Starting over, trying Vegan

nineteentwenty

Hi, I have been on MFP for a few years now, and I'd like to take on another challenge. Industrialized farming is unsustainable, I'd prefer not to be involved anymore. Plus, the health benefits of a vegan diet seem solid! I am specifically aiming for a whole foods plant-based diet as opposed to processed meat/dairy alternatives. I was doing a whole foods diet anyhow, I figure that cutting animal products wouldn't be that big of a step for me.

I am looking for other vegan friends, or people starting out like me. I am huge on cooking, and love posting recipes and meal discussions.

Cat3141

I hate to sound like I'm discouraging anyone from going vegan, but...you're making your diet more restrictive, just because you want the challenge? Why not take on an actual fitness goal?

That said, I'm an ethical vegan, so if you want to send me a request, go for it. I eat a mixture of "whole" and "processed" foods for the sake of nutrition, convenience, and keeping my sanity.

DISCIPLINEEQUALSFREEDOM

Plz no.

carterbrent

I felt really good eating vegan doing weight watchers but my weight loss stalled because I was eating too many nuts and seeds which are very caloric. Good luck to you.

JCURREA

Hi nineteentwenty! I've been vegan for over 2 years, feel free to add me.

nineteentwenty

Cat3141 wrote: »

I hate to sound like I'm discouraging anyone from going vegan, but...you're making your diet more restrictive, just because you want the challenge? Why not take on an actual fitness goal?

That said, I'm an ethical vegan, so if you want to send me a request, go for it. I eat a mixture of "whole" and "processed" foods for the sake of nutrition, convenience, and keeping my sanity.

Hi, thanks for commenting!

While do do relish the challenge to make myself a healthier person (I'm just like that), I am also uncomfortable with the industrialized meat/dairy farming industry as a whole. It's sickening on a moral and physical level, and current practice is totally unsustainable unless we decide to make a change. Thank you for pointing out that I neglected to mention my ethical reasons for making the switch, I will edit my original post to reflect my feelings. I just posted quickly before running to the store, whoops!

Cat3141

nineteentwenty wrote: »

Cat3141 wrote: »

I hate to sound like I'm discouraging anyone from going vegan, but...you're making your diet more restrictive, just because you want the challenge? Why not take on an actual fitness goal?

That said, I'm an ethical vegan, so if you want to send me a request, go for it. I eat a mixture of "whole" and "processed" foods for the sake of nutrition, convenience, and keeping my sanity.

Hi, thanks for commenting!

While do do relish the challenge to make myself a healthier person (I'm just like that), I am also uncomfortable with the industrialized meat/dairy farming industry as a whole. It's sickening on a moral and physical level, and current practice is totally unsustainable unless we decide to make a change. Thank you for pointing out that I neglected to mention my ethical reasons for making the switch, I will edit my original post to reflect my feelings. I just posted quickly before running to the store, whoops!

I'm with you on the treatment of animals. I apologize if my comment seemed rude, it just seemed like an odd reason to go vegan, and one that would very likely result in you quickly abandoning veganism. Veganism helps animals and the planet, but based on the available science, isn't going to make you healthier.

GoldenEye_

Awesome It does cost of lot of determination to go from being a meat eater to being vegan overnight. Do you plan on doing a transition period? Maybe by going vegetarian first and slowly cutting out/replacing more?

I tried going whole food vegan overnight myself, but it costs a lot more time and knowledge about for example spices (which are crucial for taste purposes) and nutrition. I still try to make many ethical choices by switching out animal milk and yoghurt to soy/almond/cashew/coconut milk and yoghurts and being a vegetarian, but being actually vegan and still be able to enjoy your food is harder than is seems. I hope it'll be an easy switch for you!

Cat3141

Although I disagree with GoldenEye_ about delicious vegan diets being difficult or requiring exotic spices, she does raise two excellent points. First, that it's easier to transition to a vegan diet over time, than to make the switch overnight. I know people who have done it, but in general, most people do better with small changes. And second, you probably want to know a bit about vegan nutrition. Even if you know a bit about vegan nutrition, the following books are good resources, all written by registered dietitians

Vegan for Her by Messina
Vegan for Life by Norris and Messina
Becoming Vegan (Comprehensive edition) by Davis and Melina

The following websites also provide good information (again, from registered dietitians)
http://www.theveganrd.com/
http://veganhealth.org/

Some nice starter guides can be found here

http://www.theveganrd.com/vegan-nutrition-101/vegan-nutrition-primers/
https://www.vegan.com/nutrition/

janejellyroll

GoldenEye_ wrote: »

Awesome It does cost of lot of determination to go from being a meat eater to being vegan overnight. Do you plan on doing a transition period? Maybe by going vegetarian first and slowly cutting out/replacing more?

I tried going whole food vegan overnight myself, but it costs a lot more time and knowledge about for example spices (which are crucial for taste purposes) and nutrition. I still try to make many ethical choices by switching out animal milk and yoghurt to soy/almond/cashew/coconut milk and yoghurts and being a vegetarian, but being actually vegan and still be able to enjoy your food is harder than is seems. I hope it'll be an easy switch for you!

I do think that sometimes people who are eliminating animal products for ethical reasons *sometimes* have an easier time with a quicker transition. Cookbook author Isa Chandra Moskowitz says something like "Your taste buds follow your ethics" and I found that to be true in my case. I wasn't a great vegan cook immediately, but going through the learning period was a much more appealing prospect that continuing to support a system that I found unacceptable. My personal decision was I didn't feel comfortable forcing someone else to suffer so I could get more enjoyment from my meals.

And this was ten years ago, when there were so many fewer options for vegans than there are now (at least in the US, where I live)!

I know this isn't true for all ethical vegans, but in my case a period of vegetarianism just wasn't an acceptable compromise for me.

GoldenEye_

@Cat3141 Books are definitely a good idea. I personally found it very difficult to find nice, reasonably quick recipes online. Surprisingly, when I typed in 'Vegan recipes' in google, I would mostly find websites where you had to search through tons of vegetarian recipes as well. There were also a lot of instances where I had fights with my mixer because it wouldn't cut through the vegetables well at all (it's definitely worth it to invest in a good mixer!). I think those where my main problems. When my boyfiend came home after I had tried this for 2 months (he had been on field research for his study) I would either have to cook seperate meals with him still eating meat or start cooking vegetarian for us both, which he did agree to. Since meat was my main ethical issue I chose the latter.

That's another thing: Social events and eating out. People are usually not going to be happy with you if you visit someone and they are going to have to cook a seperate vegan meal for you. A lot of restaurants are also probably not going to have vegan meals (unless you live in one of those awesome vegan friendly areas)

nineteentwenty

^I thought about that! Many of my friends are vegetarian, so I feel like they would not be very bothered. I actually planned to keep this to myself, just kind of... quietly transition. I can bring my own food, or claim a stomach ache.

As far as restaurants, I am in a huge vegan/veggie/juicebar/etc hub. Lots of atlernative food as far as the local culture. Even if we end up at a pizza joint, salads exist c:

hopesechosoffice7387

I’m vegan add me