Going Vegan: 5 Easy Steps To Make The Change

Growing up in a traditional African American, single parent household, going vegan was a hard decision to make. My childhood was filled with fried chicken, hot water corn bread, McDonald's, Wendy's, spaghetti and fish and everything down the line. Growing up Seventh Day Adventist, I was used to not eating pork, but cutting out all animal products was a stretch. I went vegan before it became the "cool" thing to do so there were less options available than there are today and very few people had tread this road so I could barely talk to anybody about it without hearing negative comments and condescending questions. However, these 5 steps i took ensured my success and got me to where I am today, an almost 3 year vegan (technically plant based)!

1. Read & Research

Go to your nearest Barnes N Nobles, library or just get on Youtube and learn about the benefits of adopting a vegan diet. There are benefits stemming from a healthy body, clear skin, more energy all the way to standing for animal rights, and preserving our environment. It is important to have

strong reasons why you want to go vegan in order to sustain this lifestyle long term. You would not change your religion if you didn't know everything about the benefits so don't change your diet until you know every benefit. A few good resources that got me started were,

The China Study by T. Collin Campbell (LITERALLY CHANGED MY LIFE)

The Happy Vegan by Russell Simmons

I also watched "What I Eat In a Day Vegan" videos on Youtube. This helped me see what a day as a vegan would look like, how they navigated in this junk food world and showed me that it was possible to accomplish this goal.

2. Stock your pantry & Trash the animal products

When you have your reasons for going vegan together and you are sure this is what you want to do it is best to commit right away. When I made up my mind that this is what I wanted to do, I got rid of all of the animal products that were in my kitchen and went grocery shopping. Yes i threw out half a gallon of milk, dozens of eggs and meat that were all in my refrigerator. If you aren't okay with throwing away food, you can give it away to family or friends. This was an essential step because the food was no longer available to me so I couldn't eat it. Next I went grocery shopping for all vegan products. I stuck to more whole foods like produce, beans and rice but there were some things I could not live without. I found substitutes for butter, milk, ice cream, chicken patties and even hot dogs. After, I stocked my kitchen with only vegan options, it wasn't hard to ONLY eat vegan food, because that's all that was available.

3. Join a community

This was probably the most invaluable step I took to becoming a vegan. I met somebody who was already vegan and he mentored me into this lifestyle. I picked his brain with any questions I had and he held me accountable for achieving my goal. I also joined vegan Facebook groups. These groups gave me a community to go to with other people who were either trying or already vegan. They posted amazing recipes and products that I had never heard of or seen before. These communities opened my eyes to how unrestricted being vegan was. At first all I thought about was what I had to give up, instead of looking at all the new possibilities I had.

4.Find Vegan alternatives

At first thought, one would think that going vegan means you have to give up all your favorite foods. No ice cream, cookies, cake or any of the good junk food you love. On the contrary, I have learned that there are vegan versions of everything you can think of. In the store there are dairy free yogurts, ice cream, mayo, pudding, milk and more. There are endless meat substitutes and hundreds of recipes online that don't include meat or dairy. Again, Youtube has been a life saver. Whenever I'm craving something not vegan, I google what it is that I want and add "vegan version" and a recipe pops up every time.

5. Plan Ahead

Planning is crucial as a vegan. There aren't many vegan options at fast foods joints that you can pick up on the go while you're out. I was a busy college student when I first transitioned so I had to keep my own food on me at all times. I kept snacks like nuts and grab'n'go fruit so that whenever I would get hungry I wouldn't stop through a drive thru, but instead could eat the food I had on me. Meal prepping also helps to decrease your chance of "cheating". Have "ready to eat" vegan meals all set so when you are starving you will not go for that quick burger or taco.

Being diligent and disciplined is the key!

If you want a more in- dept guide on how to go vegan you can get my Plant Based Starter Guide that includes actual recipes. places to shop, products, tips and information on how to make your transition happen for you. This guide is 20+ pages of tried and true, experience based knowledge in one place. Something I wish I had when I was transitioning. Get it here! https://www.holisticdom.com/store