My name is Sarah Gill and I love great food! I make delicious, authentic meals that are completely animal free! I have a book called A Beginners' Vegan Guide - Restaurants, Recipes and Resources. I also provide in-house consultations for anyone who wants a change of lifestyle, developing allergies, or just wants to experience a fantastic vegetarian meal that is prepared for you. I will make vegan, vegetarian, or wheat-free living fun and entertaining! Please enjoy this website and join our mailing list under the 'Contact' link.

I was recently an exhibitor at the DC Green Festival where I met hundreds of wonderful people, but noticed a pattern of the same concerns or things holding them back from becoming vegan. So just incase other people had the same concerns, here is a list of the most talked about issues:

How the heck are you supposed to get your Omegas 3 and 6 fatty acids as a Vegan?
First off, what are Omega 3 and Omega 6 you ask? Well, they are essential fatty acids that are important in the normal functioning of all tissues of the body. Omega 6 fats are easy to get, found in leafy vegetables, seeds, nuts, grains and vegetable oils (corn, safflower, soybean, cottonseed, sesame, and sunflower). More rare forms of Omega 6 can be found in black currant oil, evening primrose and hemp oils. Omega 3 fats don't come in as many forms as Omega 6 but are found in ground flaxseed (flax meal), walnuts, soybeans and mungo beans (sold in Indian grocery stores, found under the name "urid".) And oils such as canola, soybean, walnut and wheat germ. For more info, check out this link: http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/essential_fatty_acids.html

So there, now you can be a vegan and get your Omegas too!


But I love cheese, so I can't be vegan!
First off, if you love cheese products such as cheetos, or cheese pizza, there is no excuse, there are vegan versions that taste even better than the "original" products. For example "Tings" by Robert's American Gourmet are better than Cheetos ever were...and cheese pizza, well, yes it does require you to make your pizza at home, (which is better for you anyway) but Rice cheese from Galaxy Nutritional Foods makes a great cheese that melts perfectly, or if you live in a city there are restaurants like Zpizza where they offer a soy cheese pizzas topped with all your favorite veggies.
As for cheesy dips and pastas, buy my book! I love cheesy things, but there doesn't need to be an animal involved.
The one issue you have me on is "I love to sit down and eat blocks of cheese"...well, there is nothing to substitute for that YET...I've tried several different blocks of cheese and I haven't found one that's REALLY tasty but I'm sure it's coming. So all I can say for the cheese lovers, are THINK about where that cheese is coming from and how they get it out of those cows....then decide if you really want a block of cheese or not. I would give you a link to a site that shows what they do to cows to get the "cheese" out of them, but I don't like violence and I'm not going to sponsor it on my site so instead here's a nutritional link about dairy http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/dairy.html.

Soy and the debate: is it good for you?
This is a multi level answer. YES soy is good for you, it offers several positive things, click here to see them all listed. HOWEVER, some soy products are so highly processed that it stops being good for you. So going from straight up carnivore to vegan, I recommend eating all the same "types" of food but the vegan version (cream cheese, burgers, sour cream) but as you get further along on the vegan path (which could take years) your system will just desire more pure foods, rice, beans, fresh veggies, instead of the processed versions. But going from meat to soy, soy is definitely better!