How to turn vegan?????

Original post by NY_40

Okay,nso a while now I have been thinking of turning vegan - I'm very passionate about the subject. However, my whole family (including me) all eat meat, and think the idea of me turning vegan is ridiculous, but more than that, it's too difficultfor me to be vegan in a family of meat eaters. How can I begin to turn vegan, and can you recommend any good vegan snacks, or easy lunches etc. Thank you

No-one in my whole family that I knew chose not to eat animals either, but it didnt affect my decision not to eat them myself.

There are loads of quick and simple vegan recipes to be found online from a google search, and I can vouch for all the things ive tried making tasting nice apart from a butterbean sandwich i made (i learned i didnt like butterbeans that day).

As for snacks or ready made meals: lotus biscuits say vegan on the pack as do certain pringles varieties; vego bars are AMAZING if your local health food or whole food stock them; sainsburys label all kinds of their own products as vegan from cheese to chocolate, including a variety of soups that are so convenient AND tasty; walkers marmite crisps are supposedly vegan (i asked them direct a while back); alpro make great and widely available vegan yoghurts and flavoured (and unflavoured) milks and probably more things; 'tofurky', 'vegideli', and "cheatin'" (among other companies i am sure) make great meat substitutes (i think all each of them make is vegan but double check before you buy); and so on and so forth.

Reply 2

NY_40

OP

7

Original post by awkwardshortguy

No-one in my whole family that I knew chose not to eat animals either, but it didnt affect my decision not to eat them myself.

There are loads of quick and simple vegan recipes to be found online from a google search, and I can vouch for all the things ive tried making tasting nice apart from a butterbean sandwich i made (i learned i didnt like butterbeans that day).

As for snacks or ready made meals: lotus biscuits say vegan on the pack as do certain pringles varieties; vego bars are AMAZING if your local health food or whole food stock them; sainsburys label all kinds of their own products as vegan from cheese to chocolate, including a variety of soups that are so convenient AND tasty; walkers marmite crisps are supposedly vegan (i asked them direct a while back); alpro make great and widely available vegan yoghurts and flavoured (and unflavoured) milks and probably more things; 'tofurky', 'vegideli', and "cheatin'" (among other companies i am sure) make great meat substitutes (i think all each of them make is vegan but double check before you buy); and so on and so forth.

Thank you, that was really useful, I'll stay off the butterbeans!

Reply 3

SophieSmall

21

You won't become vegan if you have already decided it's too difficult, admitting defeat before starting is just giving up without trying.

However if you still live at home, are young and have no job. You will need family support to become vegan if you have your food bought for you by family. It's extremely important as vegan to ensure you get adequate nutrition and have a varied diet, and make sure you have protein from other sources such as beans, lentils and nuts.

Reply 4

Original post by NY_40

Okay,nso a while now I have been thinking of turning vegan - I'm very passionate about the subject. However, my whole family (including me) all eat meat, and think the idea of me turning vegan is ridiculous, but more than that, it's too difficultfor me to be vegan in a family of meat eaters. How can I begin to turn vegan, and can you recommend any good vegan snacks, or easy lunches etc. Thank you

My family don't really eat carbs/sugar so animal products were everywhere when I was starting out. But, my family had a few staples like plenty of veggies and fruit which parents would buy more for me upon request, and stuff like porridge oats, peanut butter, unopened crackers from christmas, tortilla wraps, quorn meat at the far back of the freezer.

My starting vegan life was:
Breakfast : Porridge (I used almond milk, but you can use water and just fill it to the brim w/ fruits)
snack: Banana and peanut butter
Lunch: Any veggies I could find
same snack
same dinner

Then when my parents realised I was serious and enjoying this, they started buying me other stuff like almond milk, fake meat (bio a level turned me off this tho), wider varieties of fruits and veggies, bread (have banana and peanut butter on toast for breakfast mmmmm), and some treats that were vegan like sorbet, oreos, dairy-free icecream, bourbons...

I gained quite a lot of weight being vegan at first bc my body was in ketosis, but the ENERGY you get fom being a healthy vegan is amazing!!!! My fave foods are sweet potatoes, mangoes, and ofc peanut butter mmmmm

dm me if you need any more help/any good vegan recipes/advice on cooking vegan!! Have fun! And watch Freelee the banana girl on youtube for good recipes and inspiration if you're eyeing up some chicken wings ahah

Reply 5

GreenBell

16

Original post by NY_40

Okay,nso a while now I have been thinking of turning vegan - I'm very passionate about the subject. However, my whole family (including me) all eat meat, and think the idea of me turning vegan is ridiculous, but more than that, it's too difficultfor me to be vegan in a family of meat eaters. How can I begin to turn vegan, and can you recommend any good vegan snacks, or easy lunches etc. Thank you

You don't have to start straight away. Maybe start being a vegetarian first and then slowly start to take things out of the menu.
If you eat more meat than chicken, then just quit eating chicken and start reducing your meat slowly.

Reply 6

Reality Check

22

Original post by ImagineCats

I gained quite a lot of weight being vegan at first bc my body was in ketosis, but the ENERGY you get fom being a healthy vegan is amazing!!!!

What does this mean? Scientifically, since you've used a scientific/medical term.

Reply 7

awkwardshortguy

Original post by NY_40

Thank you, that was really useful, I'll stay off the butterbeans!

You might like them. Also I forgot to mention you can get, or make, vegan falafel and vegan humous, two of my absolute favourite foods (neither of which id actually tried before i went vegan).

Reply 8

SabrinaTSR

1

I have been vegan for a year now and honestly it is easier than you think (However just to warn you the first week will be a nightmare!)
I started it off simple by trialling veganism for a week, I didn't educate myself beforehand so I lived off of pasta and crackers for that whole week.. so of course I was lead to believe veganism was stupid and an impossible life to live. (stupid me)
I did some research into easy vegan recipes and became inspired again, I have been vegan since.
My advice is to DO YOUR RESEARCH! Educate yourself to ensure you are getting the right nutrients or else you could become dangerously ill and/or crave animal products again. Make sure you are going to be getting enough iron, vitamin b12 etc...
This is coming from someome who used to eat meat several times a day for 17 years.. my family still arent fully accepting but they can see I am happy so they don't care.
Good luck and feel free to message me any time.

Reply 9

Original post by Reality Check

What does this mean? Scientifically, since you've used a scientific/medical term.

Ketosis? Means my body was burning fat, not protein/carbs, for energy.

You get it when you eat less than 40g sugar a day (aka ketogenic diet/atkins diet/keto diet/no carb diet)

Reply 10

Reality Check

22

Original post by ImagineCats

Ketosis? Means my body was burning fat, not protein/carbs, for energy.

You get it when you eat less than 40g sugar a day (aka ketogenic diet/atkins diet/keto diet/no carb diet)

Not quite, but we'll ignore the detail.

Why would you gain weight as a result of 'ketosis'?

Reply 11

Original post by Reality Check

Not quite, but we'll ignore the detail.

Why would you gain weight as a result of 'ketosis'?

Oh wait sorry you wanted the keto acid science behind it, I did it in bio so if you're clear on it then thats fine

Ah so my body was respiring fat for energy due to no carbohydrates and the sudden introduction of carbs (and looking into it in more detail, more salt too) to my body meant my body switched to respiring carbohydrates than lipids. And, salt retains water. The weight gain was short-term, but I guess my body wasn't used to all these carbs. Was v bloated too in the first week

Not 100% sure on the science (Ive only got A Level respiration knowledge behind me okay), but I gained 8lbs in just over a week, but lost it 2 months later.

EDIT: Still not clear enough- it was my body no longer being in ketosis that made me gain weight (+water retention, but that usually only makes me gain 2-3lbs)

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 12

Original post by awkwardshortguy

You might like them. Also I forgot to mention you can get, or make, vegan falafel and vegan humous, two of my absolute favourite foods (neither of which id actually tried before i went vegan).

wtf isn't normal falafel and humous vegan? I eat that stuff as treats aw naw

Reply 13

gomc

11

I would go vegetarian first then slowly transition to veganism.

Reply 14

awkwardshortguy

Original post by ImagineCats

wtf isn't normal falafel and humous vegan? I eat that stuff as treats aw naw

Hummous can have citric acid that comes from lemons that have been coated in shellac which is why sainsburys took tje vegan label off their hummous although i hear they have recently put it back on, and i know that at least Cauldron's 'Morrocan falafel' contains honey although their one just called falafel doesnt.

Reply 15

Original post by awkwardshortguy

Hummous can have citric acid that comes from lemons that have been coated in shellac which is why sainsburys took tje vegan label off their hummous although i hear they have recently put it back on, and i know that at least Cauldron's 'Morrocan falafel' contains honey although their one just called falafel doesnt.

aah okay! Thanks

Reply 16

bloated_utopia

17

i've been pretty much vegan for most of my life and full on for a few years (i'm 17) now and my advice is to do your research; some nutrients are more tricky to get than others. make sure you're getting the complete protein, which isn't too tricky. soya is a complete protein technically but i think it's lower in lysine or something. brown/wild rice and beans i also believe is a complete protein, though different beans have different nutrient ratios so it's good to get a bit of variety. quinoa is a complete protein too. sesame seeds have a lot of iron i recently discovered which is cool. flax and chia are good too for iron and protein (tho not complete). also vitmin c helps you absorb iron so anything vit c rich is rad to with with iron stuff. plus you can't od on vit c. a fortified plant milk with calcium, vitimin d and b12 is very useful and i'd recommend it because they are so important, something i didn't realise and it backfired a little. also look into probiotics, like tempeh, miso (both made of soya so complete protein too), sauerkraut and kimchi - keep your gut healthy!! something i'm still trying to get the hang of. then, ofc, eat fruits n veg like it is going out of style. do your own research because this is just stuff i have figured out so far and i'm still learning and everybody is different.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 17

Kathy89