How would I find going vegan? I’ve been vegetarian for 18 years now.?

Question by greenbean: How would I find going vegan? I’ve been vegetarian for 18 years now.?
What I currently eat (in general)- Beans/pulses/lentils/chick peas etc, vegetables (obviously!), seeds and nuts, grains (inc pasta, couscous etc) of any description, fruit, eggs (free range), cheese (not much though, I eat mostly cottage cheese, I think full fat hard cheeses should be considered a treat rather than an everyday thing, same as things like cupcakes or a sticky toffee pudding with custard), I have milk in tea and on cereal. Other than that the usual crisps/chocolate/cookies/crap etc (always vegetarian) that we should all eat less of. I eat tofu but only occasionally plain tofu because tbh I just don’t like it much, but I do like tofu rosso and the herb marinated ones. Loads of olives and stuff like that. Loads of cereals, especially oats and rye (yum). Yoghurt.
What I won’t eat- any form of ‘fake’ meat like vegetarian chicken (I just don’t get that at all- why would you decide to exclude animal products just to eat mock ones instead?? I don’t see the logic and it’s unnecessary when there are so many ‘real’ natural foods that I can eat instead. Besides which, I have tried them and they’re dry and salty and taste weird) or quorn mince etc. Quinoa- it’s just weird and that little tail thing that comes out turns my stomach for some weird reason. Avocado- hate it, just totally hate it. Okra. Aubergine. And, obviously, fish and anything meat or meat-related (gelatine, cochineal etc).

I’d have to give up my Saturday morning fried egg sandwich but mushrooms on toast would be fine instead, and change to soya/oat milk in tea and cereal, and switch to plain chocolate rather than milk. I’m not a massive ice-cream fan, I’d rather have sorbet anyway so that would be ok, and cut out cookies and cupcakes etc (unless i could get vegan ones) but that’s no bad thing. What other changes would I need to make? Is there anything that’s in a lot of stuff that I’ve completely missed or wouldn’t necessarily think of (I’m thinking of more obscure ingredients or processes, along the lines of isinglass used to clear drinks, that sort of thing, that you wouldn’t even think about if you weren’t vege or vegan already). Is it best to do it gradually, or should I just change overnight (seems a bit unnecessary to me to drag it out but I could be wrong)? My favourite, favourite meal in the world is a jacket potato with cottage cheese and loads of salad- what could I have as an alternative to that, for example? I don’t miss meat at all- I never have done, but sometimes I really want fish but I usually just have some linseed instead (my logic is I’m wanting some omega 3). Do I sound like I’d find it difficult, or would it just be a natural progression from how I eat already? Any other advice about anything related would be great too. Thanks x
I also don’t wear or buy leather, fur or feathers or products tested on animals.

Best answer:

Answer by Alex Smith
You’d be a great vegan because you actually care. I thought going vegan was going to be impossible but now i wouldn’t’ trade it for anything.
http://www.vegweb.com gives you vegan recipies for almost everything!
i missed eggs at first but you get over it. i changed to vegan over night and went crazy finding cheese recipies etc.
all you have to do nowadays is google things and a bajillion options will open up. give it a thirty day trial and then ake up your mind:)
heres a report i wrote about veganism

Before I start my report, I’d like to say that this paper was not written to try and convert anyone to veganism. It’s just out there to clarify that veganism isn’t just for fools who want to have a label, it’s for people who are aware of the terrors put upon animals, and are protesting by not supporting companies that administer these attacks, on animals.

When I tell people that I want to be vegan, they usually look at me like I’m crazy and ask: “why?” In my mind, though, the real question is: ‘why not’. Humans don’t depend on milk from cows, just as we don’t drink milk from our mothers anymore. We don’t need to eat eggs when we can get all 8 essential amino acids from soy products. Then the people go on to say: “God that’s so stupid, we were meant to eat meat.” And I just stand there shaking my head trying to find the best way to tell them that we are NOT CARNIVORES!! Before saying: “fine, suit yourself”
My outlook on this topic is that… we don’t need meat; we eat it for our own pleasure. But, in my opinion, skinning, killing, and disemboweling an animal, before cutting it up into little bite size pieces and frying them as chicken nuggets is a high cost for some ‘good food’.

Dairy and Eggs: most people will accept vegetarians and there ways of thinking, but when they hear the word ‘vegan’ they think of crazy lunatics who have taken a step too far in the wacko direction… but that’s not really the case. Most cows in the dairy industry are given growth hormones that cause their udders to become unnaturally big and heavy, to produce more milk. This process increases the birth defects in cows. The average dairy cow will produce about 100 pounds of milk per day, 10 times more than it would naturally produce. Normal non-milked cows can live an average of 25 years. Dairy cows are slaughtered and made into beef after about 3-4 years. Because of the intense abuse they’ve gone through at the milking farm dairy cows also often end up not being able to stand or walk which causes the cows to become even more injured from humans dragging them into trucks to move them. When people hear of the abuse cows go through at many farms, some switch to organic milk, where cows are treated with better respect. But even organic farms have to make money; they will still inject hormones into the cow, keep it pregnant, and in a few years… ship it off to the slaughterhouse.
Male chicks are considered useless in the egg-laying business, so after birth, they are all either thrown into a big box, or plastic bags and thrown away. Soft eggs are also considered useless in this career. Eggs need to be hard and firm to survive truck rides to grocery stores, but after a year of laying eggs, the chickens eggs start to loose there firmness. For this reason, egg-lying chickens are slaughtered about one year after births… yes even the “free range” chickens.

So every time I hear my friends calling me crazy for going vegan, or my dad telling me to stop fretting over the small amounts of dairy in each product we buy… I think of those poor cows and chickens, and what I can do to make a difference.

Wanda Embar “Animal Cruelty” Vegan Peace
http://www.veganpeace.com/index.htm (26 August 2010)

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