Just saw the documentary forks over knives and am thinking of going Vegan. I have been thinking about it for the past month or so but this kind of sealed the deal. I dont want to be one of those crazy vegans who push it on people or hate people for eating meat. I just feel it would be the best thing for me health wise to only eat plant based foods.
I was just wondering if anyone here is vegan and how they keep it up or what vitamins they take. Also how much is your grocery bill? I have already cut out dairy for the past month or so the only thing holding me back is chicken and fish.
I may be the board's resident vegan, so let me know if you have any questions. It's really not as difficult as you'd think. You'll get questions/attacks from the people that Jersey Girl talked about, but you learn to live with it. In some cases, I think it's a defense mechanism on their part. I agree that it is best to stay true to yourself while not pushing your beliefs on other people. The ones who are open to it will discuss it with you and you can have good conversations with them.
I try to take a multivitamin every day - just a general one - but I need to do more research on it. I've read that they can be bad for you - but, then again, you hear that about everything these days. The most popular supplement seems to be B12, but there's debate about whether that is even necessary. I think it depends on how healthy your diet is. That is, you can be vegan and eat french fries and pasta all the time, but that won't keep you healthy.
My grocery bill is actually pretty decent. Sometimes I will buy tempeh strips like Fakin' Bacon and those are sort of expensive, but not too bad. Other than that, though, if you're buying fresh fruits and vegetables and have a good grocery store nearby, you can save a lot of money by cooking your own foods.
Also, did you see that there is a Forks Over Knives cookbook out now? I just got it from the library the other day and the recipes look really good. You can also find lots of good vegan recipes via Google and sites like VegNews.