New Veg from SoCal
Hi all!! I'm 49 years old and have been feeling crappy for several years. Got diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis a while ago, and this past year I had all kinds of respiratory issues. I met someone who specializes in Ayurvedic medicine, and recommended giving up dairy. I figured why not just go vegetarian and see how I feel? Too many chemicals in our lives, not enough nutrition. So many reasons to change my lifestyle. So here I am.
It's been about a month, and I'm doing well. I've lost 24 lbs and my outlook is a lot better. I'm still concerned about the thyroid issue; I hear that soy is bad for it, and of course, i've been eating all kinds of replacement foods with soy. So I'm going to work on reducing that.
The hardest part is financial! Eating healthy is so much more expensive than eating crap. Not only is veg food intrinsically more expensive, I'm finding I need more of it; fruits and veggies to juice, to focus my meal around, instead of just having a little as a side dish. Filling my pantry with things I've never had before. Learning new ingredients. It's fun, and interesting, and I feel very proud of myself for doing it, and for trying to teach my family to eat healthy, but it's not cheap, and not always easy.
I want to say that this site is awesome! The resources here, the recipes and articles are fabulous. I've posted a few questions, and always gotten answers the same day; really good helpful answers too. I've recommended it to everyone, veg*n and not.
If you're interested in following my journey to a new lifestyle, I have a blog that shares all the trials and joys I'm working on, and I'd love to have you visit.
http://madhyatmika.wordpress.com/
I'm really glad to be part of this community!
welcome! well i'm from so cal so being vegan should be a breeze as we have tons of vegan friendly markets and restaurants... yes for a thyroid problem you need to try to really avoid soy... something about it interfering with your medicine? eat seitan instead... if you have a crock-pot i have a really easy recipe for it by Webmistress Laura on my blog: http://veganluvies.blogspot.com/2010/02/seitan-in-crock-pot.html
being vegan should only be expensive if you buying processed (ready made) food... otherwise it's cheap... just find a market that sells decently priced produce and you're living on the cheap as canned and frozen veggies, grains, pasta, beans, etc are super inexpensive
Hi Amy! Thanks for the welcome. And the recipe! Will try soon.
I guess it's expensive for me because my family is still omni, and I have NOTHING in my pantry for cooking vegan. I don't buy much prepackaged food; I just bought a couple of frozen things for emergencies when I have no time to cook and I'm starving, to keep from falling off the wagon, so to speak. But nuts are expensive, produce is expensive, new ingredients I never heard of are expensive (seitan? I didn't even know what that was til you gave me the recipe!) And my husband is diabetic so we try to keep pasta and grain to a minimum. It's tough; I often have to cook two separate meals. It's worth it, and I'm slowly trying to ease them into trying vegan foods (and they're being pretty good about it!) I know that as my pantry expands it will get cheaper.
I hope you don't mind, but I added your blog to my links; I plan on visiting often!
Of course I don't mind you looking at my blog I hope I can give you some good ideas!
I agree with you that it is expensive in the beginning if you don't have many spices... I had to buy a ton but I spread it over time... I luckily have a market by my house that sells cheap produce (it is not organic or anything though)... Look around for a cheapy market (The one by my house caters to Middle Eastern people)
Yes nuts are expensive, I agree... I don't use them tons though
I do have vegan processed foods that I constantly spend money on but they make me happy: vegan mayo, vegan cream cheese, Tofurkey peppered flavor lunch"meat", almond milk (not that expensive), mock meats and cheeses... So ya I feel you on those
I do a lot of stirfrys... So easy to add in your favorite veggies with you vegan protein of choice... I'm sure you will find more recipes than you know what to do with on vegweb... It saved my butt for sure
hi there,
i find that buying beans in bulk, staying away from canned stuff, and buying whatever fresh produce/fruit on offer helps me to keep costs down.
good luck & welcome!
janel