Vegie and vegan?

Question

I've been vegetarian for about 15 years but since reading some of the questions and answers on this page I've reached the conclusion that my diet is more vegan than vegetarian. I'm a fan of seeds and nuts (my current favourite is pumpkin seeds and even better if they're roasted) and eat fruit everyday as well, and a lot of everyday foods (bread for example) are also suitable for vegans. But I also enjoy chocolate and never drink coffee without milk. Do any other vegetarians have a diet which is close to vegan but isn't quite and would you ever swap to a completely vegan diet?

Answer 1

As a poor college student in the cow-fed midwest, it is difficult to maintain a fully vegan diet. Iowa is nice in some ways, but is not very supportive of vegan/vegetarian lifestyles. I do what I can to keep eggs and dairy out of my diet, but they sneak their way in from time to time. I call myself a "part-time vegan" as a joke sometimes.



One thing I keep in mind at this point:

It is better to support the vegetarian cause than to desperately try to adhere to the vegan standard where/when it is nearly impossible to do so. For instance, if I have to eat at a restaurant where the only option for me is a veggie burger that happens to contain eggs on a bun made with milk and butter, I'll take that over the plain garden salad. I would much rather support that menu item and thereby let the restaurant know that DOES have a vegetarian demand to cater to, instead of silently accepting a boring dish of lettuce.



I will probably commit to a completly vegan lifestyle once I move to a more enlightened region. I love to cook and bake, and it will be much easier to replace dairy products in recipes with vegan alternatives when they are more available.





ALSO



If you do try a strictly vegan diet consistently for any significant amount of time, your body may start to lose the ability to digest dairy products. I had a 3-week experimental vegan phase that made me lactose intolerant, which I discovered the hard way once I started incorporating dairy again. that actually makes resisting dairy products much easier for me. :-)



Soymilk is great, and so is rice and almond milk, if you're willing to switch that up. In coffee or over cereal, I can't even tell the difference.

Answer 2

I am 25 and from the ages of 7 to 16 I was vegetarian.This was mostly for animal welfare reasons as at 7 I was too young to understand the health risks eating fatty meat has.



By 16 though I understood health too and realised I could easily get by without eggs,honey and dairy products too and so I started to consider going vegan.A bit of research into the kind of lives dairy cattle and egg laying hens had made up my mind and I made the change a few weeks after my 16th birthday.



I am now 25 and a half and still vegan.Before anyone says vegans can't be healthy I'm also 100% healthy and am fitter and sick less often than most of my omnivore friends.



Having said all this though I am a big believer in choice so no-one but you can decide whether being a vegan is right for you.

Answer 3

Somewhat, I'm a veggie but would love to be a vegan, I imagine feeling so healthy and it's definitely the moral choice- I feel incredibly guilty about supporting the dairy industry, and I don't trust "free range" eggs or milk. But I get just really strong cravings for milk sometimes. I don't understand why, there is nothing natural about humans drinking cow's milk so god knows what it is, but sometimes I have to have it, and it always cures me when I feel nauseas.



Though for the most part, it's not the dairy products and eggs themselves that make me think i couldn't do it, it's all the stuff like chocolate, cakes, salad dressings etc that they're hidden in. I honestly wouldn't know what to eat. If there were better replacements for this stuff out there, which were available in restaurants too, it might not be so difficult.

Answer 4

While I am a vegetarian, I am currently at the phase where I am switching my house into a vegan household.



I keep staring at those boxes of macaroni&cheese.... wondering if I will get the strength to throw them out... and yet, not being able to bring myself to eat them.



lol



I have switched over my cheese to tofutti and nutritional yeast, and my milk to soy and rice though.



When I go out, I will get substitutes like soy-lattes. Sometimes I will still eat cheese or dairy at resturaunts though.



I think a lot of vegetarians are a bit further than eating milk and eggs while wearing leather boots. A great majority of vegetarians are in it for moral or environmental reasons, and they slowly see othe things they can afford to drop. I think many vegetarians who are still only at the base level are so because they are using vegetarianism as *being on a diet,* or because they are new to it and are appropriately handling one obstical at a time.



Vegetarianism is a path; people tend to step forward.

Yeah you.

Maybe some day we will both be vegans.



:)

Answer 5

I have been a vegetarian for going on 20 years. My mum started it all when she saw a horrific programme on TV one night about butchering animals. She got us all on vegetarian diets but after a few years she gave up all because of a bacon sandwich!



I just continued.... because I simply never really did enjoy eating meat or fish anyway. Never quite liked the texture, taste or smell!!!



I like milk, cheese and am not keen on eggs. I don't eggs in cooking. I drink soya milk now and then.



My friends think I am odd for eating bacon flavoured crisps - I do sometimes like the smell of bacon but never liked the texture of the meat so there is no chance of me eating a bacon sarnie!!



Some vegetarians eat chicken or/and tuna although I do not. I had a friend who was like that.



I cook meat dishes for my family now and then but I often do vegetarian meals.



I would not mind having a vegan diet although I'd like someone to do the cooking for a change!!! :- )



Doubt I'd just live on seeds and berries alone, though. Roasted pumpkins are yummy but I tend to burn them!!! (boo hoo)

Answer 6

I'm nearly vegan but I do eat eggs occasionally not very often. They got too expensive is why!

I drink coconut milk more than regular milk. It tastes better and is cheaper too if U find the right brand. Also it doesn't spoil as fast as regular milk.

There is plant based gelatin. You get that at nearly any healthfood store! Cause I occasionally eat eggs I call myself: vegetarian or semi-vegan

I don't eat fish, I don't eat any meats!

Answer 7

Most vegetarians I've known do it for a healthy diet while vegans do it because of a moral objection to the cruelty to animals. I am right now considering going vegan but the change won't be for my diet so much as for my peace of mind about animals. I am almost vegan now but am having a hard time giving up (and seeing a NEED to give up) milk and cheese and eggs.

Answer 8

ive been a veegieterian my whole life.... about 15 years now.... but i am close to being vegan.... but i love cheese too much... but i dont really eat eggs that much adn almost never drink milk unless im really hunry for cereal and theres no soy millk..... but id say that i could be vegan, it would just be a little more work... but i also love seeds adn bread adn granola, so i think i could make it as a vegan

Answer 9

I love my dairy too, and try to find a balance between the two by consuming fresh raw milk from my well pampered cow. I skim the cream and turn it into fresh butter, and make homemade cheeses. I feel no angst in this at all (there are many cow share programs that offer you a share of a cow so you can get raw milk-google rawmilk.com and check it out if you are interested. When my cow calves, I give up my dairy so she can nurse. Whatever she offers up, I accept as a gift and thank her for it. If I did NOT milk her, she would become engorged and THAT is what would cause her pain. I know there are vegans that might argue with this, but I feel no qualms about it at all. I love my happy cow! I am allergic to eggs, but my daughter enjoys them We get them from our food co op and KNOW that they are given up willingly by the happy hens. Eggs, to me are like a womans period. If she has one, its because she went unfertilized. Same with eggs-its not fertilized, the hen no longer needs it, and its just going to go to waste sitting there, and THAT is just plain silly to let happen. I think its all about balance and knowledge

Answer 10

I often feel guilty when I have dairy stuffs and when I move out I'll probably cut down massivly on dairy, but the only problem is chocolate! I love it too much!

Answer 11

jam is vegan, it is just boiled furit and sugar, jelly is british for jello, which isnt vegan. but jam is fine, calm down.

yeah im sure there many people with your habits, their is vegan chocolate and vegan coffee creamers, i know silk makes one.

Answer 12

yes i don't eat/drink milk or jelly etc.... the only thing i do eat are eggs.... so i can't call myself a vegan! lol

Answer 13

If the vegans at my local food coop are any example, vegans tend to have terrible skin. I don't know if it's veganism as such or the way they practice it, but until I see more vegans who actually look happy and healthy, I'll just skip it. I don't eat red meat, poultry, or much dairy (lactose intolerant) etc. but I do eat fish occasionally. I also eat eggs because I feel like I need the protein.



At present I'm trying to recover from a seriously broken ankle and I've been loading up on lactose-free milk for the calcium.



Edit: Just so you know, I have the highest respect for people who make a commitment like this, and I don't mean to put anyone down. It just isn't for me at this time.

Answer 14

yes but i have rice milk sometimes it tastes lovely i do feel as if im lacking as well though so make sure your getting all your vitamins

Answer 15

If only rarely eating dairy makes you closer to a vegan than a vegetarian, then only rarely killing people makes you closer to a non-murderer than a murderer.