1) Do your research
There are several reasons why people choose to go vegan and these are based around health, ethics and the environment. Understand these and the motives behind why you are choosing to go vegan. This knowledge will keep you passionate and be the reminder of why you wanted to do this in the first place during through times when you feel like giving up. This knowledge will also help you stand your ground when friends and family question you for why you made the switch. Some good documentaries you can watch are: The Game Changers, Forks over Knives, Cowspiracy, Earthlings, What the Health, Vegucated, Black Fish, The Cove.
2) Make a trusty vegan friend/ find a supportive community
Find a like-minded person to go vegan with you, or join a community of vegans. Doing something alone is much trickier than doing something together. Nowadays, the most powerful community can be found on social media. I am part of a few local vegan facebook groups. Instagram has an adundance of amazing vegan food bloggers who share their recipes, meals and tips. Living in this very non-vegan world, it often can be difficult and you may feel like the odd-one out, but if you make connections with like-minded people then you will feel supported and much less alone!
3) Labels are your best friend
Go to your local supermarket and see what vegan options they have. If you don’t already read labels, then you will need to get used to it! It may be disappointing to discover that you favourite snacks have animal-derived ingredients, but with the ever increasing popularity of veganism, it has become much easier to buy vegan versions of almost anything, especially if you live in the city!I found taste testing new things to be really fun and exciting!
Usually, common allergens like egg and milk are highlighted, but there are also other more sneaky ingredients like casein, whey, gelatin, shellac, anchovies, lactic acid, carmine that can be hidden too.
4) Find vegan alternatives to your favourite foods/dishes
If you do a Google search of your favourite dish and add the word “vegan” in front of it, you’d be surprised at the number of recipes you’ll find! Being vegan doesn’t mean boring salad, infact you can basically still eat everything that you love, but just the vegan version of it. You just need to learn how to make few staple dishes and then go from there. Many restaurants nowadays also offer vegan options, making it easy to eat out with omnivore friends and family. Even better, take them to a good vegan/vegetarian eatery and impress them!
5) Take it at your own pace
You don’t need to go cold-turkey vegan overnight. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself, everyone is different so just go at your own pace and make changes suitable to your lifestyle. If you aren’t used to eating lots of whole plant foods, then you may initially feel bloated due to the increase in fibre consumption, but rest assured, your body will slowly adjust to it. You are much more likely to maintain it long-term this way as you won’t feel like it was just a phase. One more important thing: if you make a mistake, don’t beat yourself up and don’t give up, just accept it, learn from it and move on like you would for any other mistake.
6) Get your blood tests done
Get a baseline blood test before you transition to becoming vegan is a great idea as it will allow you to monitor you progress when you take it every year after you become vegan. A plantbased diet will give you far more micro-nutrients compared to an animal-based diet and the results from this will be evident in the progressive blood tests.
Another benefit of getting a blood test is that it will allow you to see areas of deficiency, for example vitamin and guide you to build your meals around it or even extra supplementation if needed. For me, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my iron, B12 and calcium levels all rose up into the healthy range after 1 year of going vegan. This is ironic, as most people would think that these are the three things that a vegan diet is deficient in!
7) Remain calm and don’t get frustrated
Speaking from personal experience, it can be quite frustrating when you friends and family aren’t vegan or don’t really understand why you are making the transition, or even worse, are against it. I’ve learnt to never force these choices on anyone else, but to just lead by example, be passionate about what I believe in and just show them how amazing it is to be vegan. Instead of getting mad, be patient and try to speak calmly if people ask questions or start doubting you. I learnt that getting angry is actually anti-productive as it will turn more people off to what I have to say and make them think that all vegans are weirdos. You could mention some resources, documentaries and blogs that helped you.
8) Finally, be open minded and have fun!