New vegan :)

[Shad0w]

Alright so I'm 17, and have decided to try out the Vegan way of life. I've been a vegetarian since I was about 6, but I do eat fish and chicken on the rare occasion. I'm having a hard time figuring out how I'll be able to accomplish this as I do eat pizza, eggs, cheese and other diary products quite often. I keep craving them for some reason, does anyone have any tips that can help me get over all those diary products? I have never really tried out tofu, so I'm looking for any good recipes that could get me used to it....I'm just generally looking for any help I can get from you guys. I'm usually active, but due to a few family members losing jobs recently, have had to stop many activities like my figure skating, dancing, and everything else that kept me fit. I'm hoping this will help keep me healthy, as since I've stopped my skating I've gone up to about 140 pounds or so, and I'm only about 5'3. I'm used to being tiny! lol So if anyone knows of any websites or any tips from personal experience, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you!

[billyoffspring]

Hi Shadow! First, welcome to the site! Congrats on wanting to go vegan. Becoming a vegan is the BEST thing you can do for the environment, the animals, and your health...by far. Okay, now on to answering your questions:

"I'm having a hard time figuring out how I'll be able to accomplish this as I do eat pizza, eggs, cheese and other diary products quite often. I keep craving them for some reason, does anyone have any tips that can help me get over all those diary products?"

You can still eat pizza. With pizza places (Papa Johns, Gumbys), their pizzas are vegan as long as you order without cheese. Pizzas without cheese are very good. Try ordering one and get some vegan margarine (Willow Run brand, Earth Balance brand) and melt it in a bowl. Then, dip your crust in it when you're finishing off a slice. Damn good!

If you want "cheese" on your pizza, you can buy soy cheese. Some brands are quite good (Soymage).

Now, with the craving: Your body craves those products because of the massive amounts of salt in cheese and hormones and drugs in animal products. Obviously, this makes it addictive. Just stop eating them "cold turkey." Substitute soy milk, almond milk, and/or rice milk for cow's milk. Substitute tofu for eggs. Substitute margarine for butter.

"I have never really tried out tofu, so I'm looking for any good recipes that could get me used to it"

You can buy a block of tofu and simply fry it up in a stirfry with some veggies. Maybe some carrots, brocolli, mushrooms, whatever you want. Then, add some store-bought or homemade sauce. Soy sauce is easy and good. Oh, you can go to your local health food store and look for the brand Fantastic. They make a product for making Scrambled Tofu. It has spices and stuff that you mix with tofu. Check it out.

Now, with the weight issue. I suggest going and staying vegan, limiting sugars, and doing cardo and some weight lifting in the gym.

Congrats on wanting to go vegan. PM me or email me anytime you want. I'm online often and will help an aspiring vegan with anything.

[Mary]

Hey Shadow! So pleased you are looking at veganism, and that billyoffspring gave you such good advice. A vegan diet will do you a world of good, not to mention the 92 animals you will save on a vegan diet as opposed to SAD (standard american diet). (These figures seem to relate to the UK as well, which generally follows a similarly tragic diet.)

For some doddle easy recipes check out our website www.realfood.org.uk

Hopefully there will be an American database up soon full of listings of vegan foods. Keep watching this site - when it is up and running I am sure someone will let us all know!

[kettlebellnut]

Terrific news on your decision to become Vegan!

You might search for some Vegan restaurants in your area. This would allow you to try some new yummy foods and find some alternatives to you cravings.

There are a lot of friendly people here to help, so don't be afraid to ask question and seek encouragement.

Take care!

[Strix]

Good suggestion, vegmason!

Shad0w, you may also want to try some of the fake meats in the fridge or freezers of markets when you get a craving.

Also, read anything you can get your hands on about vegan foods. Pop into natural markets and vitamin shops and look around at stuff. They also almost always have free pamphlets or even magazines you can take. I learned a lot this way when I first went vegan. I read EVERYthing. You can also go to the library and pick up cookbooks or other vegan books. Also online there is tons of stuff. I used to go to the book stores and read stuff too . I now have a ton of cookbooks I've purchased as well as loads of recipes from off the internet. If you would like a recipe, but a veganized version, just ask in the recipes section...there is a vegan version of most dishes. The most difficult to replicate involve dairy, but there aren't that many!

Welcome, nice to meet you

[Mary]

Ask Strix for advice. She recently gave me a great recipe for VEGAN MERINGUE! Oh yes! (not very health conscious, but oh so nice!)

[kls]

Hi Shadow! I am also a new/aspiring vegan. All the good advice on this site shaves eons off the learning curve! For recipes I definitely recommend a good cookbook or...6. Luckily the internet also posts plenty of recipes! Check out veganmeat.com. It is by a husband and wife (she vegan, he not) and has alot of recipes that look very simple and good.
If you like cooking, you may want to start a recipe file (I use a looseleaf notebook) that you can keep your favorite recipes in as they accumulate.
As a fellow dairy addict (almost reformed), I sympathize. However, a relatively long stint with no dairy, I ate some ice cream at work last week and, unbelievably, it no longer held the same appeal! There is hope for us! Soy milk is the best thing since sliced (vegan) bread! Microwave the chocolate kind for hot chocolate. O'Soy yogurt is great (a little expensive). Persevere with PapaJohns and give the poor worker at the register a chance. Our branch gave me a hard time about the no cheese thing at first, but now they are used to it! You can crumble tofu into anything you normally eat--casseroles, canned or fromscratch veggie chili, or any bean dish that needs a little "beefing up" if you'll pardon the expression
see ya 'round

[Renecarol25]

Also if you've got a good vegan cheese PapaJohn's will put it on for you. If you want cheese on your pizza. We used to have a really good pizza restaurant called Lilly's but it closed down. They had vegan cheeses and about every possible topping you could think of. I really miss Lilly's.