Hey

Great idea for a group and I look forward to meeting new people.

I have been a vegetarian for the past 14 years but I'd love to chat with others and learn new recipes, especially now I'm working hard on MFP/WW.

I became a vegetarian because of a phobia of many foods, mostly meat, and for me being a vegetarian stems from that. However I also support it for other reasons.

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Hi everyone! Newly switch to plant based nutrition.I was vegetarian for several years, but I was a junk food veg. I'm switching to a whole food vegan diet. I made the switch for heath and weightloss reasons. So far so good. I'm one week into it and down 9 lbs and feeling much better already.

I have been vegan for almost a year. I decided to go to a plant-based diet for health reasons -- family history of high cholesterol and stroke along with an intolerance to statins. I have always maintained a fairly healthy diet -- lean protein, lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains, low fat, etc. -- but my genetic predispositions and inability to lower cholesterol with a "regular" diet tipped the scales, as it were, in favor of a completely plant-based diet. I am age 64 and moderately active, at best. I have never felt better and never been happier. I love my diet. In every way this vegan diet works better for me than a diet including animal products. On the rare occasion when my preferred diet in unavailable, I chose fish or include egg whites in my diet. The hardest part was getting started and organizing my kitchen. I eat out a lot, almost daily, but find it fairly easy to find what a need. I have dropped about 10 pounds over the last 10 months. I have consulted doctors and other health professionals to measure my personal metabolism, determine how many calories I should consume, what my body fat content is and what it should be ideally. I never eat things I do not like and find there is no reason to.

Hi!

I have never had any meat besides chicken, and after watching Forks Over Knives I decided to eliminate all animal products( dairy, eggs, meats, etc.) Then Christmas came along this year and I sort of caved...I had desserts that had dairy and eggs. Now I am slowly trying to get back on track, and only have dairy to get rid of before I am back on track with being a vegan.

I guess the main reason I want to be a vegan again is because the whole food industry's treatment towards animals is disgusting. I did an essay on the ethics of animal treatment for school and read some amazing books, articles, and documentaries. Ever since I was little I have had an overly imaginative mind and so when I see the veins on a piece of meat I tend to imagine the whole slaughter and that's the main reason I don't eat meat. Being a vegetarian/vegan was difficult in the past because I was always reading food labels. Then I followed some advice of a friend...to not eat anything I can't pronounce or have no clue what it is. Another way I cut down on eating sugary junk foods was by realizing that many sugars are not vegan/vegetarian because they use bone char to color them and only certain brands like Florida Crystals don't. Overall I am trying to be super conscience about what I eat in an ethical and healthy way.

Hi everyone,
I'm looking to add more vegan/vegetarian meals to my diet. I have high cholesterol and would like to reduce the amount of meat that I eat.
Hoping for some recipes to share.

Hi! I've been vegetarian since March of 2013. Today I'm starting my transition to being vegan. I became vegetarian while on maternity leave. I started watching documentaries during long nursing sessions with baby girl. I watched Vegucated, Forks over Knives, Food INC, The Garden, No Impact Man, etc.... At first I was concerned with the chemicals and nasty stuff in food. Then, last April, I read Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals. That book changed my life. I can't imagine going back to eating meat.

I've wanted to go vegan for awhile for two reasons: 1) the dairy / egg industry is cruel to animals. I think it may be that I am a nursing mother, but to picture myself in the cow's position: forcibly impregnated, having my baby taken away, and then forced to pump continuously?! That is straight-up horrifying. Also - grinding up male baby chicks because that don't lay eggs. Disgusting. 2) I have a compulsive eating disorder. Hence being over 300lbs. Diary is my trigger food. The more I eat the more I want and the worse I feel. I get sluggish and ill, yet I crave it. I know that dairy is doing this because one of my kids had a dairy intolerance as an infant and I gave up dairy while he was nursing and I felt so much better. I don't even know why I went back to dairy.

Okay. Now a little bit about me and our set-up. My name is Amanda and I will be 34 years old this month. I am married to Sam (33) and he is an omnivore, but eats vegetarian about 50% of the time. My eldest daughter, Hope (14) is vegetarian. The two little kids, Atticus (3) and Persy Jane (1), are about 75% vegetarian. They eat a little bit of meat at daycare, but they don't like it much and eat more veggies and starches. My husband fully supports us eating vegetarian at home. We do not purchase meat at home, but he sometimes eats meat outside of the house. We buy 1 gallon of milk for the kids each week and it is from a local, grass-fed dairy that lets the mama cows stay with their babies. We get 1 dozen local eggs per week from a friend who has happy chickens.

I'm cool with my family eating vegetarian, but I feel it is important for myself to go vegan. I'm really looking for support!

Hi everyone! My hubby and I just joined MFP today. Glad to see there's a veggie forum here. I've been a vegetarian my whole life and and we're lately wanting to eat more of a vegan diet. This is both for health and weight loss reasons.

Looking forward to hearing suggestions from others -- main difficulty for us is reducing dairy and nightly 'liquid refreshment'.

Cheers!

"Beef Martini" sounds both disgusting, and like a euphemism!

Hey folks Im into health and welness and i love being vegetarian. Be my friend if youd like a vegetarian friend!