I want to become vegan, any suggestions?

Question

I want to become vegan for my health. Its kinda scary and seems so extreme. Currently, I don't eat any red meat, cheese or milk. I don't eat food containing white sugar or white flour. I haven't for years. I do love fesh fish and seafood, but I don't want to be blamed for delpleting the wild fish stocks. I only eat wild caught seafood.
Any suggestions on how to start? Any great receipe books or web sites? Do you think it is a wise idea?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
By the way please help save the manatees.

Answer 1

That is great that you want to try a vegan diet. There are so many reasons to do so, from your health to the environment. A vegan diet can be a beautiful thing and many people feel that it brings out the best in them, but I should tell you that if you refer to yourself as vegan and not just your diet, it implies that you care about animals on the level that you believe they are never property and exist only for their own purposes. It also means that you believe it is actually wrong to eat them or anything that they produce or use anything such as leather, wool, silk, fur.

If you want to know the ugly truth that leads many people to veganism, watch this http://meat.org

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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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 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.

Answer 2

It sounds as if you've made a start, giving up some meat and milk. Now you just have to give up fish, as fishing does hurt, and there's quite a bit of bycatch with wild-caught fish. If you still eat eggs, you'll also want to stop eating those.

Avoiding white sugar and flour doesn't make you any more or less vegan, but it is healthier.

Remember, vegetarians and vegans don't eat fish.

www.vegweb.com is a good all-around website for vegetarians.

www.cok.net has a good vegetarian starter guide.

Good luck!

Answer 3

How you start is up to you. Of course you know if you're going to be vegan, that means no dairy products whatsoever. No more cheese, milk, eggs or products using any of those things (like cakes, pastries, bread.) But read ingredients labels because some of these things can be found dairy-free. You also know that fish is out if you going all the way. No chicken or other fowl. I would just take it slow. Maybe if there's a favorite dairy you think you'll have a hard time giving up, start by cutting down on that, and eliminating all other dairy products. Or just do it all gradually however you want to until you are no longer consuming any dairy or fish/meat products. Good Luck!

Answer 4

First - are you sure? You had better be sure, because vegan is not vegetarian or "Well I'll eat chicken, but I won't eat pork." This is the real deal! My suggestions if you're going to do it, make sure you incorporate it into your home/going out life. Stock up the kitchen with foods that will still provide you with protein and iron that you're losing with chicken and red meat. When you go out, be prepared to interrogate your waiter about what's in that dish you're about to order. And I hate to say it, but fish a living, breathing animal and vegans don't eat any animals or byproducts of them! And apparently, you can't wear any clothing that contains animal products: wool, leather, fur, etc!

Hope it helped, good luck on your endeavor.

Answer 5

If I were you I'd go veggie first(unless you all ready are) for a couple of months and if you can handle that then slowly go vegan. Get your blood tested once you do go vegan because its important to make sure your getting enough vitamins, protein and especially iron.And becoming vegan is a very wise idea its one you should be proud of.Don't let others make fun of your choice. Be happy your not abusing your body, animals and the environment. http://www.veggiemealplans.com/

Answer 6

Can you eat fish as a Vegan? To start I'd just start searching the internet for Vegan Recipes and start building a shopping list. Go to Whole Foods and ask questions. Good luck and good health.

Answer 7

Well obviously, don't eat anything that comes from an animal. Be careful though, it is not natural and can really damage your health. You may have to take bovine and or ovine pills to supliment to get proper nutrition. Adding eggs and fish would really round you out a bit better. Also, your body needs calcium unless you want to run into really bad problems down the road when its not cool to be idealistic any more. Furthermore, eating only farm raised fish would cause you to not be blamed for damaging fish populations. Wild caught fish are wild, you are taking them away from their natural habitat and therefore basal populations.

Answer 8

You don't have to go vegan for your health. Vegetarian is just fine.

vegweb.com is great for recipes.

Answer 9

To ensure you get the proper nutrients your body needs, I would consult a registered dietitian.

Answer 10

Vegans don't eat seafood...

Answer 11

Soooo...You are the reason that there are so little fish left!!!!