if your a vegan, were u vegetarian 1st, how long for?, was it hard to change or did u do it slowly?

Question

ive given up meat almost a month ago, and im so happy that i havent slipped [ im weak. lol]
id like to one day become vegan because their diet is so much healthier, as i eat alot of chocolate and dairy, ect, and would love to replace these foods with more fruit, veg, grains

just want to know the way to go about it, what steps do i take?, do i eliminate one food group at a time?,, thanks, any help appreciated xxxxxxxxxxx

thankyou, these answers are great!!!, seems hard, but ill take it slow! xxxx

Answer 1

Unlike you, I didn't plan to become a vegan, I was studying nutrition, diet, human digestive system etc. in order to create a better diet for athletic performance. After an afternoon in the library I decided that meat was out. I just stopped. Next afternoon I decided that dairy was just as bad. And I continued to examine my whole diet. Take out the meat, replace with vegetables. Vegetables tasted gross, replaced with fresh frozen instead of canned. Frozen tasted slightly better, replaced with fresh veggies. Replaced that with organic veggies. Then replaced that with my own garden. Replaced milk with (concentrated) orange juice; replaced that with non-concentrate; then replaced that with real oranges, then that with organic... Didn't like soy milk, so started with chocolate soy milk and graduated to plain... basically trained myself to drink it... why? Because I knew was just a taste bud adjustment as whole countries drink soy milk with no probs. One by one I just studied each food that I ate, then changed to something else, then studied that too... It was all an educational process. Basically the closer you get to the garden the better. The further away from the garden, the worse. Simple. Make a garden your goal. Not just veggies, but berries, fruits, potatoes, sun chokes, ... we must have 100 items in our garden... things you simply cannot buy at the store. You will discover that the veggies at the store, organic or not, are grown for profit, not flavour. There are varieties of carrot, turnip, radish, kale... that taste fantastic... nothing like the store ones. So, you cannot say that you simply do not like carrots as there are about 400 varieties out there, some long, some short, some orange, some red, some bitter, some sweet, some round... Same goes for apples, grapes, strawberries... and on and one...

Read One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka and you will learn the basic principles of gardening. It's not what you think... not like the gardening magazines and books say it is.

Answer 2

My kids and I have been vegetarian for years. My daughter became vegan about a year ago, so I only prepare vegan meals for all of us.
I think I miss the eggs a bit, not on their own, but in baking. I feel their is a different result in making a cake egg-less, and where we live, I can't find any egg substitute.
Apart from that, we replaced milk with soy milk and buy dark, milk-free chocolate. We also cut down on a lot of meat substitutes and Quorn because most of them contain egg whites.
If you are only vegetarian for a month, take your time before you go vegan and wait until you are more comfortable with your new life style.

Answer 3

I'm not a vegan, but I think most people who are serious about it would usually start as a vegetarian. An easy way to go about it would be to substitute for vegan alternatives, there are not many things that vegetarians have that there isn't a reasonable vegan alternative.. except marshmellows:p
Try cooking with and drinking a vegan milk substitute. There are alot of websites that have good recipes, and substitutions, --like lemon juice and soy milk as an egg substitute, and probably food brands for the area you live.
Also it's pretty important to research vitamin b12, the easiest way is to just take a vitamin pill, but there are some natural sources.

Answer 4

I went veg in January of 2002 and vegan a few months later. I wasn't really planning to go vegan, but when I read of the dairy/veal connection and what goes on in the egg industry, I felt the best thing for me was to go vegan. I went vegan around May of 2002. There are some people who go from omni to vegan, but not many.

You can still have chocolate, but you'll have to look for specialty brands, as most conventional dark chocolate still has dairy. Green & Blacks, Chocolove, Endangered Species, and Tropical Source have vegan dark chocolate bars. Rose City Chocolatier has a vegan line. Many vegan online retailers also have lots of dark chocolate goodies--there's even rice milk chocolate!

If a recipe calls for cows' milk, you can use soy milk in equal proportion.

As for making the transition, you have to do it at the pace that is best for you--good luck!

Answer 5

Since you are new to vegetarianism, I would just take it slowly at your own pace. You could start replacing real dairy with soy and then gradually you will become a vegan. Also, you can get non-dairy dark chocolate and dark chocolate is actually really good for you in small amounts. Also, add fruits and vegetables to every meal and this will bulk up your veggie/fruit intake.

Answer 6

I stopped eating sausages first of all. Just didn't like it any more when I was 14. It really wasn't hard stopping it. If you don't like it, it's not hard to eat something else instead. After a while, I also stopped eating meat. It worked quite well and once I stopped, I never had a craving for it again. After about 5 months, I also slowly stopped eating fish because I didn't like it any more. It's not that I stopped it all at once - doing it slowly gave me lots of time to check on other things to eat instead and I have to admit - it's been working GREAT within the last 10 years - I don't have a craving for any meat, fish or sausage and I never had any within the last 10 years. I think everyone who wants to become a vegetarian will figure out a method that works for him / her. And trust your body - it will let you know what you need!

Answer 7

For a long time I was ate meat. For like the 1st 14 years of my life (i am 15). But then my friend and I learned about PETA and I couldn't dare eat another animal again. I tried to become a vegan a few times in my life, but the transistion is very, very HARD. You have to watch everything you eat. Especially is someone else cooked the food. No butter, no eggs, no milk, no cheese, etc. And plus my favorite food is cheese so I decided tthat I would just remain a vegetarian and just enjoy fruit, vegetables, and crackers, etc since I love all of those things. I also love milk (one of the reasons I am not a vegan.) All in all, it is very hard to make the transition from vegetarian to vegan, especially if you are use to eating animal by-products such as: milk, eggs, butter, & cheese.

Answer 8

I stopped eating red meat at 12. Four years later I went vegetarian. I went nondairy off and on, then went vegan 8 years later, at 24.

p.s. I eat a lot of chocolate. REAL, quality chocolate doesn't have dairy in it. It's a cheap filler. ;)

Answer 9

Ok, so here's my story!

First of all, I'm not vegan, I'm a pescaterian, wich means I eat fish. But I eat no red meat poultry or dairy, and I was raised eating all these foods, and lots of them too!! I practically grew up on milk.
I had a few health problems, like weakness, dizziness, headaches etc. I was only 17 at the time, and doctors couldn't find anything wrong. I visited a few holistic practitioners, and doctors of chinese medicine.
The first doctor I saw, told me to eliminate beef, and eggs from my diet. I never really liked either, but it was hard having to stop eating cake and cookies.
Then a different doctor suggested I stop eating pork, which wasn't difficult at all. I never really liked meat. I did however miss cold cuts!!!
Then came dairy, and chicken, and refined products like white sugar, and white flour. (By now you're probably thinking: "What can you eat?")
Well I replaced milk with soy milk, and I ate all kinds of vegetables that I never even touched before, veg and fruit juices, fruit salads, beans, whole wheat dairy free cookies, sweetened with fruit juice or brown sugar, whole grains that I never knew existed, like millet, buckwheat, quinoa, and amaranth (all great grains, high in iron and minerals), and fish. I also started drinking a lot more water.

Soon enough, I started feeling stronger, and I had more energy. At 17 I wasn't able to run laps around the gym with my classmates, without getting dizzy and out of breath, when everyone else was fine. After changing my diet, I could run for an hour and even longer without feeling exhausted. That's what made me stick to this diet. I felt better.
I lost a little bit of weight at first, but I gained it back really fast. I didn't need to lose weight, as I was really thin to begin with. By going vegan, you only lose weight if you need to. It's a healthy diet that keeps you at your ideal weight. Provided you eat well.

Now I only eat fish about twice a month, and I'm thinking of cutting that out too. It shouldn't be too difficult I think.
So I did it really gradually. It took me abut three years to eliminate all meat (except fish) and dairy out of my diet. But I could have done it sooner had I known how good it would be for me.

Here's what I would suggest to you. Try to eat healthy in general. Don't focus on becoming vegan yet. You already cut out meat, you can continue by cutting out eggs and milk (both really unhealthy).

Then cut out all refined products like white sugar and white bread. Refined products create mold in your body, and they have no nutritional value at all. All they are is just empty calories, which make you gain weight, and gives you no energy, or vitamins and minerals.

Then you can gradually cut out cheese and replace with soy cheese, which is great on pizza or lasagna. Don't tell yourself it has to be forever, as that may discourage you. Just do it for as long as you can. Soon enough you'll get used to it, and you'll really enjoy having more energy.

About what Charli's saying, you don't have to give up all the foods you love forever if you don't want to. You can have ice cream and chocolate if you really want to once in a while. You don't have to follow any rules, you can choose what you can eat. If you give up dairy for a while, no one says you can't have it if you really crave it. It's better to eat healthy most of the time and have some dairly once in a while, than not eat healthy at all, and eat junk every day of the week, because you don't want to give up ice cream. Good luck! :-)

Answer 10

Congrats on going veg and even more congrats on planning to go vegan! :) :)

As far as transitioning, some people like to eliminate one thing at a time. For example, say you won't drink milk for one week (or two, if you need more time between). Then after that one week, say you won't drink milk OR eat eggs for another week or two. Then just gradually cut out one thing at a time until there's nothing left to cut out! :)

Personally, I went cold turky (or "cold tofu," more accurately, lol). I watched the video at www.meat.org and immediately decided to go vegan. I took all non-vegan products out of my fridge and pantry, researched all the by-products and never went back! lol, So to each their own!

Good luck! :)