To become a vegan?

[MissDallas]

OK, I am not your typical hippy type, I have hair extensions and I like fake tans and I have a corporate job. Not sure what that's got to do with it, but wanted to paint a picture.

I have been thinking about becoming a vegan for some time. I hate the way animals are treated in factory farming, it is so cruel. Also in my line of work I have come to know several facts about how meat is produced, mutated chickens, etc and it's awful. I used to think they were urban myths but sadly not. The horse in the ready meals scandal got me thinking as well. We can't even be sure what animal we are eating. Also the hormones, ammonia and other shit used in food... it's all horrible.

On a personal level, I would like to be healthier. I'm always stressed and tired, I'm also overweight.

I keep reading lately about the benefits of a plant-based diet. And people who do 42 day juice fasts and complete my change their health and become happier as a result. It's got me thinking... should I become a vegan?

Is anybody else considering it? Is anybody here a vegan? What do I need to know? Can a vegan diet give you all the nutrients you need? AIBU? Thanks.

I didn't make it clear: The Seventh Day Adventists are vegan.

I have been a strict vegetarian for many years and have never lapsed or craved meat. I'm touch wood healthy and have a varied diet.

I wouldn't contemplate veganism. I have difficulty enough as it is, being able to eat out, I'm treated like a second class citizen. It would be 10 times worse as a vegan, I know that for sure. I just about manage to persuade restaurants to do me something more inspiring than vegetarian lasagne!

The Seventh Day Adventists are vegan

They blooming well are not -- well, not all of them. 1/5-1/3 aren't even vegetarian. As a group they also avoid alcohol & tobacco and endorse physical activity, though, it's not just common vegetarianism in lifestyle that might benefit them.

Sorry to go OT but I never understood that thing of lower risk of all cause mortality. You can't live forever thankfully.

I didn't find eating out a problem as a vegetarian, except in France. My vegan friends don't have much trouble either thankfully.

If you are always stressed and tired, then being a vegan is not for you, in my opinion. It is just more work to balance your diet if you are a vegetarian, even more so if you are a vegan. You need to have the energy to do that. I find being a vegetarian doable, but vegan would be too much work for me.

You write you are overweight. It would probably (depending on the reasons for hwy you are overweight) benefit you to go low carb, which is more difficult if you don't eat meat, eggs and dairy.

What you can do with relatively little effort is limit your intake of meat and other animal products, and buy the more expensive versions - free range eggs, meat, dairy, etc.

Also, what LionsLedge writes. Lots of nuts and veggies.

If/when you feel less stressed and tired due to your new lifestyle, you could consider going vegan, but I think if you just try to become vegan in a week, this could lead to frustration and falling back into your old lifestyle.

@lorelei: It doesn't just lower your risk of suddenly dying, it also lowers your risk of developing diseases that make life difficult and require surgery.

All this talk of seventh day Adventists is reminding me of Mrs Kim from Gilmore girls and her seventh day Adventist church mates gathering in her house to eat her buckwheat wheat balls, followed by soy and tofu muffins and washed down by good ol' Korean salad water. while her daughter Lane stuffed her face with burgers

lijkk I don't know any thing about Seventh Day Adventists myself, but the large group living together in a certain town in California shown on the programme were vegans.

I am sorry if my statement about SDA being vegans was an over generalisation.

Vestal, I know re disease, but I am probably being literal on the mortality thing.

OP one of my friends was overweight before going vegan, of course you see overweight vegans but you have to figure out what suits you. Let us know what you do.

YANBU! I have been vegan for a few months now and loving it - feeling healthier and happier (and no more guilt - now knowing I'm doing something compassionate and helping protect the environment for future generations). you need to really make sure you eat a proper balanced diet however - I did a lot of meal planning till it became second nature. You can get all the nutrients / protein etc that you need from plant based foods except probably enough B12 (but this is a problem with all people anyway), so I'd take a multivitamin containing b12 too. Enjoy discovering new amazing foods to eat - that was the best part for me (and I'm now healthier / fitter / thinner too, yay!).

Sorry KindDog, didn't mean to sound like I was jumping down your throat.
The 7th day Adventists are interesting but not as homogenous as tv programme might make out.
One of them married Ted Cruz (head in hands).

YANBU at all. I am not vegan, but I am actively reducing the amount of animal protein I eat - DD1 and I currently have 2 to 3 vegetarian or vegan days a week. We both feel better and fitter. DH and DD2 are total carnivores. Perhaps doing it in stages would be easier? But there is so much tasty and nutritious vegan food out there that it isn't actually that hard.

YANBU to give it a try. But have a blood test every 6 months for the first 5 years, if you stick to it, just to make sure. And you won't necessarily lose weight, btw. Nothing stays as long in your stomach as meat, so you'll get an empty stomach sooner if you don't eat meat.

I'm a vegan too :)

YANBU!

DH and I have been vegan for fifteen years and DC are vegan too.

Best thing we ever did!

Hello miss Dallas watching this with interest am juicing next week then embracing vegan food my best friend 73 is healthy as anything and very vegan - booked a raw food juice retreat in August if you live near Gloucestershire maybe we could compare notes ! Good luck X

Iona, why blood tests?
I've only been anemic since eating red meat. Sigh.

There are many reasons to becoming a vegan and besides cruelty to animals another reason is the environment. The best thing people could do to reduce their carbon footprint would be to give up eating meat. Raising animals for meat is the biggest cause of green house gases than the transport industry. That includes planes, trucks, ships and cars.

Give up your burgers rather than your car.

Do it! I've just been posting on another thread, hopefully with helpful tips - save me typing it all out again, it's here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2621183-Vegans-unite-Come-and-help-me-please?.

Delighted veganism is so big now. We are reaching tipping point.

Vegan here who went from omnivore to vegan overnight. Once I got over the 'OMG WHAT CAN I EAT' stage then it was all fine

I still haven't watched Vegucated or Earthlings - I can't imagine how upset I'd feel and it's not like my approach would change.

My DH and DC are omnivores and I make an effort to buy meat/milk/eggs for them that have as high welfare standards as possible (ideally reared in Britain, ideally local). I agree that it's good to support such businesses if you can as it may move the middle ground towards a better place.

lacontessa or anyone else, would you be happy to give examples of what you eat on a few typical days?

I admire you all from reading this thread and just worry that I would feel starving (I'm already very limited in what I can eat as react to gluten, rice and corn and find keeping weight on a struggle sometimes).

What keeps you full and is it easy to adjust?
I definitely respect that it's better to be vegan, but we've never come close and i do think a lot about nutrition which I feel is easier with a wider diet but I know so little.

At the moment I just try to use less meat and we already include lots of pulses , soups Etc but I worry I'd not have enough substance if I didn't have cheese too as need calories. But maybe that's psychological and I'd adjust?

These make me feel full:
Avocados with lemon juice and olive oil.
Any pulses with olive oil and lemon juice, salt and pepper and there are lots of very nice Indian dhal dishes that combine lentils with vegetables, for example spinach.
Nuts with chopped up fruit.

I could easily eat a 100gram bag of cashew nuts/other nuts and that would be about 500 calories and 18grms or so of protein, so if you find it difficult to keep weight on, you will be in the lucky position of being able to eat plenty of nuts and seeds with nuts with things. Nuts are extremely good for you and give good cholesterol.

You could perhaps eat quinoa instead of rice? That has protein too/
There are lots of gluten free flours now such as almond and coconut, gram flour which is chickpea flour, buckwheat flour (that is not a wheat).

More and more people are becoming vegan and there are books you could get.

After writing about cashew nuts in the previous post, I have just read that cashews are produced by more or less slave labour under terrible conditions. To get the hard shells off corrosive chemicals are used so if conditions are bad the effects on the people doing this work is very harmful.

It is important to get Fair trade ones and be careful. There are various articles about it.

Vegan here,YANBU, it's the best thing you can do for the animals, for the planet and for other humans. There is no other way to make such a simple stand every day against suffering. There is no such thing as humans slaughter (surely the word slaughter gives this away?) Animal agriculture is destroying the planet, only serious direct action can make a difference now. Watch Cowspiracy if you haven't.

I have a tendency to get over excited in posts such as these (there's a thread in chat now about someone wanting to go vegan, I've said a lot more there, do check it out) but would love to be of assistance if I can, do send me a PM X