Vegan

Hi! I've been on here a while now. Slow but steady progress. Decided to try being a vegan for a while. Being vegan was a drastic move for me but needed to do something to shake my body up a little. Anyone else here a vegan? Any tips, struggles, success stories??

From what I understand, based on friends that are vegan (I'm not), converting to a vegan diet should be a moral choice and not because your body needs a readjustment. Most vegans I've encountered that have been able to stick with it have done so because of their personal beliefs. That's just my two cents though, lol.

I've been a vegan for about a year and a half and it's pretty much second nature now. I'm happy to help with any ideas or information you need. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend the film "Forks Over Knives." It explains really clearly the health benefits of a vegan diet. It's not about the morality of eating meat. Of course, there are other films for that.

Watch Earthlings for moral incentive. Vegan for 5 years, just because I prefer how it makes me feel. Good luck!

The number one tip I would say is to watch and read as much vegan media as possible! Personally, I'm vegan for the third time in my life and the number one reason I stopped in the past was because I was not exposing myself to new vegan recipes and trends. Thankfully, vegan substitutes have come a long way over the past ten years! The fake meats have the texture and taste much more in line, and the fake cheese is tasty too!

My favorite products:
•Gardein meatballs, sweet and sour chicken and chicken scallopini (although I prepare this one the same way the meatballs are cooked, sooo good!)
•Daiya provolone and cheddar cheese slices-melted, I don't care for them cold
•Tofurkey, Tofurkey, Tofurkey! Such a good company! I like their oven roasted style slices, their thanksgiving day dinner was pretty good and I really like their Italian sausages!
•Ben's Ready Rice in garden vegetable is vegan and a great quick dish for the "don't feel like cooking" days
•Silk soy creamer! I was never a fan of flavored creamers even when I was an omnivore, but this is a true winner!
•Just mayo is a great cheap mayo (found at the dollar store)
•Clif bars-my favorites are the chocolate varieties, although the black cherry and sierra trail mix ones are really good too
•Beyond Meat taco meat-juicy!
•Amy's Kitchen Dairy Free burritos-another great super quick one!

Favorite food bloggers/vloggers:
Bonzaiaphrodite.com (be sure to read her bit on supplementation!)
Save the kales
The Vegan RD
I have the Vegan Life channel on my roku player too,but I can't locate a website for it

Enjoy and be sure to try as many new foods and recipes as possible!

I just recently watched forks over knives. I'm a hypochondriac for my health and have battled various fad diets that didn't necessarily end in failure, because I always started a new one right after. After watching the documentary I knew this is exactly the kind of diet I could stick to with my low 1200 calorie diet. I have always been very fond of animals and never wore leather to my knowledge so I figured I could shiny myself into the community. Although I am not so passionate as others may be. I do share one belief. I love, love, love my ratties and it is so hurtful for me to thing of them being feeders and test subjects. And I also, like any other non-money motivated person, am concerned about earth's climate and health. So, here I am battling weight and any other negativity of today's current society. I lost 70 pounds on the hcg diet and maintained through many of those fad diets I was talking about but still bumped up 20 pounds after I stopped dancing for a living. So, I give up on fads! I want a lifestyle where I feel better about my choices and health and lose that extra bit by counting calories here on myfitness. Thanks for any support! Good luck everyone! Mmm granola and beans!!