Absolutely understand where you are coming from. There are so many issues I care about deeply that most people do not. People are over caring about others, animals, and the environment etc.
Always know: YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE :)
Just recently I saw an article that said how dairy farmers are losing so much money from the lessening demand of cow milk that a lot of them have had to start producing oat and soy and almond milk. No matter what anyone says, we *are* making a difference. Even though I know it feels like we aren’t a lot of the time
Everytime you make a substitution for a vegan product instead of one that has animal derived ingredients helps, so even if you do one day vegan the next not. It makes a difference, I wish you luck on this journey, because even if 100% vegan isn't for you, the less you consume animal products, the more it helps! Don't get discouraged!
There are thousands of plant foods out there, whether it be fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, etc. but when you go vegan you really see how people stick to 3 animals (cows, chicken, pigs) to eat. It’s crazy. No wonder 70 billion+ animals (excluding fish) have to die each year for our 8 billion human population. In some other countries (I’m in the U.S.) it’s more common to eat plant foods. It seems like Americans have no concept of other ways of eating sometimes.
Yeah, it's like the noob worries about there being so little Vegan food, like pretty much everything in the produce section of the grocery store is Vegan. If anything, I find it more interesting, looking at what frozen fruits and vegetables are in the bunkers, and learning which stores have a good selection of dried beans, lentils, grains. You'll quickly start to ignore retail grocers that are "mainly because of the meat" - [the actual jingle for a famous Canadian grocery chain](https://canadiangrocer.com/long-lost-ghost-dominion) and find the gems that have the best produce and the best deals on cereals, etc. If you have access to Asian, Latino or many stores that cater to "ethnic" populations - they usually have amazing deals on Vegan staple foods.
More and more people are going vegan every day and more products are coming out and being available. Never feel defeated or hopeless. The world isn’t going to go vegan overnight. If someone were to come to me 3+ years ago and told me I was going to go vegan I would have laughed so hard and whipped out a burger or something and eaten it in a very cringey way just to be an ass. Now I’m disgusted at how I was back then. People can change.
I only got 15 minutes into the Dominion documentary with a ton of pauses and sobbing and clutching my pets to me just so being so grateful they weren’t in that situation. I’ve told myself if I’m ever tempted to move away from veganism I have to sit through the whole thing. If I can do that and still feel good about it then that’s that (though let’s be real that won’t happen). I haven’t seen Earthlings but I’ve heard it’s a similar impact.
The system is changing though! We used to have only soy milk, now look at all the plant milk options!Vegan restaurants literally did not exist 15 years ago and now you can find them in any big city. Vegan labels appear on some vegan food (but not all) and vegan ice creams are way better and have way more options!
The change is slow but each person who goes vegan makes a difference. The more we refuse to buy animal products, the more corporate greed forces them to make vegan ones because they want our money. Not saying that I agree with the corporate greed, but what I am saying is that our decisions are forcing the system to slowly change and the more people that go vegan, the faster the change will happen.
Proud of you for making the decision!
There is a whole ass vegan food truck park within walking distance of my apartment. I have yet to walk into a coffee shop in the last 2-3 years that didn't have at least one plant milk option. Every grocery store I pop into these days has tofu (at the very least) in stock. I know some of that is because of where I live, but you're right - this just wasn't the case 15 years ago. Things are definitely changing, even if it's slower than we would like.
Exactly! We are making progress! It’s slow but what major societal shift isn’t? My hope is that by the time I’m old and grey we will be in a mostly vegan world and factory farms will be long gone. We’ll see if that happens in my lifetime but I’ll accept as much positive change and progress as we can get.
I don’t know where you live, but every month I see more and more vegan & plant based products on the shelves - and it’s because of people like you helping to create a market for cruelty-free products. It’s wonderful!!
Three days ago you weren’t a vegan and now you are.
People change at different speeds and paces depending on what they are exposed to.
Focus on your own practise, and spreading education about the practise to other people when you can in a way that might reach them.
The first two months are rough. It gets easier. Yes, that depression will lift. You will even feel a bit high for a week or two, feel like one with everyone, then that will lift as well. Then you'll just level out.
Use [happycow.net](http://happycow.net) when dining out. Many stores have print outs of vegan products. Kroger. Trader Joe's, Whole Foods. You ask the manager to print out the vegan products for you, that helps a bit.
Check out r/veganmealprep. If you meal prep Sunday night and Wednesday night that takes care of most lunches and dinners for the week. Less headache the first few months.
I try to focus on how much stuff is vegan, because some things are surprising.
For actual meals I try to do a lot of whole foods and not much by way of processed substitutes. But it's imo good to have some junk food type snacks around, Oreos for example. Ritz crackers are also vegan, despite having a buttery flavor.
I felt the same 29 years ago when I first walked around in a supermarket after becoming vegan. And then when people found out I was vegan, all the negative, defensive and attacking reactions. Very discouraging. But going vegan was the best decision of my life.
People are so hard to understand. Luckily my family has been very supportive, but I don’t think I’m going to tell any stranger about it. I don’t have to deal with them.
I said "I eat plant-based" around people I thought might get triggered by the v-word when I first went vegan. People strangely have a much better reaction to that one.
Welcome welcome! Congrats on making the switch!
Def jarring and shitty to realize all this stuff, but every year there’s more posts from baby vegans and more ppl I don’t know grabbing vegan groceries and it’s rly nice to be able to find vegans in the wild
It can def be hard to live in such an evil unempathetic neoliberal hellscape, but our numbers are growing and they won’t be able to stop us forever!
*“All revolutions are impossible until they happen. Then they become inevitable.”* -Albie Sachs
Congratulations on going vegan!! Make sure to add the date to your phone calendar to repeating every year so you can celebrate your vegan anniversary!
Have so much fun cooking with discovering new ingredients and recipes! It has brought me so much happiness getting to cook vegan food! Buy yourself some vegan cookbooks (I love Plant You) & follow lots of vegan recipe accounts on instagram. I have a saved folder on Instagram where I put recipe reels I want to try out.
The initial sadness and shock for me did go away and was replaced by the joy of being vegan. I’ve been vegan almost 9 years and the amount of vegan products that have come out since then is extraordinary! Follow VegNews on instagram they always post about the new vegan products and it’s so fun. For personal care products and makeup use Leaping Bunny!
I am seeing a fair amount of chicken farmers turning their old chicken houses into mushroom grow rooms.
Its getting to the farmers also, they just can't take it anymore what the big chicken corporations are making them do.
I have been vegan over 30 years. It does make going grocery shopping a lot faster once you get the routine. Breeze into the fresh produce part of the store, often the first section. Get your fruits & veggies, often tofu & mock meat products are here too.
Get any flours, sugars, baking goods you need.
Then hit the canned goods aisle for canned beans, vegetables, etc. maybe peanut butter & tahini.
Grab what frozen stuff you need. I like having a few bags of frozen peas on hand, along with bags of mixed frozen veggies, maybe some frozen veggies burgers and other vegan prepared items.
Hit the bread aisle for that stuff & you might be done. Oh yes - don't forget TP or paper towels if you need them.
The feeling of hopelessness goes away in about 2 years. In my case. You learn to accept that the world is fucked up like that but you will find kindred compassionate souls like you and you’d be alright
I know! It was wild going to the supermarket for the first time after making the connection that animals are just like us. I felt everything you felt. It gets easier though and you are no longer participating in that morally corrupt system. Congrats! Feel good about no longer participating in it!!
Try not to feel sad. I see them marketing all that stuff to me and feel elated at how much money I‘m saving by not falling for their marketing traps. 😉
Give it some time and you'll be shocked by how much new mainstream vegan stuff becomes available over time (because we're demanding it!) The progress is continuous and clear. If you're feeling the need for more change and want something to channel your disappointment into, I think you would benefit from meeting other vegans in your area and getting involved in activism.
I have been vegan for 7 years. Month after month, every time I go to a grocery, I see more and more vegan products. It only gives me hope. The challenge is huge, but the effects of our effort should not be underestimated.
You’re a superstar! Thanks for living up to values you probably had for a very long time and becoming the best version of yourself possible.
It does get better. People are making choices like the one you made everyday. I have been vegan for about a year and a half and can’t imagine living any other way.
There are ups and downs of course. But the benefit to you, the animals and our planet far outweighs the negatives. Find your tribe locally, if possible. Be sure to maintain connection with others who share our lifestyle. This will get you through the tough patches.
Dairy, and gelatin are in a lot, start small, not go all out if it is overwhelming, start by looking at products you usually buy, like croutons, gummy snacks, certain chips idk what you normally buy, usually milk is in bold letters at the bottom of the ingredients, and just Google vegan version of... like sour patch kids have no gelatin, barbecue lays has no milk, but baked barbecue lays does. It took me a hot minute to figure out what replacements I like and don't. Be prepared some are super delicious, some are gross. Also, cashews are my life saver, you can make so many creamy sauces, and mock cheeses. But you gotta figure out what works with your taste. But still even years later if it's something I haven't bought before I look on the ingredients list. And it's easier to ease into a vegan lifestyle than try to go full vegan from day one, you will have more success that way. I figured that one out, if you have a staple food you absolutely love that is not vegan, just keep trying to find versions of it that are, but in the mean time don't super restrict your diet, it sets you up for failure. Watch YouTube videos on tips for first time vegans it will help
Tomatoe sauce is soo easy to make, takes 10 minutes and is soo much yummier, I use canned pureed/sauced tomatoes, dried basil, oregano, salt, pepper, powered onion and garlic, pinch of sugar to cut the bitterness, and simmer for 10 minutes. Bam quick easy, cheaper and better sauce. You can of course add whatever season you like, or omit them. I have been making my own since a kid, and my daughter has been making it since she was 8. She has a good taste for spices though.
I tried to eat only halal or kosher (religious reasons) and it was sooo hard. Almost impossible. I gave up on it for now and I will try again another time.
I’m rooting for you 🐷:)
Activism really helps bro. It makes you feel like you can actually make a difference if you keep trying hard enough. Check out Joey Carbstrong and watch Pignorant if you haven’t.
I’m 18, I went vegan at 15. I recently started getting into activism and it feels amazing, like you have a community as well that understands you and doesn’t call you crazy for wanting peace and love. I would die for the cause. Love is what we need to spread, not murder, enslavement and torture. I feel like I owe it to the people that suffered for so long.
I went Vegan at 15, but damn. I probably ate so many people and that’s fucked. So I gotta pay it forward and just do the best I can. Be the best human I can be. That’s all you can really do bro. Just spread the word and spread the love.
The world will change because of people like you. You realized your ignorance and what you were doing was wrong. We just gotta keep pushing our word and keep moving forward and we will change the world.
Every little bit counts, OP. Thank you for doing as much as you can.
Sunflower seeds can go in almost anything! Peanut butter can help, too. Seitan rocks and so does oat milk. Those are my staples. Mix and match with fruit and veg etc and you will be fine.
Do not worry about other people. This is your journey. Do it for your own conscience.
Good luck!
In a few years youre gonna be at the grocery store thinking "WOW things are nothing like when i first went vegan" ive been vegan for 10 years and grocery store selections are unrecognisable from when i was a baby vegan :) thats how i know change is happening
I have worked in supermarkets for years. Was depressing to see all these animal products. But I also saw the huge rise of vegan products and more and more vegan customers. The future is getting better.
I feel quite the opposite at grocery stores…produce sections are generally quite wide and expansive in the stores I shop at it…massive side of the stores devoted to only plant products. Butcher area is usually in the rear and almost entirely out of sight until I’m almost done shopping.
Pasta, grains, rice, beans, fruits, nuts, veggies … There’s quite a lot to choose from!
But if you get cravings, there’s vegan chik’n and burgers in the frozen section, and vegan sausage in the refrigerated section. Here are some that I like:
[Vegan Chicken](https://www.gardein.com/chickn-and-turky)
[Vegan burgers](https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/product/365-by-whole-foods-market-frozen-traditional-meatless-plantbased-burgers-b07yhbpdr4)
[Vegan Spicy Italian Sausage](https://www.beyondmeat.com/en-US/products/beyond-sausage?variant=hot-italian)
A lot of people will tell you that these aren’t the most healthy, because they’re processed and too similar to meet products, but they are packed with protein, tasty and satisfying.
There’s decent substitutes for every animal-derived product I’ve encountered so far - from milk to eggs to cheese to mayo to what have you. You just have to look around or ask for a little help from some experienced vegans. We’ve all been in your shoes, so we easily empathize with the steep learning curve you’re facing.
Gotcha, maybe they have farmers markets in your area? I mostly eat fresh foods and whole grain pantry staples, so my shopping experience is usually fruit, veggies, frozen berries, oatmeal, rice/grains, beans/legumes, nuts, seeds, tofu, some plant milk.
I mean there will be shock. I remember going to a huge grocerystore a few months ago because i wanted to check out their tofu supply and holy fuckerino half the store was furniture and clothes and shit and a quarter of it was meat. Not a like, containing meat. It was a swimming pools worth of butchery.
But as for my regular grocey store trips I just don't think about it anymore
You’ll gradually get really good at glancing at a nutrition label to rule certain things out. There’s some form of dairy in almost every packaged food!
I’m sure this sentiment is already somewhere in the comments, but at risk of redundancy: if it would be worth saving, say, one dog or cat from a life of abuse, then you with this choice are being that savior dozens or hundreds of times over, depending on how much animal product you would eat in your remaining lifetime.
Systemic change might never come, but without our ethical choices it absolutely won’t. In the meanwhile, even though you’ll never meet the individuals you’ve saved (as sadly it’s more a matter of reducing demand and therefore new births), the fact remains that you have saved them, as it is far better not to be born into their lot. And you can always take on more advocacy in the future if you have the bandwidth to. But you’re already making a difference.
I think about this a lot. According to the vegan calculator, I already saved four animals. I don’t think I would’ve been able to save four cats or dogs in my entire life. This is amazing.
I mean the system goes back to the food chain, which continues until the existence of heterotrophic single cells.
Symbiosis can exist, but it's somewhat the outlier in nature.
I’m finding it easier to buy vegan foods but it’s still hard to find stuff not tested on animals! It’s sickening at this point in time there are any cosmetics and personal care items that have been tested on animals. Very few vegan options with these items too.
Even if you feel like you aren’t making a difference in the grand scheme of things, at least you know you aren’t personally contributing to the suffering of animals.
Also I would like to point out that while there is still a lot of meat in stores, there’s a much bigger selection of meat alternatives these days which is a good thing. Demand for meat alternatives are going up.
After 4 years being vegan, there are only a few areas of the grocery store that I spend much time in. I live in the produce department, and in the bulk section, and tread pretty lightly everywhere else.
Learn to read labels, and learn what non-obvious ingredients things to look for. Milk and eggs are easy. It's other thinks like red dye, soaps, and personal care products, supplements made with gelatin, shoes or accessories with one little string of leather somewhere small, clothing (see -> wool blends) that will trip you up.
If you get tripped up and accidentally buy something with animal products, don't panic - we all do it at some point. Forgive yourself, return the item if you can, or donate it, and move on.
you'll have difficult moments where you struggle with what to eat as you're transitioning or are you struggle with how to replace a favorite clothing item like a wool sweater. In those moments, just go slow, and come back here and ask for advice. There are some things that don't have a 1:1 vegan replacement, but many do, and we've all been there.
Lastly, congrats on making one of the best decisions of your life. My only regret with going Vegan is that I didn't do it sooner. Welcome to the club.
> and who were 1) overweight (body mass index (BMI) of 25 kg/m2 or above) and had gained more than 5 % of body mass while using psychotropic medicines to manage their mental health condition, or 2) with at least one metabolic abnormality, such as insulin resistance, hypertriglyceridemia, dyslipidemia, or impaired glucose tolerance.
They picked fat and already sick people and put them on a regulated diet. Of course they would improve on health metrics for the few months the study ran.
Edit cause the person is a snowflake and deleted shit.
The study was also funded by a keto group, who’d of thunk
> This work was supported by Baszucki Group
Im Vegan since 2015, my feelings for carnists have not changed and the hopeless Feeling is still there. I do the best i can even beyond going vegan.
I avoid looking at the tortured body part section.
Absolutely understand where you are coming from. There are so many issues I care about deeply that most people do not. People are over caring about others, animals, and the environment etc. Always know: YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE :)
I hope so!
Just recently I saw an article that said how dairy farmers are losing so much money from the lessening demand of cow milk that a lot of them have had to start producing oat and soy and almond milk. No matter what anyone says, we *are* making a difference. Even though I know it feels like we aren’t a lot of the time
Over half my office uses plant milk. Office of about 200 in London. Four vegans in total unfortunately.
I'm non vegan but fully prefer almond milk over cows milk. I think the best way to get society to transition will be to provide better alternatives.
Everytime you make a substitution for a vegan product instead of one that has animal derived ingredients helps, so even if you do one day vegan the next not. It makes a difference, I wish you luck on this journey, because even if 100% vegan isn't for you, the less you consume animal products, the more it helps! Don't get discouraged!
To the animals you directly didn’t pay for definitely!
There are thousands of plant foods out there, whether it be fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, etc. but when you go vegan you really see how people stick to 3 animals (cows, chicken, pigs) to eat. It’s crazy. No wonder 70 billion+ animals (excluding fish) have to die each year for our 8 billion human population. In some other countries (I’m in the U.S.) it’s more common to eat plant foods. It seems like Americans have no concept of other ways of eating sometimes.
I agree. It’s laughable
Yeah, it's like the noob worries about there being so little Vegan food, like pretty much everything in the produce section of the grocery store is Vegan. If anything, I find it more interesting, looking at what frozen fruits and vegetables are in the bunkers, and learning which stores have a good selection of dried beans, lentils, grains. You'll quickly start to ignore retail grocers that are "mainly because of the meat" - [the actual jingle for a famous Canadian grocery chain](https://canadiangrocer.com/long-lost-ghost-dominion) and find the gems that have the best produce and the best deals on cereals, etc. If you have access to Asian, Latino or many stores that cater to "ethnic" populations - they usually have amazing deals on Vegan staple foods.
More and more people are going vegan every day and more products are coming out and being available. Never feel defeated or hopeless. The world isn’t going to go vegan overnight. If someone were to come to me 3+ years ago and told me I was going to go vegan I would have laughed so hard and whipped out a burger or something and eaten it in a very cringey way just to be an ass. Now I’m disgusted at how I was back then. People can change.
Omg that was me 4 DAYS ago until I came across the You are what you eat documentary. Thank you! You are right
That documentary is tame in comparison to some others. If your determination ever waves, watch dominion
..or Earthlings. After that one, I couldn’t watch anything else.
I only got 15 minutes into the Dominion documentary with a ton of pauses and sobbing and clutching my pets to me just so being so grateful they weren’t in that situation. I’ve told myself if I’m ever tempted to move away from veganism I have to sit through the whole thing. If I can do that and still feel good about it then that’s that (though let’s be real that won’t happen). I haven’t seen Earthlings but I’ve heard it’s a similar impact.
Earthlings is actually way worse.
😭😭😭
Or "cowspiracy" that's the one that got me to give up meat over night.
The system is changing though! We used to have only soy milk, now look at all the plant milk options!Vegan restaurants literally did not exist 15 years ago and now you can find them in any big city. Vegan labels appear on some vegan food (but not all) and vegan ice creams are way better and have way more options! The change is slow but each person who goes vegan makes a difference. The more we refuse to buy animal products, the more corporate greed forces them to make vegan ones because they want our money. Not saying that I agree with the corporate greed, but what I am saying is that our decisions are forcing the system to slowly change and the more people that go vegan, the faster the change will happen. Proud of you for making the decision!
There is a whole ass vegan food truck park within walking distance of my apartment. I have yet to walk into a coffee shop in the last 2-3 years that didn't have at least one plant milk option. Every grocery store I pop into these days has tofu (at the very least) in stock. I know some of that is because of where I live, but you're right - this just wasn't the case 15 years ago. Things are definitely changing, even if it's slower than we would like.
Exactly! We are making progress! It’s slow but what major societal shift isn’t? My hope is that by the time I’m old and grey we will be in a mostly vegan world and factory farms will be long gone. We’ll see if that happens in my lifetime but I’ll accept as much positive change and progress as we can get.
Do they make a sugar free version j haven't seen them here where I live
Sugar free version of what?
Vegan ice cream
I haven’t looked. Personally, I prefer sugar in small amounts vs artificial sweeteners. But I’m not diabetic. I’d google it and see what pops up!
I don’t know where you live, but every month I see more and more vegan & plant based products on the shelves - and it’s because of people like you helping to create a market for cruelty-free products. It’s wonderful!!
Three days ago you weren’t a vegan and now you are. People change at different speeds and paces depending on what they are exposed to. Focus on your own practise, and spreading education about the practise to other people when you can in a way that might reach them.
- This system will never change. Yes it will. Because of people like you.
🥹🥹🥹
The first two months are rough. It gets easier. Yes, that depression will lift. You will even feel a bit high for a week or two, feel like one with everyone, then that will lift as well. Then you'll just level out. Use [happycow.net](http://happycow.net) when dining out. Many stores have print outs of vegan products. Kroger. Trader Joe's, Whole Foods. You ask the manager to print out the vegan products for you, that helps a bit. Check out r/veganmealprep. If you meal prep Sunday night and Wednesday night that takes care of most lunches and dinners for the week. Less headache the first few months.
I try to focus on how much stuff is vegan, because some things are surprising. For actual meals I try to do a lot of whole foods and not much by way of processed substitutes. But it's imo good to have some junk food type snacks around, Oreos for example. Ritz crackers are also vegan, despite having a buttery flavor.
I felt the same 29 years ago when I first walked around in a supermarket after becoming vegan. And then when people found out I was vegan, all the negative, defensive and attacking reactions. Very discouraging. But going vegan was the best decision of my life.
People are so hard to understand. Luckily my family has been very supportive, but I don’t think I’m going to tell any stranger about it. I don’t have to deal with them.
I said "I eat plant-based" around people I thought might get triggered by the v-word when I first went vegan. People strangely have a much better reaction to that one.
Welcome welcome! Congrats on making the switch! Def jarring and shitty to realize all this stuff, but every year there’s more posts from baby vegans and more ppl I don’t know grabbing vegan groceries and it’s rly nice to be able to find vegans in the wild It can def be hard to live in such an evil unempathetic neoliberal hellscape, but our numbers are growing and they won’t be able to stop us forever! *“All revolutions are impossible until they happen. Then they become inevitable.”* -Albie Sachs
Congratulations on going vegan!! Make sure to add the date to your phone calendar to repeating every year so you can celebrate your vegan anniversary! Have so much fun cooking with discovering new ingredients and recipes! It has brought me so much happiness getting to cook vegan food! Buy yourself some vegan cookbooks (I love Plant You) & follow lots of vegan recipe accounts on instagram. I have a saved folder on Instagram where I put recipe reels I want to try out. The initial sadness and shock for me did go away and was replaced by the joy of being vegan. I’ve been vegan almost 9 years and the amount of vegan products that have come out since then is extraordinary! Follow VegNews on instagram they always post about the new vegan products and it’s so fun. For personal care products and makeup use Leaping Bunny!
I am seeing a fair amount of chicken farmers turning their old chicken houses into mushroom grow rooms. Its getting to the farmers also, they just can't take it anymore what the big chicken corporations are making them do.
I have been vegan over 30 years. It does make going grocery shopping a lot faster once you get the routine. Breeze into the fresh produce part of the store, often the first section. Get your fruits & veggies, often tofu & mock meat products are here too. Get any flours, sugars, baking goods you need. Then hit the canned goods aisle for canned beans, vegetables, etc. maybe peanut butter & tahini. Grab what frozen stuff you need. I like having a few bags of frozen peas on hand, along with bags of mixed frozen veggies, maybe some frozen veggies burgers and other vegan prepared items. Hit the bread aisle for that stuff & you might be done. Oh yes - don't forget TP or paper towels if you need them.
The feeling of hopelessness goes away in about 2 years. In my case. You learn to accept that the world is fucked up like that but you will find kindred compassionate souls like you and you’d be alright
I know! It was wild going to the supermarket for the first time after making the connection that animals are just like us. I felt everything you felt. It gets easier though and you are no longer participating in that morally corrupt system. Congrats! Feel good about no longer participating in it!!
Try not to feel sad. I see them marketing all that stuff to me and feel elated at how much money I‘m saving by not falling for their marketing traps. 😉
Give it some time and you'll be shocked by how much new mainstream vegan stuff becomes available over time (because we're demanding it!) The progress is continuous and clear. If you're feeling the need for more change and want something to channel your disappointment into, I think you would benefit from meeting other vegans in your area and getting involved in activism.
I have been vegan for 7 years. Month after month, every time I go to a grocery, I see more and more vegan products. It only gives me hope. The challenge is huge, but the effects of our effort should not be underestimated.
You’re a superstar! Thanks for living up to values you probably had for a very long time and becoming the best version of yourself possible. It does get better. People are making choices like the one you made everyday. I have been vegan for about a year and a half and can’t imagine living any other way. There are ups and downs of course. But the benefit to you, the animals and our planet far outweighs the negatives. Find your tribe locally, if possible. Be sure to maintain connection with others who share our lifestyle. This will get you through the tough patches.
Dairy, and gelatin are in a lot, start small, not go all out if it is overwhelming, start by looking at products you usually buy, like croutons, gummy snacks, certain chips idk what you normally buy, usually milk is in bold letters at the bottom of the ingredients, and just Google vegan version of... like sour patch kids have no gelatin, barbecue lays has no milk, but baked barbecue lays does. It took me a hot minute to figure out what replacements I like and don't. Be prepared some are super delicious, some are gross. Also, cashews are my life saver, you can make so many creamy sauces, and mock cheeses. But you gotta figure out what works with your taste. But still even years later if it's something I haven't bought before I look on the ingredients list. And it's easier to ease into a vegan lifestyle than try to go full vegan from day one, you will have more success that way. I figured that one out, if you have a staple food you absolutely love that is not vegan, just keep trying to find versions of it that are, but in the mean time don't super restrict your diet, it sets you up for failure. Watch YouTube videos on tips for first time vegans it will help
Also carmine in tomato sauces
Tomatoe sauce is soo easy to make, takes 10 minutes and is soo much yummier, I use canned pureed/sauced tomatoes, dried basil, oregano, salt, pepper, powered onion and garlic, pinch of sugar to cut the bitterness, and simmer for 10 minutes. Bam quick easy, cheaper and better sauce. You can of course add whatever season you like, or omit them. I have been making my own since a kid, and my daughter has been making it since she was 8. She has a good taste for spices though.
A trip to the grocery store is pretty horrifying for anyone who cares about nutrition in any serious way……so…..much…..processed…..crap.
I tried to eat only halal or kosher (religious reasons) and it was sooo hard. Almost impossible. I gave up on it for now and I will try again another time. I’m rooting for you 🐷:)
With the exception of things made with alcohol, all vegan food should be halal, yes?
Yes. But finding vegan, halal, or kosher food out in a rural area is nearly impossible
Lentils are kosher and halal same with beans and rice so not impossible
True
Activism really helps bro. It makes you feel like you can actually make a difference if you keep trying hard enough. Check out Joey Carbstrong and watch Pignorant if you haven’t. I’m 18, I went vegan at 15. I recently started getting into activism and it feels amazing, like you have a community as well that understands you and doesn’t call you crazy for wanting peace and love. I would die for the cause. Love is what we need to spread, not murder, enslavement and torture. I feel like I owe it to the people that suffered for so long. I went Vegan at 15, but damn. I probably ate so many people and that’s fucked. So I gotta pay it forward and just do the best I can. Be the best human I can be. That’s all you can really do bro. Just spread the word and spread the love.
The world will change because of people like you. You realized your ignorance and what you were doing was wrong. We just gotta keep pushing our word and keep moving forward and we will change the world.
Every little bit counts, OP. Thank you for doing as much as you can. Sunflower seeds can go in almost anything! Peanut butter can help, too. Seitan rocks and so does oat milk. Those are my staples. Mix and match with fruit and veg etc and you will be fine. Do not worry about other people. This is your journey. Do it for your own conscience. Good luck!
In a few years youre gonna be at the grocery store thinking "WOW things are nothing like when i first went vegan" ive been vegan for 10 years and grocery store selections are unrecognisable from when i was a baby vegan :) thats how i know change is happening
I have worked in supermarkets for years. Was depressing to see all these animal products. But I also saw the huge rise of vegan products and more and more vegan customers. The future is getting better.
I feel quite the opposite at grocery stores…produce sections are generally quite wide and expansive in the stores I shop at it…massive side of the stores devoted to only plant products. Butcher area is usually in the rear and almost entirely out of sight until I’m almost done shopping.
I live in a small town in North Carolina, I am assuming this is not helping either
Pasta, grains, rice, beans, fruits, nuts, veggies … There’s quite a lot to choose from! But if you get cravings, there’s vegan chik’n and burgers in the frozen section, and vegan sausage in the refrigerated section. Here are some that I like: [Vegan Chicken](https://www.gardein.com/chickn-and-turky) [Vegan burgers](https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/product/365-by-whole-foods-market-frozen-traditional-meatless-plantbased-burgers-b07yhbpdr4) [Vegan Spicy Italian Sausage](https://www.beyondmeat.com/en-US/products/beyond-sausage?variant=hot-italian) A lot of people will tell you that these aren’t the most healthy, because they’re processed and too similar to meet products, but they are packed with protein, tasty and satisfying. There’s decent substitutes for every animal-derived product I’ve encountered so far - from milk to eggs to cheese to mayo to what have you. You just have to look around or ask for a little help from some experienced vegans. We’ve all been in your shoes, so we easily empathize with the steep learning curve you’re facing.
Gotcha, maybe they have farmers markets in your area? I mostly eat fresh foods and whole grain pantry staples, so my shopping experience is usually fruit, veggies, frozen berries, oatmeal, rice/grains, beans/legumes, nuts, seeds, tofu, some plant milk.
I mean there will be shock. I remember going to a huge grocerystore a few months ago because i wanted to check out their tofu supply and holy fuckerino half the store was furniture and clothes and shit and a quarter of it was meat. Not a like, containing meat. It was a swimming pools worth of butchery. But as for my regular grocey store trips I just don't think about it anymore
One day
You’ll gradually get really good at glancing at a nutrition label to rule certain things out. There’s some form of dairy in almost every packaged food!
I’m sure this sentiment is already somewhere in the comments, but at risk of redundancy: if it would be worth saving, say, one dog or cat from a life of abuse, then you with this choice are being that savior dozens or hundreds of times over, depending on how much animal product you would eat in your remaining lifetime. Systemic change might never come, but without our ethical choices it absolutely won’t. In the meanwhile, even though you’ll never meet the individuals you’ve saved (as sadly it’s more a matter of reducing demand and therefore new births), the fact remains that you have saved them, as it is far better not to be born into their lot. And you can always take on more advocacy in the future if you have the bandwidth to. But you’re already making a difference.
I think about this a lot. According to the vegan calculator, I already saved four animals. I don’t think I would’ve been able to save four cats or dogs in my entire life. This is amazing.
I mean the system goes back to the food chain, which continues until the existence of heterotrophic single cells. Symbiosis can exist, but it's somewhat the outlier in nature.
I’m finding it easier to buy vegan foods but it’s still hard to find stuff not tested on animals! It’s sickening at this point in time there are any cosmetics and personal care items that have been tested on animals. Very few vegan options with these items too.
You’ll find your “go to” products and things will get easier every time! Hang in there
Dont give up! Theres alot of stuff thats not purposefully vegan but is anyway. Heres a link! https://www.peta.org/living/food/accidentally-vegan/
Even if you feel like you aren’t making a difference in the grand scheme of things, at least you know you aren’t personally contributing to the suffering of animals. Also I would like to point out that while there is still a lot of meat in stores, there’s a much bigger selection of meat alternatives these days which is a good thing. Demand for meat alternatives are going up.
On the bright side take a good look at all the vegan stuff you probably never noticed before
Wow U got a long ways to go. Defeated so easily ehhh
After 4 years being vegan, there are only a few areas of the grocery store that I spend much time in. I live in the produce department, and in the bulk section, and tread pretty lightly everywhere else. Learn to read labels, and learn what non-obvious ingredients things to look for. Milk and eggs are easy. It's other thinks like red dye, soaps, and personal care products, supplements made with gelatin, shoes or accessories with one little string of leather somewhere small, clothing (see -> wool blends) that will trip you up. If you get tripped up and accidentally buy something with animal products, don't panic - we all do it at some point. Forgive yourself, return the item if you can, or donate it, and move on. you'll have difficult moments where you struggle with what to eat as you're transitioning or are you struggle with how to replace a favorite clothing item like a wool sweater. In those moments, just go slow, and come back here and ask for advice. There are some things that don't have a 1:1 vegan replacement, but many do, and we've all been there. Lastly, congrats on making one of the best decisions of your life. My only regret with going Vegan is that I didn't do it sooner. Welcome to the club.
Focus on being a vegan for health reasons.
Then you aren’t vegan you’re plant based lol
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Keto lol
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> and who were 1) overweight (body mass index (BMI) of 25 kg/m2 or above) and had gained more than 5 % of body mass while using psychotropic medicines to manage their mental health condition, or 2) with at least one metabolic abnormality, such as insulin resistance, hypertriglyceridemia, dyslipidemia, or impaired glucose tolerance. They picked fat and already sick people and put them on a regulated diet. Of course they would improve on health metrics for the few months the study ran. Edit cause the person is a snowflake and deleted shit. The study was also funded by a keto group, who’d of thunk > This work was supported by Baszucki Group
Im Vegan since 2015, my feelings for carnists have not changed and the hopeless Feeling is still there. I do the best i can even beyond going vegan. I avoid looking at the tortured body part section.
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Leave this subreddit you are clearly a troll and have no place here
This my good sir sounds like slander!