Betty313 Asks:

The best advice I can give you is to take your time and don't beat yourself up if you make a mistake- Just by removing the majority of dairy from your diet you are already making an impact

There are many great products that make it easy to replace dairy and eggs

Soy Milk

I use many of these products for everything from baking, breakfast and cereal, to mini-milk juice boxes that are shelf stable out of the refrigerator- The shelf stable mini-boxes are great for trips!White Wave SilkEdensoy Westsoy Rice Dream

Vegan Ice Cream

This is actually the part that scares many vegetarians away from making the switch- How can one survive without Ice Cream! Fortunately there are tons of great flavors of soy based ice creams to help you get your fix- You may also want to look into Sorbet - many (but not all!) are dairy free and make a nice refreshing summer treatTofutti Soy Delicious

Vegan Cheese

Speaking of Pizza, many Pizzerias can make a vegan Pizza by just omitting the cheese and piling on every veggie imaginable- Makes an easy dinnerTofutti Vegan GourmetGalaxy Rice Cheese - They even have a Soy Parmesan!

Vegan Butter

Vegan Yogurt

Vegan Egg Replacers

For cooking eggs, tofu makes a great replacement for scrambled- There are even some great pre-made mixes for flavoring like Soy Scrambler or Amy's Tofu Scramble which you can just heat upIt seems like a big list, but just take little steps at a time- Save this post to your favorites to check back on-View some of the recipes on the site, get involved with some other local vegans and have some pot lucks- Experiment converting some of your favorite vegetarian recipes Above all have fun and enjoy yourself!

Questions?

Additional Resources:Accidentally Vegan - many things you eat may already be veganWhat the Hell does a Vegan Eat Anyway?Vegan LunchboxVeganfood's Users Favorite RecipesVegan Feast KitchenSquirrels Vegan Kitchen ********************2 of my favoritesHow Mary and Frank and Friends EatCompassionate CooksMore Vegan ProductsVegan CookbooksVegan ChocolatesGalaxy CheeseVegan Gourmet CheeseFollow Your Heart Turtle Island ProductsMay Wah Healthy Vegetarian Food Inc. The Vegan StoreGreat Animal Rights SitesAbolitionist Animal RightsAbolitionist On-lineOn Human-Nonhuman RelationsAnimal Rights MaltaTRIBES OF HEARTSatyaAnimal Rights - The Abolitionist ApproachPeaceful Prairie SanctuaryAnimal EqualityDr. Steven BestADAPTT

Spiritual Biblical Vegetarianism ~ The Nazarene Way ~Buddhist Resources on Vegetarianism

Thanks for this entry.  Although I do use alot of the items listed above, I still find myself sometimes giving into the temptation of buying cookies or ordering pancakes if I'm out at a traditional restaurant that I know probably have milk and/or eggs in it.  I want VERY much to go vegan all the way without any mess-ups, but I know it may happen on occasion.  Still I feel guilty when I do, though; this is something I'll just have to keep working on, I guess.

As far as clothing though, that's not a problem; it's very easy to find clothes that don't contain any wool or silk, or any other animal hair.

But at any rate, switching from vegetarian to vegan is a process for many people--I'm most of the way there, and as for the "weaknesses" I still have from time to time, I'll get to where I want to be eventually!