassionate choice!

Answer 5

I try to go only to vegetarian restaurants to make sure that I'm not eating any meat secretly put into my food (by the use of oyster or fish sauce, or chicken broth, for example). VegDining.com has helped me a lot in locating a vegetarian restaurant wherever I go.

Here's the link:

http://www.vegdining.com/GetRestList.cfm?rgk=NA-US-WV

I hope I have helped a new vegan...

Answer 6

good for you!
you probably don't even have to buy a cookbook.
there are tons of recipes online.
just search for them.
and you can always take a regular recipe and substitute the ingredients to make it vegan.
when you go to a non vegan restaurant it might be hard to find something you can eat.
ask questions about the food and it's ingredients.
salad or a baked potato without butter and sour cream are good fall-backs in case there's nothing else.
congrats again!

Answer 7

CONGRATS!!! Well you can get pasta with no meat and instead of alfredo ask for marinara! Eat alot of SOY yougart and drink soy milk its SO good for women. In the vegan cookbooks there are so many things you can make that are delicious. Get boca burgers those are good too!!

Answer 8

I myself like and eat meat. About eating out. Stick to salads pasta and rice dishes.. I once was on a diet that I wouldn't eat anything with carbs. No rice no pasta breads or sugars. I mostly ate at home. When one decides to leave out many things. It makes it difficult and more expensive to eat out. I wish you much luck in your new life style.

Answer 9

you can eat salads, or soups with just vegetables (but ask if it's made in chicken broth!) also, a lot of restaurants serve veggie or garden burgers, etc. or just order sides (potatoes, veggies).

Answer 10

Don't forget, a vegan lifestyle means not WEARing any animal products either, no leather, no wool, no silk.........

Good luck with your new lifestyle,
c-ya