Fellow Vegans or wanna-Vegans?

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  • Jane1848
    Jane1848 Posts: 19 Member
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    I am a vegetarian and have been vegan in the past. Currently I'm trying to get close to veganism, but I don't stress out if the odd dairy product ends up in my diet. I miss it though, but it is hard when the people around me are not supportive of it.

    thanks for starting this thread :)

    My husband does not get the whole vegan thing AT ALL. He cannot relate to it in any way, nor does he see the point. I get similar reactions from most people who inquire about a particular product I'm buying or eating. The thing is, it doesn't really bother me that I don't get support from any of the people I come in actual contact with every day because I feel more like a pioneer or something lol. Many people are at least interested in learning about it and you can just be hopeful that maybe some of your positive energy and influence will rub off. My husband is at least interested in eating more vegetables, that's certainly a start!

    That's so difficult. I'm blessed to have a mom who raised me on ricemilk, tofu, and homemade granola. :-) My family isn't vegetarian, but they're conscientious when it comes to nutrition, food quality, and food sources.

    I'm also lucky in that my boyfriend (who is not a vegetarian or vegan) has taken to a 98% vegan lifestyle just because that's how I eat. I don't ask him to cut out animal products--he does it because he respects my choice and he likes the food. :-) His family is also very supportive. I really need to remember to not take all of that for granted.
  • leavinglasvegas
    leavinglasvegas Posts: 1,495
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    Hi!

    I'm trying to find a good recipe for cold soup that I can make for our family reunion this weekend. I've searched the web and I'm coming up with nothing. The problem is, I have a corn and tomato allergy. I'm looking for some kind of tomato free gazpacho. The avacado soups look interesting, but they all seem to call for heavy cream. What can I use in place of heavy cream? I'd prefer to take a recipe that someone has tried and can attest to its fabulosity as opposed to whatever I find lurking random websites anyway.

    I'm trying to keep in mind that I am the only vegan in the family. So I don't want it to be obviously vegan or even healthy for that matter, if you know what I mean. Not too much supplementals and strange ingredients. And, I've never made a cold soup before- just thought it'd be a good bbq addition. :tongue:

    Any and all suggestions/recipes welcome!

    Thanks!
  • TheMaidOfAstolat
    TheMaidOfAstolat Posts: 3,222 Member
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    Hi!

    I'm trying to find a good recipe for cold soup that I can make for our family reunion this weekend. I've searched the web and I'm coming up with nothing. The problem is, I have a corn and tomato allergy. I'm looking for some kind of tomato free gazpacho. The avacado soups look interesting, but they all seem to call for heavy cream. What can I use in place of heavy cream? I'd prefer to take a recipe that someone has tried and can attest to its fabulosity as opposed to whatever I find lurking random websites anyway.

    I'm trying to keep in mind that I am the only vegan in the family. So I don't want it to be obviously vegan or even healthy for that matter, if you know what I mean. Not too much supplementals and strange ingredients. And, I've never made a cold soup before- just thought it'd be a good bbq addition. :tongue:

    Any and all suggestions/recipes welcome!

    Thanks!

    Holly, I have the perfect thing! Melon soup...you can sub the casaba for honeydew or cantaloupe. Although this might seem a bit too healthy...it will be great with the heat being what it is, great way to cool down. I've made this recipe a few times....I got it off of allrecipes.com and I love it!

    Ingredients
    4 cups casaba melon, seeded and cubed
    3/4 cup coconut milk
    Juice of 2 limes
    1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
    1 pinch salt
    Directions
    1.Place casaba melon, coconut milk, lime juice, ginger, and salt in a food processor. Process until the mixture is smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.
  • kikiluvdiva22
    kikiluvdiva22 Posts: 8 Member
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    I've been a vegan for 1 year now, but have been a vegetarian since 2006.
  • TheMaidOfAstolat
    TheMaidOfAstolat Posts: 3,222 Member
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    I've been a vegan for 1 year now, but have been a vegetarian since 2006.

    Awesome!
  • leavinglasvegas
    leavinglasvegas Posts: 1,495
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    Hi!

    I'm trying to find a good recipe for cold soup that I can make for our family reunion this weekend. I've searched the web and I'm coming up with nothing. The problem is, I have a corn and tomato allergy. I'm looking for some kind of tomato free gazpacho. The avacado soups look interesting, but they all seem to call for heavy cream. What can I use in place of heavy cream? I'd prefer to take a recipe that someone has tried and can attest to its fabulosity as opposed to whatever I find lurking random websites anyway.

    I'm trying to keep in mind that I am the only vegan in the family. So I don't want it to be obviously vegan or even healthy for that matter, if you know what I mean. Not too much supplementals and strange ingredients. And, I've never made a cold soup before- just thought it'd be a good bbq addition. :tongue:

    Any and all suggestions/recipes welcome!

    Thanks!

    Holly, I have the perfect thing! Melon soup...you can sub the casaba for honeydew or cantaloupe. Although this might seem a bit too healthy...it will be great with the heat being what it is, great way to cool down. I've made this recipe a few times....I got it off of allrecipes.com and I love it!

    Ingredients
    4 cups casaba melon, seeded and cubed
    3/4 cup coconut milk
    Juice of 2 limes
    1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
    1 pinch salt
    Directions
    1.Place casaba melon, coconut milk, lime juice, ginger, and salt in a food processor. Process until the mixture is smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.

    Perfect! Thank you!
  • Alleghany
    Alleghany Posts: 200
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    Great to see this thread still rockin'!

    Just wanted to say that if you ever go to Whole Foods, they have the best vegan pizza. No cheese or dairy-free cheese but it tastes great anyway. Instead of tomato sauce, they use an olive tapenade. Give it a try!
  • BlueLikeJazz
    BlueLikeJazz Posts: 219 Member
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    I am so incredibly jealous of those of you who have Whole Foods or Trader Joe's nearby. I sent TJ's a long email recently begging them to consider opening a location near me, including compelling reasons why they should (it's a college town with lots of health freaks, tree huggers, and animal lovers, perfect place for a TJ's! lol)

    I'm very happy to find that I'm not spending more money while making the vegan transition. I do buy certain more expensive products (nutritional yeast, dairy-free chocolate, vegan veggie burgers, etc.) but most of them are more energy/nutrient-dense so it seems like we need less food overall. If I take $20 to the Farmer's Market I end up with more veggies than we could eat in a week and I usually get a workout carrying all the bags.

    I have finally found a vegan sugar-free cookie to replace the Milanos I was succumbing to on the weekends, vanilla "sugar" wafers (I guess they're probably technically Splenda wafers since they're sugar-free.) All the vegan sugar-free cookie recipes I could find involved me buying a number of ingredients that I wouldn't use for anything else, so this was a good solution.

    I'm feeding hubby a few vegan dishes this week and next week I plan to challenge him to a whole week meat-free (unless he decides to swing by Mickey D's when I'm not around lol). I'm not going to feed him any soy, but I would like him to try to eat a few more veggie meals with me so I'm not preparing two meals every night.

    That's all for now, just thought I'd chime in to keep the thread rolling...
  • keketrobo05
    keketrobo05 Posts: 1
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    I've been vegan since this last April and I feel ya on the lack of support! I live with my dad and brother and their eating habits are horrendous! No one in my family seems to be able to grasp the fact of what it means to be vegan or why i'm doing it. A friend suggested I get on this site to track calories, and I searched for vegan posts and it is so helpful just reading what other fellow vegans are up too! It helps when I feel totally alone lol. Anyways, feel free to message me if you ever need that extra support :)
  • veganon50
    veganon50 Posts: 46
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    Hi everyone - just thought I would check in and see how things are going!
    I think I posted about this before, but has anyone else discovered the 'Fat free Vegan' website and facebook blog yet?
    I think it is so great!
    I have tried a few recipes and they have all worked really well - here are the links
    http://www.facebook.com/FatFreeVegan#!/FatFreeVegan?v=wall
    http://fatfreevegan.com/
    :happy:
  • veganza
    veganza Posts: 6 Member
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    Hi! Looking around for fellow-vegans.

    I've been vegan for just over 5 years! Put on weight during pregnancy eating LOADS of potatoes due to morning sickness, and HEAPS of gourmet raw nut-cakes (yum! hehe). Just decided to take the high-carb/low-fat approach to weight loss, with a heavy emphasis on increasing raw again. As I'm still breastfeeding, calorie restriction is out, so I'm going for heaps of fruit instead, and it's giving me heaps more energy to keep up with my toddler! So my activity level has gone up a bit, too, and the weight is starting to drop. Good stuff. It's probably close to the Skinny B!tch style of program, I guess, with all-fruit breakfasts.

    & for anyone interested: my toddler is vegan, too. She's in the 95th percentile for height, weight, head circumference... My husband is vegan, too! Pretty relaxed, healthy household going on at the moment... Or it would be relaxed, if it wasn't for the very energetic toddler...

    :)
  • veganon50
    veganon50 Posts: 46
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    Hi Lifefiend - welcome to the forum!
    Sounds like you have a great vegan thing going on there - glad to have you here - we vegans need to support each other!
    And your baby will be so healthy - growing up vegan - I know from vegan friends how hard it can be to not succumb to the pressure from the food industry and well meaning (but ill informed) people who think cow's milk is essential for health - so well done to you!!

    :flowerforyou:
  • BlueLikeJazz
    BlueLikeJazz Posts: 219 Member
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    Hi! Looking around for fellow-vegans.

    I've been vegan for just over 5 years! Put on weight during pregnancy eating LOADS of potatoes due to morning sickness, and HEAPS of gourmet raw nut-cakes (yum! hehe). Just decided to take the high-carb/low-fat approach to weight loss, with a heavy emphasis on increasing raw again. As I'm still breastfeeding, calorie restriction is out, so I'm going for heaps of fruit instead, and it's giving me heaps more energy to keep up with my toddler! So my activity level has gone up a bit, too, and the weight is starting to drop. Good stuff. It's probably close to the Skinny B!tch style of program, I guess, with all-fruit breakfasts.

    & for anyone interested: my toddler is vegan, too. She's in the 95th percentile for height, weight, head circumference... My husband is vegan, too! Pretty relaxed, healthy household going on at the moment... Or it would be relaxed, if it wasn't for the very energetic toddler...

    :)

    I would be so interested to hear more about raising your wee one as a vegan. The more I read and learn about all the problems associated with meat and dairy, the more convinced I am that our future kids will be vegans as well (we don't have any yet, finishing up school first!) I am concerned about the logistics of it, though. Our children will very likely be going to public school and daycare because both my husband and I need to work. I hope we can find a daycare that is supportive of our decision and that our child will just be uninterested in eating processed junk from school once he/she starts there since his/her mommy will be packing delicious lunches made with love!

    People might think I'm crazy or too obsessive thinking about these things way before I even have kids, but weight has been such an intense, draining struggle in my life, one that I'm just starting to reach some peace about since adopting a vegan diet. I really don't want my children to go down the same road and I cringe every time I see parents taking their obese young children into a fast food restaurant. It really makes me sad/upset.

    Regardless of health issues, I'm also very passionate about the animal rights side of veganism and hope that my kids will feel similar compassion for animals. Anyways! Have you faced any challenges raising your toddler as a vegan?
  • veganon50
    veganon50 Posts: 46
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    Good for you - not wanting to condemn your child to a lifetime of obesity or dieting - and also to feel compassion for animals - you are doing the right thing thinking about it beforehand - well done!!
    :happy:
  • tashtranquillo
    tashtranquillo Posts: 50
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    yay!! vegans and vegetarians ! loooove feeling lighter and more energetic then ever before. However i find myself taking heaps of supplements such as iron, multi-vitamins, b12 and hair and nails to name a few. no idea if thats actually to much or anything!! have no idea if i am missing out on any.

    ANY info would be greatly appreciated!! not many of my friends are vegans/vegos so it's hard to get advice on the matter besides google (thanks internet) :wink:
  • SugarDiva
    SugarDiva Posts: 403 Member
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    Your best bet would be talking to your doctor. When I made the switch, I talked to mine about it, mostly because I have epilepsy and I have to make sure any changes I make won't effect my meds or aggravate my condition. He told me the amounts of specific vitamins and such that I should be having and suggested that I start taking a really good multi-vitamin and calcium, but not iron because I eat alot of green leafies. Now that's just me, people differ.
  • ChaosInTheFlesh
    ChaosInTheFlesh Posts: 16
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    hello
    wow its amazing to see so many veg heads out there:laugh: anyway i could really use the friendship and encouragement of other vegetarians /vegans feel free to add me :flowerforyou:
  • leavinglasvegas
    leavinglasvegas Posts: 1,495
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    I thought this was a cool website to share.

    It gives you some yummy recipes and info on how to get the proper nutrition from your food.

    http://www.pcrm.org/health/powerplate/
  • tashtranquillo
    tashtranquillo Posts: 50
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    thanks for replying and yep going to see my doctor tomorrow. something i should have done awhile ago (procrastination) :)
  • tashtranquillo
    tashtranquillo Posts: 50
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    I thought this was a cool website to share.

    It gives you some yummy recipes and info on how to get the proper nutrition from your food.

    http://www.pcrm.org/health/powerplate/

    jumped on that website! Very insightful,http://www.pcrm.org/health/recipes/recipe011217.html sounds delicious!!
    thanks for the link!
    P.s love the quote!

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