What advice - that you can give now - do you wish you'd received when starting?

What advice - that you can give now - do you wish you'd received when you were going vegan?

i wish i knew that 500 grams of fake soy "meat" costs the same as real meat. so i wouldnt have to feel guilty about buying my so called "special expensive food"
but now i know so yay. i wish i knew about veganism sooner though, when i was a kid for instance

That it's not about restricting what you eat, it's about opening your mind and your palette to a whole world of vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes and fabulous dishes from all over the world.

That you are right, no matter what anyone says and most of all that every day being vegan makes a difference.

i wish i'd known that being vegan isn't as difficult or weird as a lot of people think.

I wish I hadn't bought the Vegan Society little book of vegan products, I hardly ever buy any of the stuff in there - if only there had been a book of ordinary everyday products from supermarkets, that would have been 100 times more useful and it wouldn't have seemed like I was taking such a massive and difficult step.
I am so glad I found this forum - it has been more useful and supportive than anything else!:)

i bought the animal free shopper book too and i have barely used it. it's not updated often enough....there are things listed that have had their ingredients changed....it's not a criticism of their work in ANY way, but i find i check everything myself anyway, so the book hasn't been needed.

i wish i'd known the good retorts to use when people asked me stupid questions!

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Hemlock

I wish I hadn't bought the Vegan Society little book of vegan products, I hardly ever buy any of the stuff in there

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:D Very good point. Me too :)

i wish i'd knewn about the many different ways of companys sneaking animal products into my foods. it took me three months to figure out that beeswax has an e-number, cause usually they mention it as.. beeswax. and the same with a lot of other things, like animal colourants, and so on..
and i would've loved to know that i didn't need to buy egg replacer (i had three packs imported by mail from the uk, cause you can't get it here..) cause it's not any use, if you just use "real" cake recipes, which were made from scratch as vegan cakes, instead of trying to be like the non-vegan kinds.
and then i would have loved for someone to tell me that VEGAN FOOD SHOULD NOT BE ANYTHING BUT VEGAN FOOD. there's no need for trying to make it look (or taste!) like gross omni food - vegan food is so much better just as itself, vegetables and fruits are beautiful as they are!

I wish I'd known about the need for iodine-and the best vegan sources for it (seaweed).

That to not sweat the small stuff. Everything in life is a learning curve, and when we know more,we do better with the knowledge we have. We can't change what is completely out of our control, but in what we have control over (i.e. what we eat, wear, use), it will help animals. Any small steps taken will help animals. To despair over things we have no control over (like our computers, tires, film, etc) does not help the animals at all.

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Gorilla

i wish i'd known that being vegan isn't as difficult or weird as a lot of people think.

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I second that. Words of wisdom, Gorilla :)

Can I third that please :D

I wish I hadn't bought the vegan shopper either. On the other hand, it has it's uses as a placemat.

I'd advise that anyone going vegan should make an effort to cook things from scratch, if you aren't much of a cook, find some easy recipes that you think are do-able and progress from there. Not only does it give you a huge variety of different things to try but it's healthier and a good hobby too. It's also much much cheaper than relying on convenience foods (which can also get pretty boring fast).

Reading everyones posts was a help.
And as for me, being a new-er vegan, I have no tips yet because I am still learning except not to be afraid to be dangerous and daring with trying new "strange sounding" foods that are vegan because they are actually incredibly yummy most of the time ;]

I wish I knew to take things slowly and don't try to change every single thing over night. Unless you want to be overwhelmed.

I just wish I had known about it earlier, I did not even hear the word vegan until I was already vegetarian at about the age of 17.
I'd advise anyone starting out to join this forum and local vegan and veggie group if there is one!!
It really helps not to be alone and to have like-minded solidarity.

Bizarrely enough when I first went vegan after amost 3 years as a veggie, I was going out with a vegan, and yet he was not very supportive or helpful (or serious about me). He told me off once for eating too much vegan chocolate cake at a meeting, LOL, when apparently I should have been eating the non-vegan food and leaving it for the real vegans! I now think that maybe he thought I was just going vegan to please him and that I was not serious about it (this wasn't the case, I'd wanted to go vegan for at least a year before I met him, just found it so difficult back then in the early 1980s).
So anyways.. meet up with supportive vegans, not unsupportive and negative ones!

all of the above..including not sweating the small stuff, reading posts on here and buying the little non animal shopper guide..and possibly some more things too. :)

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Lilac Hamster

Bizarrely enough when I first went vegan after amost 3 years as a veggie, I was going out with a vegan, and yet he was not very supportive or helpful (or serious about me). He told me off once for eating too much vegan chocolate cake at a meeting, LOL, when apparently I should have been eating the non-vegan food and leaving it for the real vegans! I now think that maybe he thought I was just going vegan to please him and that I was not serious about it (this wasn't the case, I'd wanted to go vegan for at least a year before I met him, just found it so difficult back then in the early 1980s).
So anyways.. meet up with supportive vegans, not unsupportive and negative ones!

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This reminds me a bit of a thought I had a few days ago. I thought that if one of my present 'enemies' were to go vegan Id be pretty pissed off considering I want them to remain my enemies and I like picturing them as 'bad people' chomping down on their meat. But I guess I should even get over this.. it probably makes me more of a negative vegan if I hold strange grudges like these in my head.

Wow! I've never thought like that. Anyone going vegan is a good thing, even if you do not get on with them on some level! I agree you probably should work on your attitude to those people regarding veganism even if they will never be your best mates. But it's a really great start that you are acknowledging it is a strange and unhelpful grudge to have, and we are all human and have these flaws, I know I have my share! I actually get really upset if someone is vegan and I don't click with them, there are few enough of us as it is!

I just think that guy I was seeing for a short time when I first went vegan probably wanted to continue to feel superior to me, and maybe he felt he could feel less superior if I was vegan too! That's my theory anyway. He didn't half used to harp on about a previous g/f who used to get all upset and cry over the "ickle baa-lambs" but she still ate meat. He went on about her though in glowing terms about what a nice and compassionate person she really was (now did he really think I wanted to keep hearing about her??), so I said she was nothing but a hypocrite and her tears obviously meant nothing without some action on her part to change. He kept justifying her! I guess he was simply more comfortable with a woman he could feel superior over and I was not that type! Come to think of it he was a bit fond of the sound of his own voice and really loved it when I just listened to him talking ideas and philosophy and stuff, which a lot of the time I was happy to do as he knew a lot more than me!

I wish I'd known that many people would think going vegan changed me as a person. I would have been better prepared for the lack of understanding and even outright hostility with which some friends reacted to my decision. It made me realise who my real friends are though.

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Lilac Hamster

I just think that guy I was seeing for a short time when I first went vegan probably wanted to continue to feel superior to me, and maybe he felt he could feel less superior if I was vegan too! ... I guess he was simply more comfortable with a woman he could feel superior over and I was not that type!

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I think thats totally my feelings with these 'enemies' Im not too fond of lately. I had two best friends betray me in an odd way.. its a lonng, longg, longg, longg too long story. And now that I have nothing to do with them I like to vilify them with their meat eating behaviour. But its funny because I would never do that to anyone that I like, or is a friend.. or even some random person I see eating a hotdog. I just like to feel superior to these ex-friends because they hurt me.

Oh well, Im trying to forget these people through and through so soon I will no longer need to think of them at all ! Neither eating a carrot nor eating some greasy steak.

....to avoid revealing your veganism to any new acquaintance for as long as possible. Honestly, they then look so surprised because they thought you were 'normal'!

and Emmamaly, if you could just spend 1 minute wishing those ex-friends well with a forgiving heart because they will be killed in a car crash by a huge fireball.... nice image, eh? Well, I never said being vegan made me a better person

I wish I had known some vegans - even just one vegan! - when I started out years ago. I wish someone would have told me that becoming a vegan is more about addition than subtraction. Yes, I'm subtracting some stuff from my life, but mainly I like to think of what I'm adding: more variety of foods, better health, more energy, more happiness (for myself and all sentient beings). When I first went vegan, that change in perspective was key. And it helped a lot when dealing with non-veg folks - trying, at least, to help them understand it from that perspective.

:rolleyes: hehe. huge fireballs can be therapeutic.

Something else I thought of to add to my learn to cook advice. I wish someone had told me not to go mad and buy every vegan replacement food e.g vegan cheese, fake meat, various sweets etc Because a lot of these things can be pretty disapointing in comparison with the original version and some can be plain gross.

So it means you end up with a fridge full of stuff you don't really want to eat and it's expensive too. I'd advise that with learning to cook and making good meals from scratch, you just buy a couple of those items every now and again, you'll eventually find the things you like or don't like over time.

i'd agree with that, when i first went vegan i was convinced i'd need a decent cheese substitute but didn't like any of them, i should've realised i could just live without cheese really easily :rolleyes: :)

good point purplerose!

my advice would be (similar to what others have already said):

be creative with your food and try all kinds of new foods and recipes! it's really fun to discover so many delicious foods that you otherwise wouldn't have tried:)

find fellow vegans...on VF and "in real life" if you can...vegans make lovely friends and it's nice to have people who have the same values and beliefs as you:D

don't read about animal cruelty till you're overwhelmed and pessimistic about humans.

if you're into activism, it's a great way to know that you're making a positive change.

think of (or find) snappy comments to common questions from omni's who are just trying to test you. however, be well-informed as well, so that you can provide information to those who are interested in veganism.

be wary of preaching...it won't convince anyone to become vegan (just as you most likely won't be coverted to be a Jehovas Witness by someone preaching to you)...i'm still working on that one;) ; i sometimes realize that i'm preaching.

be patient with yourself and don't obsess. if you accidentally eat something non-vegan, don't panic...you're still making a huge difference and you're doing the best that you can!!

.....I wish I had had leaflets tucked in my bag at all times.... I got soooo tired of hearing myself explain what vegan is and why it's a good thing.
"Oh, read this", saves breath and who knows, might get passed along...

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Lilac Hamster

Wow! I've never thought like that. Anyone going vegan is a good thing, even if you do not get on with them on some level! I agree you probably should work on your attitude to those people regarding veganism even if they will never be your best mates. But it's a really great start that you are acknowledging it is a strange and unhelpful grudge to have, and we are all human and have these flaws, I know I have my share! I actually get really upset if someone is vegan and I don't click with them, there are few enough of us as it is!

I just think that guy I was seeing for a short time when I first went vegan probably wanted to continue to feel superior to me, and maybe he felt he could feel less superior if I was vegan too! That's my theory anyway. He didn't half used to harp on about a previous g/f who used to get all upset and cry over the "ickle baa-lambs" but she still ate meat. He went on about her though in glowing terms about what a nice and compassionate person she really was (now did he really think I wanted to keep hearing about her??), so I said she was nothing but a hypocrite and her tears obviously meant nothing without some action on her part to change. He kept justifying her! I guess he was simply more comfortable with a woman he could feel superior over and I was not that type! Come to think of it he was a bit fond of the sound of his own voice and really loved it when I just listened to him talking ideas and philosophy and stuff, which a lot of the time I was happy to do as he knew a lot more than me!

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Sounds like a real self centered and insecure idiot, you are well rid of him... I met someone like that but he ate meat so he was very easy to dump... :)

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Purplerose

I wish someone had told me not to go mad and buy every vegan replacement food e.g vegan cheese, fake meat, various sweets etc Because a lot of these things can be pretty disapointing in comparison with the original version and some can be plain gross.

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Amen.

I also wish I had owned one or two excellent vegan cookbooks before I started trying to convert all of my previous favorite recipes. I was not successful.

I wished I had known about the possible consequences of going vegan in a non vegan world, the conflicts it creates...I would still have become a vegan but much better prepared....I wished I had known that it would turn my old world upside down, from hostile reactions from family, non understanding from every omnivore, to the very real possibility of it breaking up my marriage as becoming vegan served as a catalyst (it brought old stuff and problems up)

How about putting all these advices together in a handy small guide book and try to have it printed for distribution?
It is so true, not all substitutions work and why have substitutions for cheese etc when we can create some really good meals from scratch?
If eople who are interested in veganism would have a comprehensive guide like booklet, I think that would help a lot!

Well, I was lucky enough to have seen the light during the lunar new year holiday, so those around me managed to survive as they missed the initial onslaught.

I highly recommend that people go vegan during a time when they can avoid others just in case they happen to detox in a similar way to how I did....ultra smelly knock you down and destroy your nose and lungs type farts every minute or so.:o :o

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Purplerose

I wish I hadn't bought the vegan shopper either. On the other hand, it has it's uses as a placemat.

I'd advise that anyone going vegan should make an effort to cook things from scratch, if you aren't much of a cook, find some easy recipes that you think are do-able and progress from there. Not only does it give you a huge variety of different things to try but it's healthier and a good hobby too. It's also much much cheaper than relying on convenience foods (which can also get pretty boring fast).

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I second this, purplerose. Lots of stuff out there can be made in a snap and is much better than the processed food out there. Check out websites like Vegweb and all the recipes you can find.

I wish I'd known how to respond better to the "But where do you get your protein???" question. Also, how to argue with a stubborn 60+ year old man (my father :D) who insists that "he knows" how they treat cows and it isn't anything like John Robbins describes (bear in mind that this man's "knowledge" of working with cows comes from having been 2 years on the kibbutz in the 1960's... :p).

Great post!

Tam

I'm not sure I'd give myself any advice; I seemed to be OK without it. Certainly I made a few mistakes, but I learnt from them and made sure they didn't happen again. I'm a big believer in guidance (which even 7 years ago existed on the internet) but learning how to actually live on your own without too much hand holding. Life's too short not to learn from others mistakes, but as long as they aren't too major you still have to make some of them yourself.

Sometimes I just want to scream at people and tell them to stop being so completely pathetic when whinging about how they couldn't possibly do something because it's far too difficult and unachievable. I don't thou, because I know that that kind of advice doesn't help in the majority of cases. Like a lot of people who get into AR i wasn't vegetarian at all to begin with and it took me about a year to go vegan. I'd like to be able to give my former self a good slap and tell to myself to have gotten in gear earlier, but as I say I don't think it would have helped.

I'd say "just try not to get too obsessed" :(