Finally deciding to go Vegan (ish) <only eggs>.

bluepolka
bluepolka Posts: 3 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hi, I’m a mom of one and gained a lot of weight AFTER baby’s birth (I know right...?) So I can only blame emotional eating and not my kid.
I’ve been wanting to go vegan for a long time now, but my family are hard-core carnivores and it’s hard to cook two types of meals everyday. I am here looking for support/advice/motivation to bite the bullet and dive into this new lifestyle. I’m doing it mainly for health and weight loss. I would appreciate meal prep ideas as well. Seems to be the only way I’ll be able to see this through!
Thanks in advance

Replies

  • rach3116
    rach3116 Posts: 35 Member
    I’m long term pescatarian and turning more vegan- I feel that’s inevitable for me personally. My husband quit eating meat when we dated and shared my same ethical/moral feelings so I don’t have that pushback in my own home. However, despite that- I feel as though since I am the main cook in the house then everyone eats what I serve. If you don’t like it... tough stuff.
    When we visit other family members or friends at another house then I cook a vegan or vegetarian dish to serve/share and consume.
    Stick to your guns, do it!!!! I know some people don’t even tell their family or kids it’s vegan and everyone gobbles it up happily.
    If they love you then they’ll support you. That may involve some push back... but none the less, you can do it!
  • DaddieCat
    DaddieCat Posts: 3,643 Member
    Personally, as a decade long vegan, I wouldn't consider it for health and weightloss. I would only consider it if your personal ethics aligned with it as veganism is, in fact, an ethics based lifestyle centered around avoiding animal abuse and exploitation and not a just a way of eating.

    That said... I was an extremely unhealthy and very fat vegan for a very long time. I'm only recently (last 5 years or so) changed that. It had nothing to do at all with what I was eating and only how much. Reducing potion sizes and logging accurately with a food scale changed everything for me and improved my overall health (per Dr.'s blood tests) and roughtly halved my body weight.

    If you want to make the change, by all means, do. But I would suggest considering your reasoning and making the best decision that fits your lifestyle and personal ethics.

    Maybe give some of this a read as well to get some science based information regarding the difficulties you will face eating a plant based diet because it does require awareness, planning, and attention to important macro and micro-nutrients for proper health. You will be required to supplement one or several nutrients unless you plan exceedingly well because the natural "deficiencies" of a vegan diet can eventually be serious if left unaddressed or untreated.

    http://www.veganhealth.org/
  • bluepolka
    bluepolka Posts: 3 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    For health and weight loss, it doesn't make sense...

    You be an omnivore and have just as healthy of a diet as a vegan...you can be a vegan and have just as crappy of a diet as the SAD. A vegan diet also doesn't default to weight loss...there are over fat vegans.

    Oh I agree. I think for me personally, keeping dairy and meat involves making a great deal of bad food choices. My poison being ice cream, fried chicken, tonsssss of cheese. Daily meals consist of rice and meat. Few to zero veggies. Feeling of lethargy, etc. maybe I should not use the word “vegan” . I guess I want healthier plant-based foods to be a majority in my diet.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,571 Member
    bluepolka wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    For health and weight loss, it doesn't make sense...

    You be an omnivore and have just as healthy of a diet as a vegan...you can be a vegan and have just as crappy of a diet as the SAD. A vegan diet also doesn't default to weight loss...there are over fat vegans.

    Oh I agree. I think for me personally, keeping dairy and meat involves making a great deal of bad food choices. My poison being ice cream, fried chicken, tonsssss of cheese. Daily meals consist of rice and meat. Few to zero veggies. Feeling of lethargy, etc. maybe I should not use the word “vegan” . I guess I want healthier plant-based foods to be a majority in my diet.

    Vegan is literally no animal product. Saying you are "plant-based" doesn't even mean you have to be vegetarian.

    Maybe you could try a balanced diet.
  • troelsandtheis
    troelsandtheis Posts: 45 Member
    I have an open diary so feel free to add me if you want to see my meals. I’m almost totally vegan but I don’t like the idea of restricting myself so I sometimes allow myself some fish or cheese, rarely but I don’t beat myself up about it if I have it.

    I also gained my weight after the birth...she’s 2 in May and need to change, trying to not eat her unfinished meals is so hard!
  • slossia
    slossia Posts: 138 Member
    The world health Organization has said that a plant base vegan diet with no added oils is the healthiest diet. I say it’s better to get healthy to loose and maintain weight! Instead of loosing weight to get healthy!!
  • DaddieCat
    DaddieCat Posts: 3,643 Member
    edited February 2018
    slossia wrote: »
    The world health Organization has said that a plant base vegan diet with no added oils is the healthiest diet. I say it’s better to get healthy to loose and maintain weight! Instead of loosing weight to get healthy!!

    I've been vegan a long time and I've never seen this. I've actually never seen any organization that stood behind any one particular diet as being superior... if only because there's no option for everyone to eat that way.

    Do you have a link or a source?


  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited February 2018
    slossia wrote: »
    The world health Organization has said that a plant base vegan diet with no added oils is the healthiest diet. I say it’s better to get healthy to loose and maintain weight! Instead of loosing weight to get healthy!!

    Uhhhh...no...that didn't happen.

    And dietary fat is a very essential macro...so yeah...no
  • geltner1
    geltner1 Posts: 85 Member
    It's very educational to try a vegan diet. For us, there were many foods we had never tried especially grains. Try some you tube cooking videos. The winter is a good time for some miso soup; homemade is much better than restaurant in taste and you can add whatever vegetables you wish. Also library has vegan cookbooks to browse through. We are now vegetarian with little to no dairy and we like our diet.
  • slossia
    slossia Posts: 138 Member
    Google world health organization and UN recommends populations eat a plant base diet!
  • DaddieCat
    DaddieCat Posts: 3,643 Member
    slossia wrote: »
    Google world health organization and UN recommends populations eat a plant base diet!

    Unfortunately, that' not how the burden of proof works.

    But, upon doing that, I get one hit that corresponds and it's from VegSource, which is not a source of information that I trust because it most definitely isn't biased or agenda based.

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