About 6 months ago I snapped. I was unhealthy, feeling terrible, had a family member die of heart failure, I needed a change. Within one week I went from full on meat eating to cold turkey vegan (with the exception of some clothing) within a week of deciding to make the change.
A lot of people I talked to in the meantime have said they tried to go vegan but found it very hard. I actually found the switch very easy, partly because I was motivated, partly because of this process. I figured I'd share, hope it helps anyone that can use it.
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Make some goals, whether it be weight loss, or some other health metric, or even just some othe lifestyle goal. Referring back to this down the road will help keep you motivated to stick with the change.
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Log what you eat now, Fitbit has a great free food log (you don't need the devices to use their website). Find out how much protein and fat and how often you eat.
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Plan a Breakfast, 3 staple lunches and 3 staple dinners. Plug them into the food calculator and see what kind of change in nutrition you are looking at. Breakfast I had no problem making the same thing everyday, Oatmeal with almond milk, Chia Seeds, banana, and flax meal (this has Omega's which are important since you won't get them from meat and fish now). Some suggestions for lunches: Brown Rice Avocado Tofu Bowl with Black Beans, Vegetable Stir Fry with edamame, Chickpea Salad in a pita with Spinach. Some Suggestions for Dinner: Indian curry with chickpeas and mixed veggies, Spaghetti Squash with Bean Balls, Peanut Sauce noodles with Tofu. Oh She Glows has a lot of good whole food recipes that I found really easy to enjoy out of the gate. There is recent science that says that your body really wants Umami flavors when you are craving meat, so asian dishes will help during the first few weeks.
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Plan snacks to fill in nutrition gaps. Focus on Fruits, nuts, veggies. You should be pretty close to what your pre-Vegan nutritional values were for protein. Should try to get close to 50% carbs, 25% protein 25% fat. . Pea Protein is a good sugar-free high protein plant based option that can easily be added to smoothies. Emergency Rations: Buy a box of cliff bars, put some in your car and work bag etc... I would recommend avoiding pre-packaged garbage like this with tons of sugar, but they last forever, can fill you up, and you might find yourself in situations (work trips, forgot your lunch etc...) where you don't have food options.
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Vitamins. There is a ton of debate on whether you need B12 and D more if you are a vegan, in my opinion better to have and not need it, then need it and not have it. Double check vitamin ingredients for Gelatin. Centrum has a good multivitamin that is Vegan with 100% of your daily B12 and Vitamin D.
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BIG grocery trip. This will be the most expensive grocery store trip of your life. You are essentially building up your pantry with new ingredients most likely, buying lots of produce, and possibly some kitchen appliances like food processors and blenders if you don't already have. You don't have to go to a health food store to find vegan products. Get familiar with the Natural Food aisle at the regular old grocery store. It is overwhelming because there are usually only one or two options for everything instead of the dozens of varieties you are probably used to in the regular food aisles. Take your time, ask for help if you can't find something. In the refrigerated section you will most likely find things like Seitan, Tofu-ti products, tempeh all grouped together in one section as well. Wait until beans go on sale and stock up like crazy. Earth Balance Vegan Butter, Veganaise, Natural PB, Tahini, vegetable bouillon, nutritional yeast and Soy Sauce are in a lot of vegan recipes so they are important to keep on hand.
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Prepare your lunches and dinner ahead of time. Build this into your routine, it's going to be a big part of your life. Make sure you have plenty of Tupperware, have a good knife handy as chopping is now a major part of your life. Use mason jars to hold things like stir fry sauces you know you will make every week to save time.
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Have a last meal. For me it was Taco Bell. Something ideally that will make you feel like crap the next day (will make it easier to want to eat better ;) ).
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Do it. This plan will get your through your first week. On the weekend find a vegan restaurant and celebrate. During the week find more recipe's online, maybe buy a new cookbook. Find what you like that can be frozen and make a ton of it your first weekend. My wife and I would send each other "Vegan Fact of the Day". Keeps it fun and motivating.
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Get off sugar. I found that once I started working processed sugar out of my diet, fruits and veggies tasted a lot better since my brain wasn't expecting super sweet things all the time. Be wary a lot of "healthy" foods still have a ton of sugar. Avoid sugar in items like sauces, packaged bars, packaged oatmeal, and cereal. Save it for when you really want something sweet and then make some awesome vegan cookies with Agave Syrup or Maple Syrup as the sweetener.
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The one month pantry clean out. After one month I was extremely confident that this change was for life. My wife and I went through our pantry and refrigerator and cleaned out anything with animal products.
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Every month replace one of your animal product clothing/grooming. You probably have a lot of leather products in your wardrobe and trying to replace all of them at once is unrealistic and expensive. Start with something like your belt. Then move onto your shoes the next month, then your shampoo etc... You won't drop more than $50/month this way and in six months you should be totally cruelty free!
I've lost 40 lbs in 4 months, staved off pulmonary issues I was about to have to be medicated for, and have enough energy finally to go to the gym and be active. These 12 steps saved my life.
Submitted May 05, 2015 at 06:53PM by ajs432 http://ift.tt/1Ic8DOv vegan
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