Starting my first day as a vegan today (this might only last about an hour)

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: Arkitech

Originally posted by: doze
Why not just try a balanced diet and eat only at mealtime? Vegan is a bit extreme and basically means you no meat and use no products that are made with animal byproducts.

I'm leaning closer to a vegan eating pattern because I want to avoid dairy products for awhile. My goal is to really try and eat as natural as possible, meaning that I want to consume very little processed foods. Which is why I want to avoid fast foods, soda, candy and other foods similar to those categories.

What does dairy have to do with it? I'm not understanding the correlation between "I want to eat healthy" and "I'm going to be a vegan." I can understand wanting to avoid processed foods (I eat none at home), but that has nothing to do with veganism whatsoever.

You're still failing to understand what it means to be vegan as well.

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: Descartes
No offense, but it sounds like you are seriously ill-prepared. If you don't know what vegan means and don't know a few basic protein sources that vegetarians consume, then how are you going to be successful?

I'd suggest you do a little more research and come up with a better plan. You can't just "go vegan" one day without first understanding what it means to be vegan; it's a hell of a lot more than just a diet. It's an entirely different philosophy of life, and food is simply a part of it; at its core is more about the interaction between people and other forms of life.

And as others have said, going vegetarian doesn't somehow equate to losing weight and being healthy. It can be devestating to your health if you don't understand what you're doing, and if you don't know of a few basic protein sources you're on the path.

Sorry to be so negative, but I think you need to think this out a little more. It requires serious dedication, and should not be taken lightly. Contrary to what some may think, you're not a vegetarian if you cheat a few times a week with a slab of filet mignon or bacon at breakfast.

No offense taken, you're entitled to your opinion. I've done some research in the past, but obviously I have a lot more to learn. That knowledge will come in time, meanwhile I plan on sustaining myself with things I know to be nutrious and healthy that still fall under the vegan umbrella. As fas as a vegan philosphy goes, I don't care much about that aspect of it. I'm not going to stop wearing leather shoes and coats, I'm simply interested in following a healthy eating plan.

Not sure why you mentioned cheating with filet mignon or bacon, unless you're just speaking in general.

 

[oboeguy]

My advice is to go veggie with vegan tendencies. Vegan, IME, is tricky, and requires LOTS of label reading. A surprising number of vegetarian "fake meats", "soy cheeses", the like have egg whites or milk protein in them! I've been veggie for over ten years and have tried vegan as a deliberate short-term experiment. It wasn't easy: I love pizza, many of my exercise food/drink options have whey protein, etc. So, the experiment was fun and interesting, but I'll stick to veggie with vegan tendencies for now.

Anyhow, find a health food store that stocks a variety of veggie/vegan friendly products to get you started. There's a zillion good cookbooks for vegetarians and vegans; PM me for some recommendations if you'd like.

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: Arkitech

Originally posted by: doze
Why not just try a balanced diet and eat only at mealtime? Vegan is a bit extreme and basically means you no meat and use no products that are made with animal byproducts.

I'm leaning closer to a vegan eating pattern because I want to avoid dairy products for awhile. My goal is to really try and eat as natural as possible, meaning that I want to consume very little processed foods. Which is why I want to avoid fast foods, soda, candy and other foods similar to those categories.

What does dairy have to do with it? I'm not understanding the correlation between "I want to eat healthy" and "I'm going to be a vegan." I can understand wanting to avoid processed foods (I eat none at home), but that has nothing to do with veganism whatsoever.

You're still failing to understand what it means to be vegan as well.

From what I understand a vegan eats no animal products. This means no cheese, milk, eggs, meat (obviously), etc..

On the other hand vegetarians don't eat any meat but they do consume certain animal products such as dairy.

Those 2 definitions are what appear to be most common from the research I've done. I've seen some deviations in what is or is'nt a true vegan or vegetarian. But for my purposes the definitions I provided are good enough for what I'm trying to acheive.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: Arkitech
the only difference between a vegan and a vegetarian is dairy products right?

Absolutely not. Eggs are out as well. What's more, if you're vegan you can't eat anything cooked in/with animal fat, nor can you eat anything that has any kind of animal product in it at all.

Originally posted by: Arkitech
all candy and sweets (will replace that with fresh fruits)
fast food (I might treat myself to the occasional order of fries and onion rings)
breads/pasta (I don't eat a lot of bread anyway so that's not a big deal)
fried foods (I don't eat much of fried food either, so this is an easy one)
soda/pop (again I've never drank much soda, I usually drink water)

Okay, the candy thing is good. Treating yourself to fries and onion rings is out if you're vegan because they probably touch animal fat somewhere along the line. Pasta? That's gonna be a big source of carbs for you which you'll probably want to have some of. Fried foods... well seeing as how most of those are done in butter anyways, they'll have to go. Pop is good to get rid of too... juice is your friend.

Originally posted by: Arkitech
Again I'm speaking of true carnivores, if humans were true carnivores the way animals were any form of raw meat would supplement our health instead of damage it. Lions, wolves, bears, sharks, etc.. don't need cooked meat, their bodies are able to naturally deal with bacteria and parasites. Try eating raw bacon or chicken, if your body can process that fine then I'll defnitely have to rethink my opinion.

Bears aren't carnivores either... the majority of their diet is berries and such. Sure they go for salmon and the occasional deer, but they eat plenty of greenery. I'm fairly certain the other animals you listed eat at least a little bit of roughage as well. I know coyotes do, so wolves aren't a stretch...

Also, I've eaten raw bacon... yeah not the brightest idea in the world, but it never caused me any harm. I mean, look at sushi... there's like 30 animals that get cut up raw into sushi and I've had quite a few of them.

Cutting out processed foods is great. I try to do it as much as I can too, but that just means getting organic beef and dairy, local (if not at least organic) fruits and vegetables, locally caught fish etc. I can count the number of times I've eaten at McDonald's in the past 5 years on one hand... You can be very healthy while still eating meat.

I'd suggest taking a few steps towards veganism first. Maybe cut out beef and pork. Fish oils have a lot of wonderful benefits for your body, and chicken is a great cheap, lean source of protein.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: Arkitech

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: Arkitech

Originally posted by: doze
Why not just try a balanced diet and eat only at mealtime? Vegan is a bit extreme and basically means you no meat and use no products that are made with animal byproducts.

I'm leaning closer to a vegan eating pattern because I want to avoid dairy products for awhile. My goal is to really try and eat as natural as possible, meaning that I want to consume very little processed foods. Which is why I want to avoid fast foods, soda, candy and other foods similar to those categories.

What does dairy have to do with it? I'm not understanding the correlation between "I want to eat healthy" and "I'm going to be a vegan." I can understand wanting to avoid processed foods (I eat none at home), but that has nothing to do with veganism whatsoever.

You're still failing to understand what it means to be vegan as well.

From what I understand a vegan eats no animal products. This means no cheese, milk, eggs, meat (obviously), etc..

On the other hand vegetarians don't eat any meat but they do consume certain animal products such as dairy.

Those 2 definitions are what appear to be most common from the research I've done. I've seen some deviations in what is or is'nt a true vegan or vegetarian. But for my purposes the definitions I provided are good enough for what I'm trying to acheive.

You can read The Vegan Society for some more information, but as I said you're missing the philisophical component of veganism. This is what veganism is mostly about; it's not about simple dietary restrictions.

Veganism is almost an activist movement, and most vegans shun any animal-derived product, so that includes leather, wool, anything tested on animals, etc.

So, veganism isn't being a vegatarian minus dairy products. A lot of vegetarians avoid dairy as well, but the difference is that vegans tend to concern themselves more with the welfare of the animals than the health benefits/detriment of the dairy products themselves.

Anyway, sorry for being pedantic about it. Good luck with your decisions. It can be tough.

 

[Vegitto]

Originally posted by: Arkitech

Originally posted by: Fmr12B

Originally posted by: Arkitech

Originally posted by: TheoPetro
People were made to eat meat. It is in our nature. YOU ARE DENYING YOUR NATURE. I am a sharp tooth (land before time) and always will be. I find it is my duty to eat plant eaters. If you become a plant eater then prepare to be hunted like a deer.

I don't have anything against meat, I've enjoyed it for 34 years. However I don't think it's as natural to the human diet as some people would make it seem. If you look at any other carnivore on the planet you'll realize that humans are the only ones who need to cook meat before they can eat it. A true carnivore does not have that limitation.

I've eaten raw beef and raw fish, my body processed it fine. The human body has evolved to eating cooked meat as it reduces the risk of critters getting in our system. Cook out the bacteria and we are a healtheir breed of animal.

It's all about evolution.

Again I'm speaking of true carnivores, if humans were true carnivores the way animals were any form of raw meat would supplement our health instead of damage it. Lions, wolves, bears, sharks, etc.. don't need cooked meat, their bodies are able to naturally deal with bacteria and parasites. Try eating raw bacon or chicken, if your body can process that fine then I'll defnitely have to rethink my opinion.

Bacon? Not a problem, I eat raw pork and beef all the time. Chicken is a no-go, though.. Salmonella and all..

 

[Arkitech]

wow, you guys are hardcore. I would be to terrified to try and eat raw pork.


Well I've made it through a couple of hours with no meat, I had a breakfast of cashews and grapes. For lunch I plan on doing brown rice, mushrooms and onions. For dinner I'm thinking of trying eggplant for the first time, not sure if I'll like it or not. If the eggplant does'nt agree with me I'll probably do some homemade french fries and onions (cooked in canola oil). For snacks today I'll likely do peanut butter spread on apple slices (delicious) and honeydew melon.

I need to figure out what to for my meals tomorrow. Gotta lookup a few recipes.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: Vegitto

Originally posted by: Arkitech

Originally posted by: Fmr12B

Originally posted by: Arkitech

Originally posted by: TheoPetro
People were made to eat meat. It is in our nature. YOU ARE DENYING YOUR NATURE. I am a sharp tooth (land before time) and always will be. I find it is my duty to eat plant eaters. If you become a plant eater then prepare to be hunted like a deer.

I don't have anything against meat, I've enjoyed it for 34 years. However I don't think it's as natural to the human diet as some people would make it seem. If you look at any other carnivore on the planet you'll realize that humans are the only ones who need to cook meat before they can eat it. A true carnivore does not have that limitation.

I've eaten raw beef and raw fish, my body processed it fine. The human body has evolved to eating cooked meat as it reduces the risk of critters getting in our system. Cook out the bacteria and we are a healtheir breed of animal.

It's all about evolution.

Again I'm speaking of true carnivores, if humans were true carnivores the way animals were any form of raw meat would supplement our health instead of damage it. Lions, wolves, bears, sharks, etc.. don't need cooked meat, their bodies are able to naturally deal with bacteria and parasites. Try eating raw bacon or chicken, if your body can process that fine then I'll defnitely have to rethink my opinion.

Bacon? Not a problem, I eat raw pork and beef all the time. Chicken is a no-go, though.. Salmonella and all..

So, you're ok with E. coli, parasites, and Salmonella in pork?

 

[prontospyder]

How many times a day do you normally eat?
5-6 times

What's a typical breakfast for you?
oatmeal/7 grain mix w/ soymilk and soy protein shake

What should a new vegan/vegetarian add to their diet to ensure they are getting the sufficient nutrients and vitamins that the body needs?
I take vegetarian men's multi-vitamins. As mentioned by another poster, nuts are good!

For those of you who lift weights, what's the most protein heavy foods?
Soy protein shake. I recently started eating some rennetless cottage cheese and egg whites.

Good luck!

 

[Hacp]

Arkitech eats Hot Pockets.
Hot Pockets crits Arkitech for 5k damage
Arkitech dies.

 

[bonkers325]

vegetarians can eat cheese, eggs, drink milk, etc. - they dont eat animals

vegans do not eat animals, animal products, animal byproducts, etc.

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: Hacp
Arkitech eats Hot Pockets.
Hot Pockets crits Arkitech for 5k damage
Arkitech dies.

those damn hot pockets

 

[oboeguy]

BTW, hardcore vegans shun honey. That's another tricky one. Agave nectar FTW!

 

[UncleWai]

Report back in a week, I bet you will go get a hamburger after a couple days of vegan diet. What you want is a low fat diet. Eat lettuce without dressing, and just plain ol' chicken breasts.

 

[Legend]

Soy is estrogenic. Man card.

 

[Howard]

Stay away from soy.

 

[aidanjm]

shouldn't you do a bit more research before radically changing your diet? Maybe start off still eating fish, eggs. Ditch the milk, it's poison anyway. I hope you're not going to fill up on fatty foods like "vegan" potato crisps and cookies.

 

[Riddlinkidstoner]

My boss only eats raw food...and likes to bring me samples of it. I tried eating raw cake....I threw up for days.

 

[aidanjm]

Originally posted by: Arkitech
I bought quite a bit of brown rice (I love it with canola oil, mushrooms and onions).

wouldn't olive oil, extra virgin, be a healthier choice than canola oil?

 

[Leros]

I'm not vegan, but I rarely eat meat. I just don't like the taste of meat that much. It hasn't really been hard at all.

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: Descartes
Sorry to be so negative, but I think you need to think this out a little more. It requires serious dedication, and should not be taken lightly. Contrary to what some may think, you're not a vegetarian if you cheat a few times a week with a slab of filet mignon or bacon at breakfast.

Aye. I was a vegan for all of four months a couple of years ago. It was an interesting experience, and it taught me a lot about nutrition/food in general since I had to do a lot of research (I did my senior exit on vegan/vegetarianism).

I think the hardest thing is choosing truly vegan foods and eating the right ones to still maintain proper health/nutrition.

I didn't do it the right way, although I still managed to lose weight and feel healthier.

Arkitech - why cut out breads and pasta? Complex carbohydrates (pasta) are an excellent food source, and vegan. Many breads are not, but some area.

I used to eat Kashi Go Lean with soy milk for breakfast or oatmeal. I found lunch to be quite difficult because I didn't take the time to make a proper one (was in HS at the time), and its hard to buy a vegan lunch anywhere.

One thing you need to do is really concentrate on the ingredients labels. Things like Whey or casein (both come from dairy) are often ignored.

Check out your local grocery store, if you are lucky, a whole foods/freshmarket/earthfare/etc. There are some decent prepackaged/frozen vegan foods to be found.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: aidanjm

Originally posted by: Arkitech
I bought quite a bit of brown rice (I love it with canola oil, mushrooms and onions).

wouldn't olive oil, extra virgin, be a healthier choice than canola oil?

I think canola is the best you can do... Not sure though.

 

[Praxis1452]

I would really suggest weening yourself off of meat and dairy in that order. I mean if you just go vegan there is almost no way you are going to keep doing it. Work yourself into a vegetarian diet and then from there.

I love meat. However I also love vegetables if cooked right. I like people who have the will tobe vegan though, though sometimes not why.

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: silverpig


Bears aren't carnivores either... the majority of their diet is berries and such. Sure they go for salmon and the occasional deer, but they eat plenty of greenery. I'm fairly certain the other animals you listed eat at least a little bit of roughage as well. I know coyotes do, so wolves aren't a stretch...

I beieve that wolves eat some plant material when they eat the stomach of their prey. At least that is what I have heard.