I am flirting with the idea, having been reading Alicia Silverstones' new book THE KIND DIET I am rather intrigued about the idea of yummy and tasty food but FEELING GOOD and having more energy. Just curious if anyone in DIMS land is a VEGAN and experiences ....my #1 things to kick are COKE ZERO AND YUMMY COFFEE.....the rest I am down with, as there are so many tasty recipes in the books :eat2:
Flirting with the idea of *VEGAN*
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CrankySpice
Unwashed.
Well, I'm not exactly sure what makes coke zero or coffee non-vegan. As far as I know, neither comes from animal sources.
I have never been vegan, but I dated a guy who was and an old friend was one as well. One thing I would say to watch out for is iron deficiency - garnering iron from plant sources is very difficult for our bodies.
The other thing to be prepared for is cooking absolutely all of your own food or dining exclusively at vegan restaurants. It would be impossible to get a strictly vegan meal at, say, TGIFriday's, if only because of contamination from animal food sources in the same kitchen.
That said, there's no reason you can't incorporate those yummy vegan recipes into a vegetarian or omnivore diet. Good luck with your decision!
smithnwesson
Drug dealer
I flirted with that idea once, but then thawed out a pair of lamb chops -- and have been OK ever since.
I think of myself as a vegan who has animals process my vegetables for me.
- Jim
I think of myself as a vegan who has animals process my vegetables for me.
- Jim
I've tried veganism, but I couldn't keep it up. My wife and I both have jobs that require us occasionally to attend conferences and meetings in other cities. Vegetarians have it easy: almost any restaurant or hotel can provide pasta or an omelet*. But if you're vegan, the omelet is out, and the pasta probably is, too: you don't know if the dough contains eggs, and the chef probably doesn't either, since his role in feeding you was to pop a # 17 into the microwave. Salads are available, but some salad dressings contain egg or milk products, and in a restaurant you don't know where the dressing came from or what's in it. So when you travel, you're pretty much restricted to a diet of lettuce and whatever fruit you can score -- and probably Kaopectate, after a while...
*Even in Iowa they know what pasta is. They don't EAT it, of course, because it doesn't contain pork. But they've at least heard of it.
*Even in Iowa they know what pasta is. They don't EAT it, of course, because it doesn't contain pork. But they've at least heard of it.
I think you can always ask for oil and vinegar. That would be safe, no?
Good point! I generally do this in Italian restaurants, anyway, because I love balsamic vinegar.
I have been been a Vegetarian for many years and do my best to eat Vegan as much as possible. Like others were saying, it can be difficult when dining out but not impossible. Salad and a baked potato with salsa (no butter) usually always works.
Coke Zero and Coffee are of course Vegan but if you are trying to change your lifestyle to only drinking/eating healthy things then I can see why you would decide to give those items up.
Good luck! Any questions, feel free to ask.
Coke Zero and Coffee are of course Vegan but if you are trying to change your lifestyle to only drinking/eating healthy things then I can see why you would decide to give those items up.
Good luck! Any questions, feel free to ask.
crayola box
Well-Known Member
This past december I spent a month being vegan because my hosts were and while I haven't kept it up I think its hard but not impossible even when eating out you arent always stuck with salads.
For example I was able to find vegan friendly food at Middle eastern restaurants (falafal, taboulleh, stuffed grape leaves, hummus, etc.), Tex Mex (fajitas made with portobello mushrooms instead of meat). American restaurants that have veggie burgers and interesting salads or veggie stir fries work too. Sometimes it takes a little being creative with the menu buts its doable.
The first few days I admit I was craving an omelet and there really is no subsitute for that but you get over it.
I think its also easier if you live in a bigger city where a variety of produce and vegan products are available. Though this is a double edged sword because the bigger cities also tend to have lots of great ethnic eateries where ascertaining whether something is vegan is often hard because of a language barrier (in my case Asian cuisine was tough because some many things have fish/oyster sauce, pork broth, or shrimp paste) That being said if you are it doing more for health reasons than environmental ones it may not be a problem if there is a occasionally a trace of something non vegan in the cooking process...
Also there are a bunch of new faux meat products that are pretty good (gardein) just make sure to read the label cause some have casein which comes from egg whites.
Overall it was a nice change, for me it didn't have any particular health benefits, give me more energy, etc. but it was nice to rediscover all the benefits of different legumes (walnut-lentil burgers are yumm!), a variety of unusual veggies etc.
For example I was able to find vegan friendly food at Middle eastern restaurants (falafal, taboulleh, stuffed grape leaves, hummus, etc.), Tex Mex (fajitas made with portobello mushrooms instead of meat). American restaurants that have veggie burgers and interesting salads or veggie stir fries work too. Sometimes it takes a little being creative with the menu buts its doable.
The first few days I admit I was craving an omelet and there really is no subsitute for that but you get over it.
I think its also easier if you live in a bigger city where a variety of produce and vegan products are available. Though this is a double edged sword because the bigger cities also tend to have lots of great ethnic eateries where ascertaining whether something is vegan is often hard because of a language barrier (in my case Asian cuisine was tough because some many things have fish/oyster sauce, pork broth, or shrimp paste) That being said if you are it doing more for health reasons than environmental ones it may not be a problem if there is a occasionally a trace of something non vegan in the cooking process...
Also there are a bunch of new faux meat products that are pretty good (gardein) just make sure to read the label cause some have casein which comes from egg whites.
Overall it was a nice change, for me it didn't have any particular health benefits, give me more energy, etc. but it was nice to rediscover all the benefits of different legumes (walnut-lentil burgers are yumm!), a variety of unusual veggies etc.
the colors are CORRECT!!
IT is banana, apple, strawberrys- 1 c
1 tsp SPIRULINA (which is green!!!)
3/4 Tbsp Soy Milk
1 tsp almond butter
2/5 Tbsp Maple Syrup
1 Tbsp OJ
1 TBSP Shaved coconut
1/4 C brown rice crisps cereal
I am a sugar junkie and it WAY TOOOO SWEET for me LOL :doh:
View attachment Crocodile Crunch.jpg
IT is banana, apple, strawberrys- 1 c
1 tsp SPIRULINA (which is green!!!)
3/4 Tbsp Soy Milk
1 tsp almond butter
2/5 Tbsp Maple Syrup
1 Tbsp OJ
1 TBSP Shaved coconut
1/4 C brown rice crisps cereal
I am a sugar junkie and it WAY TOOOO SWEET for me LOL :doh:
View attachment Crocodile Crunch.jpg
I once flirted with being vegan as well. Being greek i'm obsessed with Feta cheese.. hell, i'm obsessed with cheese period. I could give up eggs, honey, milk, and meat no prob. The cheese would be hard. and giving up chocolate? :doh: no way jose!
Okay, you lost me somewhere. I can see why a vegan might abjure honey: it's an animal product. But why would you give up chocolate to be a vegan? Milk chocolate maybe, but it's poor, adulterated stuff anyway. But dark chocolate is entirely a vegetable product, isn't it?
ThatFatGirl
Why am I still here?
"No Whey! Candies" sells some very tasty vegan chocolate items in their Etsy store. The pineapple coconut peanut bark was my favorite.
Milk chocolate is amazing, hold thy tongueOkay, you lost me somewhere. I can see why a vegan might abjure honey: it's an animal product. But why would you give up chocolate to be a vegan? Milk chocolate maybe, but it's poor, adulterated stuff anyway. But dark chocolate is entirely a vegetable product, isn't it?
spiritangel
AmandaClause
I have never been vegan, but did go mostly vegetarian for quite a few years, could never give up seafood though, and did eat the occassional steak or chicken, and felt really healthy for it, I think there are some amazing cookbooks out there on the subject now, and as long as you can get a good variety of fruits vegetables ect and you companion eat (eg certain legumes with spinich will up the iron content in your meal) then by all means give it a go
This is going to sound cowardly, but i think the only way to try something like this is FIRST to find a restaurant or two that serves vegan, and delve into their options. You can read all the cook books in the world and never really figure out how to assemble meals from the various items in a book.
Now i know some of you clearly look at cookbooks and can manage it. But i can't. I have limitations.:blush:
I have gone back and forth over the years, because my arthritis responds to cleansing diets. I never had a serious reason to stick to vegan, so i was a bastardized version at best. But along the way i've seen amazing things. Just last week i encountered a brownie recipe here in Toronto at a restaurant that includes avocado. Can you imagine? it's dark and rich and the texture needs to be experienced inside you. The fascinating thing is how the creativity of the vegan cooks and bakers sometimes takes them to brilliant new places you'd never bother visiting with regular unrestricted eating.
The problem here is that the restaurant isn't going to share their recipes with you: you're still going to be stuck with buying a vegan cookbook and trying it out. And with the exception of Abbot George Burke's Simply Heavenly, which is out of print, every vegan cookbook I've tried has fallen into one of two categories: (1) every recipe requires minute amounts of several ingredients you have never seen or heard of and have no idea where to find (e.g., 1/16 tsp. greevil); (2) the cookbook requires only simple, easily acquired ingredients, but if you follow the recipes everything will wind up tasting like sawdust, which can be a drawback unless you're a termite.:eat2: OTOH, there are more cookbooks jumping off the shelves every year, and I certainly haven't read them all, so bon appetit!
True enough. I think what i was getting at is that in addition to the analysis process (finding out what's in it and how to make it) is a whole other aestetic question: finding out what you like. It's very true that once you discover you love vegan brownies, you still have to figure out how to make them.
For me? it's a positive step to discover sometime that i love, and buy it, and sure, later, to imitate it at home.
