New vegan, been going off and on

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Terra90
Newbie
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2018 4:06 pm
Diet: Vegan

New vegan, been going off and on

Post by Terra90 »

Hello, everyone :)

I was first introduced to veganism in high school, about 10 (probably more) years ago. I watched "Vegucated" with my whole English class, and I thought it was intriguing. However, when I brought it up to my mother, she had said something along the lines of, "You'll eat what I give you, and you'll like it". Bygones.

Now, here I am, after watching Earthlings, Forks Over Knives, and Cowspiracy, I decided that I should be vegan for all of the reasons these documentaries state (ethical, health, environment).

Now, my main issue with going vegan, then deciding to eat meat/dairy/eggs, going back to vegan, over and over again, was just mainly 1: a social issue, and 2: personal cravings. The social thing has been solved, because I no longer live with a (rather unsupportive) significant other, and I made some vegan friends, so that's nice. As for the personal cravings, I've been reminding myself that it's not about me, it's about the animals. Also, I've found some great meat replacements (except steak πŸ˜₯).

I hope to learn a whole bunch more from everyone, anf I look forward to future conversations!
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PsYcHo
Master of the Forum
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Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2016 10:24 pm
Diet: Pescetarian

Re: New vegan, been going off and on

Post by PsYcHo »

Terra90 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 28, 2018 4:50 pmAs for the personal cravings, I've been reminding myself that it's not about me, it's about the animals. Also, I've found some great meat replacements (except steak πŸ˜₯).

I hope to learn a whole bunch more from everyone, anf I look forward to future conversations!

Nice to meet you.

I used to crave bacon, but after a while, it went away. Now even the smell isn't appealing. Maybe to help out, you could try https://www.livekindly.co/steak-vegan-recipes/.

Welcome!
Alcohol may have been a factor.

Taxation is theft.
Dream Sphere
Senior Member
Posts: 356
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 7:52 pm
Diet: Vegan
Location: Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada

Re: New vegan, been going off and on

Post by Dream Sphere »

Welcome Terra90!

I found that it took about three to six months of cutting out a highly craved food from my diet to hardly crave it anymore, after that point it became super easy to deal with not having it. From what I've heard from others, that six months after going vegan of craving cheese personally was a bit of an anomaly, since it seems others on average take a shorter amount of time for their cravings to dissipate.

Thinking of doing it for the animals is a good idea. But, don't think you'll always have reduced pleasure in your diet, since tastes change it should be only a temporary sacrifice to the point where you'll enjoy food as a vegan as much as ever once you're over the brunt of the cravings and have developed new tastes.

I think mock meats are great, I'm a fan of them personally, although I've been wondering does eating mock meats regularly keep the taste for meat in you? I imagine it's different for people. Some not liking mock meats or real meat, some being completely satisfied with mock meat only, or others finding that the mock meat keeps their taste for real meat alive.

I think the latter person wouldn't have a problem being vegan if every type of real meat had an equally enjoyable ethical alternative, unfortunately I don't think every type of meat like steak has a readily available mock version available to most people (though it's definitely always worth checking out if there are good new mock meats available to you.)

So with that said I think you should try to continue veganism with mock meats for now, but if you find after a while (like five or six months) that your meat cravings are as strong as ever, it might be worth experimenting eventually to see if going through an honestly harder time (for the temporary time to really break the craving) of not eating anything too meat like could help you in the long run of being vegan so that it really changes your taste. It would be risky though, which is why I think trying veganism with the meat alternatives is still worth a shot at long term success right now.
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brimstoneSalad
neither stone nor salad
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Joined: Wed May 28, 2014 9:20 am
Diet: Vegan

Re: New vegan, been going off and on

Post by brimstoneSalad »

Welcome Terra, congrats on going vegan and I hope you like it here!

The same trick for cigarette cravings helps with other cravings too: remember that they only last a few minutes, so try to distract yourself.

https://smokefree.gov/challenges-when-quitting/cravings-triggers/how-manage-cravings

(We probably need to make a wiki article addressing cravings, I satrted one here:
http://philosophicalvegan.com/wiki/index.php/Fighting_Cravings)

Also, make sure you're never left hungry and have some healthy filling vegan snacks, since hunger can really amp up cravings.
Terra90
Newbie
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2018 4:06 pm
Diet: Vegan

Re: New vegan, been going off and on

Post by Terra90 »

brimstoneSalad wrote: ↑Thu Mar 01, 2018 2:27 pm Welcome Terra, congrats on going vegan and I hope you like it here!

The same trick for cigarette cravings helps with other cravings too: remember that they only last a few minutes, so try to distract yourself.

https://smokefree.gov/challenges-when-quitting/cravings-triggers/how-manage-cravings

(We probably need to make a wiki article addressing cravings, I satrted one here:
http://philosophicalvegan.com/wiki/index.php/Fighting_Cravings)

Also, make sure you're never left hungry and have some healthy filling vegan snacks, since hunger can really amp up cravings.
Thank you so much for the link! I hope I find something good :D
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