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I'm vegetarian, and have been for years now; I've never made the leap to vegan, but it's something that I'll likely work towards! If you're wanting to ease in, cutting out just meat (before all animal products) might be a good way to do it.

Honestly, the thing I found most challenging was friends and family questioning my choice (not in a mean or condescending way, just the constant questions). It's a pain sometimes when I get invited to eat at someone's house because I often have to ask if there is something on the menu that I can eat. I always volunteer to bring a vegetarian dish of some sort!

I also try to get bloodwork done annually to make sure I'm OK on iron, b12, etc. I'm already anemic so that can be tricky.

Let me know if there is anything specific you have questions about, even though I'm not quite vegan! Haha

I was vegan years ago. I think it can definitely work for some people, but not everyone's body absorbs non-animal sources of certain vitamins. For me personally, I ended up more pale than I already am, weak, with sunken eyes, my front teeth thinned and had to be repaired, and I got to the point where I was so exhausted I had to take a PM nap every day-- before kids. I had a doctor (very supportive naturopath) monitoring me and checking my levels of everything, I was making sure to take all of my supplements and eat real foods and balanced meals, and while nothing as far as my blood tests came back off, she finally gently urged me to consider accepting some animal protein back into my diet. Once I did, those symptoms left. It's not as restrictive as you'd think, and it's fun to think outside of the box when coming up with veg meals, just pay close attention to your body and what it needs, if you decide to go for it.

Are you vegetarian right now?

We are not vegan, or even vegetarian, but LO is allergic to dairy and we don't eat tons of meat. For a long time he wouldn't eat eggs either, so we are a lot of vegan meals by default!

With our history of food problems and allergies, I would never voluntarily restrict out diets. But I think focusing on adding more plant based foods in your diet is a great idea!

Oh She Glows has great recipes. I not a big fan of some of the other vegan bloggers,
Like chocolate covered Katie. I got kinda sick of everything tasting like coconut oil and decided to just start using earth balance in my baked goods instead!

I am! And I live in Switzerland, the land of dairy! If I can do it here, I think it can be done anywhere! We order a lot of stuff from Iherb.com. If you have any questions let me know! The only thing I've ever had a problem with is low iron, and I eat a lot of iron rich foods! Some people's bodies just don't hold onto it as well.

Even at the stores that are available to you, you should be able to find foods to make your transition more smooth. I recommend reading some books that will outline how to make it easier. Skinny Bitch, The Kind Diet, and Forks over Knives, to name a few. Skinny Bitch can be a bit extreme, as it tries to tell you to give up coffee as well! And The recipes in the Kind Diet can be sort of "meh" because it focuses a lot on macrobiotics, but the book part is good. And there is a documentary you can watch on Netflix I think for Forks over Knives as well.

Good luck on whatever you decide!

I have been a vegetarian my whole life. I am now pregnant and being a bit more careful than usual to focus on my protein levels. My husband isn't a vegetarian though, but we have never had a problem with it as I cook meat for him or others upon occasion. I had a vegan diet for a year, but I didn't enjoy it and I didn't do a very good job at eating healthily (that was probably about 10 years ago). One of my younger sisters decided to go vegan about 5 years ago for strong animal treatment concerns and she will never go back.

I think there will be a learning curve, especially if you aren't already a vegetarian. I agree with Synchronicity that a lot of people will just question your decision. That is something you get used to though. I am extremely proud to be a vegetarian and I don't feel limited at all. I didn't enjoy being vegan because I adore cheese and I did feel limited.

Even though you don't have a great variety of stores I think you will be fine at Wal-Mart and IGA, I don't know what is at Kroger. Do you have bulkbarn? (Wait, I googled, it appears the U.S. does not...which sucks!).

Good foods to check out: tvp (texturized vegetable protein) which you can add to basically anything and it soaks up the flavour. It comes in different shapes and sizes and can be used wherever you would use a ground meat. Yves and Tofurkey are two veggie brands that make a lot of tasty vegan stuff. Hemp hearts and chia seeds are easy to add to a variety of foods and boost protein. Avocados are everywhere and can go on toast, smoothies, etc. Nutritional yeast (Bob's Red Mill is a grocery store brand here) is something my sister relies on for making fake cheese sauces and I actually think it is quite tasty sprinkled on pasta (it has protein and many brands add B12 to it). I am sure those stores will have different kinds of nut butters too. Beans and lentils are cheap and very versatile-soups, stir fries, salads, bean paste spreads (kind of like pates), bean burgers, lentil curries. You can sprout lentils for salads. I also believe that people should take a daily multivitamin (or at least every few days), no matter what diet they follow and these are not expensive; I just buy a generic brand.

I would also suggest grabbing some recipe books and just browsing your stores to see what's on offer in terms of vegan. You also need to decide how hardcore you want to go. My sister is extremely hardcore vegan, no leather, no honey, no chemical additives to food that used to be from an animal at all...like modified milk that has been converted into a chemical. When you do that it definitely makes it harder, but you just have to get good at reading ingredients. She has an app that can tell her which ingredients pass the vegan test.

That was a bit long...but over the past few months I have gotten more excited about being a vegetarian. I think because of the baby-even though we will probably raise on a mixed diet. I am all for people being vegetarians and vegans. Be smart about it and enjoy!

Nope, but I'm sure once you get the hang of it and what it entails, you'll make it work! I know Kroger is really good about carrying a variety of foods! Do you have a Sprouts? I like them!