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Having a real problem with food and ingredients

2K views 15 replies 10 participants last post by  cienerose 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi, I'm 22. I stopped eating meat at all when I was 15, but I just want to stop eating things with egg and milk at all too recently, but... it feels like I just can't.

Everything has milk and/or eggs, literally everything. The only thing I can eat from the fridge that doesn't have eat, egg and milk is fruits and vegetables, and I just feel terrible after having only fruit and vegetable for breakfast, I feel dizzy, like I haven't eaten at all.

Thing is... I don't know which ingredients are from animals and which not. Like for example, I just read the Ketchup ingredients, and it says "fat trans". I had no idea what that was so I searched on google, and it says that most fat trans are in animals, or that they just originate when you mix X with Y, but it never says if, for example, sunflower oil has animal fat or not, I just don't know how to know that. Same thing applies to most things with other ingredients I don't know either.

I guess the only really filling things I can eat are rice and potato, yes, with more things, but it feels like if I don't eat rice or potato I will just keep feeling bad. I bet even soy burger has egg.


So... I don't know what to exactly say... There's probably a 2% of things that don't have egg/milk besides fruits and vegetables, and I don't know what is that 2%.

Does rice have milk or egg as I buy it?
What about bread?

I seriously don't know what to eat, I'm having a bad moment right now.

Thanks for reading, hope I get answers.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Look up vegan recipes on Google. It will give you plenty of ideas. Personally, I like http://www.findingvegan.com/ . There's also a recipe section on this forum. Do you know how to cook? If not, learn. Knowing how to cook will make veganism a lot easier.

Rice is vegan. Sunflower oil is vegan (most oils are, actually). Most ketchup is vegan. So is most bread - What about having sliced bread (whole grain is healthier) with fruit for breakfast? It sounds like you eat meat alternatives. Most Gardein products are vegan. Tofurky products are also vegan.
There's a lot of food that is vegan: (most) cereal, non-dairy milks (rice, almond, soy...) beans, lentils, tofu, tempeh, seitan, hummus, (most) pasta, potatoes, falafel, mushrooms, nuts ... You can make vegan pizza at home.

Common non-vegan ingredients to look for: Whey, Casein.

http://www.peta.org/living/beauty/animal-ingredients-list/
 
#3 · (Edited)
Thank you very much for your answer. But I have a doubt... doesn't pasta have milk and egg? I always thought it had...


Since taste for food has never been a really big deal in my life I guess I can live by having soy milk with some cereal for breakfast and rice/potato with a couple vegetables for lunch and dinner...


Oh and I have another important question I forgot to ask.... will I need to consume some certain things in specific for health? Like... is there a thing in your list or in your general knowledge about it that you would suggest to consume to keep healthy? I think I must know if there's a "must eat" in my now reduced list.
 
#6 ·
Oh and I have another important question I forgot to ask.... will I need to consume some certain things in specific for health? Like... is there a thing in your list or in your general knowledge about it that you would suggest to consume to keep healthy? I think I must know if there's a "must eat" in my now reduced list.
B12 is something you will need to supplement with, at the least.
 
#4 ·
Another site that has tons of vegan recipes is vegweb. also, check out your local library as many of them are collecting more and more vegan cookbooks. Many of these cookbooks are geared towards beginners and will provide a list of staples to keep around and so on.

What about oatmeal for breakfast? Plain oats (usually in a canister or in the bulk section at the store) are vegan. You can add so many things to them, such as peanut butter, bananas, pure cocoa powder, berries, shredded carrot, raisins, nuts and seeds etc. You can add all those things to rice as well, or couscous, or quinoa, or many of the other grains.

Beans are vegan...chickpeas, pintos, lentils, kidney beans, black beans, white beans, navy beans, adzuki beans, lima beans, peas etc. You can make homemade baked beans (both molasses and pure maple syrup are vegan, and if you like brown sugar, turbinado sugar is vegan and can be used in place of it), and bean burgers, or add them to soups, or eat them over toast. I like to make "scrambled" chickpeas with chopped potatoes and vegetables (carrots, bell pepper, celery, onion, mushroom) in the skillet. Another is chickpea salad sandwiches. Just mash a can of chickpeas, chopped celery, chopped onion, salt and pepper together and add vegan mayonnaise (some vegan mayonnaise brands are Just Mayo, Vegannaise, Nayonnaise, Earth Balance Mindful Mayo etc). If you can't find those, there are tons of recipes on the net to make your own vegan mayonnaise which is very quick and easy to do. I don't like to use a lot of oil so I make mine with coconut milk and ground almonds and add vinegar, turmeric, a little mustard, and blend it to a creamy consistency. My husband likes my mayo better than store bought. At any rate, chickpea salad sandwiches are really good.

I actually haven't found much commercial bread that is vegan as many commercial breads have honey or L Cysteine and other strange ingredients but I have found a few vegan breads such as Rudy's (not all of them but some), Ezekiel bread (in frozen section) and sometimes bakery ciabetta and french breads are naturally vegan. Some Thomas brand Bagels are vegan but not all. I just make my own bread a lot. I have literally made hundreds of loaves by now and it is second nature. And cheaper than store bought.

Many nuts and seeds are vegan too. I like to buy roasted pumpkin seeds with shell on, or sunflower seeds to snack on at work. Whole almonds, walnuts, pecans, pine nuts etc are others. Sesame seeds are fun to add to vegetable stir fries. Sometimes for breakfast a handful of almonds and a big mango are enough to satisfy me for a long time.

There are tons of commecial plant based milks now too: almond, oat milk, soy milks, coconut milks (in can for cooking in place of condensed milk, or in carton for drinking), hemp milk. And vegan yogurts are in most stores now too.

Other staples are applesauce, canned tomatoes/paste/sauce, some pastas like spaghetti or macaroni or penne pasta, vinegars, dijon mustard, minced garlic, lemon juice, cornmeal, salsas, some taco shells (or buy corn flour or masa harina flour and make your own corn tacos), fat free refried beans (most regular cans of refried beans have lard but fat free is vegan), canned pumpkin, sweet potatoes (a favorite dish of mine is sweet potato, black beans, kale all sauteed in a nonstick skillet and add coconut or almond milk and curry powder), figs. The list goes on.

A common mistake a lot of new vegans make is to go crazy obsessing over every tiny ingredient and whether it is vegan. I used to be this way. There are sites like this one: http://www.vrg.org/ingredients/index.php, that can help you figure out which ingredients are vegan, but if you just keep it simple and pay attention to the big stuff...milk, whey, casein, egg, meats etc then you are going far in living a vegan lifestyle. The little stuff you learn about as you go along. Trans fat isn't necessarily non vegan (some is and some is not) but it is very unhealthy anyway so it is something I tend to avoid. There are catsups you can buy that do not have trans fats in them. Even Hunts has a trans fat free version, and I believe Heinz does too. If in doubt, find a recipe to make your own. Another one is sugar. I tend to avoid cane sugar as it is processed with bone char, but there might be processed foods such as Heinz catsup for example, that have sugar in them. Though I might avoid buying cane sugar, I might buy an organic bottle of catsup that may have minute amounts of cane sugar in it. I am not going to stress over that. I buy catsup maybe twice a year.

Hope this helps!
 
#9 ·
Homemade pastas usually do contain egg -- don't know if the egg alternative Ener-G works for homemade pasta -- but most of the dried manufactured pastas don't unless they're marketed as egg noodles. Pastas that are sold soft and need refrigeration probably all contain egg. If you're at a restaurant that calls its pasta fresh, or made in-house, it's more likely there's egg in the pasta dough. And I haven't heard of pastas with dairy at all, but it never hurts to check the labels.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Thank you people.

I've been reading more about the vitamin b12, and talked about it with a friend who knows some about this, but what I don't know is if the vitamin b12 used in fortified foods are taken from animals or made purely synthetic. It's important for me to know, if you know please tell me.


Also I would really want to know if white rice is vegan or not. I find people on google saying it's not but they are not clear in their explanation. So, in case it isn't... is integral rice vegan? or either?

thanks
 
#11 ·
Thank you people.

I've been reading more about the vitamin b12, and talked about it with a friend who knows some about this, but what I don't know is if the vitamin b12 used in fortified foods are taken from animals or made purely synthetic. It's important for me to know, if you know please tell me.

Also I would really want to know if white rice is vegan or not. I find people on google saying it's not but they are not clear in their explanation. So, in case it isn't... is integral rice vegan? or either?

thanks
When B12 is in fortified foods it MIGHT be from animals. But I've found that they usually say whether it is on the label. (My soy milk is fortified, but they have a little note on there saying "nothing derived from animals" so the B12 isn't animal based).

Really, with that sort of thing, it just means reading the label to see. If you're ever in doubt, you can also contact companies via email. They're usually pretty good with answering back.

White rice is vegan. Some people prefer brown rice because it's less processed and has a higher nutritional value (I think). But as far as whether or not it's vegan, rice doesn't contain any animal 'parts'.
 
#13 ·
whole plant foods

when you eat whole plant foods, like bananas, oranges, apples, potatoes, rice, or a salad -- you see exactly what you're eating.
Processed foods are ambiguous foods, you always have to skim through a list of ingredients which you have to take the time to research.

You need to eat more than you think you should. One banana for breakfast is not enough. I eat 7-10 bananas for breakfast in a smoothie. For lunch, I eat 200 gram bag of Dates or other dehydrated fruit, or I'll have another banana smoothie with other fruits or greens. Or have some canned fruit, or fruit juice. But even fruit juices that contain "natural flavors" is ambiguous, you really don't know if it's vegan or not. This is why it's best to eat whole, fresh, ripe foods. For lunch or dinner, have rice with steamed veggies with a side salad, or pasta with marinara and veggies; or try eating 4-5 large potatoes (steamed with a little seasoning if desired) and have some lettuce on the side. Have a soup with ingredients vegetables you bought (potatoes, carrots, onion and water+seasonings). Or have a traditional Southern dinner with steamed whole potatoes, corn on the cob, green beans, with slices of raw tomato from the garden!
Also try a "Burrito bowl" with Rice, black beans, corn, chopped lettuce, salsa, and guacamole.

For more information on diet, living frugally, go to my site with over 9 years of Vegan experience: Vegans Living Off the Land
 
#14 ·
Sky-Engine, when you ask about rice being vegan, are you talking about the rice you cook or the rice you order when you're out? Restaurant rice is often cooked in broth, so if it's cooked in beef or chicken broth, it's not vegan or vegetarian. The menu won't necessarily mention this detail. All you can do is ask the server and hope the server gives you the right information instead of what they think, or what they think you want to hear.
 
#15 · (Edited)
Getting in a little late here, but I have also been a long time ovo-lacto vegetarian (15 years!) who has recently cut eggs and milk (still not ready to cut honey, so I'm not technically vegan). I have been cooking and baking mostly from scratch for years and years. It gets easier as you get familiar with how things work, and by using ingredients that are in their raw form, you can be sure everything that goes in is something you are ok with eating. Processed food does't just potentially have ingredients you're ethically against, but has additives, flavoring and colors that are outright toxic. Not to mention, whether veg or vegan, you need LOTS of produce in every color of the rainbow every day. When I was a new vegetarian, my parents were very concerned and took me to a doctor. He gave me good advice- "If you don't like fruits and vegetables, you're going to be very sick very quick". You have to keep in mind, fruits and veg are very low in calories and fats so while temporarily filling due to water content, eating a couple pieces of fruit is going to leave you very hungry. It's not enough nutrition! You need large amounts every day if you don't want to use supplements, as it's extremely easy to under eat on a veg/vegan diet unless you eat a whole lot of junk processed foods. I typically eat around 10-12 "whole" pieces of fruit or veg every day (apples, bananas, pears, oranges, grapefruits, tomatoes and other seasonally available produce of that general size), in addition to smoothies, salads and juices. All that on top of whole grains, nuts, home made baked goods, and protein dishes like home made faux meats. I typically have 1/2 cup (dry) oatmeal in the morning with 4 or 5 pieces of fruit and a glass of juice (usually citrus), 1 cup of rice at lunch with another 4 or 5 pieces of fruit and a 12-16oz smoothie (sometimes fruits, sometimes greens), another 2 or 3 pieces of fruit/veg as snacks and a handful of nuts in there somewhere... Dinners I strive to have a dish thats high in protein and fats, grains and vegetables. Usually have a home made baked good for dessert (and I don't use sugar, sweetened with fruit, maple syrup or honey, depending). Now that I have cut out my dairy products (I used to do all whole fat) and eggs, I've upped the volume of food I'm eating and am including more avocados, nuts and grains for the extra protein and fat (our body does need healthy fats too for the brain to work right!). If I ate the volume of SAD food that I do as a veg, I would weigh about 300lbs. As is it's hard to keep weight on!

Some helpful tips I've learned over the years as a vegetarian (and some dairy/egg free ones I've learned more recently):

-SOY MILK MAKER! I never knew these existed, but it is SO cheap to make as much non-dairy milk as you want:D I've been making oat milk instead of soy, but you can make milk from pretty much any grain, nut or bean you'd like. My oat milk recipe costs about a buck a gallon, vs almost $6 a gallon for whole organic dairy milk. My recipe calls for honey, so it's not technically vegan, but honey is optional anyways. I am also working out how to make oat or almond yogurt since I do have a yogurt maker (jury is still out on that, I've gotten it to a kefir like consistency). Also looking into how to make "butter" and "cheese".

-In baking or cooking recipes that call for eggs, milled flax makes a fantastic substitute! for each egg you replace, use 1tbsp flax to 3tbsp water. Heat on a medium heat until they become a gooey, raw-egg like texture. Then just add them like you would eggs! This has worked beautifully in several baked goods that called for eggs, and some vegan burgers that needed eggs for a binder I made last night. I have a feeling this will be my go-to egg replacer from now on!

-"Chicken" can be made super easy by mixing 2 parts vital wheat gluten to 1 part whole wheat flour (or flour of your choice) and 1 part water (spices to taste). I *personally* boil the water and dissolve a cube of vegetable bullion, then cool it before adding to the dry ingredients for flavor, but thats optional. Mix into a thick dough, then form into patties or balls (I do balls at least for "popcorn chicken"). Let sit for 30 minutes, then drop pieces in a large pot of boiling water. Let boil for 20-30 minutes, then drain and allow to cool. Now you have chicken bits you can bread, fry, roast, put on salads, in stir fries or whatever else you would do with chicken. Delicious, healthier than processed soy and cheap!

-Chop mixes are such a great way to get a variety of greens and veg without having huge chunks of leafy greens in salads (I'm not a big fan of the consistency of salad, though I love the flavors). Actually, I started doing chops for my parrot, but they looked rather tasty (and are!), so now I eat them too! Only mine have onion and vinegar, which he can't have. Just chop all your salad ingredients into very tiny pieces, and serve as a side dish. I find it goes down easier than salad.

-Get comfortable in your kitchen and don't be discouraged if something turns out nasty, comes out overcooked and undercooked at the same time, or doesn't look like that professional picture of the dish online. I know so many people who don't cook or are afraid to cook because they are afraid or ashamed that theres a learning curve. That or they (wrongly) assume if they don't have a top of the line kitchen and appliances they can't cook delicious meals at home. Not true! We don't even technically have a kitchen, just a pair of those "portable burners" and a 1/2 size countertop convection oven (ok, thats actually pretty fancy, but before we just had a crappy 6 slice toaster oven) and about a 14X18" counter to prep on. I still make and cook 90% of what we eat at home, from scratch! It's a matter of swallowing your pride, making some disgusting dishes as you learn, and eventually you get better and better and are able to make amazing food.
 
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