Any other Vegans?

Storz

Explorer
My wife has been eating a vegan diet now for a little over a year, and this year I am also going to start. I've been mostly vegetarian for about a year or so, so its not going to be a huge change.

Anyways my wife has amassed quite a few awesome vegan cookbooks and I wanted to share a few.

http://veganyumyum.com/

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Kind-Diet-Simple-Feeling-Losing/dp/1605296449"]Amazon.com: The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet (9781605296449): Alicia Silverstone: Books[/ame]

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Table-Unforgettable-Entertaining-Occasion/dp/1592333745/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1295102555&sr=1-1"]Amazon.com: The Vegan Table: 200 Unforgettable Recipes for Entertaining Every Guest at Every Occasion (9781592333745): Colleen Patrick-Goudreau: Books[/ame]
 

Scott Brady

Founder
I have traveled with several pescatarians. It is certainly a healthy way to live.

It has also proven possible to travel that way too, but it requires some reasonableness. For example, the beans in Mexico or the rice in Asia. It will likely have some animal fats. If you try to be anal about it, it will ruin the trip.

Best of luck. I have slowly been transitioning to organic and game meat when back in Prescott.
 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
I have been a vegetarian since around '82, and shortly after my X wife got me on a total vegan diet which I followed even after our divorce, but I went back to vegetarian around '89.

But when I was a total vegan (not eating any dairy products at all including ice cream, cheese, milk, ect) I was a scant 147 lb with hardly any body fat, and I was very healthy and strong as an ox.

We did the soy cheese, soy ice cream, the whole nine yards when it came to keeping out all dairy or animal products.
If we went out for pizza, we told them to hold the cheese :D

I now eat cheese in limited quantities, and I eat eggs only on Saturdays.
Being on this diet has cured a lot of my allergies I have had since childhood.
 

Storz

Explorer
Thanks Scott. It is def going to be easier since my wife sort of blazed the path for me, and I've already been eating a mostly vegetarian diet for quite some time now. I've always been pretty lactose intolerant and have avoided dairy most of my life because of it, so giving it up really isn't much of a change at all.

Def going to miss that NC BBQ though :)
 
NOT going to miss that BBQ. If anyone is trying to go Low Fat Raw Vegan (LFRV), it's going to be very hard to deal with the temptations. I just got through a very bad spell of some sort of infection or something, where it hurts to urinate. I don't know if it was kidney stones, but it sure felt like it. I cursed for two mornings straight this week and almost passed out in the shower once. I'm still recovering from it. Why did this happen? Because I had something salty, greasy a few times a week, and finally, it hit me. I find that I tolerate less and less of a cooked diet the longer I stay on the intended dietary.

You might try a book called The Pleasure Trap by Lisle & Goldhamer. I read the book once and am rereading it again. I struggle with it even though I have been vegetarian for over 17 years and vegan for 14 of those years. I have attempted to go LFRV for stretches of time for well over a year now. It's not easy when people have their senses fooled (1 - pleasure-seeking; 2 - pain avoidance; 3 - energy conservation) by the modern situation today which puts extremely concentrated amounts of calorie-rich foods within easy reach. It was only the kings and queens of the distant past that suffered these diseases commonly. Even Pharaoh Hatshepsut had such health problems BECAUSE of animal products and her station in life which could afford those things.
 

PJPR01

Adventurer
Vegan here now for 1 year, eat lots of raw vegetable/fruit smoothies using the Vitamix, and still do cook vegetables/food, can't quite go raw completely as I do like hot food, but I realize that cooking destroys some of the nutrients. I find that I don't miss the meat or the dairy/cheese at all and all my sweet tooth cravings disappeared as well.

Net result: Dropped 30 lbs with little effort in 4 months, blood pressure dropped to 110/60, resting heart rate dropped to 60 from 80, down 5 inches on my waist, and find myself with TONS of energy all day long, and no longer need stimulants like coffee to stay awake in the afternoon. It works for me and my girlfriend...we are both vegans ( she for 5 years).

I have found it easy to travel and eat this way as well, I just wish there were more varied vegan restaurants here in Houston, but on a recent 6000 miles LR round trip this xmas from Houston to Chicago/Milwaukee, then to Vermont/NH/Boston and New York/Philly, we found tons of fantastic vegan restaurants everywhere.

If you have an Iphone, you can download an application called VegOut, and it will show you vegan/vegetarian restaurants in any city.

Going organic is also helpful, as tons of vegetables and fruits hold pesticides like sponges.

Vegan table is a fantastic book...lots of good stuff there.
 

ScottReb

Adventurer
My wife and I have been vegan for 2+ years. It rocks. Were both nurses and see how people our age often look and how frequently 40 year old people die. I lost 50 lbs in about 4-5 months as well. Nice to see there are some fellow plant based eaters around. Great eating fresh and raw especially since it requires a lot less refrigeration.

We also have the Veganyumyum book. Isa Chandra Moskowitz has several good cookbooks. Veganomicon is the big one. Great stuff.

If any of yall are at Overland expo, Ill be doing some cooking. Please stop by and say hi.
 

pint

Adventurer
Great post which has started me thinking about becoming vegetarian, or maybe pescetarian? I reeeaallly need to modify my eating/drinking habits. I travel a lot and entertain clients 2 - 4 times each month who expect a nice steakhouse. I grew up in the Midwest where you eat meat with nearly every meal! I truly enjoy a good steak. However, I realize change is needed. I've grown accustom to eating whatever is convenient and tasty! The more I read about what I eat, the more nervous I get for the future. Somehow I need to find the willpower to begin this process...baby steps.
 

pint

Adventurer
Cool...I know Dan. He's a helluva cook from what I hear. I'll shoot him a PM to chime in.
 

spressomon

Expedition Leader
After growing up, like Pint did, in the middle of the country where meat was the center of the meals I, after moving from motorcycles to exclusively bicycles in the early 80's found I needed more efficient fuel and also a healthier lifestyle.

No question about it: Ridding meat from my diet bothered my palate...for a while; after all I had been conditioned to almost 20-years of meat centric meals...and being 1/2 Italian (my stomach might be 100% Italian given how much I love food) doesn't make it any easier either :coffeedrink:. However, once you move away from a meat based diet you will eventually find eating meat very energy consuming to digest and somewhat off-putting taste (it takes a couple years if you are truly a meat eater today!). As an aerobic and anaerobic athlete it becomes quite easy to discern the differences in a vegan vs. meat diet within your body and hence the craving to eat the best foods for energy creation efficiency.

However I still was surrounded by meat eating friends and family. It was as tough on them as me to accommodate my chosen diet outside my own kitchen. Although some 30-years later it certainly is easier to live the life of a vegan I have chosen one of a more moderate balance overall. I have to admit I love the taste of wild game which is most of my meat calories today. Moderation is the key. If you start by attaining consumption of reasonable portions of meat you will be shocked to find out any meat portion larger than about 3oz is a fraction of what you are used to eating! The palm method (http://dieting.postedpost.com/food-serving-portion-palm-method/) is a great thing to remember where-ever and what-ever you consume!

For those embarking on ridding meat and animal products from your diet be sure to do your research. You really need a wide variety and balance to attain, especially, the protein power of meat. Like anything you'll get out of it what you put into it. But I see way too many folks, especially younger people, embarking on being vegan without having a clue what their body truly needs with respect to varietal input.

I make and eat all the same vegan recipes I did back in the day...just not so fanatical about it I suppose.

Dan
 
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For those embarking on ridding meat and animal products from your diet be sure to do your research. You really need a wide variety and balance to attain, especially, the protein power of meat. Like anything you'll get out of it what you put into it. But I see way too many folks, especially younger people, embarking on being vegan without having a clue what their body truly needs with respect to varietal input.


There is no protein power of meat as far as energy goes. That is NOT the fuel source for the human body. Glucose is. Where do you get protein? First, think about where it comes from. Think about animals that don't eat meat - where do they get it? Look at horses - they can outrun you and kill you instantly if you get behind one of their legs. The key is an understanding of amino acids and their usage in forming proteins. The issue with animal products is three-fold.

1) It is a decaying product that starts the process from the instant the animal is killed. Think about the waste products that were held up in the cells and interstitial fluids at the time of death. You're eating THAT, raw or cooked. The reason meat stays red is sodium nitrite. It reduces the rate of botulinal toxin development. It would be a dead color if sodium nitrite was not applied to meat.

2) Cooking it causes certain amino acids that are heat-sensitive to form bonds with one another that cannot be broken apart during digestion, leading to things floating around in your body that has to be treated as waste by-products.

3) Energy conservation. You have higher energy levels on a vegan dietary primarily because you do not have to break down the proteins of animals, which are a completely constructed item, all the way down to amino acids, assuming you eat it raw, and THEN start to build up protein from it into human protein. You expend energy trying to break it down before you can use it, and you do not get energy from it. Instead, you get the addictive rush from eating a steak.

The main source for protein is a vegan dietary consisting mostly of fruit, some veggies, and limited amounts of nuts and seeds. The reason it is is because these things don't require anywhere near the digestion that animal products require.

There is nothing balanced about what you are suggesting. I'm sorry to say that. You're caught in the Pleasure Trap, it looks like. Trust me, it is a !@#$% getting out of. I don't even know if I'm entirely out of it...

If you want a very thorough education on health, this is THE place to go. I read this entire thing as a student in school, back in the day when it existed only in several books going over 1,000 pages.

http://www.rawfoodexplained.com/sitemap.html - since this thing is HUGE, just go ahead and scroll through there, looking for specific topics that interest you for now.

I'm not trying to be the person who is right about everything, but help you avoid the common mistakes that people make in transitioning to different dietaries. Even cooked vegan dietaries are not healthy in the long run because of the salts and cooking/salad oils involved. I found out the hard way that you must follow the Low Fat Raw Vegan path, and you must have good quality food to make it work. Think about how disappointed I was... No more chinese takeout. No more italian food (presents incompatible combination of grains and tomatoes), no more mexican (high fat, and incompatible combination of corn and beans, or beans and rice). It sucks wind because once you open that Pandora's Box of civilized eating, there's pretty much no going back. I know. I've tried for 17 years, validating what I have just written here.

Damn society for springing a life-destroying addiction on us before we are old enough and educated enough to realize what it is we're doing when we take that first bite. But life is what it is. You have to keep going and live the best you can.
 

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