can you teach me to be a vegan?

Question

tell me what i can and can't eat. no meat please, no tofu (ew). i've joined PETA and i learned the cruilty to animals. help me to help them please.

Answer 1

Yes, eat .......

# Egg and bacon
# Egg, sausage and bacon
# Egg and spam
# Egg, bacon and spam
# Egg, bacon, sausage and spam
# Spam, bacon, sausage and spam
# Spam, egg, spam, spam, bacon and spam
# Spam, spam, spam, egg, and spam
# Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, spam and spam
# Lobster thermidor aux crevettes with a Mornay sauce garnished with truffle paté, brandy and with a fried egg on top and spam
# Spam, sausage, spam, spam, spam, bacon, spam, tomato and spam

Answer 2

To quote the great cookbook author Sarah Kramer: Saying you don't like tofu is like saying you don't like cake flour. Tofu is an amazingly versatile food; you just haven't had it prepared properly. To get a nice chewy texture, you want to freeze your tofu.

For recipes: www.vegweb.com. They're also a pretty good all-around source of information.

For restaurants www.happycow.net and www.vegdining.com

For shopping: www.veganstore.com, www.veganessentials.com, www.alternativeoutfitters.com, and www.mooshoes.com.

I'm not a big fan of PETA, as I don't like their tactics, and they give out some WRONG information, as another poster pointed out.

A good book to get you started and give you the basics is "Skinny *****" by Kim Barnouin and Rory Freidman. There's a section with all sorts of vegan packaged foods that will make you just gush with joy.

Answer 3

you can eat beans, legumes, veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds, grains and rice. we dont eat any fish, poultry, red meat, milk or egg products (or anything derived from milk and eggs.. like whey or casein). we dont eat things with gelatin or animal fat (lard, mono/di glycerides) many vegans try to stay away from leather and wool. basically we try to be as animal free as possible.

read labels well when you go to the grocery store. just by not having non-vegan things in the house makes it 1000% easier to stick to this lifestyle.

there are alternatives to milk (nut milks, soy milk, rice milk, coconut milk) i personally love almond breeze. try a few kinds though. everyone has their own opinion.
there is egg replacer which you can get at whole foods. its just a powdered soy protien. its pretty awesome :)

there are fake meats (some better than others..) you defiantly dont need fake meats, but if your interested try a few brands. alot of people like boca burgers. i think they are okay. they taste good with mushrooms and onions though :)

if you want frozen foods for when your in a rush, there is a brand called amy's. they sell both vegetarian and vegan things so just look on the back of the box and it will clearly say what it is. they are pretty sweet. only thing is, if you buy their soup, DONT buy any kind with vegan noodles. its totally gross!

i think i got the basics down. if you need anything at all, go ahead and email me. :)

Answer 4

I'm on a mainly fruit diet... some nuts and veggie juice thrown in there, but fruit at least 75%, and it is awsome! I feel wonderful, healthy, energetic, and by eating organic fruit, I contribute to less harming to animals (such as in the wheat, rice, corn, other grains, soy, and sugar industries)

Answer 5

why not tofu? it's delicious when prepared correctly. (many people will agree with me on this one, I'm sure.)

and don't listen to everything PETA tells you, also beware that their "accidentally vegan" list is not entirely vegan; meaning a lot of items they list are NOT vegan.

you have to read ingredients on everything and check and do your research to make sure it's vegan friendly.
I suggest you buy this book called "animal ingredients a-z"
http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Ingredients-E-Smith-Collective/dp/1902593812/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-9193899-4650847?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1189724377&sr=8-1

http://www.vegansociety.com/html/food/criteria.php
http://www.veganwolf.com/animal_ingredients.htm
http://veganpeace.com/ingredients/ingredients.htm

we can't really teach you how to become a vegan, you need to do your research.

Answer 6

its simple and i wont give you a ridicuasly long answer like most ppl.
no meat (pig,cow,FISH,) some ppl think you can eat fish..but no u cant.
no milk
no cheese
(or stuff with milk and cheese in it)
no eggs
and no fur/leather

Answer 7

You must first perfect being a snob, only then can you become a proper vegan.

Answer 8

how about start eating fruit and vegetables and be a vegetarian and work you way to vegan

Answer 9

You are not allowed to eat any dairy, honey, or eggs. basically, any animal byproducts.

What you are allowed to eat though is seeds, nuts, legumes, vegetables, and fruit.

Answer 10

Well if you don't like tofu you are pretty much screwed as a vegan. Sorry, but no vegan pin for you. When they find you don't like tofu they will throw you out of PETA. Better learn to like meat.

Answer 11

I'm vegan and these are some of my favorite things to eat:

Breakfast: bananas, cream of wheat with brown sugar and soy butter, cereal, pancakes or french toast with real maple syrup, vegan "sausage" patties, smoothies.

Snack: BRUSSEL SPROUTS =) no joke

Lunch: vegan "sausage" sandwiches, sandwiches with vegan deli slices(Tofurkey is the only one that's kinda funky), fruit, dinner leftovers, couscous salad, vegan sushi, potato or pasta salad.

Dinner: homemade veggie burgers, sloppy joes, "sausage" and gravy with homemade biscuits, Spaghetti and Trader Joe's "meatballs" or TVP, lasagna, Thai pad see ew, pad khi mao(drunkard's noodles), pad prig king, tofu+eggplant with basil sauce, yellow thai curry with tofu or vegan chikn and veggies and jasmine rice, Indian dal with homemade roti or dosai, channa masala, aloo gobi, vegetable or minestrone soup, pizza, STEAMED "PORK" BUNS with potstickers or spring rolls, sweet&sour/orange/lemon chikn, vegan pho or wonton soup, baked tofu, BBQ homemade seitan (tastes like BBQ'd ribs), kabobs

I use these sites to find recipes:
http://www.foodnetwork.com
http://vegweb.com
http://www.recipezaar.com

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There have been vegan Olympic gold medalists and a vegan woman can create an ENTIRELY NEW,HEALTHY HUMAN BEING INSIDE OF HER. Many of these children stay vegan and grow up to be perfectly healthy adults. So just keep yourself educated about what you eat and don't let anyone tell you that a veg diet is lacking anything essential.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Lewis
http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/advocacy_933_ENU_HTML_(Draft).htm

Here are some more veg people:
http://www.mikemahler.com/index.html
http://www.vegetarianbodybuilder.com/index2.html
http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/?page=bios
http://www.andreascahling.com/andreas-about
http://www.billpearl.com/career.asp
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-23-27/Salim-Stoudamire-Runs-on-Broccoli.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Danzig
http://www.scottjurek.com/career.php
http://www.nfl.com/players/rickywilliams/profile?id=WIL271115
http://www.brendanbrazier.com/raceresults/index.html

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If you want to become a lacto-ovo vegetarian, the transition should be quite simple. Almost all meats have widely available commercial replacements. All that you have to do is replace any flesh in your diet (beef, pork, poultry, seafood) with meat analogs or just leave it out altogether.

You should keep in mind that a journey such as this can be quite short but should just be the beginning of a longer one to a plant-based diet with no animal products. This is because of the reality of factory farming in which animals that are kept alive to produce milk, eggs, etc suffer much more and longer than animals that are raised to a certain weight and then slaughtered.http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/
http://meat.org
Some people use the word "vegan" in reference to this idea, but be aware that applying that label to yourself should always come with the inclusion of wise activism and advocacy.http://www.veganoutreach.org/advocacy/index.html
Two extremely important examples of this are that you should never speak to someone about vegetarianism/veganism without their consent and genuine interest or as a comment on what they are eating AND your dietary beliefs should never be used as an introduction or explanation of who you are as a person. Veg*ism should be something that comes up AFTER people get to know you and they offer you a situation that makes it confusing to withhold the information/discussion. Also, if you are presented something that you choose not to eat or you are
ordering food/eating together somewhere/picking the best place to eat.

When you you hold off on the subject until it's necessary and then act like it isn't a big deal at all, people are usually surprised and WAY more interested and curious than if you were to bring it up when someone's eating or just using it as a conversation starter.

A responsible vegan ALWAYS studies the subject of their own health and how to keep their body completely provided for in every sense. http://www.veganhealth.org/sh
To neglect their body is to define a plant-based diet as unhealthy and is the opposite of helping the animals.

Just to clear things up, the vegetarian/vegan diet is not composed of salads, vegetables, fruit and fake meat. Fruits and vegetables are always important but they DO NOT make up the largest portion of any healthy diet.
A balanced plant-based diet includes grains(breads, pasta, rice,cereal), legumes(soy, beans, peas, lentils), fruit and vegetables.
http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/food_groups.html
http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/
http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/eating.html
Being vegan can be an art, one whose challenge is to take things that involve the suffering of the innocent and change them into something free of cruelty.

A vegan woman can create an ENTIRELY NEW,HEALTHY HUMAN BEING INSIDE OF HER. Many of these children stay vegan and grow up to be perfectly healthy adults. So just keep yourself educated about what you eat and don't let anyone tell you that a veg diet is lacking anything essential.

Technically the term "vegetarian" does imply that you don't consume anything that comes from the body of an animal that requires killing it. Many ingredients such as gelatin and glycerin are found in many candies, Fig-Newtons, and many of other foods as well as rennet found in many cheeses.
http://www.happycow.net/health-animal-ingredients.html
The best thing to remember is to take your time so that for example: when you are comfortable not eating beef and pork you can then give up chicken when you are sure you can make the commitment permanently.
Depending on your age or reliance on parents or regional options, it may not be best to give yourself a label. The important thing is to do your best to make progress and be committed to your compassion towards animals. Never put your focus onto what you or other people use to describe yourself.

If you meet someone that talks down to people for eating meat, dairy, etc or to you because they think they are "more veg" than you, laugh in their face and tell them they are a disgrace to the entire philosophy. People like this only hurt the idea of veg*ism AND the animals. The point of all of this is to live compassionately and and as free from cruelty as you can, all the while maintaining your health and a positive attitude. People who don't maintain either, need not open their mouths and represent our beliefs.

If you actually choose to read all of this, I hope it helps. If not, feel free to e-mail me if you have questions.

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There is a Japanese analogy/proverb that goes like this, "The nail that sticks up is the one that gets hammered down". People are like this everywhere. When you tell your family that it is your personal belief that animals should not be eaten, they take a look at themselves and it can be subconsciously translated into, "What you do is wrong and I choose to be right."

Your parents have probably been taught a huge amount of misinformation by their parents and their teachers while growing up. You really need to research vegetarian diets and health before you even think about saying the "V-word" in front of your parents or anyone else.

When you have gathered enough information and feel confident in a vegetarian diet's ability to maintain or even improve health, you may mention to them that you have made the decision. They may be shocked, angry, worried, curious or many other things, but you must NEVER react to their behavior and always stay calm. If they are able to speak to you and respect your choice, please tell them everything and answer all questions. If they are rude, inconsiderate, judgmental, violent, or verbally abusive, refuse to continue any conversation until they can speak to you with respect.

The best advice is to study everything that you can about a healthy vegetarian diet and keep yourself in good shape (better than most people your age or than your friends/family if possible). If nobody that you know shows a genuine, positive interest in your choice, don't give them the privilege of the knowledge that you have gathered. Work your way around any attempts they make to trivialize your beliefs and if possible, go shopping with your parents and buy things that aren't obvious veggie fare. Instead of trying to sneak fake meat into the cart, toss in lentil soup, peanut butter, pasta, fruits & veggies or anything else that you have learned is needed to fill any gaps in your diet.