A new vegan

[aubreyamanda]

A few weeks ago, I decided to stop eating meat. I feel as if It is something that wont be a loss to me and will be better for my health. At the start of this week I watched a very touching video on what really goes on at these dairy farms and the conditions of these animals. It broke my heart. I am determined to take dairy out of my diet. Now I feel as if our bodies are not meant for it and it is unnecessary to me. But this has become hard for me because my body is so used to eating it. and yogurt has always been my go to snack.

Does anyone have any tips on how to beat these cravings??
Any good snack ideas?

[Rah nam]

My tip is, take it easy, see how you body reacts. The body might want the old stuff back, and might take a wile to follow you ideas.
Be gentles, don't blame.

[LucidMoob]

Eat vegan yoghurt? Dont know where you are based but here in UK we have some beautiful vegan yoghurt, they don't last long in my house! But yeh as Rah nam says, take it easy to start with, try not get too hung up on succeeding, just see what fits into your lifestyle...and everytime you get a craving just think of the poor animals!

[Tobi]

There is vegan ice cream, vegan yogurt, vegan cheese, vegan chocolate, etc.
If there is a good health food store near you, go and take a look and see what interesting things you can find.

As you know, there are many reasons why someone chooses to become Vegan or Vegetarian. You saw a video that disturbed you and you decided to stop eating meat and then decided to also stop eating dairy.

While there are certain dairy practices and or farms that cause the animal to suffer, there are also farms that love their animals and treat them humanely or as humanely as possible. I suggest if you love yogurt, try looking for a local farm that you can actually visit, or as earlier suggested, try a vegan or vegetarian brand.

[Lovely]

Originally Posted by Yaoughta

As you know, there are many reasons why someone chooses to become Vegan or Vegetarian. You saw a video that disturbed you and you decided to stop eating meat and then decided to also stop eating dairy.

While there are certain dairy practices and or farms that cause the animal to suffer, there are also farms that love their animals and treat them humanely or as humanely as possible. I suggest if you love yogurt, try looking for a local farm that you can actually visit, or as earlier suggested, try a vegan or vegetarian brand.

Not to mention "Now I feel as if our bodies are not meant for it and it is unnecessary to me."
A very valid reason to stop consuming these products. My body benefited SO much from ridding these things from it.
Also it's hard almost impossible to determine the truth behind "humane" unless you watch them 24/7 365 you have to
take the word of someone who has something to sell.

Of course this decision is up to the poster them self just my two cents.

And for the cravings they really do go away after awhile (about a month for me). Just eat vegan snacks (rather they're
versions of your favorite non vegan foods or not.) you'll get used to them and won't even look back, they'll be part of your life.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by Lovely

Not to mention "Now I feel as if our bodies are not meant for it and it is unnecessary to me."
A very valid reason to stop consuming these products. My body benefited SO much from ridding these things from it.
Also it's hard almost impossible to determine the truth behind "humane" unless you watch them 24/7 365 you have to
take the word of someone who has something to sell.

Of course this decision is up to the poster them self just my two cents.

And for the cravings they really do go away after awhile (about a month for me). Just eat vegan snacks (rather they're
versions of your favorite non vegan foods or not.) you'll get used to them and won't even look back, they'll be part of your life.

Good luck!

I don't disagree with that and personally, I'm not a big fan of dairy myself, but there is a big difference between eating an animal and eating an animal byproduct, so it all comes down to personal choice. I know most Vegans don't eat honey for example because they consider it an animal byproduct, but some will.

Most health food stores and some big supermarkets carry soy yogurt or coconut milk yogurt. I like the coconut milk better, and if you can find plain or vanilla, you can stir in fresh or frozen fruit and it's actually way healthier for you than most of the fruit yogurts, which tend to have LOTS of sugar.

I will say though that when I stopped eating meat in and dairy it took about three or four days before my body adjusted. I felt hungry all the time for those days, and I was still learning how to change my cooking and grocery shopping. Personally I think it's withdrawal--from sugar, chemicals, refined stuff.

After that though I started to feel great, like beyond great.

Snacking on nuts and avocados helped to steady my blood sugar through those first days.

Now it's no longer a problem. Good luck!

BTW I think it's commendable that you are trying in response to real cruelty built into our food system.

Some people still lay into me, which I find weird. But lots of others are making the same change because in the US, corporate farming is just disgusting and wrong.

[kris]

1) http://www.exploreveg.org/resources/

2) http://vegfund.org/food-sampling-int...FTFk7Aodb0oAiA

3) http://www.peta.org/living/food/accidentally-vegan/

4) http://www.veganoutreach.org/guide/what_to_eat.html

5) http://www.veganstore.com/category/vegan-food-items

6) http://vegankit.com/eat

7) http://www.globalanimal.org/section/...iendly-living/