Thinking of becoming Vegan...

glitterysam

I have been vegetarian for 17 years and have recently been thinking about taking the leap and becoming Vegan.

Are there any Vegan MFP users out there with any advice?

Think the main thing id miss would be eggs (have our own hens and ducks at home and those are usually the eggs i eat) and cheese (obviously! though ive been trying to find a nice vegan one)

BigT555

you should check out the groups, you'll probably have better luck there

glitterysam

Oh cheers! I will I usually use this on my phone and cant see group stuff on it so had completely forgotten there are groups!

_Zardoz_

Why do you want to become a Vegan? If it's for ethical reasons that's great. if though you think it's healthier than any other diet its not really you can have healthy and unhealthy Vegan diets the same way as you can have healthy and unhealthy ones containing animal products.

I've been Vegan for over 15 years. eggs isn't really a problem after a while you realise they aren't really needed in cooking or baking and there are many things you can use instead. Vegan cheese is a bit of a minefield and a lot of them just taste like old socks. There are a few that are OK but they are very different from dairy ones. Feel free to friend request me if you wish and good luck.

glitterysam

Oh yeah ethical reasons I've been vegetarian more than half my life but recently been looking into becoming vegan - have been eating vegan for the past week (healthy vegan) I'm just trying to put some thought into it as its not something i'd take lightly or be a phase. It just seems much more difficult than being vegetarian, I had a very unhealthy vegetarian diet for the the first 10 years as when i was a kid unhealthy veggie foods were just more accessible and id hate to go down that route again. I am going to friend request you as long as you don't mind as i can see myself having a lot of questions, hopefully i wont be too annoying!

cateyedkp

Questions are never annoying I feel you on the eggs and cheese bit. I strive to eat mostly plant-based, but have been vegetarian for 16+ years. I still eat eggs/cheese a couple times a week, but have found switching to cooking mostly vegan food easier than I thought it'd be.

Two killer vegan cheese recipes that I adore, that skip the processed/fake stuff (and have impressed many carnivorous family members):

Cashew Ricotta- used in lasagna, eggplant parm, anything baked that needs that creaminess:
http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2010/06/vegan-chive-ricotta-nut-cheese-spread.html

Walnut Parmesan- used in vegan pizza (put it directly on top of the tomato sauce, it makes a delicious, creamy, salty pizza base), on top of casseroles and pasta bakes, and on salads:
http://www.thisrawsomeveganlife.com/2011/10/walnut-parmesan-cheese.html

Good luck! Feel free to friend me too, I love sharing recipes

magerum

Reconsider.

ArtGeek22

Me! I think it is wonderful that you are considering becoming a vegan. My biggest advice is do not under eat when it comes to fruit and veg or else the cravings will come. When I stopped focusing on sugar and carb intake, everything got better and much, much easier. Feel free to friend me if you wish! Also, one last piece of advice, don't let any uneducated people try to talk you out or scare you away from becoming a vegan because it has honestly been one of the best decisions I personally have ever made in my life :flowerforyou:

MinMin97

I've done raw vegan for a period of time and LOVED it! The most delicious food ever, and I felt incredible. I am not currently eating that way, however.

phil6707

human, like some other species are omnivorous.

Trying to bend Nature cannot be good as it is not how the body has been built to be.

Meerataila

Vegan now for one month and counting. I gave up cheese without trying to find a substitute for it. I'm surprised I don't miss it. I'm still a little low on protein, and I had to buy some coconut oil to get more fat because I noticed I was getting irritable and spacey this week, but otherwise it's been fine with mostly fresh produce.

My advice: If you don't already love to make things at home from scratch, learn to love it. My limited cooking skills are really holding me back right now as far as variety goes, but I'm' progressing.

I track everything in MFP but I also use Cronometer, because the layout is really good for when you're trying to micromanage your nutrients. I also take a multivitamin. I'd like to eventually eat so healthy all I need to supplement is B12 and vitamin D, though.

jkolbe94

It's a great idea! I suggest checking out Freelee the Banana Girl on youtube. Be warned though, she might just blow your mind and everything you ever thought about calories and MFP out of the water. I've just recently become vegetarian, and I don't hold back. I have been buying fresh produce in bulk and eating until I feel satisfied, and I FEEL AMAZING.

kiekokay

I have been vegetarian for 17 years and have recently been thinking about taking the leap and becoming Vegan.

Are there any Vegan MFP users out there with any advice?

Think the main thing id miss would be eggs (have our own hens and ducks at home and those are usually the eggs i eat) and cheese (obviously! though ive been trying to find a nice vegan one)

I am a vegetarian for ethical reasons (namely, factory farming, the environmental cost of meat production, among others) and for health reasons (dietary management of rheumatoid arthritis). I am curious about your ethical reason for going vegan, particularly in consideration that you eat eggs raised from your own (presumably happy!) chickens. Just curious, this area is very interesting to me :flowerforyou:

Meerataila

human, like some other species are omnivorous.

Trying to bend Nature cannot be good as it is not how the body has been built to be.

Human culture progressed from hunter gatherer to farmers and herders, too. A lot of people died from animal-human disease transfer as a result. Now we shop instead of hunt and spend too much time indoors and sitting on our butts. We are adept at bending nature to suit us, the key is to be smart enough to do it without suffering negative consequences.

I will stay vegan for as long as I feel energetic and healthy, and I will religiously take my B12 supplement even if I eventually manage to get all my other nutrients from food.

aedreana

I have been an ethical vegan for 43 years. It is easy to stick to it when your heart is in it. I oppose the murder of nonhuman creatures for any reason. After all this time, I STILL miss steak, roast beef, and especially cheese. and especially. Kraft classic mac-and-cheese!

kiekokay

human, like some other species are omnivorous.

Trying to bend Nature cannot be good as it is not how the body has been built to be.

Human culture progressed from hunter gatherer to farmers and herders, too. A lot of people died from animal-human disease transfer as a result. Now we shop instead of hunt and spend too much time indoors and sitting on our butts. We are adept at bending nature to suit us, the key is to be smart enough to do it without suffering negative consequences.

I will stay vegan for as long as I feel energetic and healthy, and I will religiously take my B12 supplement even if I eventually manage to get all my other nutrients from food.

Fantastic response!

theseus82

Get used to being asked, "how do you get your protein?" This question irritates me a lot after so many years as a vegetarian. I regularly get 70 to 80 grams of protein every day without even trying. "Oh, but those aren't 'complete' proteins! You need meat for your muscles." "Oh," I reply, "strange, horses seem really strong and they're vegetarians. . ."

It's annoying that carnivores are so brain washed to think that the "trivial" amounts of protein in vegetables and fruits don't add up if you eat enough of them. And that's the great thing about being vegetarian: you get to each such a greater quantity of food that getting full is much easier. It's called "volumetrics." It's the idea that people generally are looking for a certain quantity of food for satiety. So eating energy dense food like crackers versus healthy options rich in water, fiber, and some protein is a much better bet. Thus, apples over potato chips.

I'm sorry to not answer your question directly. Others will cover the real stuff you asked about. My answer I will contribute is get ready to be condescended or treated like you are an elitist. The word "vegan" sets people off. It's apparently elitism or snobbery now to say that you care about eating healthy. Saying you are a vegan is going to get a lot of eye rolls and looks like you just said something really stupid.

Edit:

To clarify on the "complete vs incomplete" protein controversy between vegetarians and carnivores, I'll point out that this idea is under challenge by many medical doctors and nutritionists today. Official government agencies have abandoned the entire designation of complete versus incomplete. The science of incomplete vs complete protein was distorted by interest groups like the Beef and Cattlemen Association and the Dairy Farmers of America. The New York Times had once done an article on the history of food policy and nutrition in the U.S. According to them, the first food pyramid was going to advise Americans to "eat little to no meat." You can guess what happened when cattle producers got an advance copy of the report. They lost their minds and lobbied with all their effort to have the report's findings toned down. Thus we got our first food pyramid with what, like "3-5 servings of 'lean proteins.'" That's a lot different from the report's first thought of "eat little to no meat." That's the history of back-door politics for you.

So yeah, more and more doctors and scientists are discounting the idea that "incomplete protein" is a real thing. You need a combination of amino acids for sure, but it's not really hard to get them from fruits and vegetables. Humans adapted to eat was was locally available all over the world. We can pretty much eat anything. People ate what was locally available. Mostly, this was a diet rich in plant matter, with occasional meat. Sometimes almost exclusively plant food. I'm a vegetarian, but I'm not against people eating healthy amounts of meat. But meat should be a luxury food item, and the market costs should reflect how much it actually costs to produce. Instead, farm subsidies are focused on producing cheap, cheap meat for American consumers. And this is a problem, Americans eat too much damn meat. Way more than our ancestors were accustomed to eating.

TragicWriter

My sister was vegetarian when she was 9 and became vegan when she was 15. She doesn't have any problem with it at all and she even makes a dish called tofu-scramble which tastes exactly like scrambled eggs and bacon. I get to try a lot of fun food when she cooks. I would recommend going to the site. www.theppk.com where it's all about vegan recipes and health. It's a great site to meet other vegans and to share/exchange recipes and advice.

JoRocka

It's a great idea! I suggest checking out Freelee the Banana Girl on youtube. Be warned though, she might just blow your mind and everything you ever thought about calories and MFP out of the water. I've just recently become vegetarian, and I don't hold back. I have been buying fresh produce in bulk and eating until I feel satisfied, and I FEEL AMAZING.

oh lord please don't.

she's horrible.

I have been an ethical vegan for 43 years. It is easy to stick to it when your heart is in it. I oppose the murder of nonhuman creatures for any reason. After all this time, I STILL miss steak, roast beef, and especially cheese. and especially. Kraft classic mac-and-cheese!

where's the "like" button when you need it.

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt

Think the main thing id miss would be eggs (have our own hens and ducks at home and those are usually the eggs i eat) and cheese (obviously! though ive been trying to find a nice vegan one)

I promise I'm not being snarky - this is a legitimate question. I do not have a full understanding of veganism, nor do I have a full understanding of raising hens/ducks.

If you're going vegan for ethical reasons, as you stated in another post, then what is the harm in continuing to eat the eggs from the hens and ducks that you already own? I'm sure that whether or not you become vegan, the hens and ducks will continue to produce eggs.

Furthermore, if you decide to stop eating these eggs, what do you plan on doing with them? Donating them? Throwing them out? Letting them rot where they lay? It seems that, ethically, letting the eggs from the hens and ducks go to waste would be wrong. There are so many people in this country who go hungry, who would love to eat those eggs, and in my mind, people matter more than unfertilized animal eggs. Please consider this before going vegan for ethical reasons. If you do not want to eat them yourself, please donate them to someone who does.

Voww

After nine years veggie I went dairy-free three years ago and thought it'd be hard to go without cheese as I used it so much in veggie dishes. But there's so many great vegan recipes and info online it was much easier than I thought. Don't know if you're in the UK but I found Tesco's Free-From smoked soya had the best taste of the cheese substitutes imo, is made by Bute Island Foods Ltd (buteisland.com) who make about 13 varieties of 'sheese' if you want to buy direct from them instead. I've also tried Redwood Cheezly but didn't like; had an unnatural soapy taste to me. Tesco's has two of Bute's other varieties but not tried em as I'm hooked on the smooth creamy but firm-textured smoked one, so is my man who's been veggie 12 years and has given up buying his mature cheddar coz he likes the soya one better, says it's got more flavour. It grates and slices easy but doesn't grill well. It will melt into a lovely gooey substance if you cover with foil, eg if I make stuffed peppers and want to top with it I cover with loose foil in the oven.
Baking without eggs is ok too - could check out egglesscooking.com for lots of alternatives - but mostly I use a sixth of a pack of Morinu silken tofu (Sainsburys and Asda sell it) blended with a little soya milk as a replacement for two eggs. Makes lovely light cakes and binds nut loaves, veg burgers etc. Also makes a smooth creamy base for macaroni 'sheese'.
Don't miss eating eggs but not that keen on them before anyway, don't see anything wrong with eating eggs from your own hens/ducks - but personally would only do that if I was going to keep the birds for the rest of their natural life. I've heard of a few supposed animal-lovers who've 'rescued' factory chickens and unwanted rabbits only to serve them up for Sunday lunch at some point

lngbrd

My Doctor wants me to follow the "eat to live" lifestyle. He says its almost like vegan. He had me watch (on netflix) the movie "forks over knives" anyone have experience with this? I haven't bought the eat to live book yet, I'm having trouble starting this type of eating. Especially since my wife is hispanic and we are often at a carne asada a couple times a month.

pipertargaryen

It's annoying that carnivores are so brain washed to think that the "trivial" amounts of protein in vegetables and fruits don't add up

I just want to know if you know anyone who is actually a carnivore. Most people I know are omnivorous? My cats are carnivores, but I've never met any humans who are.

thefatveganchef

Furthermore, if you decide to stop eating these eggs, what do you plan on doing with them? Donating them? Throwing them out? Letting them rot where they lay? It seems that, ethically, letting the eggs from the hens and ducks go to waste would be wrong. There are so many people in this country who go hungry, who would love to eat those eggs, and in my mind, people matter more than unfertilized animal eggs. Please consider this before going vegan for ethical reasons. If you do not want to eat them yourself, please donate them to someone who does.

My friend has a bird (mostly chicken / rooster) sanctuary and she feeds the eggs that the chickens produce back to the chickens. Look for Rooster Sanctuary at Danzig's Roost on Facebook if you want more details.

Kymmu

Vegan - I am against injustice.

numinousnymph

i'm vegan. in september 2013 i went from being omnivorous to being vegan in about three weeks. just decided i wanted to take the leap and try it -- for ethical reasons as well as weight loss reasons. and it hasn't been so so hard -- especially the fact that there are vegan pastries and desserts definitely keeps me sane lol, but in all seriousness, i quite enjoy it. it's amazing all the wonderful plants i eat, knowing i'm not consuming anything that was taken from an animal. i think daiya cheese is pretty good, and almond milk is yummy homemade cheeses like cashew cheese is really good! i missed eggs for a while, and still sometimes think about how yummy an egg and cheese omelet sounds, but the craving isn't really there. things are pretty good overall.

aedreana

vegans do not consume eggs because the egg industry murders all the male baby chicks when they are one day old AND the hens lead brief and miserable lives and are murdered when they no longer produce their egg quota

shmerek

It's a great idea! I suggest checking out Freelee the Banana Girl on youtube. Be warned though, she might just blow your mind and everything you ever thought about calories and MFP out of the water. I've just recently become vegetarian, and I don't hold back. I have been buying fresh produce in bulk and eating until I feel satisfied, and I FEEL AMAZING.

oh lord please don't.

she's horrible.

I have been an ethical vegan for 43 years. It is easy to stick to it when your heart is in it. I oppose the murder of nonhuman creatures for any reason. After all this time, I STILL miss steak, roast beef, and especially cheese. and especially. Kraft classic mac-and-cheese!

where's the "like" button when you need it.

Hahaha the comment about the banana girl made me lol for real. She is terrible and her advice is awful.

mountainrun73

I've been considering going vegetarian. I eat a lot of meat-free meals, and am really into trying to cook vegan meals that anyone - omnivore or vegan - will like. I just haven't made the leap yet. I appreciate all the responses in this thread.

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt

Furthermore, if you decide to stop eating these eggs, what do you plan on doing with them? Donating them? Throwing them out? Letting them rot where they lay? It seems that, ethically, letting the eggs from the hens and ducks go to waste would be wrong. There are so many people in this country who go hungry, who would love to eat those eggs, and in my mind, people matter more than unfertilized animal eggs. Please consider this before going vegan for ethical reasons. If you do not want to eat them yourself, please donate them to someone who does.

My friend has a bird (mostly chicken / rooster) sanctuary and she feeds the eggs that the chickens produce back to the chickens. Look for Rooster Sanctuary at Danzig's Roost on Facebook if you want more details.

This makes sense. At least they are being recycled in a way. I still think it would be a more "ethical" thing to donate them to those who are less fortunate, but different strokes, I guess.

thefatveganchef

Furthermore, if you decide to stop eating these eggs, what do you plan on doing with them? Donating them? Throwing them out? Letting them rot where they lay? It seems that, ethically, letting the eggs from the hens and ducks go to waste would be wrong. There are so many people in this country who go hungry, who would love to eat those eggs, and in my mind, people matter more than unfertilized animal eggs. Please consider this before going vegan for ethical reasons. If you do not want to eat them yourself, please donate them to someone who does.

My friend has a bird (mostly chicken / rooster) sanctuary and she feeds the eggs that the chickens produce back to the chickens. Look for Rooster Sanctuary at Danzig's Roost on Facebook if you want more details.

This makes sense. At least they are being recycled in a way. I still think it would be a more "ethical" thing to donate them to those who are less fortunate, but different strokes, I guess.

I can understand that, but by donating eggs you are still perpetuating the needs and demand for eggs by humans.