Several questions

Wow, I never thought I would have found myself trawling through this sort of forum. I am a meat lover well I was until last night. I was at home alone last night surfing the internet and I stumbled across Earthlings. OMG I couldn’t stop crying, I was actually wailing in some points. I am ashamed to admit that I was a bit of a coward. I could only watch a little over half the doco before I had to turn it off because I just couldn’t watch it any more.

So now I am faced with this dilemma. I can’t un-know what I now know. How do I move forward from here? I don’t think I can eat meat again or dairy. I purchased my first carton of almond milk today. Hippy milk! Who would have thought it would actually taste so good.

I live in a family of meat eaters and I have a feeling that my partner is not going to be to supportive of my change if I choose to pursue this life style. How do you cope when you live in a house were others are not Vegan?

Why can’t I eat eggs if I eat free range eggs?
Why can’t I eat honey? Do the bees suffer?
Do I need to take multivitamins also?
Is there a yoghurt substitute? I love yoghurt so I will struggle with giving this up.
How long do you live this lifestyle before you classify yourself as a Vegan?

Sorry I know I must sound like an idiot but I have never thought that I would seriously considering going down this path and this is all new to me.
I have not eaten any animal product today. I think that is a first for me. With those images so fresh in my mind I found it quite easy. I really hope I can continue because I don’t think I could live with the guilt now.

Quote:

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Lolly

Why can’t I eat eggs if I eat free range eggs?
Why can’t I eat honey? Do the bees suffer?
How long do you live this lifestyle before you classify yourself as a Vegan?

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Welcome Lolly!

To me it is the fact that animals are used that is the problem. No matter how nicely you treat your chickens or bees if you are using them for their excretionary products (eggs/honey) they will always be property and will be treated as such.

There is no law on classifying yourself as vegan, as long as you are living a vegan life you are a vegan. :)

Hi Lolly - I would go for it, you may find other people are more supportive than you expect if you just get on and do it. There are lots of answers to your questions on this forum if you search, and also on sites like http://www.vegansociety.com/. In the meantime, there are various vegan yogurts so don't despair! Good luck with everything.

Hi Lolly,

welcome to the forum!

Allow me to tell you that I also never intended to go vegetarian (there was not much talk about going vegan then) around 1990 when I first decided to try out myself how long I could do without steak, burgers, sausages and so on. However, after a month I found out that I was not missing it and have not had it since. I did not find it difficult.

(Much) Later I also found out about the cruelty connected with eggs and milk, and have also quit that. Yoghurt I do eat now and then ... there's different great brands of soy yoghurt available (at least in Europe and the US).

Best regards,
Andy

Hi Lolly! Yep, it's horrible once you take the 'red pill' and realize the truth about meat and dairy. With regards to eggs, baby male chicks are gassed as they are not needed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahdehP9QLL8 This is what turned me off eggs, I watched this on a TV show. You can get soy yogurt which is good. Do you get Alpro yogurt where you are? I mix it with fruit and some agave for breakfast. You don't need to take multivitamins as you can get all your needs from a plant based/ vegan diet. Look up 'Forks Over Knives' to learn about what you need to eat and how you can get all you need from plants. When I first turned vegan, I trawled through vegan blogs and found loads of tips and meal ideas and learned about new ingredients. Go check out http://www.theppk.com/ for great ideas. Ask away! It's very overwhelming once you 'get it' and have no idea how to transition. With regards to calling yourself a vegan, as long as you don't consume any animal products you're a vegan. And we all make mistakes when we are new to it, it takes time to learn. With regards to family and friends, my advice would be not to tell them until you are fully settled into your new way of eating. I had a lot of pressure and judgment from people who had no idea of the horror I knew about and why I was doing it. If your partner isn't supportive, you could try and get him to watch Earthlings. I would say to people 'Don't judge me until you have full knowledge of the meat and dairy industry' and if they couldn't watch any footage then they can't say anything. It is very overwhelming at first and you want to tell the world what you've seen and people don't want to listen. I'm a year vegan now, and I would say it took me 6 months to be fully adapted, in that I had given up animal products but my diet was limited as I didn't really know what to eat. I bought Chef Chloe's book which is great for beginners. Right now I have a very varied diet, and am a lot healthier too.