Stopping Vegan diet, for now

[st33med]

Well, I tried going vegan... It didn't give me the results I was looking for, or maybe because I was not to intent on it in the first place :\

Another reason is that I cannot find the time currently to cook good vegan meals. I also leave in a meat household, so, vegan-friendly foods are scarce.

Before you people say that I am murdering animals by doing this, I understand that. But I cannot live on in constant stress worrying about what I have that I can eat. I only had bananas, salad, apples that are too sweet, peanuts, oranges, clementines, and PBJ to eat. Not much of a selection, and I already have school to stress about. However, it has made me have very vivid dreams that I can remember. I had one last night on a tsunami hitting an airport in California and, being a CSI, I had to investigate. Boy, I could draw what the wreckage around the site looked like. Didn't see any bodies, however.

[Alex Wu]

Who cares about the animals, really... but if you're okay with dying of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, kidney stones, macular degeneration, arthritis premature aging, lower sex drive, not to mention dealing with extra weight and higher medical bills... and everything else that usually befalls animal eaters, go right ahead. No one is going to stop you :-)

When was health so important anyway?

[st33med]

Originally Posted by Alex Wu

Who cares about the animals, really... but if you're okay with dying of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, kidney stones, macular degeneration, arthritis premature aging, lower sex drive, not to mention dealing with extra weight and higher medical bills... and everything else that usually befalls animal eaters, go right ahead. No one is going to stop you :-)

When was health so important anyway?

Bah, I knew I was missing something about going vegan .

Health probably is not my main concern right now. I weigh 135 at 5'9". Ideal, a little underweight, but, I guess it is not a concern. My metabolism still is good ( I am 17 anyways).

[Dimond]

It's more important the quality of your life in terms of less stress, than your diet. Often the diet can't impact your life as well as it should if other negative factors are against it. It'll happen when you're ready and able to focus on it.

There are ways to make it much more simple though. I did various vegetarian and vegan diets prior to raw. I think it's good to progressively get healthier by eliminating specific foods/finding substitutes until you can fully incorporate it into your life.

[ggwbach]

Another reason is that I cannot find the time currently to cook good vegan meals. I also leave in a meat household, so, vegan-friendly foods are scarce.

I tried going vegan / vegetarian many times in my early twenties. All attempts failed. Why?

1) lack of balanced approach. Just because you drop meat from your diet, doesn't mean you instantly have a healthy diet. There are BAD ways of being vegetarian too. Too many sugars, too much starch, etc.

2) convenience factor: this was the biggest one for me. I was still studying at uni, living at home, so organising my meals was haphazard at best. If it's not easy to do, you won't do it.

so yeah, going vegan isn't just about changing your diet, its about adjusting your entire lifestyle. A huge leap, in my mind.

but one can always try again, with greater knowledge, and armed with higher wisdom.

best wishes on subsequent tries.

[funchy]

What results were you going for?

I'd argue that you can still live vegan or vegetarian in a meat world.
You don't need extra time. If others are also cooking, just select the meat-free dishes. I'm not joking when I say I'm probably one of only 3 or 4 vegetarians in my whole county. It's annoying but it can be done.

You don't need to be stressing about it. Food choices become a habit. When I'm at the market, without thinking I flip foods over to read the ingredients list. I start to recognize what is vegan or vegetarian, and it gets easier.

Maybe you're just frustrated by your lack of support? I admit it's hard sometimes to be the 'odd one' at mealtime. Eventually though some people get more supportive when they see I was serious. Others even asked me a few questions.

What helped me a whole lot was to go to a few meetings of one of the animal clubs in the region. I could suddenly tell how much of those bad feelings about my meat-free choice were from me and how much was pressure others put on me. It was very illuminating. I had no idea how unsupportive others were until I was sitting at a table of people who did understand.

[Amandaaa]

I think that if you really wanted to eat differently, then you would find a way. But you're taking the easy route that doesn't really require you to think.


Making a change can be stressful at first...but if you're excited about how much better you'll be, then that feeling should overrule the "stress" of changing your habits. If you think it through and prepare for your meals, then it should be a fun and interesting transition.


If your parents cook dinner, then it helps if you start focusing on the "sides" instead of meat as the main course. That's how I did it. I just decided to start eating more vegetables...so I started making my own salads every night. And then I started adding more and more vegetables to my salads, until the salad became my main focus at dinner. And after adding some protein (like kidney beans, chick peas, sunflower seeds, almonds, or walnuts, I wasn't even hungry for anything else. So... eat a salad first, then if you still want something else, eat one of the side dishes. Usually they're very easy to convert to being vegan-friendly. Sometimes all it takes is removing an ingredient, or replacing it with a different version (like veggie-meat or veggie-cheese).

[brandongilbert]

Originally Posted by st33med

Well, I tried going vegan... It didn't give me the results I was looking for, or maybe because I was not to intent on it in the first place :\

Another reason is that I cannot find the time currently to cook good vegan meals. I also leave in a meat household, so, vegan-friendly foods are scarce.

Before you people say that I am murdering animals by doing this, I understand that. But I cannot live on in constant stress worrying about what I have that I can eat. I only had bananas, salad, apples that are too sweet, peanuts, oranges, clementines, and PBJ to eat. Not much of a selection, and I already have school to stress about. However, it has made me have very vivid dreams that I can remember. I had one last night on a tsunami hitting an airport in California and, being a CSI, I had to investigate. Boy, I could draw what the wreckage around the site looked like. Didn't see any bodies, however.

i cna see why you gave up eating this way..this diet is severly lacking and not sustainable for the long term, which you found out.

if you are going to consume animals products.. do you have access to high quality local products? raw milk? raw cheese??

these are much better options