So if I were to go vegan for say, 90 days, would it help to go Vegetarian for 10 days before?

[Taverner]

I'm trying to test something out - - and that test requires that I go vegan for 90 days

Going vegan will probably be harder than quitting smoking, quitting opium or quitting painkillers.

So would help to step down from meat by going Lacto-Ouvo Vegetarian for a few days first?

[yewberry]

1. Hm. I dunno.

One of the biggest differences in moving to a vegan diet is the lack of fat as flavoring. Foods tend to be lighter and may leave you feeling less full; unless your ovo-lacto diet is light on the ovo and the lacto, you're likely to really feel the change.

If you don't mind sharing, what's behind your experiment?

[Taverner]

2. I want to prove that you can be healthy, muscular and happy on a Vegan diet

More to prove to myself, than to anyone else.

[yewberry]

4. Sounds like fun.

Glad to see you're trying to go into it with both an open mind and open eyes. Don't hesitate to shop the vvar group for recipes and support, too.

If there's anything support I can offer, please let me know.

[Taverner]

5. Sure - I'm going to REALLY miss butter and Sourdough

Any suggestions?

Seriously - if I cut out all meat, but was allowed to eat butter and sourdough, I'd miss nothing.

[yewberry]

6. You can do a decent vegan sourdough

but butter? Uh-uh.

If it's not a breakfast-y kind of thing, you can look for other heavyweight bread additions: guac, tapenade, seasoned oil, white bean puree, hummus, that kind of thing. But a butter craving...that's a toughie.

[deucemagnet]

8. What's wrong with a mostly vegan diet that includes butter and...

...sourdough? I don't think the vegan police will cart you away or anything.

[flvegan]

9. You can't, obviously.

:P

[LeftyMom]

3. I went ovo-lacto as a transitional thing toward going vegan

Honestly, I found that it wasn't really a help, as I had to relearn how to grocery shop and cook twice, instead of just once.

[graywarrior]

7. Transition into it slooooooooowly

As for building muscles as a vegan, that's another story....may be more difficult to accomplish, if not impossible. Also, watch your sugar intake....you won't be balancing your acid/alkalinity without meat or fish. You need to figure out how you're going to do that.