Cravings

What if I crave...

animal flesh (e.g. chicken, beef, pork)

There are several "fake meats" out there; heck, there are even "fake turkeys" for Thanksgiving! Search your local health food store. Also, try experimenting with tofu, tempeh and seitan: bake it, fry it, steam it, grill it, sauté it. It'll be "chewy" and dense enough to give a similar satisfaction--without the cholesterol, without the murder.

sea animal flesh (eg. fishes)

Dino recommended this: scout for nori, hijiki, and dulse. It'll bring back that briny taste of the sea in no time. Add some tofu, maybe, for some denseness, if you so prefer. Otherwise, stick to sea vegetables, also like sea kelp, etc. Top it over brown rice=HEAVEN.

eggs

Get soft tofu, then scramble it. Voila: scrambled tofu, aka "scrambled eggs"

Baking? Use an overripe banana, then mash it up--you get the emulsifying quality of an egg. Another alternative would be soaked flax seeds. Very nutritious, too.

cheese, yogurt, ice cream

Cheese-- Besides "soy/rice cheese", even better, look for nutritional yeast. Add some mustard, soymilk, a little salt, some olive oil/spread, heat everything, and voila, you'll have your very own "cheese" dip, with the same taste, and none of the pus and cholesterol.

Yogurt-- You can make your own by buying a "culture", or if that's too difficult, look for soy/rice yogurt in the dairy section of your supermarket: they're there; seek, and you shall find. If you worry about probiotics, there is an alternative you can take which is kombucha. They're pretty pricey, but you can make your own. There are books out there, even websites that spout their benefits. Again, ask your local health store staff about them.

Ice cream-- There are alternative dairy-free varieties, like the Rice/Soy Dream variety, or from Turtle Mountain, NadaMoo...Again, they'll be found at the freezer section of either your supermarket or health food store. Also, why not try sorbets? They are even more refreshing, plus they clear up your taste buds.

honey

Look for agave nectar in your local health food store or maybe even in your local grocery's sweetener section. Made from the agave cactus, it's pretty sweet, and to me mirrors the taste of honey best. There are other sweeteners out there like maple syrup, and stevia, but I think agave nectar is the best replacement for honey. Seriously, even as honey has all those health benefits, honey is for BEES; it is their food, their source of life. With the epidemic of bees leaving their hives now, it simply isn't cool to ingest more honey, thereby supporting the honey industry and robbing bees of food. Besides, honey=BEE SALIVA. Um, gross?

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Another thing to ask: are you getting enough nutrients in your body on a daily basis? It would be highly beneficial to invest in a good multivitamin, especially with a high amount of B vitamins in them, as they are normally found more in animal flesh/by-products.

The whole plant kingdom is at your disposal. There are a plethora of nuts, seeds, pulses, green leafy vegetables, juicy fruits, in a variety of sizes, shapes, tastes, and textures. Everything our bodies need can be met right here; no need to look to the animal kingdom. Lower on the food chain=lower energy expended--ecologically, physically, even monetarily. And more to ingest, which isn't a half-bad deal at all, I think.

I confess I crave sea animal flesh, and sometimes, the occasional sharp smelly cheese. My parents are gourmand omnivores, and I grew up in a tropical archipelago, where fresh seafood is not difficult to come by and the sea or some body of water (clean or dirty) is never too far away. So amidst all the omnivores is me, the vegan. And it IS hard (see previous post), but I think of how badly depleted the sea bio-system is due to overfishing, and destruction of habitats caused by fish farms and dynamite fishing, and how cows are kept pregnant to keep producing milk, kept chained, standing on cold stone floors year in year out until they are depleted and then killed... so I just STOP. That, and grab a B-12 supplement!

So stay vegan!

BUT if you fell off the vegan wagon, it's not the end of the world...as long as you jump right back in and be vegan again. Just try to stay on this time ;)