That's a really good point, littlewinker.
Printable View
I went from omni to lacto-ovo-veggie, then I went to vegan. It was harder for me to go to lacto-ovo-veggie than to go to vegan. I found it relatively easy to go vegan (did it overnight) probably because I knew it was the right decision for me. Plus, the book I read was very convinving... lol. :)
well, it was easy-peasy, really! much, much easier han I thought it'd be. I returned to vegetarianism much earlier this year, and immediately dropped the milk for soya, and illiminated the eggs, as much as possible, because of something that happened to me when I was a kid . . . my mother cooked an egg that was fertile, and described the "black bit" inside, to her blind daughter, (me), and I've never forgotten that! dropping the cheese was a little harder, and losing egg ingredients from everywhere was the most difficult bit, but I set myself a challenge to be "fully vegan" by 4th October, the birthday of my celebrity vegan inspiration, and am proud to repot that I was at least 10 weeks ahead of schedule! this wasn't meant to be an essay lol! xxx
I went from omni directly to vegan. Overnight. I never watched a documentary on meat being murder and never intend to. I simply decided that I could no longer live my life in a destructive manner, not caring about the consequences of my actions.
It was incredibly easy to change everything "cold turkey," with no incremental phases. Once you've made a true decision, there simply are no alternatives. I don't think enough people understand the literal definition of the word.
Once you've made a true lifestyle decision, your entire world changes. I cut the destructive patterns of action out of my life. My body and mind thanked me for it and I've never regretted it, or even been tempted for a second to go back to the way I was. There is no temptation when there is no alternative.Quote:
Decision \De*ci"sion\, n. [L. decisio, fr. dec[imac]dere,
decisum: cf. F. d['e]cision. See Decide.]
1. Cutting off; division; detachment of a part. [Obs.] --Bp.
Pearson.
[1913 Webster]
I actually became a vegan yesterday. 3 years go I started to cut out certain foods I was eating for various reasons (I had stomach problems from certain foods) and cut out milk, soda, cereal, etc. And after watching Oprah yesterday, I just could not be ignorant anymore and decided to stop eating animals and to stop supporting the torture, slaughter, and abuse of animals for profit and pleasure. I'm so glad I decided to do this and wonder why it took me so long (but I'm glad). I can also now fully say that I am a true animal lover and before it was such hypocrisy because I was eating animals (it makes me want to cry thinking about it). But for me, the decision is easy. I am very dedicated to what I do, when I say something I mean it and just the pure fact that eating an animal is not a choice for me anymore and the fact that I want to spread the word to others is easy enough for me. I think most people are just ignorant to the fact that they are consuming an animal and just don’t want to face the facts and want to be in denial. We go to farms to play with animals and as children learn the words and even have toy pigs, cows, chickens, etc. yet we as a society also eat them. I remember as a kid I just could not believe that I was eating an actual animal. But I finally came to terms with what was going on yesterday, I guess it took Oprah to allow me to see that I was eating an innocent animal, even though I wouldn't have starved if I didn’t. I find the process pretty easy though, I’m not big on dairy and I’m really into fresh food to begin with. By the way, I'm new here =). (I feel so ashamed for not going vegan sooner and it makes me want to cry now when I see meat in commercials or ads for milk and beef).
I found it quite difficult actually - I was craving cheese for a long time and would keep slipping back.
Physically - Easy
Mentally - Easy
Socially - Continously Extremely Difficult
I guess we all enjoy a good challenge...
i went omni > vegetarian > vegan. none of the transistions were hard in terms of actually eating. i would say going vegan was probably hardest for all the shit people give me about it. making jokes, starting extremely frustrating and ridiculous ethical debates, etc.
I went omni - pescetarian - vegan quite recently. I found the vegan transition easy.
I think there were several things that made it easy:
1 - I'd done a lot of reading about the reality of how animals are treated, and by the time I made the decision I was completely passionate about what I was doing. I don't really have cravings (even for cheese!) as I've managed to revolt myself at the thought of eating any part of the flesh or bodily fluids of an animal.
2 - Prior to making the switch I did a lot of research on the right types of food, correct nutrition etc, and went out and bought lots of yummy vegan friendly food. Luckily I enjoy cooking and to me eating vegan was an experience in amazing new healthy and delicious food combinations rather than feeling deprived of old ones.
3 - As soon as I went vegan it just felt right. Physically, I felt so much healthier and more alert. And I felt more at 'one' with the earth in some way.
I think the combination of preparation, passion, and increased physical and spiritual wellbeing made it easy. The only hard bit is eating out.
Hey wait...
there's no Carnivore -> Vegan. Easy... !
Pfft!
He He ^.^ I guess I'm an odd ball errr something.
If you used to eat nothing but meat then yes, you are pretty odd.
Personally I think the poll is too restrictive not enough options. I love being vegan, no issues other than when out of course. Feeling awkward when with friends for eating out....though if I were a meat eater I would happily eat alternatives for my friends when we go out! It's not as if I can eat the alternative for the night is it :eek::eek::eek::eek:
Yeah I agree L&LL, I always think that about polls. Either I can't decide between 2 answers or there isn't one that fits me ;)
Back on topic... I found going from veggie to vegan easy in every way apart from socially. In the UK, it's easy to be ovo/lacto, practically every eating place will have some sort of option for you. Nobody says anything, it's accepted.
But socially, vegans are still treated as a breed apart. I think this just echoes what other posters have said. I have friends who I choose not to associate with as often as they have a problem with me being a vegan. Going vegan was a contributing factor in the breakup of my long term relationship last year (we had grown apart in other ways too, but the vegan thing summed up our different attitudes to life).
In a more positive way, I have made new friends through such things as the North East Vegan Gathering, local veggie groups and online here and on Twitter. I've got to know who my true friends are and those who are really bigots. I've expanded my culinary expertise waaaay beyond traditional British cuisine and ready meals, which I may not have been motivated to do were I not vegan. I walk my talk. I don't sponsor the abuse and murder of innocent animals.
Life is good. :) :D
Ya, pretty much LOL. I did start drinking soy milk back when I was 10ish because of neighbors drinking it, so I got used to it. The only fruit I would eat were apples, as for veggies broccoli and carrots - only sometimes I'd eat them. I hated salads, or anything else that I never tried before.
Trying new things is fun! I tried soy nuts... omg they're so yummy, sunflower seeds, pinenuts, etc. Had Tofu for the first time last week, tried out this miso roumen soup.... and I could go on but anyway.... LOL...
Easy like following my true nature.
I was initially an omnivore, born (arguably so) and raised that way (most unfortunately...). Since as long as I can remember I have been obsessed with animals and animal rights, so it was only a natural choice for me to make the switch to a half-way vegetarian at age 10 or 11 (I ate only fish). Then when I was about 15 I stopped meat entirely. By age 17 I had completely unmasked the horrors of the egg and milk industries and henceforth became Vegan. I got a lot of hell from my family, but my boyfriend at the time was vegan as well, so it was much easier then than it is now, living back with my family and a boyfriend who isn't even a vegetarian.
*sigh*
food has never really been a big thing... so really the diet bit was easy as hells for me. The phasing out material items seemed to be dreadful cause I had this pair of boots that took forever to be worn out so I just donated them eventually and got a new pair exactly like them except they were vegan.
Not sure with others but my biggest stumbling block was my family. To this day (fifteen years vegan btw) my family still likes to tell me I'm thin and fair complected cause I don't eat meat... and love to make jokes about me and my dietary habits.
But I don't have to hear it to often now. my mum quit calling up and asking if I quit being a vegan, cause at this point I'm sure its pretty obvious that this is my choice for how I want to live.
so yes and no. but everyone is different. I think the main thing in helping any one go vegan is not to focus on yourself and what you are going through in your vegan struggles. cause our non-humans are being born in captivity and suffering their lives for no reason but selfish greed. I don't think giving up cheese is that big of a deal in comparison.
Well put.Quote:
cause our non-humans are being born in captivity and suffering their lives for no reason but selfish greed. I don't think giving up cheese is that big of a deal in comparison.
I went 'free range' first, then 'vegetarian who eats fish', then vegetarian, then 'vegan who ocassionally eats free range eggs and honey' and now I'm properly vegan, in diet and lifestyle. The whole process took about 2 years from omni to vegan and I've been fully vegan for about a year. The hardest part is dealing with friends. Most of them thought that being vegetarian was great for the animals, but being vegan was too extreme and that I was only doing it to get attention.
I've been eating meat daily until the start of last year, after a while I started eating less meat and slowly developed to a lacto-ovo-vegetarian 5 weeks ago. The day I made my decision I went on holiday to Ireland and met a vegan girl from Argentina, I was already aware of the horrible dairy- and egg-industry. I started trying vegan things and when going home I started cooking vegan meals until I decided just over 2 weeks ago to turn fully vegan. I'm now on a vegan diet and also non-food products I buy are vegan now. Unfortunatly I can't financially handle it to replace all my non-vegan non-food products by vegan ones right now, but eventually I'll have vegan products only, I'm sure!
So turning from vegetarian to vegan was a lot easier then turning from omni to vegetarian, the first step took over a year, the second under 3 weeks.
It's been surprisingly easy for me, so far. I had been vegetarian for over 10 years, and diary was unfortunately quite firmly rooted in my diet; I absolutely loved cheese and anything cheese-related :bigsmile: But a little while ago it just sort of clicked for me out of nowhere that what I was doing was wrong, I wasn't in as morally defensible a position as I had been telling myself I was, and suddenly veganism was the only option that made sense.
The hardest part for me was that I couldn't really rely on shop-bought ready meals and various other processed foods any more, so I had to force myself to learn to cook properly. It's not only been a lot of fun to learn, but my food bill has also gone down a bit, which is a very nice bonus on my limited funds. And I haven't even missed cheese terribly ;)
I only wish I'd come to the realisation sooner.
I gave up eating meat when I was about 12, but still ate fish for a while-so I guess I was a pescatarian -I became an ovo-lacto vegetarian a few years later. I gave up eating eggs a couple of years before becoming vegan and I found the transistion from lacto-vegetarian to vegan very easy- I literally did it overnight! I wished I did it earlier,- Vegan 10 years now:)
I find it fairly easy if I'm organised with foods but struggle when family meals are a last minute affair and I've nothing much in the freezer - I have a real problem remember to soak beans overnight too! Also I'm finding I can get bored quite easily as I tend to cook the same foods which is ridiculous as I've loads of vegan cookbooks - I must start using them rather than just reading them!
^ I soak three or four bags of beans, then bag them in separate portions and freeze them. It is so much easier than remembering the day before
Going from omni to veggie was easy as we never ate much meat anyway and were careful not to buy cheap, only local organic. That limited our choices but it also made us think about the creatures involved as we might have met them.... 8(
Veggie to vegan just happened! One day I said, "That meal was vegan" and realised that several meals had been vegan without trying. So we just stuck at it and never looked back. 8)
I became lacto-ovo-veggie about 16 months before turning vegan. It seemed so difficult at the time, even though I had always been uneasy with the concept of eating flesh. Animal by-products were everywhere, it seemed, and very well hidden. Then I discovered Whole Foods Market and the health food stores, and a whole world of alternatives was opened. I saw how using these animal by-products was not an important part of food production but a practice of a few corporations. Slowly, it became clear that there are vegan versions of almost everything, and suddenly the question changed from "How could I possibly be vegan?" to "How can I justify continuing to cause suffering when there is no need to?" About 2 months before going vegan, I set a date, and when it finally came there was no other choice. I had spent so much time researching my options that it was actually quite easy, much easier than initially going vegetarian.
I'm one that going omni to lacto-ovo was easiest. I did it overnight on a whim, just to try it and ended up loving it. Transitioning from lacto-ovo to vegan took years of mis-tries as I've a mild dairy allergy that caused an addictive cycle. Plus, I swear they try to sneak dairy into just about everything lol.
Then, the last time, this time, it cliqued and felt right with none of the struggling past tries had involved. Yay.
I found veggie really easy. Vegan I have struggled with a lot. It is mostly that I am alone and my family are not at all supportive. It is only my own drive that kind of keeps me going. I have the tiniest slip ups when I don't think to check. Like I was eating After Eights for a while before I read that they weren't vegan. I just didn't keep checking. However, I keep going and it does get easier for me.
No lol about it. They do. Dairy 'products' are such a cheap filler these days. Milk in bread? Every kind of soup? Popcorn? Oven chips? Salt and vinegar crisps??????????
Plus it doesn't help with the UK government publishing the likes of the following:
And I wonder why no-one's responded to this? :dizzy:Quote:
people who really ought to know better but, evidently, don't:
When I decided to take the plunge to veganism, I had previously been adjusting to a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet - I was what they call a 'pescetarian'. Upon finding information about the milk and egg industries, I decided to go vegan immediately, forgoing fish while I was at it. I did slip up once in a while, but I found it easy to let go of all foods that I realized were non-vegan. I don't know why, but I've never been too attached to my food. I love eating it (I consumed a lot of dairy before I went vegan), but letting go in favour of something else just comes naturally to me.
Omni=vegan somewhat difficult but just because i was so used to the omni way of life . the second time , this time, omni vegan easy as pie.
Omni-> ovo-lacto-vegetarian ...... Im still trying to be vegan :( but is difficult to find things to eat
Omni > vegan - easy
It has been easy for me so far. I'm actually finding being vegan easier than being vegetarian. I've been vegetarian before and gone back to eating meat. I have an extremist personality, so only partially cutting out animal products never really worked for me.
I do think it's been easy mostly because I've been on my own here at school. There are no temptations and I only have to prepare my vegan meals for myself.
Now that I think of it, I'm currently in a real big vegan protective bubble.
I posted a reply at Health Kicker to a post about vegetarianism about how easy it's been for me since I went vegan - and someone posted something along the lines of what I'm experiencing is a placebo effect and I need more time to discover if my veganism has been a positive change.
coughhatercough
I personally believe that is bull - because the definition of a placebo effect is when you experience positive effects while not having made changes (to whatever) but thinking you have. But I'm very well conscious that I have made extreme changes to my diet. And the effects have been a lot more than psyching myself into it - which I could never do while attempting "healthy" diets while eating animal products.
But as I said, I just began to think of it, and I'm beginning to worry about what going home for Christmas will be like. I haven't yet told my family that I've gone vegan - and I have no idea how they will react.
But despite that I know I'll still be obligated to help prepare Christmas dinner for everyone which obviously will include non vegan dishes. And in general our house is just overrun with non-vegan food. While I do plan to go grocery shopping for myself while I'm home, and I'm sure my mom will be happy to buy me some things as well, I'm concerned about how I'm going to survive being vegan in the "real world".
it would have been a piece of cake to go vegan if there were more vegan friendly options out there, not to mention people who attack us for being vegan!! Thank god I live in Vancouver bc and not in ignace ontario.... places like that have almost NO vegan options...
I certainly don't believe in replacing all the non-vegan things in your life with vegan ones. Use them until they are gone, or until you need a new one. If something died to make it, I think it would be a travesty to replace it. If you don't feel comfortable using these items anymore however, make sure that they are put to good use elsewhere. :) That is what I am doing with my stuff... I have many non-vegan things around my house, but I just can't imagine (let alone afford to) put them to waste. Leather couch, sheepskin throw, bath products, clothing... I don't feel right using them but I would feel ultra crappy throwing them away... anyways... blah blah blah, seems like I am just saying the same things over and over here.... lol :D
Not saying that Ignace Ontario attacks vegans at all, actually they are very nice people and are very accepting, its just that there are almost no vegan options.... went out there for Christmas last year visiting family.... food was a struggle... plus I was only vegan for about three months at that time so I barely knew what I was doing, but I never slipped up out there!!