Not so new-bie vegan!

[OBIWANdza]

Hi, i recently decided that i'm going to go ahead and become fully vegan.

Some may think, "that's such a drastic life change to wake up and make one day!"

And you're correct, it is...however it wasn't a decision that was made overnight. It wasn't an easy decision to make, but i made it.

About a year ago i actually decided that i would try being vegan for a week. i jumped right in, cold turkey (no pun) and gave it a genuine try....i only made it 3 out of 7 days. But it was not because i didn't want to continue, it was just a really inconvenient choice at the time. Lack of planning also contributed as all of my meals were me eating out around town at various vegan places, i would've much rather cook at home than eat out.

I found, and also advocate, that after eating meat for 28 year the hard part was actually giving up things like milk, butter, cheese, honey, most baked sweets, honey, and sugar. I also was accompanied to these meals by my best friend who is a meat eater, and her food never made me go "man i wish there was meat on my plate"

After about a year of consideration and research and talking to several close friends who have also transitioned to veganism i decided that i would go ahead and make the switch for myself.

So here i stand hoping to make new friends and find new favorite tastes. Thanks for having me

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Good for you for making this decision. I am just curious but when you didn't quite succeeed on your initial trial because of difficulties with avoiding things like sweets and honey did you then go back to eating meat for a period because of this? If one finds it difficult giving up all sweets and so on you could start by giving up meat and eggs and then butter and cheese and then other things. What are your thoughts on going vegan overnight vs. a steady, phased transition over time.

 

[OBIWANdza]

it wasn't necessarily difficult to avoid sweets, rather being out and grabbing a muffin or a cupcake or a cookie and then u realize oh there's egg milk and cream in these things...i can't have that....but then you look around and there isn't a vegan alternative.

like i said most of my failed attempt was a result of poor planning. (Proper preparation prevents poor performance) since i did little to no research i didn't go out and meal prep for a weeks worth of vegan meals....regardless of vegan or not it gets pretty expensive going to the grocery store every day for every meal....so i turned to eating out....luckily at that time i lived in nashville, tn which is very diverse in the types of cuisine u find in restaurants so i had no problem finding vegan friendly options (actually found a vegan mexican restaurant that was so great my buddy almost sent her fajitas back for the vegan plate!) but eating out 3 meals a day for a week is also expensive.

yes i went back to eating meat.....and just to clarify initially i was never intending to be vegan forever i wanted to try it after the week was up i had plans for a big hibachi steak.....

my thoughts on going vegan over night vs a gradual transition.....i feel it depends on the person.....i've eaten meat for majority of the 28 years of my time on earth....i don't miss it when i don't have it....not to say i don't sometimes think "man this would be great with chicken or steak" but i can totally live with out it. where as i tried to convince my cousin to try it out for a week and she's like yea i can give up meat. then i told her "well also milk cheese n butter" n she goes "ah nah i gotta have my cheese n butter" her mom goes "maybe u guys should be pescaterian (spelling?) i think it'd be too hard to give up meat, but i don't need milk cheese or butter" this is my grandmothers sister and her daughter (so my great aunt and 2nd cousin) we are all from the same family but we are different individuals.

i think it's possible to do it cold turkey like if your doctor told u "next piece of meat or dairy that enters ur body will cause u a slow, and terribly painful death" chances are ud never pick up those things again

but how we work we think "yea i know this isn't good for me but i'm not gonna drop dead so i'll ween myself of it" which is fine too