How to transition from a Non-Vegan diet to a Vegan diet

Well, transitioning from a non-vegan diet to a vegan diet might seem like a dramatic or an extreme move. But with the current upsurge of rising trends on veganism, this should not be a hassle at all.

Enhance your learning curve

You may want to transition to a vegan based diet. But, where do you start? You must get your basics right. This is the first and the foremost step in familiarizing yourself on what a vegan based lifestyle is all about.  Let me break it down for you in few simple steps:

• Educate yourself on what lies the cost behind using animal derived products? Poor and innocent animals are subject to a systematic oppression and lead a deplorable life all through their span. Compassion for animals can be the biggest cause for taking up this form of living.

• You can also jot down your own personal reasons for going vegan. Place the ideals on a chart board and read them every day. This way, you don’t lose track. You are determined and committed to following a vegan living, all through your life.

• How do you optimally nourish your body with a plant-based diet? Learn simple recipes on how to make vegan butter, curds or your very own plant-based milk.

• Start reading labels and ingredients. Shun products that use milk solids, creams, egg whites, etc. This way, you make sure you don’t eat a non-vegan product even by mistake.

• Look out for nearby groceries that support plant-based products. Look for vegan restaurants and dining centers.

• Enhance your knowledge base by having a look at motivational blogs, documentaries, and articles on books, magazines or via social media sites. You will feel inspired to keep up the lifestyle change forever.

Adding to your diet

Non-vegans always feel they are losing out on something. They lose proteins when they reduce their intake of eggs or meat. Dairy lovers can’t get rid of the delicious taste of milk, cheese or cottage cheese. This feeling of exclusion can make the transitioning phase more difficult than ever.

Add to your diet rather than subtracting from it. A few tips or highlighters on how this can be done:

• Instead of that burger or patty, include a bowl of almonds or figs.

• If you include a bowl of rice include freshly grated carrots or tomatoes to the diet.

• You can prepare fresh fruit juices too. This can enhance your appetite and get you the kick-start energy during the morning hours.

• You can include cut fruit bowls to your diet. These include avocados, pineapples, strawberries, muskmelons and bananas. You can stick to seasonal fruits as they would not be heavier on your pocket. You can squash a lemon. Or add maple syrup to make the fruit bowls taste better.

• Make your own variants of almond milk and cashew butter. You can store them in easy to use mason jars or air-tight containers. This way, you can enhance the shelf life of your DIY products.

Discover your real motivation for change

Going on a diet-variation plan and going on a vegan based living are two completely different sides to the whole coin. Avoiding animal derived products can be a boon for the welfare of animals and the ideal way to combat climate change. After all, you are taking a major life-style change to tell yourself that you don’t want to be a part of the system that accentuates environmental degradation. Keeping this mind, you need to stay motivated. There is no going back and forth once you take up vegan lifestyle. To achieve a certain degree of consistency to your flow of thinking, these are two important steps:

1. You need to understand the impact animal products have on the environment, planet and on humanity.
2. It is also important that you carefully analyze the benefits of a vegan lifestyle.

Stay positive

You must stay excited and charged up so that a vegan lifestyle slowly integrates itself as a major part of life.

Start participating in vegan outreaches or campaigns. Stay connected with like-minded individuals via phones or chat rooms. Discuss or participate in online webinars or seminars promoting veganism. This way, you develop a sustained interest in keeping up with your values for decades to come.

Take time to learn simple and easy recipes

You need to focus on exciting stuff to add to your diet rather than always thinking that you leave out on your favorite dishes. Take time to learn simple and easy recipes. You can make chocolate oats if ordinary oats seem boring to you. You can add strawberries to your bowl of corn flakes. You can add a bowl of cooked peanuts instead of a meat burger.

Try learning new recipes and experiment with your cooking skills. You can find thousands of recipes on the internet to veganize your meat-based or egg-based dishes. Make the transition slow and steady. An extreme vegan diet might look daunting during the initial stages. But you have umpteen ways on how you make the transition easier than before.

Take it one step at a time

You need to make your transition from a non-vegan to a vegan one in a phased out or a carefully planned out manner. Take it forward one step at a time.

• Try removing dairy and eggs from your diet. This is half the battle won. You can look for almond or cashew milk to make the transition easier. Try making flat breads with vegan cheese to replace eggs. You can add olives, jalapenos, capsicum slices, freshly cut tomatoes and cucumbers. When you toast your breads on a toaster, the taste is heavenly. This is a 100% vegan diet.

• Go in for mock-meat instead of regular meat. Branded firms are bringing on the shelf products to make the transition process easier.

• Incorporate legumes, whole grains, tofu, seeds and nuts to your diet. Pumpkin seeds are fortified with calcium, iron and Vitamin K.

• Take deep-breathing exercises to enhance your breathing. An hour of physical activity can enhance your body metabolism.

• You can take B12 supplements or consume vegan diets fortified with the mineral.

• Once you start doing this in a phased-out manner, within 3-6 months, you can go vegan full on. And then, there is absolutely no looking back.

These are fabulous tips and ideas on how to transition from a non-vegan diet to a vegan diet. 

Content Source: https://www.ilovevegan.com/resources/transitioning-to-a-vegan-lifestyle/