Vegans

[Mrs.Nicolian]

Anyone here a vegan? What made you choose this lifestyle? Do you use only non-animal products in your food or do you incorporate it throughout your whole life - no leather, etc.?

Would you mind sharing with me a typical meal plan for a day or a few days?

This is something I am considering but really need to learn a lot more about it.

TIA for any info or experiences anyone can offer. :)

[Calyco]

I'm borderline Vegan but can't quite develop a taste for soy cheese so I can't really call myself a full on Vegan Vegan. lol

I substitute beans for a lot of meat products, I can't really give you a meal plan though cuz I just kind of make things up as I go... :p

[CommieVegan]

Vegan here. Fairly obvious, huh? :) My DH is omnivore, so we are a mixed diet family. (Baby Girl is also vegan.)

We are only dietary vegans, and I'm sort of sad about that because I feel a bit hypocritical. But I love wool and I wear leather shoes.

I chose to become vegan after doing a lot of reading about nutrition. I was disgusted at the industrial food production system, and it upset me that the nasty chemicals in our environment are absorbed by animals that we then consume. Of course we also absorb those chemicals in water, air, etc., but I wanted to reduce my exposure.

Ultimately, the clincher was learning that the breast milk of vegetarian and vegan women was so much lower in toxins. I just had to make the change, even though I was terminally single at the time and had no children. That was 2003.

Meals for today, for example:

breakfast: quinoa with almond butter and bananas
lunch: hummus and corn tortillas; fresh pears
dinner: zucchini, tomato and walnut fritters; roasted butternut squash
later tonight: hot cocoa made with almond milk, cocoa powder, and agave nectar

Let me know if you have any other questions! Hmmm, who else is vegan around here? Veganmama, but she's not around too much. Lysa (pinkflamingoes77) is vegetarian. I bet there are several other vegetarians here, too--I just don't know exactly who they are.

[Mrs.Nicolian]

Thanks for the responses! And for the info Catherine. I really appreciate it. :)

Do you feel pretty healthy overall? I have heard vegetarians complain of feeling sickly due to their diet. Any complaints from either of you ladies?

[LoveMyBoys]

Vegetarian here. I was vegan for about a year. I jumped in 100% to the lifestyle with my diet and overall non-use of animal products/byproducts. It was challenging and the hardest thing for me to go without was cheese and eggs. I also noticed my hair became really thin, so I started taking some supplements for hair, skin, nails and it definitely improved.

I think doing research ahead of time and really problem solving my potential obstacles prior to jumping in full force may have helped me succeed longer than I did. I think it's important to make sure you have the right vitamins and supplements on board from the start. Also, there are some great vegan restaurants, so maybe look over their menus online and see if you could get recipe ideas there.

There are some ready made vegan options in the frozen food section...Morningstar Farms is good about putting vegetarian or vegan on their products. Also, whole food-type stores have a great selection of vegan friendly products.

I think it's great you're doing the research and getting ideas now. I really wish I'd have taken the time to do that and keep telling myself I will go back to a vegan life someday...

Let us know your progress!
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I do think I felt more sickly when I was vegan, but again...I think it was due to me not having the right supplements. Oh and Taco Bell's beans are vegan and not made with lard. I ate Taco Bell a lot in the beginning (get everything Fresco style).

[CommieVegan]

Sickly? Oh goodness, no. I am indestructible. Sure, I'm sleep-deprived and sometimes miserable because of that, but I must very nearly be made of steel. I almost never get sick. My DH gets sick much more often than I do (though that just may be a man thing ;)).

My blood pressure is great, my cholesterol is low, and my iron is always good. Before I got pregnant, I ran a lot of races, up to half marathons (I'm quite slow, though).

I had a vegan pregnancy without any issues. My midwife used to joke that she could sell my pee as a tonic.

I don't really know why some people feel sickly as vegetarians or vegans.

[Mrs.Nicolian]

Vegetarian here. I was vegan for about a year. I jumped in 100% to the lifestyle with my diet and overall non-use of animal products/byproducts. It was challenging and the hardest thing for me to go without was cheese and eggs. I also noticed my hair became really thin, so I started taking some supplements for hair, skin, nails and it definitely improved.

I think doing research ahead of time and really problem solving my potential obstacles prior to jumping in full force may have helped me succeed longer than I did. I think it's important to make sure you have the right vitamins and supplements on board from the start. Also, there are some great vegan restaurants, so maybe look over their menus online and see if you could get recipe ideas there.

There are some ready made vegan options in the frozen food section...Morningstar Farms is good about putting vegetarian or vegan on their products. Also, whole food-type stores have a great selection of vegan friendly products.

I think it's great you're doing the research and getting ideas now. I really wish I'd have taken the time to do that and keep telling myself I will go back to a vegan life someday...

Let us know your progress!
~~~~~~~
I do think I felt more sickly when I was vegan, but again...I think it was due to me not having the right supplements. Oh and Taco Bell's beans are vegan and not made with lard. I ate Taco Bell a lot in the beginning (get everything Fresco style).

I will definitely let you guys know if I decide to go ahead with it. I agree that doing the research is a big deal. It's a huge lifestyle change and I'm not really sure how to do it. I imagine I would starve if I didn't research it first. :lol:

Sickly? Oh goodness, no. I am indestructible. Sure, I'm sleep-deprived and sometimes miserable because of that, but I must very nearly be made of steel. I almost never get sick. My DH gets sick much more often than I do (though that just may be a man thing ;)).

My blood pressure is great, my cholesterol is low, and my iron is always good. Before I got pregnant, I ran a lot of races, up to half marathons (I'm quite slow, though).

I had a vegan pregnancy without any issues. My midwife used to joke that she could sell my pee as a tonic.

I don't really know why some people feel sickly as vegetarians or vegans.

Awesome to hear!! I imagine lots of people feel sickly due to not eating the correct things instead of animal products? Or supplementing correctly?

Do you use any supplements, Catherine?

[Calyco]

I actually became anemic and had major hair loss due to my diet a few years ago but fixed it by adding more variety and taking a multi-vitamin. I also started taking Biotin after hearing about it from you and that helped as well.

[pinkflamingos77]

There is a wrong or right way of doing the vegetarian and vegan lifestyle. There are people who can't handle being full on vegan too. If you do it the wrong way, you can feel sick and tired and have all kinds of problems. I have made mistakes along the way but that is due to me having issues with food, not due to being veg and in the past couple of months I have fixed those mistakes and hopefully that will help me feel better.

I am a vegetarian, I do not eat any type of meat or seafood and I don't drink milk. I eat eggs occasionally and they are certified humane, cage free, as natural as you get eggs. They are expensive...$6, Worth it to me though.

I do eat yogurt, I only buy stoneyfield organic strawberry flavor and I eat ice cream too. Overall I try very hard to limit my dairy consumptions. On most days I eat like a vegan but I have my days where I don't and that is why I don't call myself a vegan.

I am into juicing too, I just started juicing every morning and that makes being veg easy. juice up your veggies and fruit and drink it with breakfast and you are good to go, I love it!

Being vegetarian effects my whole life, Everything I wear and use is effected by it. I do not wear any type of animal or use any products that have animal ingredients or animal by products in them and I only use NON animal tested products. I do have one wool headband that was made by another CDN mama and that is it. Everything else is non animal. It can be tricky to do all this but with time and research it can work. :)

My husband, kids and animals are not vegetarian or vegan or like me at all when it comes to this stuff. I can get them to juice and cut back on their consumption of animal products but they will never go full veg like me and that is OK with me. I just do my own thing and they support me. :wub:

As for my health, overall I am good. My cholesterol, blood sugar levels, thyroid, blood pressure, heart, lungs, brain and all the major body parts are good. I am iron and vitamin D deficient and I am fixing that but nothing else is wrong with me.

I love being vegetarian and I can not imagine living my life any other way. :hapdance:

[Mrs.Nicolian]

Thanks so much for the input, Lysa. It's nice to hear of others' experiences!

Is there a reason you would juice instead of just consuming the veggies and fruits whole? I already eat a TON of both.. but maybe not enough? Maybe there is not enough time in the day or room in my stomach to eat all that is required by my body?

[MamaBirdE]

As for recipes, the book Veganomicon is AWESOME. We use recipes from it 2-3 times weekly. :newdrool:

[mayasmom25]

I also like the How it all Vegan book and their 2 other books.
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Oh, and I am not a vegan or even vegetarian; but have looked into it.

[Mrs.Nicolian]

ooh, thanks for the book recs! That is mucho helpful!!

[pinkflamingos77]

Thanks so much for the input, Lysa. It's nice to hear of others' experiences!

Is there a reason you would juice instead of just consuming the veggies and fruits whole? I already eat a TON of both.. but maybe not enough? Maybe there is not enough time in the day or room in my stomach to eat all that is required by my body?

I like juicing because I can get a lot of fruits and veggies that way. I am not a big foodie person. I prefer liquids to food, juicing works great for that. You can mix up your fruits and veggies together and add wheat grass or other types of herbs and make juice that has many health benefits. It is not prcessed or in a bottle sitting on the shelf, It is fresh. It has been a great tool in losing weight too. If you have kids and they are picky, this is a really fun way for them to get their fruits and veggies. We love juicing!

I used to chop and cut everything up to fit into a blender but I got a Jack Lalaane power juicer pro last week and that thing is awesome. Less work for me and takes very little time to make juice.

Today I did a cup of kale, 2 florets of broccoli with stems, 1 green apple, 2 lemon, 2 peach. I juiced it all up and got 25 ounces of juice. Pour it into a cup, add ice and drank it with my toast. If you do not like tart stuff, take out the lemon.

It was very yum!

[Mrs.Nicolian]

Nice! I seem to eat all that stuff and more throughout the day. I don't know if juicing would work for me. I like to have a full stomach. lol

[pinkflamingos77]

Nice! I seem to eat all that stuff and more throughout the day. I don't know if juicing would work for me. I like to have a full stomach. lol

You do get full from juicing, I drink 25 ounces of fruits/veggies a couple times a day, you stay full!

[Mrs.Nicolian]

I'll have to give it a try. :)