I have been a vegetarian for 30 years, initially, becasue I thought it was a healthy lifestyle. I ate only fish and poultry for years, then no poultry. Now it’s becoming a philosophical issue. I tried eating no animal products for 9 months, but have found it very difficult to locate vegan substitutes that were low sodium, with necessary nutritional elements such as protein, vitamin D, or calcium. Many vegan products are very expensive, very high in sodium and have no protein, no calcium. So, I was paying a lot of money for what???
I have no problems eating beans, rice, vegetables (I love vegetables–no problem here), tofu, and have used soy milk for many, many years and soy yogurt and soy ice cream (which I also love more than dairy ice cream or yogurt). But I was losing weight, so I went back to eating some seafood and cheese. The hardest thing for me to give up is cheese!!!
One thing I would like to know is–would dairy products from certified “humane” farms be okay?
And I find it really difficult to entertain friends and family, because no one in my life is even vegetarian. And eating in restaurants is also difficult, if not impossible. So, when I have family over, there is nothing in my home that they would want to eat.
How do vegans handle the problem of entertaining their non-vegan guests?