Goin' Vegan

I'm thinking about going vegan... I used to post on this a lot, but newer readers might not know, I've been a vegetarian for 12 years. My sophomore year in high school I picked up vegetarianism as a hobby (weird hobby I know), and it wasn't until about 5 years ago that my reasons drifted towards the whole animal rights aspect of things, at which point I gave up wearing leather and wool. When my daughter turned one (4 years ago) we quit drinking cows milk as a family (for health reasons) because of the hormones and antibiotics injected into the cows. Three years ago I became a member of PETA and last year I became a member of Greenpeace.

The only thing keeping me from going full fledged vegan has been my love for cheese... I do eat eggs if it's in something like bread or other baked goods, but that's more of a convenience thing that I could very easily live without... But this cheese thing is another story. I just haven't been able to find a good soy cheese, so I just kept eating cows cheese... I put it on everything! My veggie burgers, baked potatoes, even my salad. I literally eat cheese ATLEAST twice a day... Lately I've been eating it more and more, which I just think defeats the whole purpose of me giving up drinking cows milk... So I think I'm going to put my foot down and go full fledged vegan.

And ya know, funny thing is, the only person who's been trying to steer me away from this decision is my one and only full vegan friend... So we shall see how this goes.

For those of you who don't know how this vegetarian thing works... I've made a little list (I like lists). Starting with the most flexible and progressing to the most complicated. (so organized, I know)

FLEXATARIAN: A term recently coined to describe those who eat a mostly vegetarian diet, but occasionally eat meat.

PESCETARIAN: Doesn’t consume meat or poultry. Does consume fish, seafood, eggs and milk.

VEGETARIAN: A broad term used to describe somebody who doesn’t eat meat yet has less dietary restrictions than a vegan.

OVO-LACTO-VEGETARIAN: Doesn’t consume meat, poultry, fish, and seafood. 

                                                  Does consume eggs and milk.

OVO-VEGETARIAN: Doesn’t consume meat, poultry, fish, seafood or milk.

                                    Does consume eggs.

LACTO-VEGETARIAN: Doesn’t consume meat, poultry, fish, seafood or eggs.

                                        Does consume milk.

VEGAN: Doesn’t consume any animal products, by-products or wear clothing made from animal products.
               Strict vegans don’t consume honey and yeast.

RAW FOODISTS: Eats only unprocessed vegan foods that have not been heated above 115 degrees Fahrenheit.

MACROBIOTICS: Does consume unprocessed vegan foods, emphasis on Asian vegetables (daikon and seaweed)

                                Doesn’t consume sugar and refined oils.
                   FRUITARIAN: Eats only fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts that that can be harvested without killing the plant.