I was trying to go from lacto-ovo vegetarian to superhero and it is just too hard because I haven't been grocery shopping for the items in Alicia's recipes yet, and I am quickly running out of stuff to eat. I decided that for tonight, I am going to take a break and just do vegan for dinner.
I have been vegetarian for a year and a half. I have been vegan 3 days now. I feel cranky, but very calm and warm and unstressed. I have lost 1 1/2 inches and  7 pounds already. I feel better physically. I feel less hungry, even though I have been eating much less. Weird. I actually get full really fast. I have more color in my eyes, cheeks, and skin. My intestines feel less dense and heavy. They feel light and fluffy. Cool beans!

Hi lisa,
    I recently stopped eating meat to start my process to becoming vegan, but I'm still eating dairy. I was wondering if you felt really tired when you stopped eating meat? I feel like I have no energy and I'm constantly craving sweets. Have you noticed a big difference in cutting dairy out of your diet?

The sweet craving is because you are so tired and want to keep going.  Of course giving in will only fix this for a few minutes and then it will be worse.  I have found that, being vegan (7 weeks now) however my body feels is authentic and I need to honor it, if possible.  For instance, if I am very low-energy, I lie down and close my eyes, if only for 5 minutes.  Then I get up and drink a big glass of water and am surprisingly energized.  That being said, dairy is the most tired-making of foods for me.  It created a heaviness and a slowness in my movements.  You should get some relief if you give this up.  Also, a lot of folks need a good B Complex when they give up meat -- particularly B12 helps with brain function and central nervous system (my Dr. prescribes Multigenics Glycogenics).  You can read more about B vitamins in The Kind Diet.  Good luck.

Hi Lisa,

I'm in the same position as you at the moment. I have decided that I want to become vegan but haven't done the shopping for it and I am trying to scrape together snacks and things to get me through. Meals are generally ok because like yourself I have been vegetarian for about 10 months. I did not miss meat when I became vegan and I hope that I will be the same with dairy and eggs but it is really hard I have a feeling that it's more of a convenience thing though. I will  have to get some shopping in soon :)

I commend you for trying the superhero diet, I'll keep at the vegan and see how I get on.

Best of luck with it anyway.

When I first changed my diet, I felt kind of lightheaded and lethargic for a little while. It goes away once your body gets used to running on a cleaner fuel. In the meantime, what helped me was making the most filling meal I could prepare, usually something like rice and beans. Hope this helps! It gets a lot easier the longer you go! :)

I salute you all, my fellow Kind lifers, for your concern for other sentient beings!   Today I am celebrating exactly seven years as a committed vegan, but it's only recently that I've begun to take health into account into my food planning, such as it is;-)   Part of my inspiration to do so has been a wonderful website I'd like to share with you (and everyone on the planet;-) called  http://www.therealfoodchannel.com/.  On this marvelous website are several excellent videos by doctors who have actually studied nutrition and scientists who have done the research and they all make a wonderful case for the natural plant-based diet.  The very first video I saw on this site was Dr. John McDougal's wonderful talk "The Shocking Truth about Dairy" at http://www.therealfoodchannel.com/videos/the_shocking_truth_about_dairy.html.    More recently I was blown away by the video called Nutrient density is the key to Good Health.  Again, thank you all for all you do toward creating a kinder, more caring, more loving world.  <3

Sarah -- Yes, following a balanced vegan diet takes some planning, but not necessarily at every meal. My suggestion would be to avoid the cheese and egg substitutes for a while. They won't be satisfying if you are newly off dairy. I only began enjoying them about 3 months clean. Instead, have some different "go-to" foods. When I was newly off dairy and didn't have time to cook or plan a real meal, I would reach for some eziekiel bread toasted with hummus or almond butter. That with a plain dark green salad would have most of your nutrition bases covered. The "mouth feel" of the creamy hummus or almond butter is very satisfying and filling, and you are getting all your protein and can forget about cheese for a while while you detox.  Good luck -- dropping dairy has been my most dramatic beneficial health change! -- http://midlifevegan.blogspot.com

I've been a vegetarian for just over 5 months now and I'm going to start slowly taking sairy of of my diet.  After a little while I felt so good to not be eating meat anymore.  I definitely feel more peaceful and I love it!  I'm hoping that cutting dairy will help with that as well.

hi, i think the most important thing is to go at your own pace, my daughter rachel 22, introduced me to the kinddiet in march & i took on her 7 day vegan challenge & found it ever so easy, that was april 1st for 1wk. since then, ive mostly consumed vegan type meals, and vegertarian type meals, excluding eggs, cheese & milk, i found with having had a small serving of egg/cheese after a few wks, that id didnt agree with me, so off the list they went :) in the past 6wks, since my new diet, ive only consumed a few prawns/shrimp, during wk 5, when i had lunch at a sailing club, with my youngest daughter grace. i will never go back to red meat or other types of meat, after having read Alicia's book, but i dont have issues with the odd small amount of seafood, perhaps once a month, eating out on a special occassion. do i want to be a vegan or superhero, im not sure, but ill know when the time is right, just like i found myself doing what im doing now, after 46yrs of eating anything & everything. i would describe my current diet, as strict vegetarian & that suits me just fine. i dont want to be perfect & i dont want to live in a perfect world, near enough is good enough :)

my point is this, just feel it, go with your instincts & find a balance between other peoples experiences, words of wisdom & what your inner self guides u to. any kind of eating improvement, is a positive step in the right direction, so if it takes one person longer to reach being a vegan, or superhero, than the average person, then im saying, thats ok :) because we are individuals & none of us would be here, if we really didnt care about making changes or making a diffrence :)

hugs

john, sydney Australia 4.24pm

I think a vegan diet is most easily adopted when one has plenty to eat.  Eating enough I think is key to not feeling sluggish.  If one feels sluggish, I imagine one is less likely to stick with it.  Just my thoughts.

I am on week 2 of going vegan, cold turkey! (hope it's ok to say turkey) I too have felt a little sluggish but mostly feel great.  I suffer from chronic headaches and after seeing a number of doctors and "specialists" who can't figure it out, I'm taking matters into my own hands and hoping what I put in my body is what is triggering the headaches.  I live in Idaho, so needless to say, we don't have a lot of health food stores here. Most people here thrive on meat, dairy and of course potatoes (which I can have thankfully!).  My parents think I'm crazy, but I'm still determined.  I agree with John, go at your own pace and do what you can with what you have.  Alicia says in the book "if you slip off of the wagon, just get back on it" and although I haven't slipped yet, the holidays are coming and that could be my biggest test!

Cheers vegans!

Mandy Jo

That is so great you all going from vegetarian to vegan, I am going on a year going vegan, and I know how all of you feel from going from dairy to vegan cold turkey, I felt sluggish, headaches, kinda like I had the flu, I think that is part of the detox.  I am like mandy in which there are not alot of health stores around here I do enjoy alicias book but I also like Everyday Happy Herbivore because I am still eating vegan yet I can find all the ingredients in most grocery stores. So I save alot of money not having to pay shipping from amazon.  Everyone keep up the great work and you will feel awesome once all the cravings and detox symptoms go away I promise!! Happy holidays to everyone!!!

Thanks for the tip! I'll have to check out that book b/c as much as I love Alicia's book, we don't have access to a lot of the ingredients here and if we do, we pay an arm and a leg for them! And yes, today is a bad headache day, but I'm hoping that it's just part of the process!  Happy Holidays all!

hi! I´m on the transition from vegetarian to vegan at the moment- hoping to come clean with the new year and am naturally intrigued with your experiences.. and, as I didn´t miss meat when I became vegetarian (as far as I can remember!;-),  I´m surprised that there is a cold turkey to expect when cutting out dairy! how long did you suffer from those detox symptoms? just to prepare myself;-) I´m sure the change pays off eventually!

I have only been off of dairy for about a week now and today is the first day I've had a horrible headache. Hard to say though b/c I get headaches a lot.  This one does feel different than normal however so we will see.  Keep in mind that I was eating about a gallon of ice cream a week! (not even kidding)