h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

So I decided to try out veganism again after discovering that I have a lactose intolerance. I've been using LactoFree products for a few months but I was still feeling bloated and bunged up (don't worry I won't go into any more detail ), so I decided that I'd try ditching the dairy completely. I also have an egg intolerance so going vegan doesn't fill me with as much trepidation second time around!

Four days in and I'm pleasantly surprised at how good I feel. I'm not as bloated as I was, I'm starting to lose weight, my sinuses are starting to unblock (I had sinusitis a while back and it never truly went away) and I'm not missing cheese as much as I thought I would. This might actually work out!

I started my vegan reboot on Monday after hitting Twitter and randomly asking people about vegan wine and cheese, where I got a fantastic response and lots of great suggestions for alternatives. I even got a tweet back from the actor Paul Higgins, who recommended Majestic Wine Warehouse as a great source of vegan wine

Feeling a lot better about life without cheese, I finished off the last of the LactoFree, bought some soya milk and perfected the art of making coffee with Alpro instead of cow's milk. Tomorrow I'm going to hit the health food shops and stock up on alternatives such as Sheese (vegan cheese made in Rothesay and highly recommended by many) and other dairy style products, egg alternatives for baking and any other goodies I can find.

As my first attempt at veganism was about 15 years ago, it really is so heartening to see the progress made with vegan food this time round. I'm constantly surprised by how many products I'm already eating are vegan anyway, which is definitely making the transition a lot easier.

Vegan?! err... so not even any chicken or fish?!
plenty of beans, black eyed peas, kidney beans, pinto, red split lentals too, I think*... err protein I seem to recall
err... so... vegan is like absolutely* no cheese made from animal milk? nope. I just can't get my head around that at all... but I am a bit of a cheeseoholic

Well as you know I've been vegetarian for years, but my IBS was getting out of control so I went to see a dietician. She was useless, but I sussed out that it was a lactose intolerance.

I've now been vegan for five days and already I've lost weight, the IBS is almost gone and I'm feeling a helluva lot more energetic. The thing that mostly put me off was the wine and cheese thing, but there's loads of vegan wine out there and the lady in Holland & Barrett told me that vegan cheese is a lot nicer than it used to be. I'm planning a big shopping trip to get a few varieties of cheese - they even have mozzarella and parmesan versions - and some other bits and bobs. I've also realised that most of the dishes I cook are vegan anyway or can be adapted easily

I'm now into Week 2 and I'm still plugging away. Being an apprentice vegan seems to be going well, although I've still not managed to have my shopping spree at Real Foods or Holland & Barrett yet. I'm finding rather fast that milk and or/milk derivatives pop up in the most unusual of places, so finding things to snack on over the weekend was an interesting exercise However, I overcame that little obstacle and found some rather nice plain tortillas in the Free From aisle in the supermarket. I've also got a decent stash of corn, which has come in handy for my many happy hours spent watching films and telly recently. Homemade popcorn ftw

I've also discovered Alpro soya desserts. I've only had the chocolate ones so far so I've added some other flavours to the shopping list and look forward to trying them all out. This week I intend to try out vegan cheese; I'm really hoping that it's a lot nicer than it was last time I tried it!

Well done you! Homemade popcorn is rather yummy for us non-vegans as well.

Sorry, but I can't read the phrase "Vegan Reboot" without hearing the words "...in session tonight" in John Peel's voice.

When I form my band that's going to be its name.

Well, I'm a couple of weeks in now and I'm learning lots of new things about veganism. I've learned fast that eating out is a bit of a pain - who knew milk and milk derivatives were in so many things, including crisps?! However, Edinburgh has a decent selection of vegan friendly restaurants and cafes so I'm looking forward to eating out at one in the near future.

I think so many of us have become so used, thesedays, to just buying food when we're out and about, or using and cooking with partly, or wholely pre-prepared ingredients/bits, that we've kinda forgotten just waht should* go into some foods, and have, in other cases, remained utterly and blissfully unawares, of what random ingredients, some foods we buy, have been made using

This week I joined the Vegan Society and also a local vegan group. I've been already invited out for my dinner in June

Today also saw my first casement of vegan wine from Majestic. Contrary to the rumours on Facebook, no I haven't drank it all already I did crack open the Muscadet though and had to refrain from necking the whole bottle in one go - it's goooood

Diet wise, I'm still getting used to things. I still catch myself out by eating something with the odd bit of dairy in it, but I'm getting better at speed reading food labels and working out if something really isn't vegan or the manufacturer was just too lazy to put a 'suitable for vegans' logo on the packaging.