I never knew a vegan diet was SO complicated?!?

Question

Ive been a vegetarian for about a month now, and I want to become a vegan after school gets out ( June 11th ). Well, this morning i thought I mine as well get used to things i usually dont eat. So I had one of these granola bars that my dad likes. It wasn't that bad actually. Well, after i ate it i checked that label and there was about 60 ingredients in these little thing. And it said at the bottom ' CONTAINS WHEAT AND MILK PRODUCTS ', i was really mad:(. I thought granola bars are one of the things vegans can eat.

I literally begged my mom today asking her if I could go to the grocery store today, and she told me to shut up about the stupid vegan thing and its too complicated for me to do.

So how do I start being a vegan this summer ( 10 days.. :) ) and how do I get the foods I need! My parents could care less. They barley even know that Ive been a vegetarian for about a month.

Answer 1

Oh no i use to be a vegan its better to just be a vegi i know this because when your a vegan u get sicker easyer

Answer 2

That part of it (finding milk or whey or something in a food that *should* be vegan) is frustrating.  But if you read enough labels, you'll find brands that you know you can rely on.  Luna Bars, for example, are vegan friendly.

Being vegan is a lot easier if you cook for yourself than it is if you try to rely on convenience foods.  Whole foods like legumes, grains and vegetables don't have long ingredient lists and are, of course, vegan friendly.  But, there are some premade things that can make the transition easier, like faux meats.  The Yves line includes ground "beef," "hot dogs" and sandwich "meats" and are all vegan, and Boca makes a vegan burger.

Answer 3

it doesn't have to be that complicated, my parents are kinda the same way, they will only buy me a few foods that are vgan (fake bologna, cheese, etc.)

You should try to eat alot of fruits and veggies, a lot of my friends (who sya they are vegitarian, but couldn't even pull it off for a day) complain that their parents wont make them special diners, so you will probly have to get used to making your own meals, that what I had to do.  What I do is if I want what my family is having my mom will leave some of the ingredients to the side and I will make a veggie friendly version of the meal, and if I dont want what they are having completely I will just make a veggie stir fry with rice

And make sure you chack the ingredients on EVERYTHING, BEFORE you eat it, there are many things that you wouldnt suspect have animal ingredients that actually do.

And if you know that you aren;t going to get enough of something like calcium then make sure tht you take supplement, calcium and B12 are the most common deficienies that a vegan can get, what I do is drink things like vitamin water and vitamin fortified soy or rice milk

Good luck!

Answer 4

In my opinion, it doesn't have to be that complicated.  A lot of people give up on veganism because it's so hard to read all the labels and reject foods that even have a tiny tiny bit of animal product.  I personally am not that careful.  If I end up eating a pre-packaged something that has a LITTLE bit of animal fat, for example, I don't worry about it.  By not eating meat, I am reducing the animal eaten by about 98%.  I don't think it's that important to reject EVERY LITTLE THING (for example, avoiding a food product that only says "may contain milk ingredients" because it contains TRACES that could cause an allergic reaction).

Answer 5

Hi.

Being vegetarian is not as hard as you think, its just important you know whats in your food, and its quite important to check the labels on foods and drinks.

Vegans enjoy all kinds of plant foods - like fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, legumes (beans, lentils and split peas) - and fungi (mushrooms, yeasts), and food made from these. Vegans choose not to eat any foods derived from living or dead animals - no meat of any kind (no red meat, poultry, white meat, fish etc.), no animal milks (no cow's dairy products, nor sheep, goats etc.), no eggs, no honey, nor any other animal products (no gelatin, cochineal, shellac etc.)

Finding vegan food is easier than it's ever been. You can now buy vegan cheese, vegan chocolate, vegan ice-cream, vegan mayonnaise, vegan sausages, vegan yoghurt, vegan haggis...the choices are endless.

http://www.vegansociety.com/home.php - The vegan society is very helpful, it gives you information on how to be a proper vegan and shows you how to get all the right nutrition, they also have books you can buy online that are good, and a list of approved vegan products, and other stuff to, take a look.

http://www.vegsoc.org/cordonvert/recipes... - Vegan recipes

Answer 6

It's not if you stick to whole foods.  Forget about packaged refined stuff and eat simple.

Answer 7

you would have to make a lot of your own stuff. plenty of fruits and veggies.

Answer 8

Not complicated.

Just annoying to avoid all this stuff.

Once you get used to reading ingredients and knowing what they are (why are you eating things without looking at the ingredients anyway... that's like eating mystery food... no thanks) it's becomes easier.

Well, if your parents could care less... well, not much you can do about it.  They buy the food.  You must choose from what they provide you.  Sucks right?  Yes.  If you want to be vegan, basically it's a battle with the parents.  Why?  Because they are usually ignorant on the subject, and refuse to do any research or flex their brain in any way what-so-ever.  They will say things that make no sense, are totally wrong, contradict themselves, etc.  They will not ask around, they will not go to the library, they will not lift one finger to find out if being vegan actually is okay or natural or in fact the proper diet of all humans.  No... see, most parents are just... regular people.  That is, close-minded, ignorance is bliss, follow the herd, etc. people.  So, be prepared.  For every stupid thing they say you must have answer or a comeback.  You must prove to them, they don't have to do anything at all.  In fact most parents start a little war over such things.  If your parents do not do all of this and allow you do be vegan and actually read about it, go out of their way to find other vegans, talk to other vegan parents or parents of vegan kids, etc. -- consider yourself to be very very lucky and part of the perhaps 1%

Get the book "Becoming Vegan" to start with.

Get the book "The American Vegetarian Cookbook"

Books by John Robbins, Dr Neal Bernard, Dr Michael Klaper, and that should get you started.

Answer 9

The other thing is just how vegan do you want to get?  Some vegans are ok eating honey and some are not.    Many granola bars are going to have honey in them and white sugar is not necessarily vegan.

I did a lot of Stir Fry and rice when I was cutting back on meat.  Most Asian food is dairy free and avoiding egg is not that hard to do.  The tricky part is avoiding fish products in seasonings.  

Some unexpected foods can be non-vegan.   Worchestershire sauce, for example, has anchovies in it.