I'm a new vegan

ch750536

Hi all! I'm vegan as of Saturday for many reasons.

I read through many of the threads here and it has been really useful so thanks for all the sharing!

Although I am looking at this as a 30 day challenge I would really like (and I hope) to make this a permanent change to the way I live.
My wife is joining me in this & has been very supportive. She has serious heredity cholesterol issues that need controlling.

--LOS--

Hi, that's great, best of luck to the two of you. I took a quick look at the blog, very interesting.

The easiest way I think to a permanent change is really knowing your reasons for change, when this is all new to you, it's like an overload of information on animals, health, the environment, feeding the poor, sustainability etc. It's takes time to really have a think about why you're doing this and to be informed, but once you are a permanent change is near definite. The easiest way I find to digest the information is watching films, I saw you have a list of documentaries to watch, that's a good idea, some more you could add; speciesism the movie, planeat, blackfish, the cove, also Gary Yourofskys speech on youtube, Peter Singer has some good speeches too.

ch750536

Thanks. I'm solid in my reasons and I don't think they will go away. I'm looking for permanent change.

--LOS--

The thing with the documentaries as well, the point is just to make you think, you can certainly make up your own mind about them. One of those documentaries, I think maybe Food Inc, gives the impression that being veggie/vegan is expensive which I don't agree with. The famous Dr Campbell from the china study fame, is a vivisectionist. So there are always going to be things you agree and disagree with. But they give you plenty of information so you can make up your own mind.

henryporter

Well done - I enjoyed reading your blog - watch out for the gotchas like beer that may not be vegetarian or vegan, e.g. Guinness, Murphys, Beamish, Bulmers etc.

You mentioned tofu hard to get - Health stores, Asian supermarkets, even my local Dunnes stores are able to provide it.

--LOS--

I wish I did a blog like that too. I hope ye don't mind me looking at it again, but ye mentioned pringles, the original flavour is vegan and I think some of the bbq type ones could be too, you'd have to check. But moments like that are no biggie. And I saw ye watched earthlings, are ye ok? :P It's not easy-watching is it.

ch750536

henryporter wrote: »

Well done - I enjoyed reading your blog - watch out for the gotchas like beer that may not be vegetarian or vegan, e.g. Guinness, Murphys, Beamish, Bulmers etc.

You mentioned tofu hard to get - Health stores, Asian supermarkets, even my local Dunnes stores are able to provide it.

Didn't know Dunnes had it, will look out for it next time in Tralee (20 mins drive). The problem is living in meat central (west coast) in meatland, not much call for Tofu. That said I was expecting Tesco to have some.

Beer, I read up before hitting the pub last night and that paid off. No more Guinness!

ch750536

--LOS-- wrote: »

I wish I did a blog like that too. I hope ye don't mind me looking at it again, but ye mentioned pringles, the original flavour is vegan and I think some of the bbq type ones could be too, you'd have to check. But moments like that are no biggie. And I saw ye watched earthlings, are ye ok? :P It's not easy-watching is it.

Of course, feel free.

Earthlings destroyed me, it's a simple as that. I can't put in words how remorseful I was. I was a blubbering wreck after 20mins and it was downhill after that.

turnikett1

I liked Earthlings, but I have to say 30-40ish mins into it I got kind of bored :P I thought the narrator was on a bit of a high horse or whatever, but I was probably just being a judgemental prick

--LOS--

ch750536 wrote: »

Of course, feel free.

Earthlings destroyed me, it's a simple as that. I can't put in words how remorseful I was. I was a blubbering wreck after 20mins and it was downhill after that.

oh gawd you'd have to be a robot not to cry!

turnikett1 wrote: »

I liked Earthlings, but I have to say 30-40ish mins into it I got kind of bored :P I thought the narrator was on a bit of a high horse or whatever, but I was probably just being a judgemental prick

poor Joaquin :P He is vegan but I wish he would separate himself from peta a bit

henryporter

I presume 'Earthlings' is more geared towards showing meat consumers the error of their ways rather than preaching to the converted?

--LOS--

henryporter wrote: »

I presume 'Earthlings' is more geared towards showing meat consumers the error of their ways rather than preaching to the converted?

ye of course as with any film like that. I've seen some reviews of 'speciesism' from vegans saying but this film didn't show me anything new, that's not the point, they're obviously not preaching to the choir.

ch750536

End of week 1 nutrition summary:

Calories 14253 (Beer, Hula, Pringles, Nuts = 4800!)
Carbs 1514
Fat 434 Nuts=150
Protein 389

More details in the blog but I'm happy enough with that. I can see what I need to do to correct this.

--LOS--

If ye don't mind me saying, but I would look at your meals and try to have more substantial meals, rather than snacks as meals. If you have 3 good meals like your breakfast, dinner and lunch, then save the snacks like yoghurts and nuts and crackers and hoummous and those smaller things for in between meals, if you're still peckish. The thing is you need food volume to fill up, not just calories. So you might be taking in enough calories but not feeling as full without the volume of food you need. Looking at some of your days I think I would even be hungry after it and it doesn't take too much to fill me up.


Btw what are you using to calculate the calories etc? Do you know of any good sites coz I'm interested in doing something similar.

AlanS181824

Watched that Earthlings film, shocking stuff.

I myself am currently in the process of going vegan along with the girlfriend And mother!

Doing it over a period of time and so far it's grand.

Your blog is great btw

ch750536

--LOS-- wrote: »

If ye don't mind me saying, but I would look at your meals and try to have more substantial meals, rather than snacks as meals. If you have 3 good meals like your breakfast, dinner and lunch, then save the snacks like yoghurts and nuts and crackers and hoummous and those smaller things for in between meals, if you're still peckish.

Definitely. At the moment the snack is king as the stats show, lose the snacks and things will come into balance, I hope.

--LOS-- wrote: »

Btw what are you using to calculate the calories etc? Do you know of any good sites coz I'm interested in doing something similar.

I use myFitnessPal app on droid & the website for graphs etc. It's not perfect but it is pretty good.

ch750536

AlanS181824 wrote: »

Watched that Earthlings film, shocking stuff.

I myself am currently in the process of going vegan along with the girlfriend And mother!

Doing it over a period of time and so far it's grand.

Your blog is great btw

Doing it over a period of time is the really sensible way. I just decided all of a sudden to change overnight, silly but unavoidable.
There is so much to learn. Mrs Ch is looking at a career change as she thinks being a nutritionist would be fun.

AlanS181824

ch750536 wrote: »

Doing it over a period of time is the really sensible way. I just decided all of a sudden to change overnight, silly but unavoidable.
There is so much to learn. Mrs Ch is looking at a career change as she thinks being a nutritionist would be fun.

One thing I'm having trouble "letting go" of is Milk, rice/almond/soya milk is great and all but I really prefer cows milk for tea and stuff.

Might just keep that as a treat or something? Haven't really decided yet.

I'm not sure I'd be able for a complete change, would your body got go into like a shock or something, withdrawal even? :P

Keep us updated on how ye get on!

--LOS--

AlanS181824 wrote: »

Watched that Earthlings film, shocking stuff.

I myself am currently in the process of going vegan along with the girlfriend And mother!

Doing it over a period of time and so far it's grand.

Your blog is great btw

haha everybody's doing it. That's really interesting that your mother is trying it as well, I can't imagine my mother. That's good though that you automatically have support straight away. Let us know how you're getting on.

ch750536 wrote: »

Definitely. At the moment the snack is king as the stats show, lose the snacks and things will come into balance, I hope.


I use myFitnessPal app on droid & the website for graphs etc. It's not perfect but it is pretty good.

thanks!

AlanS181824 wrote: »

One thing I'm having trouble "letting go" of is Milk, rice/almond/soya milk is great and all but I really prefer cows milk for tea and stuff.

Might just keep that as a treat or something? Haven't really decided yet.

I'm not sure I'd be able for a complete change, would your body got go into like a shock or something, withdrawal even? :P

Keep us updated on how ye get on!

The thing to realise though is that, milk is morphine (for cows)! It's addictive! Literally! "Addicted to cheese", it's real. See here.

So it's natural to feel addicted to milk products especially cheese. Those things are hard to let go of. When I was vegetarian I also never bought milk, I used soy milk and soy butter so I'm well used to it now. But it isn't something you have at first and go..... oh wow ye this is great, it does take a while to adjust. Soy milk, almond milk, hemp milk, coconut milk etc, they're not supposed to replicate the taste of cows milk so you shouldn't expect them to taste like cows milk, that's also important. Also to know that the different milk alternatives that are out there are suitable for different things. So for instance I prefer soy milk in tea/coffee but it has to be long-life unsweetened or it tastes too strong to me. Coconut milk is great for sweetening things like porridge. Other milks are better in cooking etc, depends what you're making. So try them out, theres so many different kinds now, they are making milk out of everything now :P But just know that you can wean yourself off milk (that sounds a bit funny saying to a grown person) and reach a point where you will not feel a craving for it, and then it will probably taste horrible to you. If I accidentally drink real milk in tea/coffee it's horrid to me. And I grew up drinking more milk than most people, because I had access to a tank and it was also really encouraged, like good girl you drank all that milk type thing :pac:

ch750536

21 days done, other than gluten death bombs, doing well and feeling great. The change in Tracey is unbelievable, she is sparkling at the moment (not literally).

http://veganate.blogspot.ie/

--LOS--

Oh you're eating all sorts of lovely things now

The soccer kids are so funny!

ch750536

I loved the conversation with them, was really honest and open. At no point am I trying to persuade anyone to do what I am doing, it's just interesting.
The way adults have reacted has left me stunned. Some laugh nervously, some simply blank the statement. I'd say 1 in 3 families here have dairy stock so I can understand their bewildermint but there may also be a little concern. If we all turned vegan who would buy their milk?

ch750536

Dammit, realised the gluten free bread I was trying has egg in it. Usual case of so busy looking for one thing and not noticing the other.

ch750536

4 weeks done an nutritionally a pretty good week. We have the omega 3 supplements now, so that should help fill a gap.

Al the major nutrients \ calories etc covered well this week. POST

ch750536

Seemed to nail the nutrient consumption.

More on the blog, graphs etc.
All details in the spreadsheet

Feu

great thread, and blog ch750536, i read it all this morning

seems like you went cold "tofurkey" over night, not easy, and you documented the highs, lows and learnings really nicely. I really admire your quest!

Just some small observations, if i may. You appear to have quite limited protein intake, maybe consider adding some quorn (the egg free range) or similar to your diet - available in tesco and dunnes, as it can be an easy way to make a "normal" meal without having to think too hard about it, i.e. quorn and 2 veg! (Dee's burgers etc also). obviously it's good to have a mix, i.e. beans, nuts, tofu etc

I noticed also that you commented 2-3 times on the calories in the Linda McCartney sausages, but had hula hoops almost everyday (average calories in a Superquinn pork sausage, 142)

Gluten free beers like "Daura" available in Lidl, and bigger range available in good off licenses and O'Briens. (good assessment of a range here: http://glutenfreephotos.blogspot.ie/2014/03/the-gluten-free-beer-blog.html although Daura is slated, i quite like it

ch750536

Feu wrote: »

great thread, and blog ch750536, i read it all this morning

Thanks.

Feu wrote: »

seems like you went cold "tofurkey" over night, not easy, and you documented the highs, lows and learnings really nicely. I really admire your quest!

Just some small observations, if i may. You appear to have quite limited protein intake, maybe consider adding some quorn (the egg free range) or similar to your diet - available in tesco and dunnes, as it can be an easy way to make a "normal" meal without having to think too hard about it, i.e. quorn and 2 veg! (Dee's burgers etc also). obviously it's good to have a mix, i.e. beans, nuts, tofu etc

Quorn has eggs, so is out, even though it was incorrectly purchased twice! In the last week things went much better, much more balance. Protein was never an issue, I was over the RDA for an adult male by the end of the 30 days.
I think forgetting what 'normal' was challenged me. Stop thinking 'wheres the meat'.

Feu wrote: »

I noticed also that you commented 2-3 times on the calories in the Linda McCartney sausages, but had hula hoops almost everyday (average calories in a Superquinn pork sausage, 142)

Yes, agreed. I think subconciously I compare them to other veg rather than other sausage. As veg isn't calorie dense then how was it these were so calorie dense? It's also true that the only food that left a fatty residue after cooking was the Linda Mc Sausages.
Unfortunately I would be eating hula hoops as well as the sausages. This showed in the finaly tally with over 7000 calories from Hula Hoops, seriously, what was I thinking!

Feu wrote: »

Gluten free beers like "Daura" available in Lidl, and bigger range available in good off licenses and O'Briens. (good assessment of a range here: http://glutenfreephotos.blogspot.ie/2014/03/the-gluten-free-beer-blog.html although Daura is slated, i quite like it

Agreed, they look nice but I still would class that as processed, I'm trying to get at least half my calorie intake from unprocessed sources so bars like that can be bad.

I feel like I have got to grips with my new lifestyle, last few days have been great. Lunch today was homemade oven chips with 9 item salad and bean shoots. Delicious & really healthy.

Dinner will be a late snack as I am busy though.

Thanks for all the feedback, from now on I'm only updating weekly.

ch750536

Well, had my first holiday as a vegan with some ups and downs. Detail here.

As you see I resorted to tripadvisor to air my comments on how restaurants treated me as a vegan. I didn't find any other views from vegans anywhere but I think a feature in tripadvisor where I can see comments from vegans (not comments on vegan restaurants) would be great.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

Tar.Aldarion

Happycow.net sounds like what you want?

ch750536

No, that's vegan restaurants. I want all restaurants reviewed by vegans.

HappyCow
Tripadvisor

Tar.Aldarion

Yeah that would be good.

ch750536

Linky

Today I had a smoothie (apples, pears, peaches, raspberries).
Was out for lunch falafel sandwich with salad. Was a bit odd.
Just had refried beans with salad.

Roll on 6 months.

ch750536

Coming up to 1 year a vegan. How do I celebrate it?

Tar.Aldarion

A big amazing vegan meal of course! Congrats

Zombienosh

vegan cakes!

ch750536

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

A big amazing vegan meal of course! Congrats

I do that everyday...

Food so far today. (I have a cold so have upped the vits a bit)