Make me a vegan?!
P.S. I was a vegetarian but after I researched animal testing for a school project I want to be a vegan.
Answers: Can you help me become a vegan? Give me recipes, places I can go to buy certain laundry detergent, cooking spray, everything, every aspect of life to become a vegan! Thank you.
P.S. I was a vegetarian but after I researched animal testing for a school project I want to be a vegan.
Congrats! Being a vegan, as I'm sure you will find, will be a life-changing experience and you'll never again want to go back to the cruelty of a meat-eating, "unconscious" lifestyle. First, read "Skinny B*tch," it's an incredibly well-researched book on how to go vegan. You'll also want to find a natural food store or co-op in your area, they are usually very happy to help you find vegan foods and products. For laundry detergent, I personally like Ecover, but you can also try Seventh Generation. Even better are Maggie's Soap Nuts, but they're not for everyone. For cooking spray, get a pump sprayer from a cooking store and fill it with your favorite organic oil - canola oil is better, coconut is best (read Skinny B*tch). Try shopping online or at least looking at some all-vegan web sites so you know what products are vegan - www.veganstore.com and www.cosmosveganshoppe.com are two of my faves; www.veganessentials.com is also great, and if you have pets I highly recommend www.vegancats.com. If you want personalized help, feel free to drop me an email - I'm a long-time vegan with a lot of experience and knowledge and would be glad to mentor anyone looking to make the switch to a vegan, organic/natural, or sweatshop-free/fair trade lifestyle!
Check out my blog. It doesn't have recipes but is a site that is all about animal rights and the inhumane treatment of animals. support is appreciated. Please do not report my answer just because I am promoting a blog. I am trying to arouse support for animals and educate others on the inhumane treatment of animals. http://proactionsite.blogspot.com/
okay i don't mean to sound rude but this question makes you sound really lazy, go to the library or a bookstore and get a bunch of books on "veganism". Do some research Peta.com has lots of resources, they have lists of vegan ingredients and companies that don't test on animals. Anyway congratulations for making the choice and best of luck to you :)
Well, to start out it's easiest to take the whole switchover process step by step instead of trying to do it all at once. I'm not a complete vegan, but I was vegetarian for a long time and lactose intolerant. I found that you can remember all of the brands better if you slowly integrate it into your regular diet and routine.
The best priced larger markets that you can purchase vegan products at are Whole Foods (or Wild Oats if you're on the west coast) and Wegmans if you're on the east coast. Other than these places, there are tons of small family owned natural foods stores/co-ops that you can look up in your area (and when you're vegan, you totally understand why it's important to support these smaller markets). However, if price is an issue for you, check out your local supermarkets, because surprisingly there are some good vegan products sold nowadays (i.e. - Smart Balance has vegan butter, Amy's has some decent vegan frozen foods, Tofutti is an awesome brand for desserts)
Here's one vegan recipe I just made the other day that I can think of off the top of my head:
Lentil Thyme Soup
1 cup dry red lentils (you can usually find them in the Indian section of the market)
4 cups of water (more or less depending on how thick you want the soup)
1 tbsp sea salt
1 white potato
1/2 sweet onion
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp light to medium colored olive oil
1 handful of fresh thyme
In a pot, heat salt, water and lentils over a medium flame. While the water is heating, peel and small-dice the potato and throw it in the pot. Then, use a food processor or fine chop the 1/2 onion and throw that in. Add the paprika, chili powder, olive oil, pepper and, once the soup starts to bubble, turn down the flame and add coarse chopped thyme. Simmer all ingrediants for 20 minutes or until potatoes are cooked through and lentils have turned to a yellowish color.
This is an awesome reheated dish and goes great with saltines and vegan smart balance butter.
***Just remember - when going vegan, the most important thing to do is plan out your meals so you know you will be getting enough protein and healthy fats; otherwise you'll feel run-down and pretty much like crap after about a week...also, take vitamins :)
~ And here's a site I found that looks like they have a good book: http://www.vivausa.org/veganbasics/
"Every aspect of life to become a vegan" is far too large a question to answer in this forum. Entire books have been written on the subject. Try the "Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Living" for a good jumping-off point. They cover many different aspects from recipes to how to avoid hidden animal ingredients in consumer products to dealing with people who aren't accepting of your choice.
You can get recipes a million places. Google 'vegan recipes' and see what happens. A great cookbook, especially for new vegans or beginner cooks is "Veganomicon" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. There is a lot of good practical information in there aside from just the (fabulous) recipes.
A lot of "every aspect of life to become a vegan" is stuff you just learn along the way. Read up on the subject, do your best in the beginning, and you'll pick it up as you go. You don't need to change everything all at once (if you have leather shoes, for example, you can keep wearing them until you're ready to replace them - there are no vegan police to enforce the rules!)
Cooking spray is just oil - mine is organic canola oil, organic grain alcohol and soy lecithin...
I think it's awesome that you've decided to become vegan.
I also think that if this is important to you, you should be doing the research work yourself. Go to the library, find some books on veganism, and grab a couple of vegan cookbooks. Pull out your local YellowPages and look for organic grocers in your area.
Have fun, best of luck!