First day without meat. (Go me!) Am I doing it right?

Hey Jessum,
I think I saw you say you are from Newcastle?? I grew up down there & still visit every couple of months.

I'd definitely recommend the Veg curries from Raj's (I prefer Beaumont St to Darby St though!). They have a fantastic selection for us vego's, my fav are the eggplant & potato, dahl, and veg korma. I make at least one trip to Raj's every time I go to Newcastle!!

I also recommend trying other 'ethnic' places, you'll find lots of yummy food in Thai, Vietnamese places etc.

Of course people are going to start telling you to look out for things like fish sauce/shrimp paste, but i'd suggest to take it easy, there's no point in taking one huge step & finding yourself overwhelmed with it all!

The last time I was down there I went to Zinc on Darby St for breakky, they had the biggest selection of Vego food i'd ever seen on a menu!! It was awesome!

I hope this helps  

Try baby spinach as well, tastes pretty much just like lettuce you can just chuck it in salad and it's soooo good for you.

I'm not a fan of spinach unless it's mixed w things, but I love those baby spinach leaves! I always buy them and use them for salads and sandwiches.

I was the biggest cheese eater when I was vegetarian. It was harder than giving up chocolate! But as Roy said, your taste buds change and believe me I don't miss it at all! I tried substituting with soy cheese but it just isn't the same! I rarely buy soy cheese thesedays... I only use it for nachos or home made pizzas. But I do like Parmazano (instead of Parmasen).

Because you're transiting,  don't feel that you have to eliminate or cut down on soy cheese completely. It's better than dairy cheese anyway! But after awhile you'll realise that you won't need to use it as often as a replacement at all

Oh, I only had vitamin water because I like it =)

Yeah thanks guys.
I've been finding it pretty easy. I was away on the weekend with a group of people so I stuck to lots of salads and beans.
It is a little hard though. I was eating a dip and didn't think anything of it, until I checked the ingredients and it had animal fat. It was like a normal dip. Oh, and we were looking for lollies for one of the nights and they all had geleten in there. They both weren't big deals, it's just made me realise how much stuff actually have animal parts in them.
Tried tofu sausages... yeah, I think I'll pass =P

Sounds like you're doing really well  I'd just try and make sure you eat a wide range of foods to get everything you need from your diet - beans, lentils, wholegrains, nuts, seeds and of course lots of different fruit and veggies.  

I don't know what sausages you tried, but some are certainly nicer than others!  My favourites are the vegie delights rosemary, sage and parsley ones (in a white packet in the fridge at coles), vegie delights hot dogs (also at Coles and maybe Woolies) and Fry's sausages (in the freezer at Woolies - if they're still stocking them).

Don't beat yourself up for making mistakes, I've made heaps - in fact only the other day I bought a bread that I was sure I'd bought before and was vegan and it turned out it had whey in it...

Yeah, I only like Sanitarium BBQ soy snags. I don't like the ones with herbs. They're all different, so def try them all!

As Jojo said, everyone makes mistakes. Don't beat yourself up, just remember which products are ok next time. It takes alot of label reading initially, but you'll get there. Keep up the good work!

They're the only sausages I could stomach aswell!!! I used to make a vege gravy for the top of them and eat them with a pumpkin and spinach mash... NOM!

I can't remember which brand they were, but I used to get these 6 pack of small sausages.. from coles/woolies, I think it's called 'eat well' or something...Their chickpea spinach sausages ruled!

You will get to learn what flavours you like, it's trial and error. 4 years in and I'm still discovering foods I love and hate.

Hiya MISSMONSTER,
Sorry, I couldn't let this one go. Do you mean you aren't taking B12? You either need to take a B12 supplement, or have some foods fortified with B12.
Although you may not be sick now, the body stores B12 in the bile, and if you aren't having any you may be still using up your body's final reserves. Sickness will come eventually if you aren't taking B12.