Eric Marcus (the smart guy who got the “vegan.com” domain and actually used it well!) has made a point about those journalists who venture into veganism for a short while and half the time end up bashing it in the media. Tsk tsk tsk.
“Veganism is indeed profoundly unsatisfying, but only if you don’t invest a bit of time up front to explore the diet and figure out which new foods might please you.”
Read the whole thing @ How Not to Go Vegan.
Sam Spurlin from The Simpler Life Has told us what he’s learned during his first month of vegetarianism. This gem comes in at the end of an awesome article, I suggest you check out the whole thing:
I think the underlying lesson that I learned from this month is the truthfulness of the overused cliche, “Don’t knock it until you try it.” I used to think vegetarians were pretty weird, irrational, and uncannily disciplined. Then, I tried it for myself and found out that I don’t think I’m any weirder than I used to be, I feel MORE rational than I ever have now that I’ve thought about the implications of my diet, and that making this change has required less self-discipline than many other changes I’ve made or need to make in my life.
Evelyn goes through some common replacers for animal based ingredients – including many you might seldom use in cooking, baking or even desert preparation!
A worthwhile bookmark here. Thanks Evelyn.
Vegan Alternatives for Animal-Based Foods | Become a Healthier You.
You have finally decided that you will eat a vegan diet. Now what? Where do you start and how do you begin?
You should read Vegan in 30 Daysbecause it steers you in the right direction. No more wondering how you will stop eating meat, chicken, fish, eggs, or dairy or any animal product for that matter.
via How to Become a Vegan in 30 Days | Become a Healthier You.
This post by Evelyn Parham appears on her blog Become a Healthier You
This year (2010) has been a year in which I learned valuable lessons about being a vegan. It wasn’t until August of 2010, that things finally clicked. The book that left a lasting impression on me, By Any Greens Necessary written by Tracye McQuirter, gave me what I needed to continue on this journey.
Continue Reading “9 Vegan Lessons I Learned in 2010″ by Evelyn Parham
The plant-based diet will make you happy, that’s for sure. The question is, will you let it?
Food is addictive, psychologically and sometimes physically. To avoid those uncomfortable situations where you regain consciousness while running after your friend’s dog, fork in hand, froth at mouth, read a few tips to keep you 200% satisfied.
Cooking is not hard. I know, because I can do it. (Not like shopping, which is slightly hard, but we have to do that, whatever we eat.)
Cooking vegan food is easier than cooking animal based meals because the preparation is less risky – you can’t die from cooking it incorrectly. Yay! No accidental death by food poisoning!
Don’t feel like you’re missing out. Get in the kitchen and have fun. Even the process will be enjoyable, if the initial results leave you eating potato chips from 7/11 and taking out one heavy bag of trash the next day.
Here are my basic rules for cooking which you can adopt royalty free 
.
Take control of your kitchen (or just start using it). Emulate what you know, but don’t be afraid. Buy random vegetables. Read vegan cooking blogs (there are hundreds).
You can do it. There are no rules. There never were, even though we ate the same things every day of the week for our whole lives up until we decided not to.
Find your local vegan places and make them rich. Get a second job if you have to. Or just sell your house, whatever feels easiest. Searching Google for “vegan” + your city name is a good way to start – you’ll even get a map.
If you’re going to be the odd one out at the next gathering, you might as well be it in style. Make it at your house. Buy a mixture of vegan junk food (people will not know is vegan or care), vegan health food (“oh, where did you find vegan nuts and olives?” is something I guarantee you will not hear). Make a salad. Fry some vegan sausages (don’t tell me you can’t fry a sausage, I’ll ban you from this blog!) and serve them in folded bread with mustard. Yummo!
I’m currently compiling my list of the best vegan junk food known to man. Then there’s the best vegan finger food. Make sure you subscribe and stay tuned!
Vegans, new vegans, aspiring vegans, how are YOU making yourself happy?
(Thanks for the pic Rain Rabbit)
Your lifestyle is important. Actually, it’s your life. Most people want to live in the best way they can and do the most with what they’ve got and the knowledge at hand.
We all know people change over time. That’s the way things work. Sometimes this makes existing relationships difficult.
One person’s quest for a healthier, kinder and greener lifestyle can become a source of angst in a relationship – funnily, sometimes as much as damaging habits like drinking and smoking. The fact is, newly formed differences of opinion and habit can create barriers.
I just spoke with a couple who had vastly diverging views. It was clear as I spoke with them that this was an ongoing, completely unresolved and possibly impossible to fix difference.
How do you guys get over this? I asked. We just don’t talk about it, they said.
That’s one way and it seemed to be working wonders for them, with their second kid on the way (congratulations James and Heather!).
This is an invitation to let everyone know how you deal with similar predicaments in the comments below (email readers click the title to get to the web version). Go into as much detail as you like.
If you’re in a relationship where you and your partner don’t share the same lifestyle and views, what exactly do you struggle with and what do you do (or not do) to get along?
Thanks garryknight for the pic!
This post is just a simple “yes.” Yes – eat and enjoy any vegetarian foods you like.
Don’t feel guilty if as a new vegan you get a thrill out of meat substitutes that seem to satisfy. It’s not meat. It’s greener (in the environmental sense, I hope). It’s kinder. If you like it, you like it.
There’s a particular form of soy I like called ‘Tou Bao’ (also Dao Bao) that just happens to taste just like chicken skin when fried and then braised with a touch of soy sauce. I don’t like it because it tastes like chicken, I like it because it tastes good. When I eat it I am sometimes briefly reminded of the chicken I ate while growing up, which isn’t unpleasant, because I have a lot of great memories from the family dinner table.
That said, after eight years of not eating them, if I tried to put an actual chicken in my mouth now I’d proably throw up.
You’ll hear many vegetarians say that it defeats the purpose of being vegan if you make the food taste and appear like meat. But does it?
Of course not, silly! It supports the purpose of being vegan by keeping you interested through your transition. We can’t all go from roasts to sprouted chickpeas in a day.
But I totally understand that some wouldn’t feel comfortable putting that reminder of animal suffering (etc) into their mouth. But for me, if I know it’s not, it’s not. And if it tastes good, I’ll enjoy it.
Occasionally though, some fake meats are so realistic that I’ll be freaked out… is this meat? Gross feelings will ensue.
By all means, if you’re wantingly hurting animals, the environment and your own health by eating meat and dairy – feel guilty as hell. But if you’re not, don’t let anyone tell you that your taste in vegan fare defeats the purpose of the life-saving, planet-saving diet. It doesn’t!
Thanks QuintanaRoo for your soy-chicken salad photo. Yum.
