Thinking about vegan...?

Hey!

I'm a vegan dut to animal enzyme intolerance. Eating anything animal based (meat, dairy, fish) makes me really ill so I've had to cut it out completely.

I took this as an opportunity to completely rethink my diet. I was veggie for about 7 years before being 'forced' into veganism. My diet was healthy but I did eat the occasional pizza/ bars of chocolate/ ready sandwiches. ALthough I wasn't eating an unhealthy diet, there was still a lot of food going into my body that I couldn't pronounce the ingredients list for.

Now, I only eat 'clean'. I'm very conscious that I get the right amount of protein and nutrients needed so plan my meals far more meticulously than I ever did as a veggie/ when I ate meat.

I work out 5/6 times a week with weights, interval and resistance training. Because of this I take a pea protein shake. This isn't because I'm vegan but because any extreme exercise requires an extra protein boost.

I cook everything from scratch and won't eat anything I can't pronounce (chemical wise!) I don't eat vegan meat replacement foods or fake cake or fake eggs-- if we're going to be healthy we may as well embrace it properly, right?

I still eat chocolate=- now I just make it myself! You'll become far more adventurous with your cooking.

I have a website that I'm currently working on www.vplates.org - feel free to have a look for recipe ideas.

Here are some other good sites of mostly vegan but some veggie recipes :
http://mynewroots.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.greenkitchenstories.com/
http://www.earthsprout.com/

Good luck!

Ooh this is an interesting thread, I'll hang onto this.

I have been vegetarian for about seven months, and have recently been contemplating making the jump to veganism. In fact, I just ordered The 30 Day Vegan Challenge today. I think the hardest thing for me is that I really don't enjoy cooking, and it looks like, in order to ensure that one is truly eating vegan, it is almost required to do a great deal of cooking. But, I have found some amazing looking recipes, so if I can find some quick and easy-to-throw-together ones that are as delicious as they look, I think it would be doable. Any of you 'seasoned' vegans are free to friend request me. I would appreciate the help and guidance!