7 days :up: awesome :)
i'm on day 4 now and its going good too :D
i'm sure the longer you go without cheese the easier it'll be, and at least you've found a substitute you like.
we can do this lol :yes:

haha, yeah. I just look back on how much I missed barbeque spare ribs when I went veggie, and how gross they seem now, and I know I'll get over it.

And the positive mental attitude thing is helping. You're right, we'll get there!

Good luck!! I've just become a vegan again and it feels amazing!!

:vebo:

great job guys!! :bobo:

i just realized my one month vegan anniversary is on my birthday!! only 8 more days!

It's so exciting how many people keep joining in! :)

I'm kind of sad though ... I don't remember the actual day I finally went completely vegan ... that would've been a great anniversary! :( I just realized how long this thread's been running, though. Guess I could always go from that date!

Congratulations to everyone so far :)

Iwas missing it too. I made some by putting some rice dream, carob powder, and agave nectar into a saucepan over low heat, constantly whisking until hot(not boiling!!) It was pretty good.

Does Whole Foods sell agave nectar? what aisle is it in?

Agave Nectar, I am thinking would be shelved right next to honey. Another possibility is with alternative sweeteners.

I'm not sure whether this should be in the 'weaning off dairy' thread, where I also like to report in. But I'm missing cream-filled desserts :(
Not that I ate them a whole lot when I was eating dairy. It was a very occasional treat. It's not so much that I want them now as that thinking I will never have them is quite...not upsetting, I wouldn't go that far...frustrating?

My sister was eating profiteroles. My former favourite dessert. I'm going to look for recipes, but I suspect that may be something I can never replace.

So I am applying to study-abroad programs, and I have emailed people at the programs asking about dining. Vegetarian shouldn't be too hard, except at one where it might cost a bit extra, but I think vegan might be too difficult to manage while I am over there. sigh... I am still trying to eat vegan as much as i can until then though. I mean, a proper vegetarian meal would probably be hard enough to get, hoping I won't be expected to live on pasta and salad. Italy, btw. Rome. My first choice program is the one with the potential extra cost also, because of how the food is served (family-style) so they would have to prepare a meal for me. My second choice I have been told has a veg-friendly cafeteria. One of the people who replied to me from that one said she was a vegetarian too, so that makes me feel a little better. I am hoping this all works out...

The good news: While I was grocery shopping w/ my mom today, I asked if I could get some soymilk and she didn't mind at all!

The bad news: Of course, a little while later she made some comment that "boycotting" milk would be extreme (we were looking at ice cream) I said, "Well, I'm not sure if I could be totally vegan because I like ice cream and cheese too much, but I could give up milk." Of course, I would really really love to be vegan! It's just when my mom and anti-veg sister were talking about it, I felt like I couldn't admit this at all!
My lack of confidence is really annoying me. I read 101 Reasons Why I'm a Vegetarian by Pamela Rice the other day and it made decide to commit to cutting down on dairy/eggs but then I feel like I have to eat some cheese or something in front of my family to prove....something. I don't know why because I really don't want to eat it! Of course it helps that my youngest sister announced a few days ago that she wants to be a vegetarian too, but there's the other sister and my parents. The other sister thinks vegetarianism is dumb - although she used to eat healthier than me- and my parents think vegetarianism is good but, well, see above.

Anyway. My family is sorta aggravating and my lack of self confidence annoys me even more.

I'm inspired by the other people here who are actually going vegan. I will when I go to college if I can't manage it before then....

maybe if you can't quite say your true feelings yet you could write them down and give a letter to your mum or something, explaining how you feel... they might be more supportive if they knew how strongly you felt about it...just an idea. sorry if its stupid.

I'm not sure whether this should be in the 'weaning off dairy' thread, where I also like to report in. But I'm missing cream-filled desserts :(
Not that I ate them a whole lot when I was eating dairy. It was a very occasional treat. It's not so much that I want them now as that thinking I will never have them is quite...not upsetting, I wouldn't go that far...frustrating?

My sister was eating profiteroles. My former favourite dessert. I'm going to look for recipes, but I suspect that may be something I can never replace.

Ah, wish I could help you, but I haven't heard of any substitutes... There are a lot of desserts you can make still though, and they might help your cravings even if they aren't like the cream-filleds. There are some vegan recipes for pumpkin pie that are sooo good :)

Did you try the recipe section of VB? They have a lot of desserts on there, although I haven't looked at that section in a while...

So I am applying to study-abroad programs, and I have emailed people at the programs asking about dining. Vegetarian shouldn't be too hard, except at one where it might cost a bit extra, but I think vegan might be too difficult to manage while I am over there. sigh... I am still trying to eat vegan as much as i can until then though. I mean, a proper vegetarian meal would probably be hard enough to get, hoping I won't be expected to live on pasta and salad. Italy, btw. Rome. My first choice program is the one with the potential extra cost also, because of how the food is served (family-style) so they would have to prepare a meal for me.
I think you can definitely make it work! You'll want to do some major researching first, to find out what sort of thingsyou can make (and how simple they are), what ingredients will probably be available over there for you to use, etc..

One thing you might want to consider though... it totally depends on the family that you're with, but people can be easily offended if they invite you into their home to share their culture with you and you turn their food down every day. It might be a really good idea to explain everything to them upfront the first day so they know you aren't just being close-minded.

My boyfriend went to Spain over the summer and explained to his 'family' that the only meat he eats is chicken - they had no problem working around that and served him his own different dish some nights, but he did try one or two dishes that contained meat other than chicken to be nice.

I think if you let them know what you're trying to do right away, you'll have a much better chance of being able to stick with it.

My second choice I have been told has a veg-friendly cafeteria. One of the people who replied to me from that one said she was a vegetarian too, so that makes me feel a little better. I am hoping this all works out...
Not to be negative or anything, but you should definitely try to figure out everything you can about what they serve at the cafeteria.
I've now gone to two different universities, both of which said they had vegetarian options - neither did. In fact, the first school I went to said they had a "whole section" of vegetarian AND vegan food - what they apparently meant by that was that they had hummus and pita bread, salad (although no vegan dressings) and you could order out a carton of soy milk once a week.
You don't want to get stuck with a selection like that, especially when you're paying so much for it!

I really hope it works out for you! :) Good luck!

maybe if you can't quite say your true feelings yet you could write them down and give a letter to your mum or something, explaining how you feel... they might be more supportive if they knew how strongly you felt about it...just an idea. sorry if its stupid.

Not a stupid idea at all... While I would not say it's "results guarenteed", for people who write better than they speak, -- like me -- it might open up communication more.

I am trying to go vegan but like everyone else, cheese is hard to get off of. I just wish there were more people where I live that support vegetarianism. I live in a pro animal cruelty hick town.......

Ah, wish I could help you, but I haven't heard of any substitutes... There are a lot of desserts you can make still though, and they might help your cravings even if they aren't like the cream-filleds. There are some vegan recipes for pumpkin pie that are sooo good :)

Did you try the recipe section of VB? They have a lot of desserts on there, although I haven't looked at that section in a while...
funny you should say that...I made pumpkin pie just a few days ago. It was alright, but it's not my thng really. I think I'm going to make some chocolate mousse.

telling my grandma & grandpa, which I thought would be a very difficult part of this veganism thing, went off alright. :)
it's looking more and more like I'm going to stick with this after this month.
Day 11 now :D

I know I wrote how I was doing in this thread pretty recently (3 hours ago) but I just wanted to write a quick note on how I'm surprised I'm not missing more foods. So far, things I'm wishing I could eat are:
Quorn Bacon,
Cheese,
Profiteroles.

That's all! And luckily, cheezly extra melting, while not being as good as the real thing, is pretty cool. I got a different brand of fake bacon to try, and this ones vegan. Cool. Also, Swedish Glace "ice cream" with chocolate sauce is a nice alternative to profiteroles.

I have been vegetarian for over 20 years, I started as a college freshman. I went vegan five weeks ago. Last week, I stood in Whole Foods salivating over a chunk of cheddar cheese. My 8 yr old daughter who has a dairy allergy thought it was hilarious. I did not give in. So far so good. When I went vegan, I developed a bad case of acne for the first time in my life. I think that it was my body detoxing from the cheese. (I had a long term, ongoing love affair with cheese, sometimes I had 5 different kinds in my refrigerator). My skin is clearing up now and I think that my arteries are also thankful. This is the thought that keeps me from giving in.

I've gone vegan too. And, just because I like to complicate things, I went straight from meat to vegan! lol But really my only challenges are that I can't cook *AT ALL* and that I'm a hardcore chocoholic - and I do mean constantly - mass quantities - mmmmm! lol Otherwise I'm only 5 days in but feeling good about it. :)

When I went vegan, I developed a bad case of acne for the first time in my life. I think that it was my body detoxing from the cheese. (I had a long term, ongoing love affair with cheese, sometimes I had 5 different kinds in my refrigerator).


Yikes! I hope that doesn't happen to me! But then, I didn't eat much chese to begin with. Of course I love it - mozzerella, provolone *salivates*....ohh yeah. lol But it's expensive, so not something I had every day or even once a week.

I am working up to going vegan too! (and I'm still a newbie here)... I think cheese will be one of the hardest things for me. It's so yummy. When I once dabbled in veganism (mostly out of curiosity) I sampled a range of vegan foods (substitutes I mean). The verdict was:

Soy milk: GOOOOOOD!
Soy yogourt: ...bearable
Soy Cheese: *hurl*

BUT. To be fair, I only tried one kind of soy cheese before I gave up.

Now my real question: will you (as vegans) also start using different personal care products? I notice many websites advertise "vegan" shampoos, toothpastes, lotions, etc.? I am still ignorant about the problem with my toothpaste.

I dont mind soy or rice cheese so much when I use them in a recipe. I cant eat them alone. I also sometimes use nutritional yeast in place of cheese. Giving up cheese isnt too bad once you start finding a lot of vegan recipes that you like.

I buy only cruelty free personal care products. I've been amazed at how easy they've been to find once I started looking.

I've been "mostly vegan" for a while now. Lately I've been feeling kind of blah, and thought perhaps it was my diet. Being lazy, I decided to eat a little egg and dairy and see if that perked me up.

I used to love mayo on my fries, so when I went out for lunch yesterday I ordered a veggie burger with cheese and a side of mayo for the fries. I was actually really anticipating the delicious taste once more.

Well...I was disappointed. The mayo just tasted like fat, not yummy like I remembered. And I could hardly taste the cheese since it melted into the veggie burger.

I decided that I was just lazy and should take my multis again and eat more veggies. Back to being minimally lacto-ovo! (trace ingredients) Someday, perhaps, totally vegan...

Hi Moogle:

Some vegans, like me, have pretty much given up on cheese except for the occasional nutritional yeast enhanced delight. I've also found that Marmite, on occasion, can emulate a nice cheddar flavor. While I would not say that anything is ever impossible, most vegan cheeses I know of fall short of the stringy mess you get when mozarella just can't decide whether it'd rather remain on your pizza slice or make its way into your mouth. You must watch soy cheese, which often contains casein, a protein derived from milk. Casein is what gives both real cheese and some alternate cheeses its stretchiness. Vegans are not the only market for alternative cheeses. There's also the lactose intolerant crowd, and therefore, not all alternative cheeses are vegan or even intended to be vegan.

The main problems behind toiletries, cleaners, etc. can be categorized two ways: animal products and animal testing. Your toothpaste, for example, may contain an animal-derived glycerin. Not all do. Your toothpaste may come from a company like Proctor and Gamble that tests on animals. Or perhaps, maybe your toothpaste is really vegan and you just don't know it. You can look for the product online and see if any responsible consumer sites list it as containing animal products or coming from an irresponsible company. You can write the company and ask them about the source of the ingredients in the toothpaste. A lot of being vegan is about conducting research. Thank God for the Internet.

One last note, and a very important one: It can be overwhelming trying to become 100% vegan. As a matter of fact, the slope of vegan progress is a parabola... The closer to 100% vegan you get, the harder it will be. (Are you sure that no animals were hurt when the lumber to build your house was cut?) Don't despair! Veganism is a journey that we progress further on each day! Furthermore, veganism is not a single philosophy: we don't all agree on exactly how the journey should be taken. Thanks for taking this journey and joining us. :)

I promise. I am not hoaky, just an idealist.


I am working up to going vegan too! (and I'm still a newbie here)... I think cheese will be one of the hardest things for me. It's so yummy. When I once dabbled in veganism (mostly out of curiosity) I sampled a range of vegan foods (substitutes I mean). The verdict was:

Soy milk: GOOOOOOD!
Soy yogourt: ...bearable
Soy Cheese: *hurl*

BUT. To be fair, I only tried one kind of soy cheese before I gave up.

Now my real question: will you (as vegans) also start using different personal care products? I notice many websites advertise "vegan" shampoos, toothpastes, lotions, etc.? I am still ignorant about the problem with my toothpaste.