Calling all vegans!

[tasha41]

Just wondering if there are any vegans out there!

I really would like to adopt this lifestyle, but I am having a hard time with a couple of things. Meat, I'd never miss it. Same goes for eggs, fish, etc. I love beans/lentils, I love quinoa, I do like tofu, etc.

What I'm having trouble with is cheese.. I am not a cheese enthusiast by any means but I like lasagna and pizza lol. I also love yogurt. I don't drink milk but do like it in my tea etc; but I can't substitute almond products because of allergies, and I've heard that soy milk is gross. Is rice milk better?

I am on my way to switching up all of my cosmetics for vegan-certified ones. Mainly because I recently learned about animal by-products and I was grossed out

I also have a couple questions... how do you go to dinners at friend/family members' homes, or eat out at restaurants, etc?

Do you know of any GREAT vegan recipe blogs or websites?
What are your favourite products- can be anything from clothing to cosmetics to food items..
Also, do you take any dietary supplements (multivitamins, protein, calcium, etc)?
Can you list a few not-so obvious products that are not vegan? I've heard marshmallows aren't which was a surprise to me lol

Thanks in advance

 

[Vrinda]

Hi I can reply some of your questions.

We are a vegetarian family from India, and eat mostly organic/bio vegetables fruits whenever we can. We get them at local shop that sells those boxes and has seasonal veges in it. We don't eat eggs so when we go out we watch for this in cakes etc even in any vegetarian restaurant.



I hardly eat out and eat homecooked food mostly. There are nowadays many veg friendly places to eat out as well. Some are organic/bio friendly as well. Hare Krishna prasadam is an absolute bliss as no eggs and totally for vegetarian.

Also there is one vegetarian eat out place where I been recently they have such a brillian setup on every item on menu where they mention if its vegan, gluten free, etc

I also do not buy things that contain animal ingredients when shopping for cosmetics etc...
I watch for rabbit label in cosmetics-which is cruelty free symbol
For my baby, I use coconut oil and avoid any creams as they many contain harmful chemicals in it. There are many products which nowadays have labelling on it, so I make sure to read them
Whether it is for food or for your skin ( skin is largest organ so it absorbs so I dont put anything that I cannot eat)

Watch out for
Cheese that is processed from rennet.
Bread that contain preservatives that may contain HAIR, yes some many contain as one of the ingredients.
Gelatin is in almost anything which I do not take as well. It's gross how gelatin is produced.

There are many traditional Indian recipes that are suitable for vegans too. Such as daals,vegetable curries and most types of Indian bread.
One Indian lady if you search her name Manjula on youtube, you will find many traditional recipes that you can use.

Dietary supplement : I take ground flaxseeds or its oil or sesame oil, if not, then there are veg friendly capsules contain essential Omegas. Also there are veg multivitamins nowadays.

Also seaweeds such as arami contain iodine,minerals, if not, then iodine tablets.
Also B 12

I hardly take supplement tablets though ,started using during pregnancy and postnatal but I guess for vegan you need to watch out for these.


Fish is loaded with mercury which is a neurotoxin and so everyone can use this vegetarian alternative tip
Hope this helps!

 

[Vrinda]

Also, anyone watching this thread, I totally recommend watching EARTHLINGS movie, if you haven't already

 

[moondrops]

Soy milk is actually not bad! I've never tried the unsweetened version only the sweetened and it tastes fine in my hot chocolate/on cereal. Not as nice as cows milk but i try to avoid it as it constipates me. Alpro Soya yoghurts are gorgeous, the vanilla tastes like custard and the lighter chocolate one tastes like chocolate mousse. I'm guessing these would be vegan? I'm not vegan but try to substitute dairy for soya/alternatives x

 

[Vrinda]

I heard about The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone... And has a fan page and website by same name, I am subscribed too. She has some great veg recipes and ideas to share

 

[Vrinda]

Also coconut... You can put this in almost any curry or daal ( soups)


Coconut cream
Coconut milk
Coconut powder
Coconut flakes
Coconut oil
Coconut water

Coconut is one of the must haves in kitchen

 

[tasha41]

Mmm I made a Thai soup with coconut milk 2 weeks ago... honestly I am so glad I love Indian and Thai food, easy to find vegetarian dishes or things that tofu tastes good in!

 

[Vrinda]

there are some food channels on youtube
healthyvegan,liferegenerator( who is more of a raw vegan) which I find interesting.. Also the Indian channels such as Showmethecurry, Manjulaskitchen,SuperVeggieDelight that you may find really helpful...

 

[tasha41]

Thanks! I definitely like 'raw foods'- but not every meal every day, so I will check that out. I made some DELICIOUS 'raw tacos' recently... they had like raisins and stuff in them.. SO GOOD!

 

[Leafy]

Can you list a few not-so obvious products that are not vegan? I've heard marshmallows aren't which was a surprise to me lol

Some of the products are sneaky!! Im not a vegan, im a vegetarian so still eat some dairy - lots of yoghurts arent even suitable for vegetarians though so find myself checking everything these days - chocolate mousse has got pork gelatine in them which surprised me!!! Lots of jelly sweets have pork/beef gelatine in them so its worth checking the packets

 

[ushotmedown]

I am a vegan although i'm in the early stages (3 months in ) I was a vegetarian 6 years before that though!

In the UK we have holland and barrett stores which i'm guessing is pretty much the same as whole food stores in USA/Canada? I get most of my meat/dairy substitutes from there!

Once my family found out I went vegetarian they were pretty accommodating not buying me animal foods so with me being vegan it's pretty much the same except I tend to bring vegan substitutes with me (call ahead to see what's on their menu and you can pretty much sub it for vegan food!) Eating out (in the UK) is a tad trickier while vegan, as although many places do vegetarian meals, most don't specifically do vegan meals and a lot of the vegetarian meals come with cheese! However, don't be afraid to speak to your waiter and explain that you are vegan. It is their job to help you!

Soy milk is pretty yummy in my opinion and loads better for you than regular cows milk (which contains pus, antibiotics and can help AID osteoporosis)

Toffuti is a brand that I can find in the Uk, it does like vegan cheeses, cream cheese etc. They are pretty yummy. I thought I would miss cheese because I used to eat it a LOT but suprisingly I don't miss it at all. I know in the USA you can get a brand called daiya (sp?) but not sure about Canada. Sorry.

Alpro soya yogurts are YUM, hummus is a godsend, as is peanut butter


Marshmellows are definately not vegan because they contain GELATIN, some sugar is not vegan because it is coloured white by ground bone (yuck, right?), anything with WHEY in is not vegan because it comes from milk, some pizza bases are not vegan because they contain dairy.

I don't personally take any supplements, although the only supplement I should be taking (because I consume all the rest within my diet) is B12 because it is mainly found in animal products. As long as you are eating a balanced vegan lifestyle this is the only nutritional requirement you would be lacking.

Hope I didn't come off all preachy Also, there are probably lots of things I have forgotten so sorry I could not be more help its past 2am here so not thinking too clearly. But feel free to pm me if you ever want any advice

 

[tasha41]

^ def not preachy!! HELPFUL!!

Yeah I got some soy cheese... can't even remember the brand name right now but it's the main one sold in Canadian grocery stores.. tastes a lot like Velveeta, and it's not that bad.. but it has a weird after taste, like broccoli or something. Andddd while I love broccoli, I don't want my cheese to taste like it But, to be honest, I am still just starting to cut dairy out.. I don't really miss cheese... it's not like I ever sat around eating huge hunks of it.. but will suck when you sometimes want to have a grilled cheese or something!


So, people think soy milk is good? I guess I will try it out this week... is the flavoured stuff better?

 

[moondrops]

I like soy milk. I've only tried sweetened version though, i don't think i could handle the unsweetened one! I've never tried the chocolate or vanilla ones but then i do only have milk on my cereal or in hot chocolate so i wouldn't need the flavoured ones. Almond milk is supposed to be nice if you can find that anywhere, i need to try and find it in Holland & Barratt it's quite expensive though. Hemp milk is gross don't be tempted to try that it tastes really grassy x

 

[tasha41]

^ I've heard almond is the best too but I'm allergic so I can't have it

So, I don't drink much milk, but I went out and I bought rice milk ('white milk') and chocolate soy milk. The rice milk is the same colour as baby formula... I don't really know how I feel about trying it... will it make foods taste weird if I cook with it? I don't drink regular chocolate milk because I think it's gross, so I don't have much to compare the chocolate soy against, but I liked it & so did Elyse.

 

[ushotmedown]

I drink unsweetened soy milk. For me there isn't a noticable difference between sweetened and unsweetened. I LOVE chocolate soy milk. Drank a litre carton of it yesterday I get my OH to drink soy milk all the time rather than regular milk. He doesn't mind it and he's one of the world's pickiest people

 

[Bexxx]

I'm vegan
Been about, 6 years now I think?

It's not difficult/restricting once you get the hang of it
One tip is when your switching from cows milk/cheese to the vegan versions try totally skip it out of your diet altogether. That way when you do try the soya milk/cheese it won't taste as awful as the memory of cows milk won't be fresh in your mind
Soya cheese is pretty awful stuff though. I drink unsweetened soya milk, oat milk is yummy too and I really like rice milk but it's a bit more expensive.
I don't take any supplements (even when I was preggo) because you can find everything you need in your food. I loved it. I made the mistake of mentioning to my midwife I was vegan and she made out that I was going to kill me and Isla but I had fantastic levels at every blood test, felt so good

Eating out and stuff if pretty easy tbh. For exaple, if I go to a pizza place I just get a veggie pizza with no cheese or I get some tomato pasta (no cheese, once again). Generally most vegetarian meals are vegan if you ommit the cheese. Plus every chef can cook some vegetables. Chips are always good too Burger king for example have a bean burger than is vegan if you ask for no cheese or mayo, but I don't go there for obvious reasons
Family and friends can be a bit awkward at first, but it really does just take getting used to.

I'm sorry if I've just rambled/covered something someones alreaady mentioned I didn't have time to read the entire thread. If you have any more q's feel free to fire away, although things will be slightly different over there, I have plenty 'vegan' experience!

 

[tasha41]

How am I ever going to get over bacon I know that sounds awful but it is like the one meat I enjoy eating. I know "what it is" is gross, but I can't help ittttt...

 

[Bexxx]

Why not try going vegetarian first? Them veganism...soften the blow

You get 'fakon'? haha

 

[holly2234]

Im not vegan or anything but with my LO's allergy to dairy we do buy a lot of replacement foods. The cheese we have for her isnt that bad. Its called Cheezly or something like that. It really does taste like mature cheddar but the texture isnt great. In a sandwich or ontop of a lasagne etc it would work fine. Also been told oat milk is good.

 

[Bexxx]

Im not vegan or anything but with my LO's allergy to dairy we do buy a lot of replacement foods. The cheese we have for her isnt that bad. Its called Cheezly or something like that. It really does taste like mature cheddar but the texture isnt great. In a sandwich or ontop of a lasagne etc it would work fine. Also been told oat milk is good.

Cheezly
Have you tried sheese? It's actually quite tasty
https://www.buteisland.com/