Baby Steps
- Start with one vegan meal a day.
- Work your way up to a vegan breakfast and vegan lunch.
- Slowly replace your pantry and fridge with vegan foods.
- Use a nutritional tracker to make sure you are getting the proper nutrients.
Start with one vegan meal a day.
Most people have to transition into a vegan diet, especially after years of following a meat eater’s or omnivore’s diet. And especially if you’ve been eating the Standard American Diet (SAD)
Go easy on yourself. Breakfast is the easiest meal to make vegan. There’s oatmeal, cereal with almond milk, fresh fruit, and avocado toast.
Work your way up to a vegan breakfast and vegan lunch.
A large garden salad of various lettuces, herbs, tomato, carrots, broccoli and other veggies can be 100% vegan if you use oil & vinegar, or a vegan salad dressing. Or make a sandwich that is 100% vegan with avocado, sprouts, vegenaise, mustard, lettuce, tomato and vegan bacon… then you’ve got yourself a Vegan BLT!
Slowly replace your pantry and fridge with vegan foods.
Don’t get too excited. And don’t break the bank!
But this could be the exciting part… replacing your non-vegan foods with vegan foods. Just do it slowly. Replace non-vegan foods with vegan foods as you run out, and transition into a 100% vegan kitchen.
Stock up on black beans, garbanzo beans and pinto beans. Buy white and brown rice. Stock the fridge with organic fruits and vegetables.
Use a nutritional tracker to make sure you are getting all your nutrients.
This could be the one thing that gets you through a transition to a 100% vegan diet, since you might come across doubts about the diet, especially if your body begins to experience detox symptoms.
Plus, psychologically speaking, you might get critiques from family and friends telling you your diet is wrong, that you need protein, B12, calcium or whatever it is they say you’ll be deficient in… well, fear not, a nutritional tracker will tell you exactly what nutrients are going into your body.
The thing is, you’ll need to make a solid commitment to weigh all your food. And this could prove a bit tedious at first, which is why I mentioned a nutritional tracker last.
Buy a digital food scale, and weigh your food in ounces. This will also cause you to eat more whole foods, since you’ll have to simply a bit and weigh each food. Of course, when dining out you’ll have to guestimate, but if you are diligent about weighing your food at home and entering it into your nutritional tracker, then this will help you see exactly what nutrients your getting, calories, carbs, fats, proteins, B12 and so on.
