What inspires you?

Eyesee

Hi wonderful people! I have a pretty typical story- have been vegetarian for 18 years, but have struggled to go/stay vegan*. I've decided to go vegan fully beginning today and I'm afraid of failing!

Are there any resources that helped you go/stay vegan, or inspire you to keep your lifestyle? I'd also love to hear about some places to find great recipes or just read what some of your go-to recipes are. Thanks for your help, and for all you do for our planet and animal friends!

*I don't like admitting that to meat-eaters because then they use me as an example for the "it's hard to go vegan" narrative. The truth is, I feel really addicted to cheese and sugar so I end up binge eating things that contain them. It's part of a larger addictive personality.

janejellyroll

Hi -- congratulations on your decision to go vegan!

I have found Pinterest to be a great source for recipes. The cool thing about it is that you can type in just about anything you're wanting to make, add the word "vegan," and usually get recipes. Like I found some rhubarb at the Farmer's Market the other day, wanted to try something other than pie, and I immediately found some recipes that looked good (I wound up making Carrot & Rhubarb Soup and Pickled Rhubarb, as well as some rhubarb-infused vodka).

I love cookbooks, so if you don't already have one, it might be worth getting a good general vegan cookbook or one focused on a favorite style of cooking you may have. Isa Chandra Moskowitz is one of my favorite cookbook authors -- there are so many good ones today though!

Resources for staying vegan -- it helps if you think about *why* you want to go vegan and find some sources that speak to that when you're feeling lagging motivation. For me, I went vegan for the animals. In my first few months of being vegan, sometimes looking at images of animals being used for food or reading about conditions on farms reminded me why I wanted to do it. Now that I've been vegan for longer, it's more automatic. I find it hard to look at images of farming, so I don't do it much anymore. I now look at video clips from sanctuaries featuring animals saved from agriculture if I want to feel a boost. Some people find a lot of motivation from more social activities, so it may be worth checking out to see if your area has a vegan meet-up (Meetup.com always has a lot in my area, they do everything from get together for potlucks or roller skating to cooking classes).

Don't feel like you *have* to tell non-vegans anything. There's a lot of pressure sometimes at the beginning to be the perfect vegan or always say the right thing. Give yourself permission to say things like "I'd rather not talk about it" if you get questions that you don't really want to answer. You don't *have* to take on the task of representing veganism until you're ready (and if that's never, that's okay too!). Some people do have a harder time going vegan either because of the circumstances of their lives or triggers with certain foods. The truth: it *is* hard for many people to go vegan in our society. That doesn't reflect badly on the individuals for whom it is harder. Even if you have individual days where you don't live up to your expectations of yourself, you haven't "failed veganism." It's not like we have a tracker on our wrist that is updating with "[X] days vegan." I found the times when I didn't do exactly what I would have wanted to be good opportunities to figure out how to address the issue in the future and that just made my veganism stronger.

Mousaroni

I'm also really struggling to stay vegan. The little things are easy, I find—substitutions for eggs and milk and other baking things aren't a problem for me. It's the big things that get me. I think it's a problem of laziness to cook and letting non-vegans cook the house meals that are causing me to fail.

For recipes, I like the vegan8 website! They use a lot of specialty ingredients, but every meal has 8 or less ingredients! I also like to take my favorite meals and just switch out the non-vegan foods with replacements, e.g. I love crepes, so I use a vegan recipe and dairy-free chocolate!

I've been printing recipes and collecting them in an organized place. Rather than saying "breakfast/lunch/dinner" I organize it with "sweet/Asian/salty/etc" so that if I'm craving something, it makes it easier to find a recipe instead of giving up and heating up an easy box of mac & cheese.

janejellyroll

Mousaroni wrote: »

I'm also really struggling to stay vegan. The little things are easy, I find—substitutions for eggs and milk and other baking things aren't a problem for me. It's the big things that get me. I think it's a problem of laziness to cook and letting non-vegans cook the house meals that are causing me to fail.

For recipes, I like the vegan8 website! They use a lot of specialty ingredients, but every meal has 8 or less ingredients! I also like to take my favorite meals and just switch out the non-vegan foods with replacements, e.g. I love crepes, so I use a vegan recipe and dairy-free chocolate!

I've been printing recipes and collecting them in an organized place. Rather than saying "breakfast/lunch/dinner" I organize it with "sweet/Asian/salty/etc" so that if I'm craving something, it makes it easier to find a recipe instead of giving up and heating up an easy box of mac & cheese.

I love the idea of organizing recipes by taste/style/craving! That way you can find exactly what you want instead of looking though a bunch of "breakfast" recipes.

Jewcybabe

I watched "What the Health" on Netflix and subscribe to nutritionfacts.org on YouTube. Also recently read "How Not to Die" by Dr. Michael Greger. Nutritionfacts.org also has an app with Dr. Greger's Daily Dozen checklist available for free!