Archive for January, 2008

With the type of job my husband has sometimes I feed my family on a budget of $40 to $60 per week. Mind you I have all men in my house, including the cat. So that is a small budget but I make it work. There are months when we are in abundance and those months boy do we enjoy the finer things in vegan cuisine. But for the most part until my income status gets a little better or my husband gets that dream project then this budget is it.

So I have to make it work.

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When we transition over from meat eating to non-meat eating, one problem plagues us…..HOW DO I GET THE MEAT?

What I have come to learn is the the reason so many of us are into meat is not necessarily because of the taste but rather the texture. In the vegan world there are many ways to meet that desire for texture with the many ways we can create or purchase meat substitutes.

There are so many options for vegan meat substitutes and so many ways to prepare them.

In a society where meat is king, it can be difficult expressing your need to be a little different. For the family or individual looking to transition over and become healthier through a vegan diet the road ahead can be rough.

Sometimes you just may not know where to go or what to do.

Here are a few tips that will help you along on your journey towards transitioning success:

1. Make sure that you block out all the negativity that will come your way. The bottom line is that you will get flack and it just may hurt. Just know that someone else’s ignorance to a situation does not have to be your downfall.

Ok so I have had a hard time participating in many vegan forums. You see I don’t take kindly to finger pointing and judging and this is what you find a lot of in vegan forums.

Over the weekend I posted to a forum I joined a long time ago. I had hesitated for the very reason I am about to explain.

Here is what I wrote:

“Hello I am LaTara Ham-Ying, a vegan cooking and natural living coach. I have been vegan for 5 years but I have been a cook for over 30 years. I live in IL with my husband who has been vegan for over 20 years and our two boys who are also vegan.

I am often asked about different ingredients used in vegan cooking. So this week I am sharing a bit on information on 5 items that are used in vegan cooking. You will learn more about nutritional yeast, tempeh, seitan, miso, and I have provided a link to the show we did on tofu so that you can learn even more about how it’s used. Each week hereafter we will provide a segment where we will give you a word of the week, its meaning and an idea on how to use it in your vegan cooking.

Happy Birthday Vegan Family Living! This week we are celebrating with an intimate conversation between myself and a very good friend for mine. Rochelle Valasek is a speaker, teacher, author of the Ruby Legacy, and owner of Reflecting Excellence Ministry. Shelley and I talk about her many health conditions and how adopting vegan concepts into her life has helped her health tremendously. It is a very candid talk letting people know that removing as much toxic food from your life is a good thing.

LaTara Ham-Ying announces the one year anniversary of Vegan Family Living. In October of 2006, LaTara along with the help of two key people, Kelly McCausey and Roy Montero, developed the concept for Vegan Family Living.

With a strong subscriber list and support system in place, January 17, 2007 saw the official launch of a site created to bring Healthier Alternatives to Living. The response was great. The people were loving LaTara’s simple approach to vegan cooking and living and it was that approach that kept them coming and even so still today.