good plan

because all of your food is grown locally? you're really going to try that? half the lamb sold in the UK is literally flown from the otherside of the world (New Zealand) so i seriously doubt other meats/countries are better

Actually, a vegan diet can be maintained indefinitely if its designed properly. It tends to be freakin' expensive though...

its not that expensive, or at least, its no more expensive than any other healthy balanced diet, because its the fruit and veg that cost the money not the lentils and beans, and everyone should be eating the fruit and veg part.... not to mention meat is hardly cheap, definately not cheaper than beans and soya mince!

lol well, I would hardly call what we have at my house a "healthy diet". I take supplements just to get the bare minimum. Of course, I'm supporting a household of 6 by myself so a lot of what we eat is either low-quality or filler, meats only when on sale, and our only actual fresh veggies come from a small garden that doesn't produce enough for the whole year. For US, its expensive, or rather more expensive than our current budget allows. If I were only supporting myself though...but that dream is far-off.

veganism might be expensive, but in the uk at least, vegetarianism is alot cheaper than a meat diet because eggs, milk and dairy are all alot cheaper than meat and its totally possible to be a vegetarian and not actually eat a whole lot of vegetables (in the last week i think my flatmate has eaten two apples, i think she lives on potatoes, canned tomatoes and cheese - not that i'm advising that as a diet, its just if you're taking vitamin suppliments anyway all you need to worry about is protein and like i said, lentils and beans are cheap) not that i eat lentils, they're too much hassle, beans on the other hand come nice nd ready to add to stuff in cans, i have actually forgotten my point... oh yeah, being a vegetarian is pretty cheap and easy, even if being a vegan isn't :)

I was a dietary vegan for a couple years, I lived with a girl who wasnt able to digest meat due to a recent medical situation that left her without several feet of her intestines. I won't lie, that overall I felt awesome, though it seemed like I could never get enough to eat, and I still kept losing weight...I don't think that our particular diet was right for my body, I was missing some things. But I sorta wanna do that again(right this time) for a while, I might look into it again because its been a while since I even thought about it But man...the weight loss. I'm about 200lb, and very little of that is body fat. I don't wanna loose muscle mass like last time.

again, i cant speak from experiance of veganism, but my uk womens size 6/8 flatmate hasn't gotten any smaller since she became a vegetarian just over a year ago now, and my other minature flatmate, a pettite size 6, hasn't gotten any smaller since becoming vege about 7 months ago (which is lucky, because if she had she'd disappear) the first is a big user of meat replacements (but no eggs and very little milk), and the second eats alot of lentils and eggs, sooo many eggs. they would make terrible vegans, due to their love of cheese, but atm they are pretty healthy vegetarians - we would be healthier if we had more money, but we do what we can! personally, i'm a size 12, but as a lifelong vegetarian and lover of chocolate i was never small. a much better dietary example would be my dad who is about 5ft 7 and about 150 pounds, he was always a small guy, so thaats a nice helthy weight for him, most his protein comes from beans i think, as he doesn't eat eggs and only has a splash of milk in his tea, he would also be bigger if he didn't go on epically long hillwalks each night, but he also has extreamly healthy blood pressure and colesterol, so i guess he's been doing something right! he has also been vege for 20 years, and i think when he started he would have fallen into 'if you lose any weight you'll disappear' category, my point is, if its done right, there shouldn't be any weight loss, its only when people dont really think properly about what they're going to need it becomes an issue...

To keep your muscle mass up, you'll need to take in a ton of calories and a ton of protein. Taking in that much protein can be very hard even if you're on a meat diet. If I were you, I'd research different protein powders to see if you can find any that are vegan. My fiancé is a bodybuilder and he takes about 4 protein shakes a day and eats at least 4 meals a day containing meat. You also have to make sure you take in a lot of calories (and not all fat and sugar calories. You have to be healthy too) and both fast and slow digesting carbs. So if you do try it again good luck and I hope you can find a vegan protein powder.

Thx for the brain-storming, I think I'll look into this a little more, with some education this time. It would be good to feel like I did in college :P (I'm only 23, I shouldn't be sayin' that shit)

protein can be found in: soya milk, lentils, beans, beansprouts, wholegrains, seeds, nuts and hummous amoungst other things, and B vitamins in: beansprouts, avocado, wholegrains, nuts, bananas, mushrooms, lentils, marmite, oranges and green leafy veg, if you want B12 there's soya and other non dairy fortefied milks, fortified breakfast cereals, margarines, marmite and vegan 'meat' substitues, your friend i'm afraid, is an idiot.

you can find all vegan requirements locally or in dried form too, my point was no way would the arguement they're causing global warming by importing foods stand. 99% of americans and people in britain regularly eat imported foods.....