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Any Vegan Support groups?
Hello Everyone,
Does anyone know of any vegan programs that are setup kinda like Weight Watchers? I know that Google is wonderful for looking up things, but I keep getting the same basic type of stuff and its not creative. The list of foods and recipes look the same to me. I’m not very creative in the kitchen as I used to be. With work and class in the way, I dont have time or want to. 🙁 Thanks so much for the information.
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42 Replies
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I work for Whole Foods Market. They have a lot of vegan foods and you can go to their website for recipes too. Hope this helps.
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Thanks Pamholderman… I will look at their recipes 🙂
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I’ve the same challenges with finding new vegan dishes to make. Sites I use for recipes include veganricha.com, ohsheglows.com, and robinskey.com (raw recipes). Good luck!
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There are also a few vegan food delivery services. They package everything pre-measured and give you the recipe. The best part is that the rccipes take 30 minutes or less to make. thepurplecarrot.com is one and there are countless others.
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You might also enjoy checking Jeff Novick’s Fast Food information, Forks over Knives, and Dr. McDougall’s Program.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.204432390124.260255.177550385124
http://www.forksoverknives.com/meals-to-your-door/
https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/education/free-mcdougall-program/
Also,
fatfreevegan.com
happyherbivore.com
Good luck! -
Ambience, I wish you lived near me in Baltimore! My organization puts together a yearly vegan education and mentorship program, free and open to all, and it starts in 3 weeks! (VeganLivingProgram.org) We always get Coach volunteers who can’t attend the sessions but want to be “buddies” with someone remotely. If you’re interested, message me!
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Thanks Everyone. I am looking at some of the sites that everyone has suggested. I really need to live near Baltimore or anywhere that has the Coaching. I get so discouraged because now Im burned out and dont want to eat. I know that I have to eat but its so much harder living on the border without buddies who are healthier than me. I didnt do good today because I opted for a meal replacement shake instead of a meal because I just didnt know what I wanted to eat. Please keep me motivated 🙂
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Hi Ambience,
I too am struggling with becoming vegan. Hope it gets better. I am taking baby steps thus far. -
I joined vegan groups on facebook and follow many vegan pages on fb.
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Today wasn’t too bad. I actually ate more today. I looked at some of the sites you all had given me. Thanks bunches.. 🙂 Now how to get pass the headaches?? Ugh I been a gluten-free fÃen for a few months but not long enough to kill all my cravings with doing vegan along with it.
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Would be interested too
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http://www.nomeatathlete.com/ has a lot of great vegan recipes. A lot of them are geared towards being nutritionally dense. Also, a second for ohsheglows.com. Look at the blogs and websites those two link to as well.
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Thanks so much. Today I’m really struggling..
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Veganessentials.com is great, and they do cold shipping. You can also look on meetup.com and see if they have one.
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Guess What.. I tried the Veggie Burger King today. Yes I know. I finally ate today besides a cup of dry cheerios this morning. Well it was wasn’t what I expected because it wasn’t grilled like the other burgers look. Actually I think that they over cooked it because it was too tough. I did better at home by using the morning star buffalo chicken patties than that burger King veggie burger. Now I know thats not a good place to stop if im in a hurry. I wish they had more places here to have good fast food vegan meals.
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I love food and am pretty much always eating 🙂 so I thought Id make my first comment on the site (of course it would be food related :)First thing is getting rid of the headache. What do you think is the cause? Is it a detox, stress,caffeine withdrawal or migraine? There are various self massage demos on youtube for headaches. For detox (and in general) you need to flush the system so get in plenty of water. They also recommend flushing toxins by opening the pores and sweating it out, an easy way is exercise and/or a hot shower. More recommendations are getting the bowels cleared out by enema (I would try something more natural). Another suggestion is deep breathing especially’breath of fire’.
Acupuncture self massage works well and is my go to. http://youtu.be/xOTwlJbNlaI
Essential oils helpful in combating headache are lavender, peppermint and chamomile.
http://www.essentialoilexchange.com/blog/essential-oils-for-headaches/You can also try herbal teas such as chamomile, ginger, green tea. http://www.boldsky.com/health/nutrition/2012/herbal-tea-types-cure-headache-160112.html
Other home remedies : http://www.rd.com/slideshows/home-remedies-for-headaches/#slideshow=slide1
I more or less eat a high carb low fat vegan diet, somewhat in line with the raw till 4 principles and keep gluten to a minimum. I start my day with a huge fruit smoothie (for example this morning my smoothie had fresh orange juice, bananas, acai pulp, half a pineapple and raspberries). I don’t count calories and eat as much fruit and salad as I like during the day. At night I eat potatoes or rice and lentils or stirfry, vegan sushi, whatever I want really. I rarely eat processed food
(like vegan cheese and meats) and stay way from too much oils and nuts. I’m not gluten free and
make homemade breads or pizzas once a week. If you are interested in recipes you can have a look on my pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/veganvibes/recipes/) page for some food inspiration or the a nice vegan community recipe page I like https://www.pinterest.com/heidrunkarin/vegan-community/
Another resource for articles and such http://www.vegsource.com/Like ipole2 said, Dr. McDougall is great as well as Dr Colin Campbell.
For when you have to eat but really cant be bothered try this list of’3 ingredients or less’recipe
list http://www.care2.com/greenliving/16-vegan-recipes-with-3-ingredients-or-less.html
Hope this helps -
If fast food is your concern….meal prep is going to be your best friend. Hummus is my go to when I need to eat but can be bothered…I ALWAYS have a huge thing of hummus in the fridge. And quinoa…there’s tons of quinoa recipes online and endless ways to make it. it’s very calorie dense and VERY nutrient dense and lots of protein. Quinoa is seruously vegan/vegetarian lifesaver as far as nutrition goes. And this isn’t vegan….but it’s been a great jumping off point for eating well http://www.organizeyourselfskinny.com/oamc-make-ahead-and-freezer-cooking-resources-articles/
Keep in mind that not eating animal products is not what makes you healthy, eating healthy foods is. Try searching raw food recipes, the usually come up vegan by default. You’re headache may not be from “detoxing” and actually just from the fact you haven’t been eating much more than Cheerios. Fasting headaches are a very real thing, you very well could have low blood sugar (eat!) or are dehydrated. My suggestion is to shift the focus from not eating animal products to trying to see how many healthy things you can eat throughout the day, then you eat more and aren’t coming from a place of lack and it can be more engaging. like trying to solve a puzzle vs feeling like you’re trying to restrict yourself so hard. If you focus on what’s “bad” to eat, your still focusing in it and it
turns into psychological hell. And I’ve known plenty of vegans and vegetarians that eat like shit and are super unhealthy and end up developing digestive tract issues later on.As mentioned above, a blender is so crucial. Vitamix’s are amazing and all, but i use a nutribullet and it works great. $90 and there’s so much you can do with it. It’s a lifesaver
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Lucca Valentine.. Thanks 🙂 However, I should be a queen at food prep bur it only works 3 days at a time for me. Sounds crazy but I could be good at it one week then all of a sudden I suck at it. I want a roller bag because I have so many books and food to carry. My biggest problem is what do I do when I can’t food prep? That’s when I rely on Fast Food places to have the vegan meals. I use my shakes mainly for breakfast tho. I really appreciate you. 🙂 I’m looking at the sites
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While some people seem to do very well on high carb, low fat, vegan diets, it is worth noting that these diets often fail to provide what nutrition professionals generally consider to be sufficient amounts of protein. People’s protein requirements likely vary, which would explain, in part, why some people do well on such diets and others do not. If you are new to veganism, it is probably wise to begin with a diet that provides what nutritional professionals consider to be adequate levels of all macro-nutrients before trying more restrictive diets. For more information on vegan diets and nutrition I recommend the writings of Ginny Messina (http://www.theveganrd.com/). Her books and website provide easily understood information based on current nutritional science. You might also check out the writings of, Jack Norris (http://jacknorrisrd.com/), another vegan and registered dietician.
If you’re vegan, or trying to eat more vegan meals, fast food is not your friend. Freebird’s, Chipotle, and Subway are about your only option. Oh, and the bean burritos at Taco Bell are vegan if you get them without cheese. If you don’t have time for food prep things like canned beans are a life-saver. Sometimes I literally eat them out of the can, along with carrots, sugar snap peas, and whatever other veggies are handy. Is it the best meal? No, but it’s better than a lot of alternatives. You can also use frozen veggies, they keep for a long time, and you don’t have to cut them–plus they’re cheap.
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​Hi again
I made my post before I saw yours saying ” I finally ate today besides a cup of dry cheerios this morning.” So yeah in that case I completely agree with Lucca! If you are putting processed crap in your body you are going to feel like crap. And like catmoves2718 said, different people trive on different diets. Ive been a vegan for about 8 year​s ​and in that time​ have eaten : high processed vegan, high protein vegan, raw vegan and now somewhat high carb low fat (albeit it not a low protein) diet. That works for me, makes me feel energised and happy.Veganism isnt a destination, its a journey and you need to find what works for you. Listen to your body and intuition. ALL the sites mentioned in this thread by ​everyone are amazing resources, take the time and do your own research. As for vegan support…its clear that you have a ton of it here :)​ For a vegan ‘on the go’ option try making your own vegan protein bars. Here’sa recipe from Jason Wrobel http://youtu.be/1Oukli-aKns -
As Lucca Valentine and others have said above, if your goal in going vegan is improved health, you may be better off focusing on healthy eating instead of abstaining entirely from animal products. Focusing on healthy eating will likely mean increasing your consumption of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and legumes (beans), all of which are vegan. At the same time you may want to reduce your consumption of meat, dairy (especially cheese), processed food, fried food, etc..
Focusing on adding healthy food, rather than taking away large classes of foods may help you make sustainable change in your diet. Over time, the healthy foods you add will displace the unhealthy food–you just won’t want junk anymore, or you’ll want less of it, less often. You can also think of it as a food swap. Each week (or every few weeks) you can add a healthy food to your diet, and remove an unhealthy food. Either way, slower change will give you time to learn what foods work for your taste/schedule/budget without being stressful or making you feel like you don’t know what to eat.
Another option is plans like Mark Bittman’s “vegan before 6” program, where you eat only plant based foods before dinner, but can have more-or-less whatever you want for dinner. (I really wish he would have called it plant based before 6, but whatever.)
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🙂 That’s an odd name for the program. Thanks ♡
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If you think of veganism as a set of dietary restrictions and nothing more, then “vegan before 6” is a reasonable name. However, veganism has its roots in an ethical/philosophical perspective that rejects treating animals as commodities. From that perspective, I think “vegan before 6” makes about as much sense as “pacifist before 6.” That said, anything that reduces consumption of animal products ultimately reduces animal suffering, so I won’t quibble too much.
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Keep pushing. At first veganism seems daunting but can be really fun after you get the hang of it and everything is so delicious. I have been vegan 4 years and only recently found a good balance.
Everyday for breakfast I have a 5-8 organic banana smoothie with handful of organic frozen fruit, a cup or so of orange juice and the rest water. (I buy a whole box of bananas at the supermarket for a discounted price at the beginning of each month). Just mix in a blender, no fancy machine needed. Lunch usually do potato fries or ready made soups. Dinner – too much to name but usually either potatoes with something, rice with tofu or beans, vegan sushi, Indonesian roti. I will say I’m lucky that my boyfriend does all the dinner cooking and he is amazing at it and also vegan.
As for the headaches I too used to get them. Possibilities are:
– Not enough food – Eat HEALTHY but till full
– Not enough fructose. Our bodies crave it that’s why people crave sweets so much.
– Eating non organic food – as it has pesticides/GMO’s/additives.
** I would NOT recommend having non organic fruits as this caused many headaches for me when I first started making large fruit smoothies **
– Detoxing from the animal products/processed foods.As a side note: The veggie burger at BK is NOT vegan as they use eggs to hold it together, that also goes for a lot of Morning Star foods. You don’t want to put any fast food in your system. I was guilty of this before!
Hope you don’t get discouraged as the animal industry is not kind. Good on you for becoming vegan!
And my 2 cents: this was mentioned above as well but a diet that is “vegan until 6” makes no sense to me. Vegan is a lifestyle and you can’t be vegan if you eat animal products after 6. They should never have called it that. It’s really sad for vegans to see these terms. I’ve also seen “part-time vegan” – I hope people can see how horrible the animal industry is and not mock the term vegan.
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Also check out Freelee the banana girl on YouTube. She has lots of older videos that focus on what to eat. Search her channel for older videos as her newer ones are a bit different.
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