Vegan Help Please!

I recently decided to be a vegetarian (but I'd still eat eggs + diary.) It's for animal rights+ the environment + the health benefits are cool too.

I never liked meat growing and rarely EVER eat it now that I always cook for myself so there wasn't much of a "transition" involved. But after watching the movie "Meet Your Meat" I have to say that I absolutely horrified about eating eggs and dairy again. I've always had the idea back in my head the animals are mistreated but never had the ACTUAL idea till now and I'm sure it's more than what I've seen.

The only problem is my mother insists that I eat eggs and dairy at least once a week. My father who is a huge meat eater is very openminded and does not mind me being a veggie. But my mother whos has a very nice heart, does not understand the concepts for being a vegetarian (due to our Korean culture.) After many years of detesting the taste of meat she's given up on making me eat it but  not so much on the eggs and dairy.

I LOVE soy milk so that's not a problem. And I bought organic yogurt (I think it's called Wallaby) along with horizon organic cottage cheese, galaxy veggie slices. But I know the buns I bought for my veggie burgers/ vegan sloppy joes have milk in them.

Any feedback on this? How do you feel about eating dairy and eggs? Is there a good company to but eggs from that you know doesn't mistreat their animals? Sorry I know that was a lot. Are there an common bread brands that are vegan friendly? I should also add that we do most of our grocery shopping at Wal-Mart which isn't exactly super veggie friendly. I had to go to a seperate store to buy most of the organic stuff.

I doubt you'll find a "national brand" of eggs from well-treated hens. I did a bit of research and found two outfits in British Columbia (which is near here) that sell free-range eggs. The one I've been buying from I'm not terribly happy with because their main business is raising organic chickens for slaughter - though the egg-laying hens aren't involved in that operation. The other operation (a small farm) has hens that are as well-treated as you can find on a chicken farm, but the eggs are sold in a whole foods market that's a little awkward to get to.

I suggest looking up  egg brands you're interested in on the Web. And read behind the lines. If they don't mention something that would benefit the hens it's likely not to exist.

Good luck. I'm in a transition away from eating eggs right now. It fits my spirituality.

PS: I forgot to mention that distribution of non-caged eggs is regional at best, which is why I didn't bother to name the suppliers I know.

I did more research on it and discovered that even most "cage free" eggs come from mistreated animals. I really don't mind giving up eggs, it's not a big deal to me. I've never been an egg fan and I think they smell awful. I do most of my own cooking but I also eat my mother's korean food every day too. Which fortunately, doesn't have a lot of meat, so I can avoid that. I'll just secretly avoid the eggs too.

When conditions for animals range from suboptimal to totally abysmal, it's your decision what things to stay away from. I'm sure not really liking eggs will make them easy to avoid. I personally really like eggs, but I've never eaten many, so it's easy to phase them out of my diet. Good luck!

i suggest the book becoming vegan it outlines all the sources of your nutrients how much are in each bean, plant and fruit and grain and how to stay healthy and meet your requirements without eggs and dairy. i read it with my mom and she felt better after that usually people just need some more information/education. but since i got my own place and am on a tight budget i've added back eggs because i just wasen't getting enough protein and its quick cooking. if you can find them on your local farm i think that's better off most health food stores carry fresh locally grown eggs and milk.

I don't know where you live, but I grew up in a small community and I know first hand that small family farms usually treat their chickens really well.  We buy all our eggs from a nearby dairy farm.  The son of the family raises chickens as a hobby and sells good eggs.

You could probably get eggs like that from the local farmers market.  If farmers don't run HUGE businesses they usually treat their animals really well.  If you went to the farmers market you could even talk to the farmers and find out how they raise their animals and choose a specific vendor to buy your weekly egg supply. 

I'm in the process of becoming a vegan. We still have some left over bread, cheese and biscuits. But once those are gone, pretty much everything we have will be vegan since I started purchasing that stuff and am getting better at reading the ingredients. I also ordered some galaxy vegan cheese slices, Chreese to make cheese sauces and dips, agave nectar ( a vegan honey replacement) and chocoreale since I'm addicted to nutella. I obviously didn't eat nutella all the time since it's not the best for you but if the craving ever hits, I'll now have a vegan version of it. =) Being a vegan is a lot easier than I thought and cheaper too. I've decided to use the meat substitutes sparingly to save cash and to stock up extra on veggies, fruits, frozen veggies +berries, brown rice, lentils, pasta, tortillas, veggie broth, etc. I also ordered a free vegetarian kit and a pocket sized shopping guide. I'm happy to know that most of the stuff we have is already vegan and there really isn't anything that I have to "give up." I don't look at being vegan as restricting myself. I look at it as if I'm treating myself to a better lifestyle and doing something good for fellow living creatures and the world in general!

P.S. I live near Denver. There aren't really any local farms here. =) But it's okay, like I said I was never an egg fan before.

hmm, toughy!

when i was 14, i went vegan for an entire year (have always been vegetarian before and after that), but i know what you  mean about family being involved with what u can eat. it certainly made our summer holiday back then pretty hectic, since there were so few dishes i could eat owing to their egg and milk content!

keep looking though. i wasn't particularly healthy back then anyway, and stuck to bad vegan carbs.

strong willed u must b!

xx