Tips for Going Vegan
I just posted my story on how I went vegan, but here are some hints and tips that you may find helpful!
1) Overnight it best
Its much easier to go vegan overnight. If you try to eliminate items one by one, it can tease your taste buds and only make you crave what you want to give up. Make a date, like the first of the month, or your birthday, New Year's, etc, that will be your official date. If you just pick a day without planning first (see tip 2), you will probably be hungry, or not know what to do.2) Go slow
No, I'm not contradicting my 1st tip! About 2 weeks before you go vegan officially (see tip 1), stop buying non-vegan foods and finish the ones you already have. By keeping them in the house AFTER your cut-off date, you will only tease yourself and not know what to do with them.3) Be able to cook veganly
This is pretty common; You go vegan, buy vegan foods, but dont know what to do with them!4) Learn how to make desserts, or at least be able to find them
Before you go vegan, learn to cook some simple dishes, and have some recipes (Either a cookbook or from online). You cant survive off frozen and canned goods. They are too high in sodium, and are mighty expensive. Check out the Recipe Archives on the Sidebar!
Unless you are going vegan for health reasons, you should be able to do some desserts. You will go crazy otherwise. When you go vegan, you will want to eat animal foods (not just desserts), and if you can indulge in some dessert, it helps you feel better (trust me!). Locate the Soy Delicious and Tofutti Cuties in your co-op or supermarket. Also, check out some recipes online (Again, check out my Recipe Archives. The Tofu Chocolate Pie is awesome!)5) Stick with it
This may seem harsh, but dont let yourself break down! If you make a mistake, thats okay. But dont give in! In the movie Supersize Me!, Morgan Spurlock compares eating fast food to qutting smoking. He says that once you get over the "3-day hump", you are fine. I am NOT suggesting you eat at McD's :)Here's the unofficial tip number 6. It happens to deal with number 2, and I'm not talking about the second tip!
What I'm saying is that if you stick with it for a week or so, you will get used to it. Your body will eventually lose its cravings for animal products, and you can satisfy your tastes with vegan goodness!
Books always tell you to not make a big deal of breaking down. You shouldn't break down! I'm not being a bitch, I'm telling you the truth. If you're quitting smoking, you dont go and have a ciggarette because giving them up is so hard!
Eating animal products is the same thing. If you stick with it, you can conquer it. Mistakes happen. Unintentional mistakes WILL happen to everybody. Those are a-okay. I've ordered soups that the waiter swore were vegan, only to find a chicken bone in it. Just keep rolling.
You might want to wear Depends when you first go vegan. Vegan diets are extremely high in fiber... And we all know what that does to you. Even if you are a vegetarian going vegan, you might get a little surprise (I know this from first-hand experience)I hope all of these tips help you on your way to becoming vegan! Good luck!
Most americans dont even get 1 bowel movement a day. Unless you are elderly or have some other ailment, you should be getting at least 2. I'm not the healthiest vegan (but I'm not unhealthy either), and I get about 3 a day (You all wanted to know this, didnt you?)
After 2 or 3 weeks your body will get used to it. But runny poo and emergencies are not uncommon!
(I'm only telling you this for your own wellbeing!)
10 comments:
Nice post. Those are helpful hints for anyone thinking about going vegan. I would add, not only learn to cook, but learn to experiment with cooking. I have found that to be one of my greatest joys in going vegan, was teaching myself how to cook. Be willing to step outside of the box and experiment with your food.
Good suggestions! I was a vegetarian for 21 years and the runny pooh caught me by surprise. I thought that my body was used to large quantities of fiber. I also experienced acne for the first time. I hope that it is my body getting rid of dairy and eggs. Is this common?
Acne? normally dairy causes acne.
any change in diet can cause other changes, so i would assume its normal
Have you checked out Compassionate Cooks' podcast? I think you'd love it. I'm 16 and vegan and have found it IMMENSELY helpful in learning about all things vegan, but it's inspiring, too! It's called Vegetarian Food for Thought, and you can find the individual files at http://feeds.feedburner.com/VegetarianFoodForThought.
GOOD LUCK!
I think your tips are very valid but I would like to say just one thing. I, personally, would NOT recommend quitting meat overnight - especially during a season when a certain ailment is common (i.e. flu season). This is because quitting meat abruptly can put the body into shock and cause more than just 3 or more bowel movements a day. It can make you ill. This advice is grounded on personal experience. However, if you've been vegetarian for a while and wish to take the extra step toward a vegan diet, overnight is a good option. It's just the abrupt abstinence of meat that you have to watch out for. Of course this has a lot to do with your previous dietary habits.
After watching some PETA videos my freshman year of college, I went from eating an unhealthy diet of maybe more meat than the average person to being vegan overnight. I didn't have any problems...
For those who might be affected by the bathroom thing, maybe rather than giving foods up gradually, just start eating things on the low end of the fiber range and do a fairly gradual increase for that. I seriously doubt it would be too hard on one's body to go from being an omnivore to maybe having cereal for breakfast, a veggie sandwich for lunch, and say, pasta for dinner. That's not *all* that different from what an omni might occasionally eat anyway, except that they would have added meatballs to the pasta sauce and a few slices of meat/cheese on the sandwich.
Actually, I've gotta add to that last comment. My husband also went vegan all at once. The day that I went vegan, he and I talked about it and watched more of those disturbing videos, and he decided that he had to go vegan with me. He didn't have any problems either.
Also, when I'm at home visiting my family, they go from being heavily dependent on fast food to eating mostly vegan stuff, and I've only heard good things. My dad stops having acid reflux (which he normally has about all the time). Last time I was home, he kept raving about how he wishes he could eat that way all the time. And my mom stops having to take her blood pressure medication. That's a good thing, but it's also actually the only danger I can think of... People on medications related to an unhealthy diet (blood pressure medication, cholesterol lowering medications, etc) should be monitoring that stuff constantly when they go vegan. In my mom's case, it just took about a day or maybe two of vegan food before her blood pressure was normal without the medication. It can happen that fast.
I had been progressively becoming vegetarian over the last year or two, increasing vegetarian meals over the course of this time- while also including instinctive fasts when needed too (veg juices, broths, raw fruits and veggies).
On my last fast 3 months ago, I didn't add back meat when coming off of it.
To make a long story short, I am now ovo-vegetarian after this 3 month transition over the summer, since that fast, listening to my body instinctually, and additional information I am now aware of too.
I never had any problems with bathroom emergencies. At first I didn't have any solid elimination, and at one point very little liquid either. Then, shortly after things worked again, and I was so relieved. It sure beat the clogged up painful feeling I used to feel so often before. Of course, I credit the abstinence of dairy products more then I do meat, since I was vegetarian with dairy and elimination was next to nil despite the fiber. As soon as I stopped dairy, just about, elimination was sooo much more improved and much more effective- like clockwork.
Oh, I have learned from experience that a disturbance in sleep does definitely affect this too.
I have more changes posted, and will be updated as time progresses too.
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Thank you for these tips, I just started out as a vegan, I overnighted it as you'd say.
I am finding it a little bit difficult, if you could give me any help I'd love to talk to you!! thanks :)
hi i just went vegan recently and I find your tips to be the most realistic and encouraging. thanks!!!
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