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vegan
Please also check out vegantheoryclub.org for a great set of well-run communities for vegan news, cooking, gardening, and art. It is not federated with LW, but it is a nice, cozy, all-in-one space for vegans.
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Welcome
Welcome to c/vegan@lemmy.world. Broadly, this community is a place to discuss veganism. Discussion on intersectional topics related to the animal rights movement are also encouraged.
What is Veganism?
'Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals ...'
— abridged definition from The Vegan Society
Rules
The rules are subject to change, especially upon community feedback.
- Discrimination is not tolerated. This includes speciesism.
- Topics not relating to veganism are subject to removal.
- Posts are to be as accessible as practicable:
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- paywalled articles must have an accessible non-paywalled link;
- use the original source whenever possible for a news article.
- Content warnings are required for triggering content.
- Bad-faith carnist rhetoric & anti-veganism are not allowed, as this is not a space to debate the merits of veganism. Anyone is welcome here, however, and so good-faith efforts to ask questions about veganism may be given their own weekly stickied post in the future.
- before jumping into the community, we encourage you to read examples of common fallacies here.
- if you're asking questions about veganism, be mindful that the person on the other end is trying to be helpful by answering you and treat them with at least as much respect as they give you.
- Posts and comments whose contents – text, images, etc. – are largely created by a generative AI model are subject to removal. We want you to be a part of the vegan community, not a multi-head attention layer running on a server farm.
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- All Lemmy.World Terms of Service also apply.
Resources on Veganism
A compilation of many vegan resources/sites in a Google spreadsheet:
Here are some documentaries that are recommended to watch if planning to or have recently become vegan:
- You Will Never Look at Your Life in the Same Way Again
- Dominion (2018) (CW: gore, animal abuse)
Vegan Fediverse
Lemmy:
Mastodon:
Other Vegan Communities
General Vegan Comms
Circlejerk Comms
Vegan Food / Cooking
!homecooks@vegantheoryclub.org
Attribution
- Banner image credit: Jean Weber of INRA on Wikimedia Commons
Prenote
Congrats on trying out veganism!
First off, based on your message, I think you might have a couple misunderstandings about veganism. Understand that veganism isn't a diet nor is it inherently healthy. You can be vegan and eat processed food and imitation products all day long. Veganism is primarily an ethical stance - choosing not to partake in the industrial scale abuse and torture of our animal friends.
I hate to say something that goes against my own beliefs, but I don't think it really makes sense to go fully vegan just for health reasons. Yes, virtually all nutritionists would say that people need to cut down and significantly reduce the amount of meat and animal products people eat, but for purely health reasons there aren't many reasons to go down to absolutely 0. Plus, although there are plenty of benefits to outweigh the negatives, it is important to recognize that vegans can have a slightly harder time getting some nutrients, like vitamin D, iron, zinc, omega 3 fatty acids (most people struggle with these nutrients anyway, it's just that vegans struggle a little more). And uniquely, there is virtually no vegan source of B12, so you need to take a supplement, or eat fortified foods.
I'm saying this because people who go vegan only for health reasons almost always quit eventually. Do it for the animals, but also enjoy the health benefits that come along naturally.
Don't make these mistakes
Going vegan, especially suddenly, can take a toll on your body, just as making any sudden dietary change can.
Onto your actual question
The main breakfasts I eat are:
This is actually a great breakfast. I understand your concern about it being calorie dense, but recognize that this is very satiating, and will keep you full and energized for a long time.
Also, don't be afraid to eat some vegan imitation products. I promise they're not nearly as bad as people demonize them to be, just don't eat them all the time. I love impossible brand breakfast sausage, bratwurst, burgers, and chicken nuggets. In modern day, you can be vegan and still indulge in some tasty foods occasionally.
To add onto your already excellent answer, another reason that going vegan for purely health reasons doesn't make sense is that, as you said, veganism isn't a diet. Or more specifically, the ethical stance that is veganism includes more considerations than just food. Someone that eats plant based foods only may not care about things like leather or other animal products that they may use on a daily basis that aren't part of their diet. That person wouldn't be vegan, but rather simply eating a plant based diet. I don't mean to be pedantic but that is the distinction between being vegan and eating a plant based diet and there is no reason to be entirely vegan for health reasons alone unless you want to take it to the extreme and say that you don't use animal products like leather because the animal agriculture industry creates pandemics and contributes significantly towards global warming. Despite those being perfectly valid (and important) reasons to be vegan I think that it's a bit of a stretch to call those personal health reasons.
I'd also just like to add that nutritional yeast is a great source of vitamin B12 and is naturally vegan.
Wow! That is a ton of great information. I totally get I could just down a ton of carbs and call it vegan. Luckily, I have an awesome wife who takes care of all my other meals, and she makes vegan dishes probably 3-4 days of the week. Breakfast is really the only thing I have to come up with on my own. I've never been the type that can skip it. My focus at work will be off all morning until I eat. She regularly sleeps later than me, and skips breakfast a lot.
Also, I'm totally onboard with the doing it for the animals and the planet. If it wasn't for our kids we probably would have completely made the switch now. We've been trying to introducing more to them, but we do have some picky eaters.