How do i ween myself off of cheese?? I LOVE IT!!?!
Answers: i am a veggie lover only... except now im trying to take the next step and get away from cheese... any tips??
When I decided to become vegan after years of vegetarianism (and years of saying I'd be vegan but I loooooove cheese,) I just gave it up all at once. I can se why you'd want to cut down and wean yourself off it, but I was reading "Vegan Freak" by Bob and Jenna Torres and they made the point that if you do that, you're sort of giving the cheese that much more power. You're making a big deal out of the cheese you're allowing yourself to eat and that just makes it harder to give up (because you've built it up to something SO important.) That made sense to me, so I just stopped. It's been four months and I haven't missed it at all.
My suggestion is to pick up a couple of good vegan cookbooks and trying out a bunch of new recipes for the first couple of weeks. If you're trying lots of tasty new dishes, you won't even be focused on what ingredients you're missing out on. "Vegan with a Vengeance" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz is AWESOME. And her new one, "Veganomicon" is really great too. Like I said, I used to love cheese and I haven't missed it for a second.
Buy some cheese you don't like and try to eat it! Like that fake cheese YUCK!
You have a problem. So do I. I even love the "fake" cheese; the vegetarian cheese taste good to me. Try it, and if it doesn't work for you, you'll just have to go cold-turkey.
Hey- I'm a fruit and veggie guy, myself.
You know why you like the taste of cheese?
It's the SALT. I'll tell you flat out, I think salt is one of the most addictive things humans have ever come across.
Ever try unsalted butter from the store? Just tastes like grease. I also once found "low sodium bread" in the store. I tried it. Tasted like cardboard. I guarantee, you would not go back for either of those a second time!
Cheese typically has a good deal of added salt, and that what gives it the taste. I would suggest trying to find cheese with as little salt as you can(ideally no salt), and take that home and eat it. It will probably be nasty. And everytime you want cheese, get that kind. Or at least ADD that kind to your other cheese as much as you can stand. I'll bet that will help!
Also, of course you want to use as little cheese overall as you can stand everytime, too. But again I say the reason so many people are addicted to cheese is the salt, pure and simple!
Hey Diamonds: Yeah, I know a lot of vegans do look like that(and most of them already did BEFORE they became vegan), but there are also a lot of us out there who look good. I dare say I fit the bill. Keep your eyes open, and you'll start to notice a few.
Cheese can be tough to give up, but luckily there's a soy cheese that tastes delicious when melted - Vegan Gourmet by Follow Your Heart. I use it for everything... pizzas, nachos, grilled cheese, etc.
You should be able to find it at Whole Foods or your local health food store. See http://www.followyourheart.com/cheese_pr... for more info.
there's a LOT of differant brands of soy cheese, start trying them out, you might find one you like.
be careful to check the labels though! you wouldn't believe how many have casein or whey in them.
Start by using soy milk in your cereal. Then just start drinking soy milk. That way you'll get used to soy rather than dairy.
Then try the soy cheese.
Great question.
After a long and very sweet love affair with cheese, I gave it up. It always made everything so much better....I never thought that I would....but dairy and eggs were getting to me...
So I bought some vegan cheese (make sure it says vegan, some rice cheese and lactose free still have casein, as does most margerines.....)...I left this cheese in my fridge for a week...then one day I woke up vegan. I don't know what happened, I still had cheese in my fridge. But that night I made a pita pizza and used the vegan cheese, I found that I didn't miss dairy cheese at all. It was liberating to plan a meal without cheese...
2 days later, I got home so hungry and all I wanted was cheese, lettuce, olive and tomato sandwich...with a little mayo. But I made that sandwich without the mayo and cheese, and it was EVEN better, everything started tasting better, and it wasn't hard, I don't miss it. I still can hardly believe it....AND for some reason, I am a happier person now.....I think that cheese was constipating me emotionally. *he he*
Try it, seriously...
(I didn't mean for this to be so long...sorry)
I find it best to go cold-turkey. Cooking makes it easier too. Just plan and cook meals that don't include cheese,. That way you won't even think about the fact that you aren't eating cheese.
I know how you feel. Walking through the dairy department at specialty grocery stores makes me salivate--roquefort, parmigiano reggiano, gruyere...yumminess. But I try to eat very little of it, maybe diary a few times a month. I am contemplating becoming a vegan, though.
What is going to be left in your diet?
Are you going to become a vegan? Most vegans look like theyre about to drop dead to me.