DO I GO VEGGIE?

Is there any way you could find room for raised beds in your garden, so you would be able to look after them and grow some easy greenstuff?

They take a lot of work and soil putting in, so you'd need some help from friends and relatives, but once in place they last for several years, and fresh stuff can be grown at least nine months of the year. I know at least two people who use wheelchairs who do this, and it makes a nice little hobby.

Another way is to study up which wild plants and herbs are good to eat, and encourage these to grow in your garden, and eat them. Young dandelion leaves are good in salads, and are fairly palatable, for example. (The larger dark green leaves are still edible, but are too bitter).

Canned and frozen fruit and vegetables have most of the goodness of fresh, but canning loses some vitamin C, and unfreezing stuff has to be done carefully to avoid similar losses. But most of the goodness of the original is still there. But do check that the fruit isn't laced with fructose syrup, and the veg doesn't contain lots of colourants and preservatives.

Vegetarian/Vegan sites often list brands which are free from animal ingredients, so you can check up before ordering, or download a list to have handy and study at leisure.

From experience of a previous job, frozen is definately better than fresh as most veg is frozen within a few hours of leaving the field rather than the fresh stuff which goes though packaging, warehousing and sitting on a shelf in the supermarket for several days.

There was a thing on farcebook earlier in the year - meat free march. We gave it a go and after a month hadn't really missed the meat. Now we probably only have meat once or twice a week, sometimes a couple of times more if we buy a pack of bacon and sometimes not at all.

The easiest stuff we found was curries, stews etc where we just made them but left the meat out. Despite concerns that we would be hungry etc there wasnt actually any difference. We did get some recipes off Rainbowmama (Nicky) and a couple of internet sites. Also some good advice from a vegan guy at work who was really helpful.

Go for it, if it doesnt work out you can always buy meat again..

Remember a vegan diet doesn't suit everybody; it nearly finished a gal we know.

She started as a veggie, eventually went vegan, and went on social media espousing the vegan diet as a cure-all, and the only way to go. She was far-out.

Over the next four or five years her health gradually got worse, and she tried various vegan ways of attaining better health, then went into new age stuff, everything from crystals to ear cones and salt lamps and coloured lights shone up her arse.

More recently she had an epiphany event, where she thought that she now understood that her vegan diet was the cause of her continued ill-health.

With typical zeal she plunged into an all-meat 'stone-age' or 'ancestors' diet, and, somewhat astonishingly, began to put on weight and build strength again, and said she never felt better.

(I think she'll fall ill again, her diet is too extreme. If she only eats meat, where does her roughage come from? Animals get it from skin and fur, as they eat their way into their prey....).

So by all means try the vegan diet, but do it carefully after studying the practical side of the subject. See how you feel after three months, and go on from there.

Does your local supermarket not do deliveries. If it doesn't maybe start petitioning it to do them.

A vegan diet can be really healthy or it can make you really ill. Ready made veggie or vegan food has as much rubbish in it as any ready meal. I was veggie for 10 years, vegan for the last 3 of that decade and I was a mess. I worked long hours and didn't have time to cook so I lived on ready made crap. I'm slowly making the transition back to veggie and eventually vegan. The difference is this time I have the time to make proper food all from scratch.

Frozen veg is full of nutrition still because it's only an hour two from picking to freezing. Most tinned veg except maybe sweetcorn, always seems to have been cooked to death so really can't have much nutrition in it. Re-heating food that's already cooked destroys even more nutrition. Tinned beans and lentils are good and they nearly all come in water without the tons of salt they used have. Frozen veg is also good value for money and often works out cheaper than fresh. Frozen fruit now comes in a wide variety of types from berries to mango. Having said that I don't like most frozen veg and only buy peas, green beans, broad beans, soya beans and sweetcorn. I buy a lot of frozen fruit which I have with yoghourt. Stops me eating ice cream.

Quote from akasha (freecloud)

For a long while now its been on my mind, is it time to go veggie?

Yes, because it's easier than you think -- and as others have said, frozen veg is often just as healthy as fresh veg.

My own opinion is that vegetarian is a bit of a half-measure, and that the real benefits come from a well planned vegan diet (and lifestyle), thus avoiding all animal products.

This will mean finding other ways to take care of Vitamin B12, Vitamin D3 and iodine levels, because these are typically the things that cause problems and are harder to source given our current food supply. Iron doesn't need to be a problem unless you have a diet high in junk food.

If you're already supplementing it may be worth switching to something specially formulated, such as this, which may seem expensive but it's a 6 month supply:

https://amzn.to/2Aodiix

It's worth bearing in mind that most livestock is supplemented with vitamins, because the quality of soil is so bad that the animals no longer get the nutrients they need. Many meat eaters get their dietary needs from supplements that have been fed to animals first.

Anyway, these links might also help.

https://howdoIgovegan.com

https://goveganworld.com

Protein doesn't create energy efficiently -- protein only really creates energy if there isn't enough energy coming from carbohydrate and fat; protein is primarily meant for building and maintaining muscle etc.

I've now been vegan for over 6 years and vegetarian for 15 years -- I get about 100 grams of protein per day (I weigh 72 kilos) and go to a gym three times a week (or at least I would if I hadn't hurt my shoulders by lifting too heavy last week!)

If I didn't go to a gym I'd drop my protein down to 60 grams, which is really very easy to achieve without missing any amino acids.

Everyone has a different starting point, but we're all the same species so all have pretty similar nutrient requirements -- if you desire to work it out then you will work it out.

Quote from lostbear

Hi Folks

I think being Veggie or Vegan is such an individual choice, I am an Omnivore, I tried being Veggie back in 1991, for nearly a year, my body DID NOT like it at all, i got major indegestion, and felt weak, and ill. My body tells me it needs the protein, I am naturally a big guy and carry a lot of muscle despite being a slob for 10years (Health Pooh), but I really do need the energy from meat, I have tried other sources of protein but non give me that benefit I get from meat

Have a look for a guy called Hench Herbivore (instagram and Youtube).

It can be done, and done well. However, if you really feel it wasn't right for you I totally get it.

C'mon you vegans -eating flesh will soon be against the law....

Or will it? I guess the government would just love to tax it some. A nice eco-tax on meat that wouldn't go to the NHS, but just be used for lining pockets and supporting wars far away.....

Quote from lostbear

sadly in some ways my body does require that protein, am a muscular guy

Me too, and I get more than enough protein from plant based sources -- there isn't a single essential amino acid that only comes from animal sources, because if it did then humans wouldn't eat the herbivores.

Quote from lostbear

grateful to that animal for its sacrifice

The animals do not sacrifice themselves.

Quote from akasha (freecloud)

Last night I had some stew with minimal, like 2 tiny pieces, of beef in it - I COULDN'T eat it. It actually repulsed me.

This is how I ended up going vegan again this time. Overnight, the idea of meat just completely turned my stomach.

Quote from akasha (freecloud)

I take iron pills daily as I can't afford a weekly 'shop' so cannot access FRESH fruit and veg often. I can only manage a 'shop', if I'm lucky, once a month.

Instead of iron pills try adding beans and legumes to your diet. Many of them are high in iron, and it is easily absorbed and digestible. Dried beans are also relatively cheap, now. Check the "World Foods" aisle/section for massive bags that will last you ages.

Quote from akasha (freecloud)

Is tinned and/or frozen fruit and veg just as good for you as fresh?

In many instances canned or frozen is actually better for you, because it has more of the nutrients still contained. With fresh there is no indication of how long it is since the item was picked but with frozen it is usually done within hours of picking.

Quote from akasha (freecloud)

Also is it easy to shop online and avoid things containing animal 'stuff''??

Most supermarket websites now have the option to filter with a vegan tag. But it depends what you are buying. Many of the cheap staples (dried pasta, rice, noodles, etc) are vegan (just watch out for egg in pasta and noodles).

Feel free to DM me for cheap meal ideas if you want. I have quite a small (sometimes non-existent) budget, so totally understand how it can feel overwhelming.