Will taking small steps to becoming vegan work?!

First of all, congratulations on your decision to go vegan and your determination to find a way that makes it work for you. I did it gradually too. I know some people have gone cold turkey successfully, and hats off to them, but it wasn't right for me. There were certain vegetarian foods that I absolutely loved (I was vegetarian first) and was very used to having in my diet, so finding alternatives took me some time. I am also someone who sucks at self-deprivation, and so I needed to get to a place where the vegan alternatives we great, easy and even better than I was used to, to make sure I didn't back-slide.

What I did was make a list of the foods that I thought I would most miss if I turned vegan and then work on finding alternatives to those that were as easy to make / find etc. and crossed them off one by one. It took some practice, but it really was worth it, as I never felt 'deprived' by my decision - rather I felt I gained some great new skills and even got friends interested in vegan food after showing off some of my new recipes!

However you choose to do it, I wish you the very best of luck.

Vegan

Yeah I went vegetarian first then cut down on other things slowly over the next seven years. It didn't need to take that long, thats just how it happened for me. But every thing you say no to helps. If you start with meat but keep the dairy you'll be doing more than when you ate both.

The main reason I didn't go vegan was because I really like to drink tea which helps me relax and as an anxiety sufferer it is important that I have things I can do during the day to alleviate stress. Because I was worried I'd have to go without tea if no soy milk was available (very common in the town I lived in at the time) I still ate all the other non vegan stuff I didn't need to. So I decided to stop eating the other crap, but if I needed to I was allowed to have a cup of tea with cow's milk. But you know what? Once I took the plunge, I never needed to.

Anyway do your best and good luck. Remember even if you eat something that you are trying to avoid today, that doesn't mean you need to eat it again tomorrow. Just pick up where you left off and don't feel bad because nobody is perfect. You are still doing more for the animals and the environment than all those meat heads who cold care less about what their diet does to the world.

I did it in stages. I got a terrible flu when I started to wean myself off meat. My wife got terrible headaches. My brother in law got horrible stomach pain and his wife got headaches also.

I've heard that there will be side effects initially but it does get a lot better once you make the switch for good. One thing is, i haven't gotten sick or a cold since becoming vegan. Neither has my wife, my sis-in-law or bro-in-law either

If giving up cold turkey didn't work before, why try again?
Try giving up things in steps.
Go from meat eater to vegetarian, and from there to vegan.
Look up as many recipes as you can, try them all and see what works for you.

I was vegetarian for many years before going vegan. At first i cut out milk and then eggs and after a few more weeks cheese and yoghurt.There vegan alternatives to all dairy products.

I went from omnivore to vegan overnight.
But then again, I know how to cook and where nutrients come from. And because I was already into fitness, I was used to reading labels to begin with.