Are you vegan or vegetarian

[Dervill Crow]

Just curious what category you all fall into here and how you came to it. I live with three carnivores, my husband and two sons. The husband absolutely LOVES junk food. I am the only one in the family that has a weight problem, which is a whole topic in and of itself, but my question is this. Is it possible to dive right in and go vegan, or is there expected to be a learning curve? I'm sensing there is a bit of a caste system where you need to be a "real" 100% vegan or it doesn't count, and I am just not sure I can swing that.

[flvegan]

1. Meh. Labels.

Is it possible to "dive right in and go vegan" so to speak? Sure. It's possible. I've seen it. Mostly it's from folks that are new AR folks pissed off about it all.

Is there "expected to be a learning curve" so to speak? Meh. I say every bite counts.

Fuck the "caste system" anyway. I'm as hardcore as they come. Sadly, I say that after cooking 3 lbs of cow flesh for my dog tonight. Regardless, do what you can, do your best, work towards the positive as you can. Do those things, then feel free to send those enforcing the "caste system" my way. As a 9th level liberationist vegan, I got your back.

[LeftyMom]

2. Well, yes and no.

Is it possible to be entirely 100% absolutely vegan in this society? Nope, at least unless you're come back to the lander out in BFE growing your own everything and harvesting it all by hand. There's animal fat in tires, and if you have to take any meds they're animal tested even in the rare cases where the ingredients are all vegan (the stuff I'm on for my bladder infection is not, which sucks, but it sucks somewhat less than a kidney infection, so I have to try not to think about it and take it until I'm well.)

Can you read labels and eliminate everything you can? Certainly. Can you seek out new options as they become available? Yeah. Will you screw up and get something that has some obscure ingredient you've never heard of only to find out that it's made of critter? Probably, I certainly have. Is that good enough? I guess it has to be. It's sure a heck of a lot better than the alternative.

[Critters2]

4. Right on all points. One does the best one can, but perfection isn't likely

Well said.

[yewberry]

3. I think you should figure out what works best for you

and then worry about what to call yourself later.

You can jump right in as a strict vegetarian right away if you're willing to. My only caveat there is that, unless you're already comfortable with a low-fat diet, you might feel like you're depriving yourself. A vegan diet in general uses far less fat as a flavoring and far more spices, herbs, etc. than a standard diet.

You're not wrong about the caste system thing, but I think it's a lot less prevalent than you'd expect. There is a small minority of veg*ns who do judge--these are sometimes the folks who proselytize. My pet theory is that most of those folks are new to their decisions, maybe trying to define their choices in relation to others, and are more likely to be vocal about them. I think that that veg*ns who've been at it for a while are less likely to judge, and while we may be the majority, it's the vocal minority that reinforces the stereotype of the judgmental, humorless vegan.

You will probably find that terminology is one place where we can get a little sticky. There is probably not a vegetarian in the world who hasn't been offered fish because some people who eat fish call themselves vegetarian; there is probably not a vegan in the world who hasn't been given a leather gift because some people who call themselves vegan use leather. So, yeah, what we call ourselves can cause some trouble.
(Terminology lecture section follows! Read at your own risk! Easy short distinctions: a vegetarian eats no flesh or flesh by-product like gelatin; a strict vegetarian eats no flesh or animal products like dairy or honey; a vegan uses no animal products, like leather & wool; and, veg*n is just a shortening of "vegans and/or vegetarians," not a category in and of itself.)

I think you'd do best to figure what you want and what makes you feel good. Don't worry about whether you'll be in the vegan and/or vegetarian (see how much faster veg*n is?) club--the "club" mentality is meaningless. If someone judges you based on what you do or don't eat, you don't want to be around them anyway. Take advantage of the little community here and ask questions. I don't think anyone here would dismiss your efforts to eat in healthy way.


Good luck to you!

[NMMNG]

5. I'm a vegetarian

Though I'm consuming far less dairy and eggs than I have in the past and am making an effort to buy more vegan alternatives to foods I would previously purchased as regular dairy/egg foods or vegetarian foods.

[LaurenG]

6. I'm Vegan but as has been stated here I have found myself eating egg whites

in veggie burgers and veggie sausages but not on purpose. As far as using no animal products, no I can't say that, but I do not deliberately eat any animal products except what is in almond cheese.

I am lactose intolerant so that takes care of any outright dairy and I do not care for eggs. That leaves me with tons of veggie choices and I like almost all of them so I'm fine with what's available now a days.

I can now enjoy some soy and have switched to that from rice beverage but it took me a year to be able to slowly tolerate it. I also think I went through some sort of detox initially when eliminating animal products but I can't say for certain what happened. I do know that anyone contemplating the switch can find tons of help on this forum and I for one appreciated all the feedback, advise and support that I found here.

Thank you all.