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Going vegan

Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 11:24 pm
by ma3xiu1
I join the board a few weeks back, at which point I was mostly vegetarian. However, in the meantime I made myself watch the Earthlings documentary, and I have run out of excuses not to be vegan. So, I've cut out obvious sources of meat, dairy and eggs, but so far haven't been too strict about checking whether there could be eggs or dairy inside. I'm not much of a cook, but in order to make a more complete transition I think I'll need to change that :D

I'll probably look to get in touch with other vegans here in Sydney to get some ideas of what vegan products are locally available, what to cook, how to make sure I get a balanced diet, etc.. It's a bit of a steep learning curve, but the ethical and health motivations definitely make it worthwhile.

Re: Going vegan

Posted: Sun May 29, 2016 7:18 am
by Jaywalker
Welcome to the forum!

It's great you've become vegan, how long had you been a vegetarian before that? You'll probably find the transition easy, it's mostly just about avoiding some packaged junk food and becoming a better cook, as you say.

You'll definitely get great nutrition advice here. Good luck!

Re: Going vegan

Posted: Sun May 29, 2016 9:25 am
by miniboes
Welcome, that's great!

Being vegan will force you to get at least decent at cooking. And that's a good thing! Good luck!

Re: Going vegan

Posted: Sun May 29, 2016 10:30 am
by brimstoneSalad
Welcome! Great news, congrats. Have you tried cronometer.com? That can help a lot in balancing your diet and finding out if you're missing any nutrients.

This is probably your best resource on vegan nutrition:
http://veganhealth.org/

We'd be glad to help you with any questions.
It's pretty easy to be a microwave vegan. Veggie burgers and mock meats reheat pretty well, and veggies steam wonderfully in the microwave.

Re: Going vegan

Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 4:49 am
by ma3xiu1
None of this was really planned :-) Maybe 3 months ago I started reducing my consumption of meat and cow's milk, which was an attempt to be healthier/lose weight, and also due to to a growing concern about the ethics of eating animals (being an atheist, it was natural to ponder questions of morality and ethics). Then a month ago when I watched Earthlings to better understand the ethical issues of animal farming, I couldn't justify eating animal products any longer and supporting the cruelty.

I was overseas for work when I decided to transition to a vegan diet, which meant lots of eating at restaurants, and this made it too hard to use cronometer. Now that I've arrived back home and can prepare my own meals, it will be easier. I already picked up some nice cookbooks while I was overseas.

The transition so far has been much easier than I thought it would be. The main difficulty now that I'm back home will be with family, working out how to navigate the carnist landscape of family social events :-)