I'm ready to give another try

[Patrick]

Last time I found it really hard to stay vegan and I quit after 3 weeks but I'm ready to give another try. Is there any way to make it easier? How do we get all the nutriment needed? It's expensive so is there any way to pay less money? This time I won't start immediately like I did last time. My reason for wanting to be vegan is for health only and nothing else.

[TheVeganAtheist]

Hi Patrick, that's great news. What about last time made it so challenging? If you can describe for us your concerns we may be able to assist.

[brimstoneSalad]

Hi Patrick,

That's great, but the best way to make it easier is to add more reasons, instead of just health. It's very hard for people to keep up any lifestyle change if the motive is only selfish.

If you research more, and learn about animal suffering (for example), or global warming, and harm to other human beings in the world who are suffering from the waste of the first world, this may strengthen your resolve, and help you stick with it for your health.

Do you have any personal sense of morality, or are you pretty much a nihilist? If you care about something, that's great, and we may be able to help show you how caring about this is also meaningful. Sometimes it's hard for nihilists to care about animal suffering, or human suffering, so without any morality, it's more difficult to go vegan.


In terms of cost, the important thing to do is learn a few cooking tricks, and learn how to prepare beans at home as a protein staple.
How much cooking experience do you have?

[Patrick]

Hi Patrick, that's great news. What about last time made it so challenging? If you can describe for us your concerns we may be able to assist.

What made it so challenging was that a lot of food contain animal product and also it's not easy to find all the nutriment we need in food that doesn't have animal products so we have to search because most of the food we see is not vegan and when we see vegan food it's something expensive most of the time. Also I felt like hungry for meat after 3 weeks, I couldn't resist, 98% of people I know are not vegan and I work in a non-vegan restaurant(meat in everything). Maybe if I would care about animals it would be better for me but the problem is I don't really care since I always ate them. I think last time I quit because I started too fast and didn't start gradually.

[Patrick]

@brimstoneSalad I didn't know about the global warming thing caused by animal and and harm to other human beings in the world who are suffering from the waste of the first world. I think I should learn more and for animal suffering I would feel bad if I would see an animal get killed in front of me but I never think about it when I eat meat.

I'm not bad at cooking. The main problem I think is because I'm lazy.

[brimstoneSalad]

@brimstoneSalad I didn't know about the global warming thing caused by animal and and harm to other human beings in the world who are suffering from the waste of the first world.

Cowspiracy is a popular documentary on the subject, but I've covered it in some detail on the forum. Animal agriculture is just really wasteful. It's based on thermodynamics: You have to feed more food to the animals, in order to fatten them up, to then feed to people, compared to feeding people directly. And that waste translates not just into less land to grow food for the starving (which is becoming a larger problem), but destroying rainforests, and creating more pollution too, which is causing global warming and resulting in natural disasters (hurricanes, etc.) and rising sea levels that are forcing people from their homes into greater poverty. It also contributes to disease, since animal agriculture makes antibiotics useless, and creates super bugs.

I think I should learn more and for animal suffering I would feel bad if I would see an animal get killed in front of me but I never think about it when I eat meat.

Have you seen the documentary "Earthlings"?

There's an important thing to understand in the basic notion of morality and causality: If something is wrong for you to do with your own hands, it's also wrong to pay others to do it for you.
It's like, if you hire somebody to kill your ex spouse, you are guilty of the crime.

Look into your heart, and consider if it's right to cause suffering and death to others for no reason. If it is not, you shouldn't let other people do it for you.

I'm not bad at cooking. The main problem I think is because I'm lazy.

The trick is to cook a really big pot. Like 2-3 pounds of beans, with spices, etc. You can freeze some, and eat it for a week.
Do pretty much all of your own cooking, from whole food ingredients (like dried beans, veggies, spices). It will be cheaper, and healthier, and you can control everything that goes into it. And when you go to work, you can pack lunch.

Aside from soups, peanut butter sandwiches are another good cheap staple. Also, pack a lot of nuts. Nuts are an important snack food, and while they are high in fat, they aren't associated with weight gain. Avoid much added oil when you can.

Take it slow; learn some vegan recipes, use lots of beans.

Do you have any recipes you've made before using beans?

http://www.theppk.com/

Post punk kitchen has a lot of good ones.

[Patrick]

@brimstoneSalad I made more research now and I think I understand what you mean it's not more right to pay someone to kill than to kill by yourself. I also know now how animal agriculture is bad for the environment and how useless meat can be when we can replace it with a vegan equivalent. So it's useless and we still eat it. I think I get it now and also if I'm able to stay vegan for 3 month I can confirm that I will not quit again.

[brimstoneSalad]

I think I get it now and also if I'm able to stay vegan for 3 month I can confirm that I will not quit again.

That's great! Don't give up if you stumble though, we pretty much all do. It's perseverance that yields success, nobody is perfect.

Please don't hesitate to ask any questions. We're happy to help.