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New Vegan!
Started
by Emily
on December 23, 2010
With day 6 coming to a close, I must comment on how positive my outlook is!
I've been a veggie for the last 9 months after reading The Omnivore's Dilema and the first half of The Kind Diet. I've always loved animals and am very health conscious, I was just never aware of all the crap that's hidden in the food I was eating. After educating myself on factory farming, I was completely disgusted and swore I would never contribute to the killing of animals again. Little did I know that switching my meat intake to cheese wasn't as great as I thought it was. I'm not a big cook so I became obsessed with anything cheese and have let my veggies fall to the side.
A few weeks ago I picked up Alicia's book and finally finished it, and just like before I was blown away. I couldn't believe how I had forgotten how angry I felt about how we treat animals, including dairy cows! I felt like a complete hypocrite, swearing off meat to save animals, but consuming tons of cheese and then realizing how horrible the dairy cows have it. I had originally planned on becoming vegan in the very beginning, but believed it would be healthier to eat real cheese than processed soy. After finishing Alicia's book and realizing how awful dairy is to your body (not to mention the rest of the world!) and how easy a transition to vegan would actually be, I took the plunge six days ago.
It was tough at first, my boyfriend definitely wasn't thrilled, and I felt the collective sigh from family when I told them. They already struggle with coming up with meals for me and all my Mom said was, "What will you eat now??" To top it off, I am not a cook. But as part of the vegan challenge, I told myself I was going to try my best to stay away from processed foods and cook as much as I could. I'll admit, after my first day in the grocery story trying to find all these strange foods I had never heard of (let alone had NO idea how to cook) I felt pretty discouraged. But luckily my boyfriend was there to lift my spirits and help me cook my first vegan meal, including the peanut butter cups.
So here I am, 6 days later, loving my new vegan life. I spend more time thinking about my meals than ever before, I'm learning how to cook and realizing I actually like it, and I'm feeling great. I even feel like I am thinning out, even though it's just been 6 days my clothes are fitting a little bit better than before! While I'm still struggling with the social aspect of my new vegan life, I've decided to just stick to my own kitchen for the next couple weeks and let myself adjust.
So there's my story in a nutshell, have tons more to say and can't wait to hear some feedback from everyone, any helpful/positive motivational hints would be greatly appreciated!!
Hi, it's nice to hear your story. I have been a vegetarian for about a month now and feel so much better already. At this point I still eat fish and some milk products. I have been "flirting" with the idea of going completely vegan for about a week now. I worry it will be too hard to make time to think ahead with my meals and to find foods my family will love to eat as much as me. I am not a stranger to cooking, in fact I do a majority of the cooking in the household. I think I am going to start with the Superhero recipes and see how I do. Apparently all of my excuses are just that "excuses". I guess I don't know what is stopping me. I look forward to hearing more about your vegan journey! Nikki
I worried about the same things. Like I said before I was huge on cheese and a few other dairy products after cutting out meat. What ultimately pushed me to trying vegan was how great everyone says they feel. I feel like I'm a pretty healthy person, especially after going vegetarian, but I never felt fanastic. I'd have a few days every now and then, where if I'd eat really good and worked out like crazy, I'd feel a post-workout bliss. Looking back on it now, I've also been feeling very negative for the last few months for no reason in particular. I though maybe it was just the change in seasons, but maybe now it just could've been all the cheese I was consuming? I was so envious of everyone's posts and Alicia in the book talking about how fantastic they felt all the time.
The idea of going vegan to me was so much harder than actually doing it. I worried too about what I would eat, was it going to taste THAT good, could I afford to spend so much extra time preparing and cooking meals? It's like any life change, it's scary. I would just say give it a try, maybe at the beginning of the new year since there's already enough to worry about during the holidays. I told myself I was just going to do it for 1 month, and if I don't feel fantastic like everyone else has said, then that's it! I also wouldn't worry so much in the beginning about what to feed the family. Just try to focus on yourself, there will be plenty of leftovers from the holidays that they can snack on while you're cooking the REAL food. Set a time frame for yourself when you feel like you're ready, and just do it! I really think you'll love it!
Ps. You'll find TONS of support on prior posts. Read back a little about how other people delt with their non-vegan family and what their favorite, easy recipes are. Good luck!!
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