A vegan is born

[No Longer Active]

For many months I have been testing veggie and vegan foods and trying to enjoy them more and more often and this has led to a huge reduction in the amount of animal I eat. Since I started my holiday towards the end of June, I haven't eaten any meat or eggs and only a little yoghurt from time to time but on the 8th July, I thought "Hang it - I'm eating so little animal now I might as well stop completely!" So...

July 8th 2018
MY VEGAN BIRTHDAY
​

 

[Andy_T]

Awesome, Brian! Way to go .....

 

[Val]

For many months I have been testing veggie and vegan foods and trying to enjoy them more and more often and this has led to a huge reduction in the amount of animal I eat. Since I started my holiday towards the end of June, I haven't eaten any meat or eggs and only a little yoghurt from time to time but on the 8th July, I thought "Hang it - I'm eating so little animal now I might as well stop completely!" So...

July 8th 2018
MY VEGAN BIRTHDAY
​

Cool! This is awesome... Congratulations! And believe me or not,- it's so easy to go vegan at once and stay vegan without being temptated...

 

[KLS52]

 

[TomNiki]

Awesome news Brian )))

Here are some Tips I've found online that might help you out...

1. Start with an open mind. There's no surer way to guarantee failure than to go into it with a bad attitude. Unfortunately, this is not something that's easy for many folks to do. If you think that going vegan is going to be a punishment or that you won't last, then it will be, and you won't. I hope that this whole series of articles has helped at least a few people realize that it doesn't have to be that way.
2. If cooking at home, give yourself extra time to cook, particularly at the beginning. For most people, designing meals 100% around vegetables is going to be a completely foreign concept, and one that requires planning and extra time in the kitchen, even for a seasoned pro.
3. Take a look at your pantry. Is it full of meat-based condiments, dried pasta, rice, potatoes, and the like? If so, you're not going to have a fun time trying to cook. Make sure your pantry stays stocked with plenty of beans and whole grains, hearty leafy grains like kale, spinach, and collards, and other vegan-friendly sauces.
4. Avoid convenience foods. I've yet to taste a vegan convenience product that I've liked. If all you subsist on as a vegan is poor frozen pizza, frozen vegan burritos, veggie burger patties and ready-made meals, you will not be a happy eater. Regular frozen foods are bad enough. Vegan ones are simply abysmal.
5. Take a walk down the produce section. Going vegan is the perfect excuse to load up on all kinds of vegetables that you never regularly ate before. I call it diversity through restriction. As a meat eater, I often found myself resorting to the easy options—the steak or the burger—avoiding the often more interesting vegetable-based options. As a vegan, my diet has become much more diverse, and as such, more enjoyable.
6. Do not be embarrassed. There has been the occasional moment when I felt I needed to explain myself, to rationalize to others why I'm doing what I'm doing. "Oh, it's just a writing project," or "just wanted to know the enemy, you know? Heh heh..." and I never felt good doing it. On the other hand, when I come right out and say, "it's something I've always wanted to try, because I tend to agree with a lot of vegan philosophy," I end up getting a lot more respect, an interesting discussion out of it, and the potential to actually impact another person. That makes it worth it to me.
7. If you're going on a road trip, pack food with you. In fact, have snacks and emergency rations available to you at all times. It's not that you'll get hungrier as a vegan (at least, I didn't), it's just that on the off-chance that you do end up missing lunch or forgetting it at home, your options as a vegan on the road or in unfamiliar territory are not good. Some fresh fruit, a good salad, or even trail mix can be a life saver in those situations.
8. So you messed up. Don't sweat it. Again, the key to being a successful vegan is to live the lifestyle as much as is reasonably possible. There may be some who disagree with me on this, but if you've just realized that you accidentally ate some butter or that the curry you just tasted had fish sauce in it, don't kill yourself. Stuck on the road with no prospect of vegan food for the next couple days? Well don't starve yourself, just do the best you can. The moment any diet stops being fun is the moment you begin to think it might not be worth it. That said...
9. Stay strong. The first few days might be tough, but once you get into the swing of things, it becomes easier and easier. It's at the point for me now that even when I think about what to cook for dinner for me and my wife tonight, meat doesn't even enter my mind. (And I don't miss it).
10. Don't judge others. So you disagree with someone else's lifestyle choice. So what? You're not perfect either. The best way to help people and win them over is to teach by action, no lecturing. Bring some vegan food over or treat them to a vegan meal. If you want to make the change and keep your friends while you're at it, you have to realize that not everybody is at the same place in their life, and not everybody has the same value system as yours.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Good for you!

 

[Poppy]

Good for you - we share a birthday month. My vegan birthday was 7/5/2005!

 

[No Longer Active]

Thank you everybody for your support and encouragement.

@TomNiki - that's useful advice. One thing I would add is "never expect your veggie food to be like meat - enjoy it for what it is"


@Poppy - we also share an interest. I am also an artist. You have a lovely website there!

 

[PTree15]

Way to go, Brian!

 

[Tom L.]

Happy vegan Birthday, Brian!

I differ with @TomNiki on one point: I think vegan convenience foods sometimes have their place. I don't mind falling back on them now and then. Taco Bell has a good selection, as do most supermarkets. But if veganized bean burritos and Clif bars make up a significant part of your diet, you're not eating in a healthy way.

 

[No Longer Active]

Happy vegan Birthday, Brian!

I differ with @TomNiki on one point: I think vegan convenience foods sometimes have their place. I don't mind falling back on them now and then. Taco Bell has a good selection, as do most supermarkets. But if veganized bean burritos and Clif bars make up a significant part of your diet, you're not eating in a healthy way.

Thank You Tom!
I'm eating mainly wholefoods but yesterday I treated myself to some Fejkon (Vegan Bacon) and cooked Fejkon fried rice. I don't think I could live entirely without convenience foods but as I said, I would rather eat mainly wholefoods.

 

[TomNiki]

Thank you everybody for your support and encouragement.

@TomNiki - that's useful advice. One thing I would add is "never expect your veggie food to be like meat - enjoy it for what it is"


@Poppy - we also share an interest. I am also an artist. You have a lovely website there!

Vegan and like Middle-Eastern food?
Give it a try:

1)Boil a whole cauliflower in a salty water for 10 minutes.
2)Take it out of the water and place it on baking base you have.
3)Chunk it in the oven on maximum heat (Preheat the oven before) for about an hour until it gets a very nice latino color
4)Take it out and season with Olive Oil+Ground Salt

Tahini Sause:
In a bowl, pour Raw Tahini(Sesame seed paste) - 5 tablespoons will do
Squeeze some lemon juice in it
add a touch of olive oil
press some garlic in it
add salt
and stir everything well.
AFTER THAT ADD SOME WATER IN IT AND START TO STIR
you will see the texture becomes more liquidish
Taste and add either salt either lemon either garlic either water... Basically, it's for your taste after all...

APPLY YOUR BLUSHING TAHINI GENEROUSLY ON YOUR CRISPY DELISHES CAULIFLOWER AND TELL ME ITS NOT BETTER THAN MEAT...

CHALLENGE GO ------>

 

[silva]

@TomNiki - You're not appreciating the difference in vegans. As a vegan I loved Gardein foods, Trader Joes soy chorizo, Japanese fried rice,and meatless meatballs. Indian grocers have freezers stocked with vegan packaged foods- Babus Kitchen, Tandoor Chef, Deep along with shelf stable foods. Tofu replaces paneer. I loved the Beyond Burger, as well as even more omnis who are bringing it to restaurants everywhere. Field Roast and Tofurky sausages, Many vegan cheeses, vegan mayo...
I was brought up liking soy based foods, so maybe that helped, but the reality is that many turn vegan without health concerns and do enjoy these commercial foods.

I am now trying to change to a wfpb diet and am missing these foods a lot!

 

[silva]

Happy vegan Birthday, Brian!

I differ with @TomNiki on one point: I think vegan convenience foods sometimes have their place. I don't mind falling back on them now and then. Taco Bell has a good selection, as do most supermarkets. But if veganized bean burritos and Clif bars make up a significant part of your diet, you're not eating in a healthy way.

I do keep a Reds organic bean & rice frozen burrito at work just in case. I rarely forget lunch, but I have taken the wrong container! Recently I had a salad made the previous night in a big container in fridge, brought the same kind of container packed full of cooked kale! Wish I had a burrito that day!

 

[TomNiki]

@TomNiki - You're not appreciating the difference in vegans. As a vegan I loved Gardein foods, Trader Joes soy chorizo, Japanese fried rice,and meatless meatballs. Indian grocers have freezers stocked with vegan packaged foods- Babus Kitchen, Tandoor Chef, Deep along with shelf stable foods. Tofu replaces paneer. I loved the Beyond Burger, as well as even more omnis who are bringing it to restaurants everywhere. Field Roast and Tofurky sausages, Many vegan cheeses, vegan mayo...
I was brought up liking soy based foods, so maybe that helped, but the reality is that many turn vegan without health concerns and do enjoy these commercial foods.

I am now trying to change to a wfpb diet and am missing these foods a lot!

Not appreciating the difference in Vegans? What do you mean Silva?

 

[Val]

@TomNiki - You're not appreciating the difference in vegans. As a vegan I loved Gardein foods, Trader Joes soy chorizo, Japanese fried rice,and meatless meatballs. Indian grocers have freezers stocked with vegan packaged foods- Babus Kitchen, Tandoor Chef, Deep along with shelf stable foods. Tofu replaces paneer. I loved the Beyond Burger, as well as even more omnis who are bringing it to restaurants everywhere. Field Roast and Tofurky sausages, Many vegan cheeses, vegan mayo...
I was brought up liking soy based foods, so maybe that helped, but the reality is that many turn vegan without health concerns and do enjoy these commercial foods.

I am now trying to change to a wfpb diet and am missing these foods a lot!

These are great news! Good luck on making your diet perfect!

 

[silva]

Not appreciating the difference in Vegans? What do you mean Silva?

Vegans can be every bit as diverse as omnivores and your advice was very limited. Being vegan means so much more than diet I get very frustrated when people try and say what vegans can or can't (or do or don't) eat.Saying you're vegan doesn't imply health. It doesn't mean you avoid wheat, or sugar, or refined flours, or margarines or oils, or processed foods or snack foods or soda pop or alcohol...
There shouldn't be any judgement on what a vegan eats other than meat, dairy, egg and the animal ingredients that infiltrate many packaged foods, and of course all the other things besides food.

A vegan may eat whole food plant based and call themselves vegan, because of course it's inclusive, but a wfpb eater is not necessarily vegan. People tend to use the terms interchangably

 

[TomNiki]

Vegans can be every bit as diverse as omnivores and your advice was very limited. Being vegan means so much more than diet I get very frustrated when people try and say what vegans can or can't (or do or don't) eat.Saying you're vegan doesn't imply health. It doesn't mean you avoid wheat, or sugar, or refined flours, or margarines or oils, or processed foods or snack foods or soda pop or alcohol...
There shouldn't be any judgement on what a vegan eats other than meat, dairy, egg and the animal ingredients that infiltrate many packaged foods, and of course all the other things besides food.

A vegan may eat whole food plant based and call themselves vegan, because of course it's inclusive, but a wfpb eater is not necessarily vegan. People tend to use the terms interchangably

Well, sorry I didn't mean to cause you any frustration... And I don't think I pointed out that someone is not a real vegan if he/she doesnt follow what I poblished above...

 

[No Longer Active]

After just over a month, I have already had to put new holes in my belt! I can see muscles I didn't know I had.