If you become vegetarian or vegan how has it changed your life?

[Cupcakeicecream]

I'm very curious as to how it has impacted your life as I'm considering it myself.
At the moment I dont eat eggs never liked them much and dont really have diary as intolerant so I have alpro soya or other plant based milks. but my downfall is halloumi and mozzarella. But I notice when I do have dairy I feel si k and lethargic so probably best to avoid all together. As for meat I dont have much chicken or Turkey one twice a week and red meat rarely. So I'm wondering how easy it is to change lifestyle and stick to. Did it boost up your week shopping costs. Is it easy to eat out. Can you still enjoy the occasional treat like crisps or chocolate. How does your lifestyle compare to what it was. Are you skinny healthier more energetic sleeping better?

I'm vegan.

1. it reduced my shopping costs as beans and lentils are cheaper than cheese and eggs, not eaten meat for years but anything good quality would have been more expensive again.

2. eating out is easy if veggie, harder if vegan if you live somewhere small or rural, but most places can offer you something! No issue in bigger places.

3. Loads of crisps and choc are vegan and most are veggie! I love Tyrrell's sweet chilli crisps, Sainsbury's bacon crispies and the spicy doritos, all of which are vegan, and most dark choc is vegan too.

4. I am slightly skinner and healthier but think that's coincidence rather than because of veganism as chips are vegan and much alcohol is too, and therein lies my downfall!

Hope that helps. Head to the vegan Mumsnet board if you've got lots of questions!

Vegan for 5 years!

Did it boost up your week shopping costs - no, they are lower. Admittedly we're drinking less booze atm (note: not all booze is vegan - check Barnivore website) but generally a lot cheaper.

Is it easy to eat out.
Never used to be but is often is now if in doubt, a jacket potato with beans is vegan friendly. Alternatively Indian food often lacks milk/egg anyway and so is suitable.

Can you still enjoy the occasional treat like crisps or chocolate.
Good chocolate is vegan! 70% dark, most brands. Also Aldi had loads of vegan chocolate recently.

How does your lifestyle compare to what it was.
Pretty much the same!

Are you skinny healthier more energetic sleeping better?
I lost a bit of weight initially but put it back on cos I ate too well! Definitely healthier with no dairy as I don't digest it well.

There are lots of vegan cookbooks out there - the Green Roasting Tin is good (only half vegan) and so is the Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall Even More Veg (or similar title - fully vegan).

I went vegan sharing a home with omnivore DH and DC, so it can be done. Just cook a vegan meal as baseline and they can add meat/dairy if they want. My family don't bother most of the time, anymore. #winning

Veggie!

Feel healthier, I replace meat with veg in things like curries and just feel and looks loads better.

Made me a more creative cook (I love cooking and sourcing new recipes anyway).

Weekly shop is much cheaper. I bulk buy lentils and spices at our local Indian supermarket and then just stock up on veg. Cheap as anything!

I've switched from your diet to a "pescatarian" diet. I have fish a few times a week. I don't miss meat/chicken but mostly because I made an emotional connection that started me down this path. I've always lived with vegetarians so having days/weeks of a vegetarian diet is also a natural way for me to eat. I don't feel healthier. My thinnest and fittest body comes from meat and veg. Meat it's expensive so that's a savings. It's really easy to eat out as a vegetarian but I know they get bored with the same options everywhere. Thing is that's also often true for meat eaters.

My cousin went vegan a few yrs ago. She's sorely disappointed not to have lost any weight.

She says the biggest impact is the amount of time she has to spend preparing food has soared. It's demanding.

Vegetarian here for 2 years!

More time needed to prep and cook - family are not veggie so often cook 2 meals.

Have put on weight as I often just snack cos cba cooking for 1. Also used to do hi protein/fat and low carb to keep my weight in check and find this difficult now as I used to fill up on the meat for protein.

Don't feel any healthier tbh but that may be because the peri- menopause has hit!

I'm vegan an can now braid my leg hair and have no friends.

Going Vegan gives you a moral superiority over meat eaters. You can pretend you can ignore the ultra processed health warnings and think you have no contribution to climate change as you sup on your almond milk latte from a major coffee chain.

If you want to go veggie/vegan do it for you, it isn't some moral point scoring issue or about being on trend, it's a personal choice that you are making, and due to advances in scientific knowledge means that with supplements you being a species of being an omnivore can live on a vegetarian diet.

Hello @justanotherlurker, and thank you for the opportunity to do a little myth busting.

1. I do not drink almond milk, like many many other vegans, as I am aware of the environmental concerns surrounding almonds.

2. I rarely use big coffee chains, again like many vegans - maybe twice a year? Always when going for a drink with omni family members who love Costa. I order a black americano.

3. I eat no more ultra processed food than omni friends and family - do you ever eat a kit kat? Hob nob? Pot noodle? All processed, all not vegan. The majority of vegan food is made up of veg, pulses, grains and the like.

4. Reducing your meat and dairy is the best thing you can do to improve your carbon footprint after having fewer children and flying less. I am vegan significantly for environmental reasons, but many other vegans do so for animal cruelty as their main motivation.

Hope that helps!

I few up veggie (parents were, my mum grew up on a beef farm and couldn’t justify it)
Went vegan about 18 months ago the biggest change was how cheap it is! I don’t eat that well mind...

It's harder to eat out socially, look at the veg options for Christmas dinners out there! But my conscience is clear, and it has made me very much aware of cruelty free products and things. I eat a poor diet but that's on me!

Another vegan here who doesn't drink almond milk. I also rarely eat avacodos before anyone mentions them .

Some pot noodles are vegan though and I am still partial to the occasional beef and tomato one .

I didn't know some pot noodles were! Thanks for the heads up @HugsAreMyDrugs - I used to love them in my student days!

No problem .

They do have milk and possibly eggs listed as a cross contact so they won't advertise themselves as being vegan. But as far as I am concerned if there are no animal products in the pot noodles themselves then I am going to eat them .

I've been veggie for 5 years and eating out used to be a nightmare, now it's super easy! DP isn't but it's pretty easy on that. If I make a one pot meal ie chilli, spag bol, etc he doesn't eat meat. If we have 'meat' and two veg I just have more veg and he has a bit of meat on the side. We are also making moves towards cutting out dairy, replaced his milk with coconut milk and he prefers it anyway!

Being vegan completely cleared my acne up. I recently started eating some dairy again cuz of pregnancy cravings 🙈 and my acne has flared up badly again, which could also be due to hormones but seems too much of a coincidence that it cleared when stopped and came back again once ate dairy.

I’m veggie but eat mostly vegan. Food bills much cheaper and I’m much healthier as I now eat so much veg and fruit!

It hasn't changed my life at all really to be honest OP. The change is my shopping list - which I think is cheaper I suppose. I love cheese (Philadelphia and brie, drool) but am very lactose intolerant and it got to the stage where I've organically stopped thinking about it now- yes I know I love the taste but I do not love horrendous stomach cramps and 2 days on the immodium, so to speak.

I don't view food as much more than fuel really, so nothing's changed, I still cook from scratch and meal prep, adapt the same recipes I used before, restaurants are pretty good these days and vegan is fairly trendy so doesn't get a bad response as much as it used to, I find. I am also gluten free (coeliac) and that has been by far the bigger lifestyle change.

Vegan for 3 years. The biggest impact on me has been on my social life - in a good way! I've made loads of friends through being involved in activism. I did Couch to 5K and have done a few parkruns so I joined the Vegan Runners group. I meet up with my vegan friends regularly when we try new places to eat out. I go to the Vegan Camp Out every year. The best thing though is that I feel good knowing that no animals/fish/birds are harmed because of me.

I am Hindu and grew up in a mostly vegan family (dairy and foods containing dairy were only consumed irregularly). Sudden death syndrome before 30-40 was very common in my family and still is except for those individuals who either eat meat or a vegetarian diet with eggs. The longest lived people in my family all ate dairy / eggs / fish / meat regularly. This is probably because vegan food often needs more salt / sugar / processing (eg frying) to be edible.

Vegetarian since August 1995 when my son was born.

Did it boost up your week shopping costs. - I’ve never thought about the cost.

Is it easy to eat out. - it is nowadays.

Can you still enjoy the occasional treat like crisps or chocolate. - I don’t believe in having the ‘occasional’ treat, I eat crisps and chocolate whenever I want, just a small amount as my food intake is based on portion control.

How does your lifestyle compare to what it was. - not much difference as I never ate much red meat and I’ve always hated seafood.

Are you skinny healthier more energetic sleeping better? - I’ve always been slim/normal and have never been overweight. I sleep well but have always done so.

@dontgobaconmyheart I am intolerant to gluten but think dairy is also an issue and I’m vegetarian. I’m struggling with what to eat! I definitely think dairy free is easier than gluten free when eating out.

OP

how easy it is to change lifestyle and stick to. - been vegetarian for 28 years so can’t remember!

Did it boost up your week shopping costs. - my shopping got more expensive when the children all started eating meat.

Is it easy to eat out. - loads of vegan choices and even more vegetarian.

Can you still enjoy the occasional treat like crisps or chocolate.- hell yes. (Occasionally is most days isn’t it?)

How does your lifestyle compare to what it was.- not sure.

Are you skinny healthier more energetic sleeping better? I was 13 when I became vegetarian and had always been skinny, not very energetic but I am lazy, can’t remember how I slept!

I think my skin is better since turning vegan, as I think more about what I am eating than I ever did before. Like a PP, I bulk buy lentils and spices at my local Asian supermarket so my weekly shop is mainly veg and fruit. We eat a lot of pasta as a family and it's easy to make it vegan.

I don't like avacado or almond milk. Drink oat milk in tea which I love.

My step-mum eats like a vegan, last 3 yrs I think. Plus a little fish. She says her cholesterol numbers are very much improved.