New Vegan, New Life

Hey,
I'm a vegan as well. There are three things I think might be good to keep in mind starting the vegan change. First, it's easy to buy highly processed substitutes. Just because it's vegan doesn't mean it's healthy, and it really helps to know what you're eating. It's a really easy transition because you don't change your eating habits, but it isn't where you want to end up. Second, don't neglect legumes (beans and lentils)! They're an awesome food. They're super cheap (2-3 meals for 79 cents) and high in protein. Lentils are like ramen noodles for vegans (*edit* yeah, ramen noodles are vegan, but i mean HEALTHY vegan diet!). Don't forget though, that you should try to keep a diverse diet. Third, learn to use spices in cooking! Veganism in general might not need many spices, but if you're used to powerful flavors, and find your food dull? Learn the kinds of flavors you can throw on them! Your tastes will change slowly as your eating habits do, but you can always spice things to get the kind of flavor and intensity you're looking for.

When you bring it all together, it's something like this. Instead of a processed veggie burger and a starch for dinner, whipping up a pot of masoor dal (Indian lentil dish) is just about as fast, and is flavored from curry, cumin, ginger, turmeric, and salt. Cook up a side of veggies, or throw something great in with it like mushrooms and onions, and you've got a way healthier, WAY more filling meal than a veggie burger. You can cook an entire pound of frozen veggies and get less than 250 calories. And the greatest part, is the next day instead of masoor dal flavor, you might add a little rice vinegar, tomato, sage, thyme, and marjorum, and suddenly? It's a totally new dish. There's never a reason to starve on a vegan diet when you can get 5 pounds of veggies in without going over a calorie limit.

Hi
I am phasing out animal products, albeit very gradually. Would like to have support too!
And I agree with zhidecitta on legumes. They are regular part of my diet. I add a bit of tofu here and there and I get all my proteins that I need! (+ I feel great.)
Sometimes, however, I do slip and drink milk here and there. That is why I need some support.

I am a vegetarian, but my goal is to be vegan by the end of this school year (still have to phase out free-range eggs, cheese, and yogurt). The problem with vegan cooking is that it is VERY easy to get caught up in the processed things. If you go to a bulk store though, there are lots of items there that aren't processed and great for vegan cooking. So many different kinds of grains and beans to experiment with. Also, you should try TVP if you haven't already. It is soy protein that is great in things that you would use ground meats in (so you don't have to go buy fake ground meat). Tofu is great too, and I recently bought some tempeh but haven't tried it yet. I think those are processed, but not to the extent of fake meats.

I say the processed vegan foods are good to help transition and to keep around if you are pressed for time. I have a couple vegan meals in my freeze in case. They've been there like 3wks though lol.

You can snack alot and be vegan and not go high on calories. I found these amazing things called seaweed snacks, some grocery stores have them but so do asian or healthfood stores and they are sooo good. They sound gross but they are thin and crunchy like chips. I eat them like chips and the whole bag is 60 calories and it's a great source of vitamin A and C.

I also am liking carrot sticks right now. I make my own so it's cheaper.

There are lots of great veggies on sale right now like summer squash and red bell peppers. You should check out what's on sale at your local grocery stores and just experiment. I like to make wraps, burritos, I even made veggie enchiladas the other day.

I eat less calories now than before I was vegan but I eat more food and its so good and nutrient dense I don't feel like I'm on a 'diet'.