I Can’t Believe I’m Still a Vegan

If you are tempted to give in to butter, just try Earth Balance instead. It tastes just like butter, and some say - even better.

Congratulations on your healthy lifestyle - I have been a vegan for 2 and a half years now, and it was the best decision I have ever made.

I LOVE THIS!!! YAY NEW VEGANS!!! Good for you, while I am a vegan for ethical reasons, I appreciate anyone who moves into the fold, for any reason. Keep on rolling, your body and the earth community say thanks :)

Mr. Noonan, there is such a thing as soy/vegetable butter and it is, may I add, absolutely delicious. A bit caloric, but no different in taste than the stuff that comes from cows. Trader Joe's sells them as well as Whole Foods.

eat it too**

I have been a vegan for a little over a decade. However, unlike David Noonan, I would describe myself as a "gourmet" and simply could not imagine living with one meal a week!
That's what I find the greatest thing about a vegan diet- with its low fat and cholestrol content you actually can have your cake and it it too!

I was slowly moving in that same direction myself then my bestest lifelong friend of 40 years had a heart attack. I speeded up the process following the Dr. Neal Barnard book Breaking The Food Seduction. Eggs were easy to drop. Cheese remarkably so as well. Meat, espy red meat, no problem. I may eat fish but mercury in fish scares me. Butter was tossed and I am flumoxed by the fact that even so called natural heart healthy substitutes invariably have palm oil and palm kernel oil, both killers. So I stick with olive oil on my bread and have my toast dry for now or with a bit of honey or almond butter. I also use Walnut and Almond oils. Tofu based meatless products are improving a great deal except they contain way too much sodium usually. My one indulgence in dairy is milk but I have managed to switch to non fat skim milk for coffee and oatmeal. I dont drink a lot of it. The transition has been sooth. I was bolstered by reading this article and the fact my heart attack buddy has managed to make similar switches altho he eats fish. He had three blocked arteries. One 99 per cent, another 83 per cent and a third 80 per cent. He had to have two operations and three angioplasties. A fourth artery is partly blocked by up to 70 per cent. Luckily there was little damage to the heart muscle so a recovery following a strict diet and statins will help preserve him a bit longer. It was a realy wake up call for both of us.

I applaud you for doing this. (I've been a vegan for nine years and will never go back.) So many people only make dietary changes AFTER they've been diagnosed with some disease. It would be far easier to be a vegan if it was a more popular choice. You wouldn't always be the oddball at restaurants with special orders. But there is huge variety out there, and I hope you can have fun with it.

Awesome!!! I agree - I transitioned to vegan after 14 yrs of being a vegetarian and my goodness does my whole body look and feel better...and best yet, I'm saving a whole bunch of animals a cruel fate! Rock on baby, no belly fat for you...or me! =)

Well done! Someone who took action and understood that being light and fit takes discipline--a complete lifestyle change.

Know that there is vegan pizza.....or you can make your own. It's really quite good without all the greasy cheese; when I have it it's a whole grain thin crust with organic sauce and it is covered with vegetables and some tofu! Way yummy! Or try some of the non-dairy cheeses they have out there if you miss cheese. Don't forget that vegan doesn't mean boring, it just means seeking out different recipes and planning.

I am glad to see that you are promoting a vegan diet, but if you continue eating salads for lunch and roasted veggies for dinner, you're going to get sick. You need much more protein, carbs, and fat in your diet. I hope that the author is getting more protein/carbs/fat than he is reporting because those macronutrients are essential to a healthy body. Vegetables are great -- but you need to add some avocado or nuts to the salad, or some tofu or tempeh to your roasted vegetables. Otherwise you are not getting all of the amino acids you need. What do amino acids do? They form and repair our skin, muscles, tendons, etc.; they regulate body processes; they transport vitamins, minerals, and lipids around the body; they assist in fighting off viruses; etc. I know this because I happen to be a vegan nutritionist. I have helped countless people move towards a healthy vegan diet. For more info, please go to: www.chosenhealth.com

VEGAN BY DESIGN ect.. see my messages at, flatrockspeedway.com click search then indycar01

- to Qidisrupt, I have to apologize if I am sounding holier-than-thou because I am a vegan. I use to eat all of that stuff. I use to love meat, dairy??? I was not aware and I was a good (and unaware) person. Who was it Socarates? Plato? - who said the unexamined life is not worth living? I then learned firsthand - witnessed, what farming is (and this was on small free-range family farms in Wisconsin so please don???t be deceived by the - it???s the factory farms mantra). Livestock farming - on small family farms to factory farms, I learned is the most cruel and horrible nightmare for the animals and for the people as well who must have to deaden the best of our natural instincts - kindness for all of God???s creatures, who must have to deaden their heart and learn to turn a blind eye to the suffering of the innocent??? To try to help end this horrible cruelty is why I became vegan. I want to live in an honest and kind world.

I am an eternal optimist - I believe in your potential Qidisrupt - and I pray for the ???awareness, truth??? which will set us ALL free. It is each individual???s responsibility to seek out the truth. Google ???Meet your Meat???, ???Earthlings???, ???Peaceable Kingdom??? -- seek out the truth and be courageous enough to do the right thing once aware.

Speaking of misinformation to whoever spoke about the protein issue and to Qidisrupt on the B12 issue, I would suggest some further research. (I think it was unintentional, however you???ve presented misinformation in your posts which I am sure you would like to correct with the facts.) On the B12 issue, here is one good source - http://www.pamrotella.com/health/b12.html - however there are many more so please continue the research to your satisfaction.
I???ve got a short excerpt from this link below, however please check out the link as there is much more???
???Vegans and the Vitamin B12 Deficiency Myth
It seems there's always at least one tired old myth making the rounds about vegetarianism. Twenty years ago when I switched, it was the "protein deficiency" myth. Now that the protein myth has been completely discredited (human breast milk is only 5% protein, and it is estimated that adult humans only need 2-3% protein in their daily diet), these days the vitamin B12 myth occasionally surfaces. Usually it's only preached in places like very old doctors' offices or talk radio shows dominated by heavy recommendations for drugs and dairy products, but the question still comes up???.

Deficiencies at Large
A small number of people develop B12 deficiencies, most of them not vegans???

??? All of the Vitamin B12 in the world ultimately comes from bacteria. Neither plants nor animals can synthesize it. But plants can be contaminated with B12 when they come in contact with soil bacteria that produce it. Animal foods are rich in B12 only because animals eat foods that are contaminated with it or because bacteria living in an animal's intestines make it.

The Cautious Path
So what's a vegan to do for B12? Less rinsing of fruits and vegetables is a bad idea. Bacterial food poisoning is much less common with vegetables than meat, but it can still occur with vegetables. The body might produce enough B12 from its own bacteria and naturally-occuring bacteria on food (rinsing doesn't remove all of it), but I like to play it safe. Personally, I believe in vitamin supplementation for a number of reasons..."

I am vegetarian. I hope to take the next step soon to become vegan. There are so many books and websites to help me take the next step. I look forward to checking out the firefighter's cookbook.