Vegetarian to Vegan?

Question

I'm thinking of becoming Vegan for the month of October. I already am Vegan so it's not that much of a big step really. Anyone who's done this have you found it hard? & Is soy food near to the taste of the original?
Thanks. X

Answer 1

At first you may feel flooded with all of the information, but the longer that you stick with it, the easier it becomes. Eventually it feels 100% natural.

Soy can be used to make countless foods that replace the traditional animals-based ones. Nearly all of the alternatives have more than one brand in each category so make sure that you try them all and see which one you like best. Some brands should be avoided, such as "Nancy's cultured soy" and "So Delicious", will never be found in my house again.

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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That is great that you want to become vegan. My biggest word of advice is to study a balanced vegan diet and learn how to cook/prepare everything that you will need to keep yourself satisfied BEFORE you start to label yourself as vegan. This is important in keeping yourself healthy and working towards a fit body that can redefine vegan stereotypes.

Your journey as vegetarian was just the beginning of a longer one to a plant-based diet with no animal products. This should be due to 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.

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.

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 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 whey and casein you can then give up sodium stearoyl lactylate and L-cysteine 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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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

Answer 2

I have been a veggie for 12 years, went vegan for a year a while back. It was hard to find things to eat at friends houses or at restaurants but other then that the cost was the only problem. Soy cheeses and other subs are very costly, plus I missed the yogurt.

Answer 3

Not a problem for me, but then I was never a cheese fan. My local Whole Foods has soy yogurt (Whole Soy & Co) for about 99 cents apiece. My local indy natural food store has Whole Soy for about $1.19 a piece.

I don't really compare the cost of soy ice cream to dairy, but I don't find the soy alternative that expensive.

And Earth Balance buttery spread is GOD.

The hardest part is eating at non-veg restaurants where many places think vegetarian means to butter, cream, and cheese it up.

Answer 4

It was very hard for me. It took me three attempts because I was missing oil in my diet as I discovered. Dairy is full of good stuff and to let it go is a major jump. At the same time though, dairy is probably worse for you than meat and dairy cows live an even worse life than beef cows which are allowed to live on the range for most of their lives, till it's time to fatten em up on garbage.

While cutting dairy is more difficult than meat for most people, the issues surrounding the veggie lifestyle make dairy MORE immoral and unhealthy than eating meat.

I'm vegan, I no longer crave any animal food, I feel great, I wish you luck. Peace.

Answer 5

I have no idea, I used to listen to plenty of matters that have been lovely ignorant or dull, however I can not feel of some thing that made me irritated. Sometimes it made me snort, although. "You do not consume meat? Not even bologna?" "Go forward and consume it. It may not kill you." (from the equal man who stated the primary one) "My daughter was once a vegetarian, however she gave it up considering the fact that she went on a tenting travel and received hepatitis from ingesting unhealthy water." (I on no account did realize how being vegetarian had some thing to do with getting hepatitis from "unhealthy water.") "I suggestion vegetarians have been thin." (I get that one plenty.) "You'll be anemic, and your muscle tissue will atrophy." (my mom stated that, she was once a nurse) "Who do you feel you're? Gandhi?" (additionally my mom) I paintings in scientific files and one time a health care professional wrote "vegetarian nutrition" on a sufferer's analysis record as though it was once a sickness. Vegetarianism isn't identified as an sickness by way of World Health Organization, AMA or some other authentic wellbeing care group.

Answer 6

I am a vegetarian, but right now my diabetes is so bad I sort of need dairy and eggs.