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Post by Tiggerwoos on Feb 27, 2006 12:10:50 GMT
I thought it would be useful and interesting for others to read, whether you are an old hat at veganism, or are just thinking about it. Post your story as to how and why here. Don't be shy!
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Post by Tiggerwoos on Feb 27, 2006 12:19:28 GMT
To get the ball started, I'll begin.
I'd always been an animal lover and as a kid I was veggie for a long time, except my Mum only cooked me microwaved foods, so as you can imagine, I became ill as even an omnivore would on such a diet. Eventually she made me go back to eating meat like the rest of the family! I always said to myself that I'd go veggie again as an adult, and last April after alot of health problems under the guidance of my naturopath I became became vegetarian.
I spent 9 months being veggie and getting used to all the recipes, when in January after alot of thought, after realising that even buying organic milk and free range eggs was a con, I decided to go vegan and its certainly helped my health problems.
Here I am 2 months later, going strong and looking forward to many more years as a vegan.
Riiiiiiiiggggggggghhhhht... who's next! ;D
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Post by tabitha on Feb 27, 2006 22:11:47 GMT
I didnt eat meat and dairy for two years, then gave up fish, then finally two years ago went vegan. I made loads of mistakes in the beginning, every day I was constantly amazed at how many foods had animal products in them. I made my little cleaning business vegan shortly after and have tried to educate my clients to buy like minded products. The elderly clients are sweet. They buy co op goods just to keep me happy - but cannot quite understand why they are doing it The cat food does worry me and I would never use Iams or Science, although unfortunately I do dish it out every day at the cattery. I have put leaflets out and given them to clients but most people are blinkered and dont want to look. I am happy with my lifestyle and would not change for the world. And the next.........
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Post by bobbywomble on Mar 8, 2006 18:08:16 GMT
i stopped eating meat and dairy products thats how i became a vegan i now need treatment for my soya addiction LOL
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Post by Wabbit on Mar 9, 2006 19:28:47 GMT
OOPS I had sent in pink & it was way too pale for the green background ... so here it is again... Long story... I'll tel lthenutshell version.... I was vegetarian basically all my life, with no clue about the production of dairy, honey & the like... Back in 2001& 2002, I'v heared a few details about these matters. After a while, I started questionening here & there, untill I had sufficient information & confirmation about those stories. Shocked, I decied to cut down intake of these products, as I couldn't accept eating & using things agaisnt my lifelong personal beliefs. I had to read every single label, as many products, food, cosmetic & others alike, include dairy, eggs or both, and even worse, so I had found... This elimination process took me 9 months or so... Just the time to have a baby LOL I mean, could have ... ;D either way, by then, I was done with eating dairy & eggs. Honey was easy as I had never really like it, so that was my first step. With time, to my astonishment, I also discovered animal testing never stoped, so I started using organic products, with "not tested" labels ; stoped using chemical pills & reinforced my use of herbal medicine to both to healm & to prevent... As a vegetarian, I had a few accidents in shoe stores, buying leather ones, as My size is difficult to find & after checking 50 pairs & thinking I had gotten the correct size & material, I had quite a few mistakes. But, as a vegan, I became very particular & re-read the labels before buying... No more leather shoes I always hated leather but had those few accidents that I now don't commit anymore... I never wore fur as I'v hated it for all my life. In the past couple years, I'v also signed petitions & started to be a bit more active in my choises & affirming them. Well I said nutshell & that was the fruitsalad version after all LOL
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Fauxmage
EV Friend
I eat food.
Posts: 186
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Post by Fauxmage on Mar 10, 2006 4:00:05 GMT
I too have been an animal lover since before I can remember, I guess, and as soon as I found out where hamburgers came from I knew it was wrong. I was a vegetarian for a few years as soon as I was able to cook my own food. My parents weren't really upset, but I guess they thought I was weird. They never tried to stop me though.
It wasn't until I read Peter Singer as a teenager that I realized milk and eggs were wrong too. I had not been using leather, and was allergic to wool, but was using silk, and eating eggs and milk and rennet-free cheese, and honey. I would like to think that I would have soon realized on my own that this also was wrong, but I read Peter Singer, and he did the job for me. I have been vegan for about 20 years now, and though I am extremely interested in natural health and nutrition, I would still be vegan whether it made me sick or not. I am at the point now where I no longer consider the majority of items in I see in the market as food anyway, so if some doctor told me I had to eat "beef" or die, I would be just as likely to eat "beef" as I would to eat a pine tree or a shopping bag. ;D
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Post by Wabbit on Mar 10, 2006 8:31:30 GMT
Hi again... I see I had quite a few keyboard accidents resulting in misspellings... I hope you could read what I was saying, such as 'heal" not healm... LOL...
I had forgot to say quite a bit oh my LOL inspite of getting carried away in telling the story on how I became vegan. I suppose it's not easy to tell just a few details & then think "oh I forgot this & oh I forgot that".
However, since I did mention lifelong personal beleifs, you can guess from it that I love aniamls & feel compassion toward them mixed with sadness & anger at the humankind that forgot their humabity...
So, to clarify a few things, inspired by your testimonies :
I don't use silk, wool, leather, fur... I don't eat any animal product, including dairy, eggs & honey.
However, nothing in this world is 100% sure so I can't say I'm a 100% vegan. But i do aspire for the highest possible % at the moment & am looking for informations regarding many products... I'll make a new thread in the vegan questions...
Ok I guess this will do it for now...
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Post by bunny on Mar 18, 2006 19:41:42 GMT
I always wanted to be veggie and when I was about 14 I went veggie for about three months. My parents used to cook me the same as everyone else and I would just eat the vegetables. Needless to say I nearly faded away and had to start eating meat again. I have never been a big meat eater at all but it wasn't until recently where I am finally living on my own that I could become fully veggie.
I had always assumed vegans to be slightly mad and so had kind of ignored that part of things. I always had organic eggs and milk etc, but I just didn't think about what I was doing. I fell deeply in lust with a guy I was at uni with and he was vegan, so I started reading a little more about it and then a few weeks ago thought I would just go for it. I am happy with my choice, but I really need to get more organised so I don't keep making mistakes.
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Post by alisont on Mar 19, 2006 9:29:25 GMT
I went veggie at the age of 6, after working out the link between cute lambs in the fields and lamb on the supermarket shelf! mum supported me - being into nutrition for health reasons, dad thought it was a phase. Did try a couple of times to go vegan but didnt manage it and didnt know other vegans then for support. Eventually after years of yo yo dieting and being overweight, and having IBS bad I had a York food intollerance test - this said i was intollerant to egg, dairy, cashews and bananas, I had cut down on these (and lots 4 stone and joined a gym!) but was still struggling to go 100% vegan,when i went to the Birmingham vegan festival - last June. I had tons of great vegan food and met many great vegans there, and got the addresses for vegan buddies and vegan fitness. Also met the wonderful couple who run realfoods and vegan buddies who really helped me with going vegan So after this I went vegan and have not looked back since! I went vegan on 1st July last year 2 days before going on a cruise to Italy/Greece/Croatia (i like a challenge!) I feel so much healthier and happy with things. I have changed all my cosmetics and toilitries from veggie to vegan, and have been reading up on the dairy trade - so i can answer questions when asked. I love helping others and getting local pubs/cafes to stock vegan foods is a current hobby! Think thats about it! Oh yes have made some great friends from these wonderful vegan forums ;D met up with 12 in Birmingham last night for a meal and chat Alison
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Post by bobbywomble on Mar 19, 2006 12:27:06 GMT
great post v interesting reading
how does the food intolerance test work is it a blood test or a patch etc ?
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Post by alisont on Mar 19, 2006 14:19:26 GMT
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Post by squirrel on Mar 19, 2006 14:40:40 GMT
Hi Alison, Well done on going vegan and congratulations on overcoming your IBS I've developed IBS when I was 13 and it's only in the last few years I've managed to identify trigger foods. I considered the York test after reading how it had helped someone with IBS but I already cut out so much and the cost of £250 put me off.
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Post by squirrel on Mar 19, 2006 14:48:40 GMT
I was lucky to be raised vegetarian, but gradually I found the thought of eating anything from an animal repulsive. Even so, it took several attempts over many years to fully commit to veganism, back sliding to veggie mainly though lack of support, plus I hated lentils. These forums are fantastic for us individual vegans.
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Post by Wabbit on Mar 20, 2006 10:59:20 GMT
Hi Bunny,
Parents in general don’t really understand veg*isme unless they’v been informed & are veg themselves which can happen. But most of them are from the old school & think it’s alright to eat animals. A very common parental misconception is to think their child becoming veg* as a “phase” & that one day they’d come out of it. As manner of fact, most of the new veg*s are young, 12/18 year olds, as far as I could observe. But indeed, when parents cook & don’t accept or understand veg*isme, the kid has no choice but to wait the day they’re on their own. I think there’s a lot of courage to ackwnoledge when someone raised by such parents – not that these parents are bad but are part of the old shcool & don’t understand. So, congratulations on your switch !
Glad to hear your aproach to veganisme has evolved after reading about it. How do you feel now that you’re one of the “slightly mad” ? ;D
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Post by Wabbit on Mar 20, 2006 11:36:17 GMT
oopsies.... bad colours...
Alison,
Your experience is amazing to go veggie at age 6. As I just mentioned before, most parents think it’s a phase, like your dad did. Indeed, men seem to have more difficulties getting into it, altho veg*s aren’t just women, goes without saying.
It’s great that your mom supported you in your change.
Do you still have York food intollerence or was it a ... phase ?
Great on your weight loss whoo hooo byebye bad fats come in vegan goodies.
Your experience with the vegan festival sounds awsome ! meeting so many vegans at one place & sharing & helping others in their quest for veganism !
July 1st to celebrate as your anniversary, in the summer yay A cruise to Italy, Greece & Crotia sounds indeed very challenging for finding vegan food... how did that go ?
Like you, I’v changed a lot of my toilitiries to vegan & that’s always really great ! natural cleansing & beauty whoo hoo (yep am excited LOL)
It’s always good to be informed about vegan issues such as dairy & other topics... However, don’t expect everyone to really listen, as many people are set in their ways & don’t “belive” what you say.. or rather, they know it to be true & try to look elsewhere instead of feeling ashamed & guilty. I’v had this experience so often I can know quicly who’d listen & who wouldn’t. But, always good to remind & informe, doesn’t hurt... or it does & helps some people to change & evolve once they accept it.
What do you do exactly with those pubs/ cafes ? sell them vegan foods or help them see it’s a “good move” & they purchase ?
12 vegans wow !!! Maybe one day we’ll come too & join ya LOL that’d be awsom... who knows, maybe I know some of them as I got some friends there in the UK...
Oh, I just checked what IBS was... If you want, I got some holistic tips to share, which I could send in the “alternative therapies” section. Same for you, Squirel.
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Post by Wabbit on Mar 20, 2006 11:37:26 GMT
Which brings me to you Squirel,
Indeed, you were lucky to be rised veggie as that’s already half the road to vegan. Easier to evolve from one to the other comapred to omni to vegan, quite a large spectrum ! I agree, these forums & chat rooms for the vegs are great support. Also, you meet others like you & don’t feel alone anymore, which is really helping, in my case anway.
You don’t like lentils ? maybe try cook them otherwise ? or eat something else instead ? I t think of peas & such ?
250 £ for the food intollerence test ?! Oh my, do they irradiate your blood with golden uranium ? LOL
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Post by Wabbit on Mar 20, 2006 11:38:06 GMT
Oh Bunny, I forgot to say, we all make mistakes at the begining. Give yourself time & the means & keep on the good work, go vegan ! Also, I asked how oyu felt but I clearly missed that part you said you were happy about your choice... LOL, glad to hear that & so am I for my change from veggie to vegan. Well the question is about being a “slightly mad” LOOOLLLL
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Post by bunny on Mar 20, 2006 19:40:16 GMT
Hi Wabbit, Being one of the slightly mad is good! I can't believe I didn't do it sooner. The mistakes are getting less now... it was things like assuming quorn sausages were vegan and silly things like that. Now I look out for labels a lot more!
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Post by Wabbit on Mar 20, 2006 19:51:03 GMT
Hi Bunny,
LoL welcome to the slightmy mad's club hehe... Am that as well so that gives us a good basis LOL
Glad to hear your mistakes are slowly fading away, congrats !
Labelreading should be a full time paid job LOL as we have to do that more than anyone...
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Post by Tiggerwoos on Mar 20, 2006 19:55:45 GMT
Being slightly mad is the head criteria of being a member of this forum! ;D ;D ;D
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