Hi.
I originally decided to go vegetarian a month ago, but quickly decided that that wasn't good enough and I needed to go vegan. I've been following a vegan diet for 2 weeks so far, although at the moment I am still eating honey because I have half a jar left and see no point in wasting it (but I don't need it so won't buy any more after that). I've been checking labels as carefully as I can but as I haven't quite sussed out E numbers yet so I suppose there's always a chance I may have accidentally consumed some animal byproduct, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it eventually (I'm a work in progress vegan). My husband and grown up son are still omnivores, although both have been eating mostly vegan meals (they haven't had much choice LOL) and I wouldn't be surprised if my husband eventually went at least vegetarian (in his own time). My two youngest are a bit different as they are very suspicious of new foods and one is an extremely picky eater (due to sensory issues). I plan to just keep trying them out on some veggie/vegan foods so if at some point they want to change they will have some alternatives in their diet already.
I probably live in one of the worse places to go vegan. I live in a crofting/fishing community in a small Scottish island with 2 small shops. I'm trying to keep my transition quiet at the moment because I'm really not sure how well it'll be taken. I mean Thete are sheep out the back and cows out the front (not mine I should add) and people here are very used to raising, killing and butchering their own animals (and in the case of my neighbours animals in the shed at the bottom of my road). Many of my friends' menfolk are fishermen. So I do feel a bit isolated. It also means I don't have have easy access to vegan convenience foods, but then again that might be a good thing, it just means I have to cook from scratch all the time. I'm planning a trip to town soon and will have a look at the healthfood shop and supermarket to see what is available there. I was quite surprised to see that I can get both almond and soya milk here though.
I think I'm doing quite well with the new diet (eating lots of whole foods, beans, lentils, nuts, fruit and veg and adding flax seeds to my muesli In the morning, cutting out caffeine and drinking orange juice with my meals) although I'm a bit paranoid I'm missing out on something. I keep trying to read up on all the nutritional information but i end up just making myself more confused when I'm trying to work out how many mg of this and that I'm actually getting. So at the moment I'm taking a multivitamin/mineral supplement as an insurance policy and so I can stop worrying about it so much. It's just a supplement from the local shop and no idea of it's OK for vegans, so will probably have to look online for an alternative.
Next step is to look at my cleaning products/toiletries. I've found stuff online I'd like to try when I have the money to put in an order, but sticking to vegan friendly stuff might be more of a problem than the diet change. As I can't get any of it here and may only be able to get it online. Might take a while to get organised so that I don't ever run out.
As for clothing etc, I'm going to wear what I have already until it wears out and then plan to replace it with vegan friendly stuff. I don't like waste and I certainly can't afford to replace everything at once. Eventually i would like to buy fair trade/0rganic clothing as I don't like the idea of exploiting fellow humans either or the problems with crops such as non-organic cotton either. But being on a very low income this may be difficult to achieve. I may be able to manage it with my own clothing but may never manage it with my children's clothing (I could go without until I can afford it in most cases) but children grow quickly.
I can't do anything about my medicines (I need them to stay alive and healthy).
One of the oddest difficulties with the transition is probably that, in addition to my day job, I do a bit of knitwear design (writing knitting patterns) ironically my speciality is Fair Isle/ stranded colourwork knitting for which I usually use pure wool (mostly Shetland). I have a pattern just coming out and one to be published soon in a magazine and i also have a few self published patterns still available to purchase. It feels a bit odd to be turning vegan whilst my patterns are promoting British wool. I haven't quite worked out how I feel about that. I also have a stash of wool I've yet to use and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I love working with real wool but I know that that is more linked to a romantic view of sheep and rural life.
I originally decided to go vegetarian a month ago, but quickly decided that that wasn't good enough and I needed to go vegan. I've been following a vegan diet for 2 weeks so far, although at the moment I am still eating honey because I have half a jar left and see no point in wasting it (but I don't need it so won't buy any more after that). I've been checking labels as carefully as I can but as I haven't quite sussed out E numbers yet so I suppose there's always a chance I may have accidentally consumed some animal byproduct, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it eventually (I'm a work in progress vegan). My husband and grown up son are still omnivores, although both have been eating mostly vegan meals (they haven't had much choice LOL) and I wouldn't be surprised if my husband eventually went at least vegetarian (in his own time). My two youngest are a bit different as they are very suspicious of new foods and one is an extremely picky eater (due to sensory issues). I plan to just keep trying them out on some veggie/vegan foods so if at some point they want to change they will have some alternatives in their diet already.
I probably live in one of the worse places to go vegan. I live in a crofting/fishing community in a small Scottish island with 2 small shops. I'm trying to keep my transition quiet at the moment because I'm really not sure how well it'll be taken. I mean Thete are sheep out the back and cows out the front (not mine I should add) and people here are very used to raising, killing and butchering their own animals (and in the case of my neighbours animals in the shed at the bottom of my road). Many of my friends' menfolk are fishermen. So I do feel a bit isolated. It also means I don't have have easy access to vegan convenience foods, but then again that might be a good thing, it just means I have to cook from scratch all the time. I'm planning a trip to town soon and will have a look at the healthfood shop and supermarket to see what is available there. I was quite surprised to see that I can get both almond and soya milk here though.
I think I'm doing quite well with the new diet (eating lots of whole foods, beans, lentils, nuts, fruit and veg and adding flax seeds to my muesli In the morning, cutting out caffeine and drinking orange juice with my meals) although I'm a bit paranoid I'm missing out on something. I keep trying to read up on all the nutritional information but i end up just making myself more confused when I'm trying to work out how many mg of this and that I'm actually getting. So at the moment I'm taking a multivitamin/mineral supplement as an insurance policy and so I can stop worrying about it so much. It's just a supplement from the local shop and no idea of it's OK for vegans, so will probably have to look online for an alternative.
Next step is to look at my cleaning products/toiletries. I've found stuff online I'd like to try when I have the money to put in an order, but sticking to vegan friendly stuff might be more of a problem than the diet change. As I can't get any of it here and may only be able to get it online. Might take a while to get organised so that I don't ever run out.
As for clothing etc, I'm going to wear what I have already until it wears out and then plan to replace it with vegan friendly stuff. I don't like waste and I certainly can't afford to replace everything at once. Eventually i would like to buy fair trade/0rganic clothing as I don't like the idea of exploiting fellow humans either or the problems with crops such as non-organic cotton either. But being on a very low income this may be difficult to achieve. I may be able to manage it with my own clothing but may never manage it with my children's clothing (I could go without until I can afford it in most cases) but children grow quickly.
I can't do anything about my medicines (I need them to stay alive and healthy).
One of the oddest difficulties with the transition is probably that, in addition to my day job, I do a bit of knitwear design (writing knitting patterns) ironically my speciality is Fair Isle/ stranded colourwork knitting for which I usually use pure wool (mostly Shetland). I have a pattern just coming out and one to be published soon in a magazine and i also have a few self published patterns still available to purchase. It feels a bit odd to be turning vegan whilst my patterns are promoting British wool. I haven't quite worked out how I feel about that. I also have a stash of wool I've yet to use and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I love working with real wool but I know that that is more linked to a romantic view of sheep and rural life.