I had been eating a strict vegetarian diet for over a month

[Tektonik]

I've trying to eat vegan, but I've had a couple of slip ups when not reading nutrition labels and missing the occasional egg whites or refined sugars. I have not stricken animal products from my clothes nor my soaps, etc since I have a stash of shampoos, etc that will last me for another couple of months.

But yesterday I went ahead and had my first meat in a while. I had a Golden Monte Cristo at Bennigan's, which was delicious, but honestly it was not as glorious as I remembered it. My palate has already shunned meat & dairy from it, and last night reinforced my belief that I will be a vegetarian and hopefully vegan for the rest of my life.

When I wake up tomorrow, it's time to go replace my leather shoes, which I'll donate, either to Goodwill or my brother who won't shop unless it involves something shiny and/or electronic.

Oh and I'm feeling sick. Hopefully the first meat I've had in five weeks won't come out funny on either end. :( :puke:

[stuntcat]

1. good job!

I should be stricter about it.. I don't eat much bread but when I do I never look at the ingredients and I know there's animals in there.
And milk was easy to give up but I still eat a little cheese. There's a grocery store ten miles away that has some great vegan cheese, Galaxy's veggie blocks :headbang: , but the one that's a mile away doesn't carry it yet.

The last time I had a steak was years ago and I won't even share what happened to me then.. I know I can't go back, my conscience is clearer and I just feel cleaner!

[Chan790]

2. If you're going to cheat, cheat on something amazing...

like the ribs. :evilgrin: I'm just teasing. Congrats on the lifestyle change. It's truly better for you, better for the planet and better for every one of Earth's inhabitants: animal and human.

Also, I think veggie-based food tastes better and as a foodie I found it actually opened up my repertoire.

[Tektonik]

13. Why eat ribs when I can have veggie riblets,

which happen to be the most amazing fake rib other than the McRib.

I haven't gone all out on the veg cooking yet. I have been eating simple veg foods so far plus some eating out on days I work. I need to go hone my chef's knife and I should chop some veggies and have it for lunch with the tempeh and/or edamame I have left in the fridge.

[jerryster]

3. Personal question

Did it help you lose weight? If so, how much. I'm considering going veggie (tho not vegan) 1 or 2 days a week.

[Chan790]

4. It can...

although if you're doing it only for weight reasons, red meat and dairy are by far the biggest waist-line culprits.

You'd have more success cutting dairy (or as much as you can stand to cut...and all cheese. I'm fat again because I can't stop eating cheese. Cheese is little more than highly-compressed blocks of fat.) and red meat full-time.

Lean chicken and turkey are not that fattening; though they are more fattening than say...vegetable curry or a Boca burger.

It's not a magic pill...you can't go veggie two days a week as a weight-loss panacea, cut loose the other 5 days and expect to look like FLVegan in 6 months. You have to be sensible about what you put in your body all the time.

P.S. Good Luck on the weight loss.

[Tektonik]

12. I have lost a little weight.

Although that's not the primary reason for not eating animal products.

If I wanted to lose weight I'd take my lazy ass to the gym. :P

[Deja Q]

5. In all seriousness, if vegetables are grown with the aid of animal-based fertilizers,

isn't that breaking the rules (not consuming anything involving an animal or even made from a byproduct of an animal)?

[Chan790]

6. In theory

However it is nearly impossible to know what is grown in what.

Most fertilizer is now artificially-created from petro-chemicals anyways. It irks me to no end when ADM has so much cow and pig poop sitting in collection pools that it's considered an environmental pollutant and they use oil-based fertilizers...especially with the price of oil.

[Tektonik]

11. All I know is that meat production is one of the biggest polluters

and I'll try my best to help out our planet.

[stuntcat]

16. yah

The industry is a huge polluter. All the food grown and processed and shipped to feed the animals.. the processing and packaging of the animals and then the freezing, shipping of the end product. I think each person not taking part in it makes a difference for the rest of the planet.
Not that you need to be told! I just hope everyone sees all that goes into the stuff they pick up at the grocery store.

The storm the other day made our power go out for 12 hours but I didn't even have to worry about the fridge. Even if the frozen fruit had thawed out I would have dealt with that somehow but it wouldn't have seemed as bad as throwing away arms and legs of some critter who lived a hell-life to end up packed in plastic in my freezer.

[graywarrior]

7. Watch your sugar intake.

Vegetarians/vegans develop health issues if they eat too much sugar. It's that acid/alkalinity imbalance thing.

[flvegan]

8. Congrats on the diet, of course. It doesn't surprise me though

to hear that you're feeling ill. Cutting out meat for a month, then having a cheat day with a sandwich like that is a recipe for gastric distress. The meat combined with all that fat is a lot to take. Hope the queasiness passes quickly.

[Tektonik]

10. I wasn't surprised either, but it's already passed

I just had an upset tummy and bad gas so far, but I feel fine now.

[DarkTirade]

9. A strict vegetarian diet...

so you only eat vegetarians now?

[Tektonik]

14. Are you vegetarian?

:o

[LeftyMom]

17. Vegetarians are delicious!

I... uhm, read that somewhere. Yeah, that's it. O8)

[DarkTirade]

18. Y'know, they say you are what you eat...

:P

[ThomCat]

15. Congratulations on your progress.

:hug:

I hope the occassional slip doesn't hold you back or make you ill. Hang in there. :)

Eating out is always the thing that challenges us. It can be hard to find vegan food at restaurants. But you'll get the knack of it.

[Brigid]

19. Can you recommend any good vegan/vegetarian cookbooks?

I've been looking for one, especially one with low-sodium recipes. :)