Replacing Nutrients in Fish

[Kat_90]

I recently decided to become a vegan, after being a pesco-vegetarian my whole life. Surprisingly, I am not struggling with the lack of dairy products as much as I am the lack of fish. I used to eat this probably 3 times a week, as a substitute for the protein I lacked from eating other types of meat. I want to know what nutrients I will be lacking from not eating fish, and how I can replace these?

In case anyone is wondering why I ate fish but not meat, this is how I was raised since born, and only recently have I taken the effort to research fish farming and 'aquaculture' - boy was I ignorant! http://www.veganforum.com/forums/images/icons/icon9.png Feel very happy in my decision to become a vegan, and although my decision alone won't change the world, I am satisfied knowing that I have not individually contributed to the shocking animal welfare standards that exist.

Also, if anyone has any other tips, that would be great. Things like, what chocolate can I eat?? What is the best replacement for cheese? and is most bread vegan?

Thanks!http://www.veganforum.com/forums/images/icons/icon10.png
Kat

[Risker]

I think you're going about this all the wrong way to be honest. Rather than trying to replace things you once ate just make sure you eat a varied diet of enough calories, as long as you're doing that you shouldn't need to worry about protein, it's in everything.

There's loads of different vegan chocolates, dark, white, even milk (obviously not cows milk though). There's companies that specialise in it (such as plamil (http://www.plamilfoods.co.uk/products/)) but quite often you can just buy it from any old shop. Some Lindt dark chocolate is vegan (it might say may contain traces of milk but this is just an allergen warning). Montezumas specify which of their chocolates are vegan. Even Ikea do vegan chocolate.

There are cheese alternatives but I think the general consensus is that you're not likely to like it if it's only been a short while since you had real cheese. Cheese alternatives - Sheese, Tofutti, Cheezly, Vegusto. (Probably missing some but those are the main ones in the UK).

Bread - Hovis marks it's products as suitable for vegans if they are, Sainsburys does too mostly. There are lots of vegan breads if you're confident enough with ingredients to recognise them.

If you're missing the taste of fish you might try cooking with nori, it certainly tastes fishy to me, but then I haven't eaten fish in about 20 years.

You might want to try taking a b12 supplement as it's not reliably found in plant foods.

Hope this helps.

[Kat_90]

Thanks! I just wasn't sure if the sudden change would have any negative affect on my body, or whether I should be taking any supplements such as omega-3 or trying to get additional protein elsewhere. Very new to this so the advice is appreciated! I think withdrawal from cheese is probably the best option for a while! I've tried the cheese alternatives before and they weren't the best! Hopefully if I forget the taste, the alternatives won't seem so bad.

[Risker]

You can take linseed (a.k.a. flaxseed) for omega-3 if you want, some people recommend hemp seed oil instead. I take the odd capsule now and again, I'm not sure it's strictly necessary though, there's info on it here (http://www.vegansociety.com/lifestyle/nutrition/essential-fatty-acids.aspx) if you're interested.

Don't fret over nutrients too much for now, just try to get used to the diet, you're not suddenly going to become deficient (unless you already were before you became vegan). Like I say, just make sure you eat enough and that it's a varied diet. For the most part I think vegans need to worry less about nutrition than the general population who see animal products as magic foods that contains everything they need, but that's not to say we should ignore it either.

[Kat_90]

Great thank you. I will look into these! Never had any issues with too little food, and enjoy a varied diet so hopefully the transition will go smoothly! Thanks for the advice!