I am currently a vegetarian and have been for a while but I really feel it is right to be a Vegan. I just don't know where to start!! I live in a townhouse residence so I am able to make my own food but what do I make?? I have read sooo many books but I find all the information overwhelming so I just end up giving up and continuing being a vegetarian because I am comfortable there. Also, I feel as if I won't be supported by anyone after I make this lifestyle change :( Please help!!!

Have you actually read The Kind Diet yet? I think it's really friendly for those getting started, helps with small steps to take if you need that.

I agree with Hazel. If you are overwhelmed with the food options, just take it one recipe at a time. Alicia suggests picking a few of her recipes to make during one week and getting the ingredients for those recipes (if you don't already have them), and then picking a few different recipes the next week and getting the ingredients for them, etc...until your kitchen is well rounded. You could do that with any vegan cookbook for that matter. And honestly, the more you do cook it, the easier and quicker it gets, to the point that you can just throw things together that are appealing to you that day. It may seem overwhelming at first, but do it gradually and it won't be too difficult.

Just try to keep it simple. Right now I am vegetarian but trying to transition to being vegan. I am just playing around with recipes. I have been using a few vegan substitues for dairy products to help me stop using dairy. The kind diet book has so many good recipes also.

I have read it :) I guess it's just that some of the ingrediants I have never even heard of before so I automatically write it off. But I will definitely take myself to Whole Foods and won't leave until I have everything for at least one recipe! Thank you for the advice girls!

If you are going to Whole Foods, you will likely find any and all ingredients she has listed for any recipe. It's one of the best stores to find these "hard to find" foods.

Hey, I'm at University too. We have our own kitchen and next year I'll live alone in an apartment so cooking is easy. The kind diet is such and excellent book and made my life so much easier. I found that going to Asian groecery stores really made my transition fun and easy because I got to try new things and could find the products Alicia writes about. Plus I started to think long term - every time I went grocery shopping I only bought vegan products. This makes cooking less complicated because you can use everything you have and whenever you crave something it's great because it'll always be vegan. Write a list - seriously, whenever I don't I forget what i need and already have and come home with the weirdest groecries!!! Plan - my uncle said  to me once 'fail to prepare, prepare to fail.' Lastly have fun and smile with it - you're doing a great thing.

I'm in university, and have been vegan for nearly two years. I love the Kind Diet but I also have some books with simpler, easier to find ingredients that are much more doable for me with the time I have available and my budget. I definitely recommend getting Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moscowitz, as well as Appetite for Reduction (really, any of Isa's books are fantastic!).