Going Vegan

Rummer

I am taking steps to become vegan and I was looking for others who have done the same. There are quite a few websites with good information but some personal experiences and advice would be lovely

A.Penny.Saved

Don't do it! It's very unhealthy and any nutritionist who knows about it would tell you.

A person needs Yang foods which are mostly animal products, more today than ever before because people are over exposed to Yin substances in their daily lives. Fruits are very Yin, vegetables, especially those which grow above the ground are also Yin.

Vegan diets are very unbalanced.

Yolina

I'm not vegan, but a friend of mine has been for over 20 years... he's always full of energy and, as far as know, in perfect health. I also know of one vegan athlete (Olympic level) and 2 professional racing drivers so it seems to be possible to have a fairly balanced vegan diet by the looks of things.

OP I hope you can get the info you're looking for, and that it works out for you if you decide to go ahead. As an aside, I found a stall on a market near me that sells vegan cakes, tried one because they did look really nice and it tasted great my vegan friend was also impressed when I bought him some.

ripplyuk

It's very healthy and a great thing to do. Just be sure you get enough B12, although nowadays it's supplemented in soya milk etc, but some marmite is good too. Or in a supplement if you're worried about it. I was vegan for about 15 years. It was much harder then as it was almost impossible to get vegan products but now they're everywhere. Get a good vegan cookbook from the library.

Maybe start off just swapping products for vegan alternatives eg: soya milk/spread instead of cows milk/butter. Check out the supermarket isles that have products for allergies etc as they often have vegan products as well. We get the vegan mayonnaise there and soya yogurts.

I found I had so much more energy and just felt 'brighter'. My skin looked far better too.

lemontart

prolly good idea to know some good vegan alternatives to start with. A lot of things contain animal products - even a lot of veggie products have egg or milk in including all quorn products so those are a no no

Linda Mccartney sausages
her country pies
Tesco value range sausages
Beef flavour pot noodles (I kid ye not)
Most baked beans are fine Branston Hienz tescos etc

Toothsmith

You'll never be able to go to France!

They have trouble enough with vegetarians!

redfragglebiker

I'm not a vegan but I have two very close friends who are and the internet is definitely your friend when it comes to interesting vegan food! If you find yourself craving chocolate there is a great vegan chocolate mousee recipe which uses either avocado or coconut cream with proper cocoa powder and it's GORGEOUS! Stock up on beans and lentils as they can be used for SO much stuff it's unreal! If you find yourself missing worcester sauce try to find a botlle of Hendersons Relish. It's much better IMO and as a bonus it's vegan friendly. You can also make vegan "cheese" by using cashew nuts - again there are LOADS of recipes on the internet. HTH but I will ask my friends of some good vegan resources if you like and PM you the details when I have them?

robrooo

Hi, I've been vegan for 34 years. If you put in a little effort on the dietary side, a vegan diet can be just as healthy or healthier than an omnivorous diet. Veganism is of course much more than a diet though, although food is the most obvious change.

In general vegans enjoy a significant reduction in risk of diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes, but nowadays it is just as easy to be a "junk food vegan" as a junk food omni - there are a few areas that you need to look out for nutritionally.

I favour evidence-based scientific sources for nutritional advice, here are a couple off the top of my head:

http://www.veganhealth.org/ (this has a tips section for new vegans)
http://jacknorrisrd.com/
Also Google Dr Michael Greger for some videos on particular subjects.

Also try the Vegan Starter Kit: http://vegankit.com/ and maybe the UK Vegan Society for advice.

As far as personal experiences go, well it is probably a bit different now than when I became vegan in the 80's! But I was veggie first for about a year. My primary motivation was to not be involved in animal exploitation, and very quickly I learned about the health and environmental benefits, and went on to learn a bit about nutrition from attending various short courses.

I don't eat "fake" or "faux" meat or cheese substitutes - maybe they are good for transitioning, but I don't think many are that good nutritionally, and there were not that many around when I become vegan. Maybe eat them as a treat or something to take to a friend's party or similar...

Feel free to send me any questions via pm or on here and I will try to answer.

Oh, to reference a comment above, there seem to be about 127 vegan/vegan friendly restaurants in Paris: http://www.happycow.net/europe/france/paris/

The rest of France is probably still difficult - many years ago I used to date a French girl from the Alps and her parents thought I was mad.

Good luck,
Rob

Pennylane

Don't do it! I know a few vegans and none of them are healthy. They look listless and are always ill.

My niece was veggie for years and then became vegan ... Probably about 14 years now. She has children of her own and the whole lot of them have always got colds, sniffles, tummy bugs and they are ghostly white. They just don't look healthy.

robrooo

Rich Roll, who has held the title of fittest man on the planet: vegan
http://www.richroll.com/bio/

Yolina

Pennylane wrote: »

Don't do it! I know a few vegans and none of them are healthy. They look listless and are always ill.

But then there are plenty of people who aren't vegan and who aren't healthy either because they eat mostly cr*p... junk food, even if it's vegan, is still junk food. So I'd say, like most things, it's a question of balance The OP certainly need to make sure they find alternative sources of some vitamins and nutrients to avoid issues but I'm sure there's plenty of healthy vegans out there.