Comments | veganism: A request for some help

korolyeva525 in veganism

A request for some help

May 05, 2006 13:50

Hi, my name is Kells and I'm a strict vegetarian with aspirations of going entirely vegan. I'm doing great with the vegetarianism, and have been since November. But I keep getting caught up on a few things that keep me from thinking of myself as a vegan with a clear conscience ( Read more... )

advice-for-new-vegans

Comments 25

okay, so. this is just my experience. isnifpixistix May 5 2006, 20:55:30 UTC

I was a ‘strict’ vegetarian for years before I transitioned to vegan, and my choice was made on a whim ( ... )

korolyeva525 May 5 2006, 21:07:56 UTC

Thanks for sharing! Thank you so much!

I feel like I'm "full of shit" for eating foods that make me feel bad AND contain animal products, yet sometimes my body overwhelmingly craves them... I like your attitude though, and it makes sense to me.

lady_shadowlily May 5 2006, 23:09:25 UTC

I know what you mean about craving those few items...I guess the trick is not to try to find EXACT replacements, but to try a lot of vegan stuff until you find something so delicious that you start craving that instead! I used to crave Starbucks bran muffins all the time, but then I discovered an awesome vegan muffin at Whole Foods that I like so much I forgot about the Starbucks ones ( ... )

korolyeva525 May 8 2006, 18:08:59 UTC

There was a lot of good advice in your comment. Thanks so much!

lady_shadowlily May 9 2006, 03:24:22 UTC

You're very welcome!

chocolateghoul May 5 2006, 23:09:45 UTC

I went from lacto-ovo to a vegan diet a few times over a couple months. I tried moving slowly/in phases and all that, and it just /did/ /not/ work for me. I couldn't stop myself from rationalizing eating non-vegan food. I gave up, and a bit later I just said 'No more, I'm vegan now.' I didn't use up all all my non-vegan crap, I just told the other people I lived with to eat it instead. If you try to rationalize eating animal products for a short of amount of time, there's nothing really stopping you from rationalizing eating the same crap forever. So just stop it.

And sorry, but I can't help with the cheese thing. I didn't even try to replace cheese for a long time. One of the hardest things in the beginning was breaking my old habits - being able to eat out, just grabbing stuff out of a vending machine, et cetera. But it's worth it/ ^_^

korolyeva525 May 8 2006, 18:11:13 UTC

I guess it's not that I have a habit of eating out or getting food from vending machines, but it's the times I go out and don't think about eating before hand, or I stay out of the house longer than I meant to, and then I get hungry, and pizza/cookies/cupcakes looks good, and I just don't have time to make my own, and the craving overcomes me.

You gave some good advice. Thanks :)

(The comment has been removed)

korolyeva525 May 8 2006, 18:11:45 UTC

But this vegan thing is hard!

Agreed!

he_ather May 6 2006, 16:12:14 UTC

Yeah, it is hard at first. I guess I don't really have much to add, except to say, it's all in your mindset. If you think you'll miss cheese, you'll miss it a lot more than if you look forward to not eating it, saving calves, the environment, and so on. I've gone vegan three times in my life, and the only time it's stuck (this time!) is when I decided that vegan food actually tastes better than nonvegan food. And to me, it really does.

Replacement cheese just isn't worth it. Nutritional yeast can serve as a savory substitute, but in my opinion, nothing really taste like cheese. And that's cool with me.

Plus, this last time I went vegan I just gave away all of my nonvegan food. It made it a lot simpler.