Would like to be your friend ~ am looking for new recipes as well.

I started eating the vegan way and I too am really enjoying it. My struggle is with desserts, so I am focusing on getting in my greens and just desireing to hear what others are doing ~

Victoria

Hi all, my name is Kristen and I made the change to become vegan two days ago. I cut out meat Jan 2012, and was avoiding cow's milk as well. I have been doing a lot of research regarding things to look for on labels, and trying to widen the array of foods that are available to us vegans. This is proving itself to be pretty difficult and I am nervous about future instances (going out to eat, other people's home cooking) that might leave me unsure of whether or not I can eat what is available. I am looking for tips and tricks for what to look out for, what generally is ok/safe to eat when I am looking at a dish that someone else has prepared at home or in a restaurant. Thanks!

Hello all! My name is Shelby, I'm 20 years old, and I've been vegan for 3 months now. I love every minute of it!
But here's the thing.. I don't have any vegan friends or anyone I can talk to about veganism without coming off to them as one of those vegans that pushes it onto others, and I don't want that! I'm vegan because I want to be, and its not anything against anybody, you know?

Anyway, I joined because I thought this group might help and might make me not feel so on-my-own, like I'd have people with similar interests and whatnot.

Feel free to message me or add me, I'm super nice and love making friends!

I'm new to eating a plant based diet, after toying with the idea for a few months I decided to try going vegetarian and liked it, right now the only animal products I eat are dairy (milk & cheese) and the occasional egg. I'm thinking about giving vegan a shot to see how I like it since I'm not far off from it right now. I started this journey for purely health related reasons, but I do understand more clearly why others approach it from an ethical point of view as well.

Hey everyone! I've been vegan for about two months now, and I love it! My husband is eating, and always will be, animal products. It's a little harder to make dinner, but we make it work. I try to stay as vegan as possible, eating out is really the only time I will allow myself cheese--if and only if I cannot find anything else on the menu.
I am always looking for new, easy to make non-vegan, recipes to make.

Hello! I'm Rebekah and I've been a vegetarian for 9+ years and I've been leaning vegan for a very long time...several years, in fact. This year I've made the commitment to being fully vegan, I've been giving up those last non-vegan hold outs, like eating a slice of non-vegan birthday cake at someone else's house, vegetarian pizza at a party, etc. I feel very much at peace with my decision to stick to being regardless of where I am and how convenient it may or may not be. Every time I ate anything that wasn't vegan, I had this awful feeling of cognitive dissonance...my actions weren't matching my values, and that didn't feel good. Healthwise, giving up dairy has been wonderful for me! But the biggest benefit is the peace that I feel...my actions are truly in line with my values and I've been so pleasantly surprised at how much easier it has been than I thought it would be. Seriously, with so many peoples' dietary restrictions - gluten-free, low-carb, etc...nobody bats an eye when you say, "no thanks" to that slice of birthday cake.

Hi, my name is Bonnie. I have been a vegan for almost 4 years. I initially lost about 25 pounds but then I learned to bake and cook and I fell in love with eating all the vegan food I can find. So I gained it all back and more.

I have struggled with my weight my whole life and have been on just about every diet there is. As a vegan I have lost a lot of weight a few times by going low carb, counting calories, and food journaling. Yet I always go back to my old habits and gain back all I have lost and usually more.

This time I am focused on health and proper nutrition. I've got to change my lifestyle permanently to find some sustainable health. So slow and low, that is the tempo.

I'm just getting started on MFP because a friend recommended it to me. He said having friends on MFP was really helpful so I'm trying to find some that are like-minded. New vegans please feel free to ask me questions. Old vegans please feel free to give me advice. Anyone looking to give and receive support...please friend request me. If I'm busy looking out for you I might accidentally look out for myself in the process

Hi, I'm Julia. I have been vegetarian for over 20 years and was vegan off and on during that time. I am vegetarian for ethical reasons and am not as strict about consuming eggs and dairy if I feel that it is ethically sourced. For health reasons, I recently decided to cut out all animal products except for grass fed butter (probably over influenced by the paleo crowd in this respect). I eat a pretty boring diet of vegetables, oatmeal and my body weight in almonds, so I look forward to getting to know people in this group and hopefully learning a lot.

Hello, I'm Audrey. I'm new to MFP but I've been on similar sites before. I was a vegetarian for about 10 years and almost 2 months ago decided to try cutting out dairy. I found I feel so much better! Maybe I'm a bit intolerant, I don't know. But I figured the next logical step was to be vegan. I didn't eat much eggs, honey, etc anyway. And now that I've linked dairy with feeling crappy I don't even crave or want it anymore, which makes the transition so much easier.

Hi I'm Gail and transitioning to a plant based diet. I have been a long time vegetarian. Longer than I can remember. But still ate dairy and eggs. I was diagnosed as a gestational diabetic during my recent pregnancy and couldn't eat carbs very much. In the mornings, I couldn't eat fruit. The only thing that made my blood sugar stay within a normal range was an egg breakfast. Yuck!

I've been eating mostly plants since my baby was born in late May. I've had my slip ups with desserts and cheese but like I said I am in transition. I am trying to be kind to myself and not beat myself too much. But hopefully with a support group, I can be completely plant based.

My favorite cookbooks are the Happy Herbivore books. Quick and easy with manageable ingredient lists. My goal is to cook every recipe. LOL