Vegan Forum

Also, what is the hardest part for you?

No it is not hard. Once you know how to cook or make raw tasty, it is very easy. +one has to get of addiction if one likes meat taste.

don't know what you mean, being vegan is super easy and ethical. there are many good reasons to go vegan.

If you do not read and learn about your choice of striving to be vegan then you can find yourself having a hard time in many ways. Once you learn as much as you can and live it for some time it is easy as pie - well vegan pie anyway.

Nope, being vegan is easy! I actually made the conscious choice to go vegetarian but food allergies forced me to go vegan. I'm deathly allergic to milk and eggs. I think I probably would have gone vegan anyway after seeing the effects the farming industry has and the massive damage and suffering they cause.

It became difficult the first time. I became vegetarian almost 20 years ago. The first time I became vegan, I only made it a couple years. I did it the first time around to become healthier and because the local music scene was really supportive. I had a vegetarian girl friend who was interested in becoming vegan with me. Surrounded by this support network, it was easy to make the choice to become vegan. As that support network began to fade, some friends began eating meat again, some moved to different parts of the country, my girlfriend and I separated, etc... it became more difficult to do it for reasons that mattered to me. I began to eat lacto-ovo for a time... I had to mature and come at it again later. Most of the people I know who have remained vegan have also experimented tremendously within the vegan diet, drifting from vegan, to macrobiotic, to raw vegan, to fruit-centered, to something more approximating a fusion of these different vegan diets. I think it's natural to experiment with what works best for you.

I know lots of vegetarians, but I wouldn't say they're all healthy vegetarian eaters. One vegetarian I know doesn't eat anything that's not white... I know, crazy right. She likes white potatoes, white pasta, white bread and chicken substitutes. No vegetables, no fruits, nothing close to what I consider healthy. I know a vegetarian that doesn't own a fridge. All their meals come out of jars, cans, boxes and plastic tubs. I think you need to eat an assortment of fruits, vegetables, leafy greens, legumes and whole grains to be healthy. IF your approach to a vegan diet isn't healthy, it's setting yourself up for failure.

its not hard for me. about a year ago i was really overweight and unhealthy. i decided i was finally going to do something about it. i started eating more veggies and i switched to whole grains. the food made me feel wonderful and very energetic so i started jogging. after a few months i realized that i didnt really eat much meat or cheese anymore. my body just didnt crave it. i ate fish, egg whites, and nonfat yogurt but that was it. when i read about all the benefits of going vegan, not just for health but for the animals and the environment as well i thought why not? i made the switch and havent really craved meat or cheese much since. every now and then i walk past someone with fried chicken and my mouth starts to water. then i think about all the horrible things that happen in slaughter houses, ad all the fat and cholesterol that person is consuming. then the craving dissapears.

I became a vegan for the most selfish of reasons, my health.

I was fat, I suffered indigestion (chronically), I was on Lipitor and Viagra, my gums bled, I had insomnia, I snored, I had foot fungus. . . All these problems vanished a month after the change.

In addition to meat, eggs and milk, I stopped eating sugar and processed grains. I make no effort to control my portions.

Quite frankly, this is the easiest change I have ever made in my life. I never want to feel the way I felt before.

The sad thing is, my colleagues at work, most of whom mock me for my change, continue to suffer from the same maladies that I had. They write it off as "a diet."

I find is very hard.
I've been veggie all my life, and now an on-off vegan. What strikes me is that you STILL can't get a decent selection of prepared vegan food from most supermarkets, compared to being vegetarian, anyway.

Sometimes. Though most days my diet is vegan...

Anyway, it's personal choice in the last analysis. Each to their own. It's not up to anyone to castigate others for not having the willpower to give up dairy, etc. Ideally it'd be great if all of us followed a vegan diet. But for some to pontificate and harp on people who find it less easy to be vegan is hardly fair, sorry...

The hardest part is learning what is and isnt okay. Once you know what is 'safe' it becomes super easy! And pretty soon you have no question in your mind about what youre doing - you just do it, almost like you were raised that way

For me, the hardest thing will be to make sure what is okay and not okay. It implies looking through every single ingredient list, but I think it's worth making that effort. Also, while I cut off meat for a long time already, cutting dairy, eggs, etc. off will be another challenge for me. Again, I'm willing to make sacrifices.

Being vegetarian is really quite easy. It's really unecessary all this hype over protein, we actually don't need that much anyway.