What advice can you give me?

[JamieFraserskiltspeaksout]

I am going vegan tomorrow. I'm not a meat lover - it's more the dairy side I will struggle with. However, I have discovered oat milk and it's amazing!
If you could give me advice...what do o need to know? Thank you.

My advice is to focus on the VEG part of VEGan and not fall into the 50-shades-of-beige trap. Eat whole food, real food, not Frankenstein-food or the fake-cheese, fake-sausages and so on.
There are some things you must know and do because malnutrition is rampant amongst vegans.

1. take vitamin B12 supplements. There is no way you can get them from diet. Yes, many manufacturer add B12 to milk, cereals, but it is still a supplement, so better take it directly to be sure to meet your needs.
2. Omega 3, this is a very tricky one. I was eating flaxseed, chia seeds, walnuts to cover my needs reaching more than 800% (according to cronometer. com , a free nutritional analysis website) but when I started getting symptoms, I got tested and was dangerously low, so now I supplement with algae based DHA and EPA
3. eat 1 Brazil nut a day for selenium
4. eat seaweed or take iodine drops.

Eat a variety of colours and discover the pleasure of cooking and eating new dishes. I don't try to make vegan alternatives of meat based dish and stay clear of ultra-processed foods

Why are you doing this?

Thank you - I don't enjoy cheese anyway and I generally live vegetables - more so than fruit. I had a good day today and enjoyed a Thai green curry and rice, butternut squash soup and lentil crisps things.
I'm doing this because I believe it is the ethically right thing to do and that it will improve my health as I mainly exist on junk food.

I try to eat a variety of 20+ different veggies every week, and I have found beautiful recipes in this book.
It is not a vegan cookbook, so I just swap butter with olive oil, but I still recommend it because it is quite extraordinary.
www.amazon.co.uk/Side-sourcebook-inspiring-side-dishes/dp/140887315X/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid&sr

I am totally on board for the animal suffering. The idea of them at the slaughterhouse is the hardest to accept.

Be mindful of your iron as well, and make sure to have your iron rich meal away from your tea/coffee (at least 2 hours, prior or after meals) as they will inhibit iron absorption.
Instead of lentil chips which are still a bit junk foody , can I recommend you try chickpea flatbread? www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-socca-a-naturally-gluten-free-chickpea-flatbread-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-169513
I use 2/3 chickpea flour and 1/3 wholemeal flour. I like it better

Thank you so much for the advice and links. The bread looks wonderful - on Saturday I will make a batch and freeze.
I have quit oat milk as it's already too rich and sweet. So I have no sugar soy milk and that works well in coffee.
I must say I have been much thirstier than normal but all my gallbladder pain has stopped entirely!

That is amazing.
When adopting a whole food diet and eliminating all processed food that include refined grains, processed oils and these lab-made extracts ( soy protein, extracts, isolated whatever, ...) it is astonishing the effect on health.
Tofu and tempeh of prepared correctly are lovely. My non- vegan friends ask me to prepare tofu fingers whenever they come for dinner.
You don’t need to buy unhealthy vegan fake nuggets.

Here is recipe
1 bloc of firm tofu
2 table spoons olive oil
6 table spoons soy sauce or tamari

1 cup almond
1 table spoon mixed herbs
2 tea spoons smoked paprika
1 tea spoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven at 180 .

Cut tofu in 1 cm slices and put them to marinate in a mix olive oil and soy sauce to the ratio of 1:3. For a typical size bloc, it will be two tbls olive oil for 6 soy sauce.
Leave aside while you prepare coating or longer.

Put almonds, herbs, paprika and garlic in blender at max speed until all crushed. Add salt and pepper to taste

Put baking paper on an oven tray.

Put two tbls pf the mix in a plate and press the tofu slice on all sides and put on the baking tray. Repeat until finished.
Do not put all the coating at once in a plate, because it turns wet and moist and won’t adhere to tofu, add it each time you put a new slice.

Put tray in the oven for 20-30 minute. The recipe said to turn tofu after 15 minutes but not really necessary.

What is left of coating is nice on salads.

This recipe from NYtimes is one of mu favoutires

cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016062-red-lentil-soup-with-lemon

I also drink unsweetened soy milk, sometimes mixed with unsweetened almond milk.

The Health consequences of processed food, even vegan processed food are very well explained in a book called the science of skinny.

One last recommendation, but nutritional yeast and sprinkle in sauces, salad or soups.
I make this tofu sauce with 2 tbs olive oul, 2 tbs soy sauce, 2 tbs nutritional yeast and use with Palin tofu before baking in oven or even on uncooked plain tofu.
Nutritional yeast will provide your Bs vitamins.

The nutrition is really important