Calling all Vegans/ Vetarians

Holly_Wood_888

My hubby and I recently watched many documentaries about the processing/factory farming/ mass producing and cruelty to animals. Forks over Knives, What the Health, etc ...

I cannot unsee these things... my heart aches, I can no longer eat animals - especially after realizing that we DONT need to eat them! We can thrive and be healthier on a plant based diet... Our intent is to be vegetarian with the goal of being Vegan.

I would love to hear from anyone that has adopted this lifestyle. Encouragement, RECIPES, Tips would be appreciated as we begin this new journey.

singingflutelady

Being a vegan or vegetarian is cool but doing so because of fear mongering mockumentaries isn't the best idea

Sunnybrooke99

I love the Eat to Live book, and I strive to follow the philosophy of getting the most nutrition per calorie. I’ve been able to adjust for the long term by eating whatever (within reason) when I go out to eat, or have dinner at a friend’s house. Everyone has their thing, so you can adjust without throwing out all of the beneficial changes you make.

I also really suggest developing a taste for cooked greens, if you can. They are the lowest calorie non animal source of protein. I had to add fatty fish back in, for the b vitamins, but not everyone seems to have this problem.

Enjoy your journey, and let your own health benefits, and progress, keep you motivated!

Sunnybrooke99

This is a sort of recipe for black bean patties that you can freeze and keep on hand. They cook in about five mins. I use them a lot, and they are great in wraps. Even my son’s friends, and my meat loving boyfriend likes them.

Cook 2lbs black beans until think and mushy. I cook them w cumin, chili powder, and onion. Cool and mix in enough cooked white quinoa and ab 1/4-1/2 cup bread crumbs, to form a ground beef like consistency. Form into 1/3 cup patties and sprinkle w bbq seasoning (I like Webber burger seasoning), wrap in squares of parchment and freeze in a big bag. They are best fried in a little oil, but my boyfriend is lazy and microwaves then. You can also do this w the red beans from red beans and rice, and serve w some bbq sauce.

nickssweetheart

The cruelty of factory farming is real. It makes sense when you think about it. A good capitalist seeks to maximize profits while minimizing expenses. So since farm animals are excluded from animal cruelty laws in this country, large producers are almost forced to adopt inhumane practices in order to be competitive price wise. It's a race to the bottom from an animal welfare standpoint.

Being vegan has been great for me, physically and emotionally. Regardless of how you feel about different documentaries, there is no denying that when you put animal protein in your body, you have benefited from a system that is 1) cruel 2) environmentally problematic, and 3) often less healthy. (Yes, of course you can eat a healthy diet that includes animal products, but realistically most people don't.)

OP, lentils and chickpeas are my very favorite protein sources, followed closely by tofu.

This is an amazing chickpea curry (top with cilantro and a plain soy yogurt for extra deliciousness:

allrecipes.com/recipe/34689/chickpea-curry/?internalSource=hub%20recipe&referringContentType=search%20results&clickId=cardslot%201

Here is my favorite lentil stew (made with veggie broth, of course):

geniuskitchen.com/recipe/easy-lentil-stew-191459

And here's a tofu recipe I pinned recently but haven't tried yet but looks amazing(assuming you're not gluten free, you can just use soy sauce for the tamari):

https://food52.com/recipes/18211-spicy-ginger-orange-tofu

I recommend the cookbook Vegan Express by Nava Atlas. It's fast and tasty and she includes detailed nutrition for each recipe.

I hope this helps! Congratulations on one of the best decisions you will ever make. Living more compassionately and sustainably is never a bad thing.

Edit to add: There are a few things missing/low from a vegan diet, which you would be wise to supplement with either fortified foods or supplements. Those are most notably B12 (which is supplemented in animal feed in the U.S. so people get it when they consume animal products), iodine, and vitamin D. I drink soy milk which is fortified, eat nutritional yeast, take a b12 supplement once a week, and an iodine supplement.

cee134

I love plant based foods and eat mostly plant based foods. Always check your sources. It's best to use long term studies to get your info about nutritional needs for the body, not videos that sell you things.

You may enjoy this group on MFP:

Happy Herbivores

vingogly

I've reduced consumption of mammal and bird flesh because they're conscious animals capable of some degree of reasoning and affection, and secondarily because living further down the food chain is cheaper and has less of an impact on the environment. Fish and amphibians, crustaceans and shellfish, I have no problem with eating. I also have no problem with dairy or eggs if they're not produced in a factory environment - not all owners of dairy animals and fowl treat them cruelly. Which makes me a lacto-ovo pescatarian - and I have no desire to become a full fledge vegetarian or vegan. My favorite pescatarian recipe site is this one:

https://pescetarian.kitchen/recipes/

Regarding vegetarian recipes, this is one of the better recipe sites I've bookmarked:

https://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes

AnnPT77

I've been vegetarian (not vegan) for 43 years. Please don't believe the bad, propaganda-oriented vegan/vegetarian sites that say you need less protein than mainstream nutritional authorities say, when eating plant-based. It's just not true.

Also not true: Those who say you can't get enough protein eating plant based. You can. It just takes more conscious attention. It also takes more attention to B12, calcium, and some other nutrients. Learn about those nutritional issues, and adopt habits that put you in a good spot.

I'm not much of a recipe gal - I just cook - but my best tip is to try to break out of the "one big protein per meal" way of thinking that many meat-eaters use. There's nothing wrong with a hearty protein source, but try also to think in terms of eating things in all food categories that contribute a bit of protein. Those small amounts add up, and the variety can help you get a well-rounded amino acid profile.

For meal ideas, one helpful thing is to learn about international/ethnic cuisines with a rich vegetarian tradition, such as Indian, Asian, African and middle Eastern vegetarian options. (If you dislike "exotic" spices, you can still learn from the core food choices and combinations.)

While losing weight, I found the thread pasted below very helpful. It links to a spreadsheet listing many, many foods by protein efficiency: Most protein for fewest calories. Scroll past the meaty/fishy things at the top, and you'll find good plant-based sources to enhance your eating.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10247171/carbs-and-fats-are-cheap-heres-a-guide-to-getting-your-proteins-worth-fiber-also

Best wishes!

veganbaum

happyherbivore.com has some good, simple recipes. They're low fat, but you can obviously add fat if you like, I often do.

Minimalist Baker also has some good, simple recipes.

Both those sites have yummy recipes with common ingredients (not all of them do, but a lot).

Don't get caught up with thinking you have to buy specialty items or get complicated. Going vegan can be difficult enough for some, transitioning from reliance on animal products, without unnecessarily complicating it from the beginning. Ann's post is also full of good advice.

Holly_Wood_888

Thank you so much for the encouragement and recipes MFP I feel great about this decision and will continue to learn !! ❤️

nickssweetheart

Yes, I hope my post didn't come off as saying you have to eat nutritional yeast or something. I eat it because I like it and it's good for me. Apart from nutritional yeast and tofu, I eat hardly anything that I can't buy at Aldi. (I'm vegan but I'm also poor atm. )

2snakeswoman

I was vegetarian, nearly vegan, then my doctor discovered that my blood sugar indicator was too high, putting me in the prediabetic range. I was eating a lot of carbs which apparently my body doesn't process very well. I've eaten meat since then but am exploring ways to get increased protein while staying on the low glycemic end of meal choices without eating meat. It hasn't been easy.

Sunnybrooke99

Try lentil chili. Just boil one lb of lentils with whatever chili seasoning mix you like, and use it the same as normal chili. You can add onion and a can of diced tomatoes if you want. This is especially good over fried yellow polenta (really easy and inexpensive to make yourself from plain yellow corn meal)

grinning_chick

nickssweetheart wrote: »

The cruelty of factory farming is real. It makes sense when you think about it. A good capitalist seeks to maximize profits while minimizing expenses. So since farm animals are excluded from animal cruelty laws in this country, large producers are almost forced to adopt inhumane practices in order to be competitive price wise. It's a race to the bottom from an animal welfare standpoint.

You are either completely missing or utterly ignoring in order to stack the deck the third leg of the successful business model stool that, without, the entire thing fails and collapses: Minimize expenses, maximize profits, and optimize production. Animal Science/Agribusiness 101 level stuff, it is. You cannot have either of the first two without the third.

And in this instance, optimization is all about the animals as even selective breeding/genetics and gene manipulation can only take you so far/achieve so much if the animal is not well cared for and stressors minimized. Biological systems above, say, the amoeba level are not and will never be widgets where those factors can be ignored.

Are there farms/ranches, big and small (including precious "organic" niche farms/ranches), that should be shut down for inhumane practices/cruelty? YES. Are there farms/ranches, mega CAFO and hobbyist alike, that are doing it right? ALSO YES. These are not either/or, all/none, questions and issues.

You cannot paint them all with the same broad brush. To do so is disingenuous at best. If you care about where your meat and milk comes from in terms of animal welfare? Well, then do your homework. Take the time to invest into researching/verifying claims and find those producers whose practices in reality agree with your own ethics. Or do it yourself - there are even co-ops and shares today for those with no land resources to accomplish this.

nickssweetheart

Since you aren't familiar with me or my ethics, I think it's strange for you to maintain that there are producers that meet them. I don't go into threads where people discuss eating chicken breast and try to convert anyone. I don't attack others for their choices. OP saw some abuses that horrified her, came here searching for information, and was immediately told that she was getting fired up over pseudo documentaries. I didn't even defend the documentaries. I just pointed out that yes, abuse is real, and it can be horrible, and OP is not naive or falling for a bill of goods, and there are real, economic factors that will often result in terrible conditions for animals.

Not everyone can be vegan, for a variety of reasons. For me, however, veganism was a difficult choice, but very rewarding. It was not a choice I made overnight, but it's working for me.

That said, my father eats meat and dairy and is very much concerned with the welfare of the animals involved. I'd love to hear where you source your animal products so I can refer him to producers he can patronize with confidence.

Thank you for your post.

mrsharmon622

My daughter is vegetarian...working her way to vegan, so I've been learning to adapt. One of the hardest is packaged foods. Yes, I know fresh foods are better and I do a good bit of fresh food cooking, but when you have 30 min after work to get supper on the table for hungry folk, it's good to have box/can/frozen foods ready to throw together. That said- I can't believe how hard it is to find animal fat free canned goods! I try to cook as many things as possible that we can all eat, and I was surprised at how much animal fat is in beans, green beans, etc. My daughter has also discovered that gelatin is made from boiling animal bones/products, so now I check everything for gelatin also. It's in ALOT of packaged sweets. Recently, I've had to start checking cheeses for rennet/enzymes. There went my frozen ravioli which I used to make quick and easy lasagna. Do others check for these ingredients also?

mrsharmon622

Also, my daughter watches and sends me those documentaries, many of which I'm sure are the worst of the lot and not representative of all, maybe not even the majority. Even so, it makes me sick to see what goes on in some of these factories. I agree that it's hard to 'unsee' that, and makes me more aware of animal products.

arelyedrey

Hi there. I fully support your decision! It's a great lifestyle!

My go to recipe book is thug kitchen! I also go to Forks over knives. the buffalo cauliflower is killer! My favorite recipe atm is Eggplant marinara over chickpea pasta. Watch out for high carbs if you're also trying to lose weight.

Some ppl quit cold turkey but that wasn't my experience. I started out as a vegetarian in february. It was hard to give up cheese but I let myself have some. I slowly cut all animal products out. The whole process/lifestyle change took a little over 6 months but I'm fully plant based now!