Thinking of becoming Vegan...

Reconsider.

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.

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.

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:

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!

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.

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

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.

Vegan - I am against injustice.

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

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.

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.