Living Vegan For Dummies - Alexandra Jamieson [21]
Choose an easy week, and get started over the weekend so you have time to plan a week of meals, shop, and research your local resources. You can make a commitment to eating one or two vegan meals a day for the first week, adding vegan snacks and more meals as you go forward. Perhaps you have a three-day weekend coming up, or your job duties are going to be really relaxed at the end of a big project. These times would be excellent for starting to cook more or to switch from cow’s milk to soy, rice, or hemp milk. You also can add another change at this time, such as eliminating white sugar, which is often processed with bone char from animals, and honey and replacing them with agave syrup. Keep building on these changes. As you master one major item, try another.
Making time to cook on a regular basis can bring you many benefits. Cooking your own food from scratch saves you money over time, because you can avoid relying on more expensive convenience items. Getting down and dirty in the kitchen also connects you with your food on a new level and helps you appreciate new flavors. When you have time to experiment, get creative with new produce and products to avoid getting stuck in a food rut. Or check out the many vegan cookbooks and recipes online to get inspired.
Educating yourself and enrolling your comrades
You’ve already chosen an excellent first step in educating yourself — reading this book! Looking at vegan Web sites, talking with other long-time vegans, discovering which ingredients to avoid, and buying a few vegan cookbooks also can help you prepare. Understanding how to feed yourself, what to eat, and where to get the foods and products you need are necessary skills. You don’t have to be a doctor to understand the foundations of healthy living; it’s easy to become a student of nutrition, food, and healing. Plus knowing the facts about veganism helps you explain your decision to become a vegan when you’re confronted with questions and doubts.
You may be the only person you know who’s brave enough to try a vegan diet, but it can’t hurt to ask for support from your family and good friends. If they understand why this is important to you, what you plan to do, and what you may need from them in order to be successful, they’ll likely offer their help or resources. Perhaps your father works with a vegan or your friend’s sister works at a vegan-friendly restaurant. Cast a wide net and see what comes back to you! It’s not often that you get to experience a major shift in life and truly rely on the wisdom of those who have gone before you.
Making healthier decisions by planning your meals ahead of time
Planning your meals in advance is the best way to make a healthy, less-stressful transition to veganism. Your diet may be changing drastically from bacon three meals a day, or you may just be eliminating dairy from your already vegetarian diet. Either way, you’ll feel much better if you set your eating goals and write down a week’s worth of menus. And think how great you’ll feel when you stop buying bacon!
By using a meal planning guide (see Chapter 9) and working from a list of foods you know you want to eat more of, you can sketch out a good idea of what you need to buy. If you want to eat more leafy green vegetables, whole grains, or sea vegetables, choosing recipes that will incorporate those healing foods makes it more likely that you’ll accomplish your goal.
Reminding yourself why you’ve chosen veganism
Display items that remind you of your dedication to living a vegan lifestyle. Print a quote or picture to hang on your wall or refrigerator that will inspire you and confirm your commitment. Some inspiring framed photos of farm animals enjoying a natural setting, kids frolicking with baby lambs, famous vegans, or brilliant philosophers can offer the visual clue you need to keep up your daily practice.
Try hand painting a stirring quote around the walls of your kitchen to inspire your cooking. Albert Schweitzer, French philosopher and Nobel prize winner said: “Until he extends the circle of his