Hey everyone,

Tomorrow I will have been a vegan for 7 days! I feel so clean and my mind is clear!

I went to a farmer's market today and loaded up on organic vegetables, fruit, and soups and am really excited to try everything. I have most of my breakfasts (fruit or oatmeal) and lunches (salads) planned but I'm still figuring out the dinners.

It's difficult finding vegan foods- so many things have small amount of milk, butter, cheese, and animal fats in them! I'm just looking for some support and advice.

Also, I'm studying abroad right now and will be here till christmas. How do I tell my family I have decided to become a vegan? Should I wait a month to make sure this is what I want before I tell them?

Thank you!
Dee

Congratulations! Sounds like you're doing better than my first week when all I ate was bananas and almonds because I didn't know what else to eat!

It's really up to you about when you want to tell your family. You could even wait until you go back home if you want. Do you think they'll be supportive?

I'm assuming you're from Omaha by what's under your avatar. Check out happycow.com and look for Omaha and you'll be pleasantly surprised by how many veggie-friendly choices you have there. You can probably find the city you're in now (they have international listings) and see what type of stores and restaurants are available for vegans.

Congrats again and good luck. There are a lot of vegans on the board, so feel free to ask a lot of questions!

congrats tigger, im currently a vegetarian but ive decided tommorrow im going to give being vegan a go....keep up the good work!

congratulations. I found it was a bit hard to find food at first. As time has gone on though I have learned so much more about food, cooking, and the fact that I eat way better than I ever did before!
Getting a vegan cookbook was how I gained more knowledge on foods I could eat.
I have a few that I would recommend.
Vegan with a Vengeance
Joy of Vegan Baking
Veganomicon

thanks jasmine i wrote down the names of the books, ill be sure to look for them!

tigger175, are you still a vegan? if so, did you wait to tell your family or not?

I turned vegan a year and half ago and i feel so much healthier now because of it!

mainly because you have to look on the back of packets and actually read through ingredients haha

Sounds like you're getting a lot of good advice. I want to throw in my own two cents- make sure you're getting the right amino acids into your body, or you won't be able to sustain veganism. I'm sure if you read enough about the subject, you'll run into this problem and its solutions.

There are a number of amino acids (the things that make proteins) that your body isn't able to make naturally. Most people get them through meat, but it's possible to get them other ways. For example, in many central and south american countries, beans are the major source of protein. This is good in itself, but without supplementing beans with other things, the people would develop nutritional diseases. This is why many people down there eat chili and other peppers, as well as corn. Without the amino acids in the peppers and corn, all the protein in the world won't make you perfectly healthy.

However, I wouldn't recommend relying on corn and peppers exclusively, especially since new breeds of corn have less and less of the amino acids you need.

The best way to deal with this is to know that you're going to need sources of these amino acids, and find the ones that work for you in one of your books.

Goodluck!

redreine

I've been following a vegan diet for a little over a year. At first, I lost weight very quickly but there are still some foods that are high calorie and vegan. I feel healthier. And honestly its easy to look at food with meat (cheese, eggs) and say no way. Those foods just aren't appetizing anymore. My food is so much better.

I agree with Nelie. I went vegan at the end of last April largely due to ethical reasons. I've lost some weight with it but there are plenty of vegan foods that are high calorie - pasta, french fries, pizza (no cheese of course), etc. It's still all about balance - eat healthy foods and burn more calories then you eat.
As far as tempted by not vegan food - no way. After educating myself about the animal industries - it's the last thing I'd ever put into my mouth, use to clean myself or house, or wear. It's pretty repulsive to me now to be honest.

I find this information helpful. It is good to surf for opinions.