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Transitioning vegetarian

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MelWallace said #1 Aug 26, 2012 at 4:13pm

Hi everyone! I'm also new to this site and am loving all the recipes, tips etc!
I would love to hear from those who made the slow transition to vegetarianism and then veganism. I'm already about half way there, eating very little meat, cheese, or eggs.
What I want to know is how to go the rest of the way. Does anyone have any advice on the slow transition? Because it seems that once I decide "that's it, no more meat" then my husband cooks some for dinner and the smell is lovely, and even though I feel guilty and slightly sick when I eat it, I just can't turn off that part of my brain that says "need meat!!!"
Any advice would be great!
Looking forward to learning lots and meeting other veges/vegans!
Also love to know if anyone here is from Melbourne, Australia (where I'm at).
Mel

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gmeisbaer said #2 Sep 6, 2012 at 2:51pm

Hi Mel,
I am new to KindLife. Just signed up so I am hoping my response shows up at the right place.
I have been vegan for only two years, but I do remember how difficult it was for me to give up cheese. Once I learned more about it - what it is, how we get addicted to it, I realized that it was like a drug. I was addicted to cheese. After a few weeks without cheese, I did not miss it anymore. There are great recipe on "Oh She Glows" for vegan mac and cheese (my favorite one) and Vegan Yum Yum for Vegan Pasta Alfredo. Once you eat dishes like that, that are rich and flavorful, you might not miss the cheese at all.
BTW, once I read the book "Skinny Bitch" I was vegetarian overnight. After watching "Forks over Knives" and "Earthlings" I never looked at meat and dairy the same. After I watched that, I never ever craved meat again. It does not even smell good to me.
Hope this helps.

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Stacy said #3 Sep 7, 2012 at 2:01am

I'm Stacy and I am another person in transition. I was vegan for several years, many years ago. I went back to eating dairy and some meat while I was in recovery from an eating disorder. Now that I am healthy, I would very much like to move back to the vegan lifestyle -- this time without some of the baggage of disordered eating. I live in Hawaii, which can be a surprisingly tough place to be vegan (or maybe it's the same everywhere!).

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Jax said #4 Sep 12, 2012 at 6:34pm

Hi All!
This is my first post. My daughter, 14, has decided to become vegetarian and a friend sent me Alicia's book. I realize the whole family can benefit from becoming vegan but "one step at a time!" My husband and both children are lactose intolerant so you would think it would be an easy switch, but it's not. We all eat cheese, yogurt and drink lactose free milk. We haven't been red meat eaters in years...maybe an occasional hamburger. But we rely heavily on chicken and turkey. So I'm slowly trying to build a vegetarian/vegan recipe base, tossing out the ones the family hates, keeping the ONE the family likes (so far...it's only one) and hope to continually add to it while subtracting the meat and then do the same with dairy.
Not finding a whole lot of the things Alicia talks about in my area. I'm in Perth, Australia. Could be that I just don't know where to look though...I'm new here.
Any tips or discoveries would be greatly appreciated!

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Alexia Bullard said #5 Sep 12, 2012 at 9:27pm

i first watched 'food inc', it explains alot about how the gov. And food industry works. And then after i watched 'earthlings' i went vegan cold turkey. Cheese comes from milk and once u see how dairy cows are tortured all there life and what happens to there babys and the fact that milk has puss in it from infected udders makes it easy to never eat dairy again.

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