Cold-turkey vegan (pardon the pun)

[Julie]

Hello!

I'm Julie, from Wisconsin USA living in Colombia. It's my fourth day being vegan, I'm brand new and would greatly appreciate any advice y'all can give me! My reasons for going vegan are personal health, environmental sustainability, and animal suffering. I truly never knew all of the horrible implications that consuming animal products has on our personal/ worldwide health, until last week; I'm a trained researcher and started looking into some things, and I was absolutely appalled at what I found!

That being said, I've been vegan for less that a week and so am in no position to judge/ criticize anyone else for their choices, and I'll take all the advice that I can get.

I'm very excited to join this community and reduce my negative impact!

 

[Nekodaiden]

Welcome Julie

Prepare for some changes to your body in the first month. You will likely lose weight and have to go to the bathroom frequently. Your body will adjust to the changes in time and this will lesson after a while. I had cravings for animal foods in the first month and caved 3 times. This is partly habit of mind but there is also a physiological component: gut bacteria that are accustomed to getting their fix of animal protein. The more you had on a habitual basis, the stronger they will be. If you keep with it, they will eventually die off and be replaced with beneficial bacteria based on your diet.

The best advice I can give to you is to keep with it. You might fail, pick yourself up and keep going. Eat plenty of fiber rich foods and whole foods. In many diets they are a side dish with meat. Now that you are eating vegan you will need more of them - never let yourself go hungry.

This bears repeating: Never let yourself go hungry. Eat enough plant based foods until you are satisfied. This will require some prep and planning for when you are out of your residence.

A word about nuts, seeds and legumes. Unless you are purchasing them canned (as in legumes), it is highly recommended to soak/sprout them. Just soaking overnight will reduce anti-nutrients and make them easier to cook (if that is what you plan to do). Starting the germination process by soaking releases anti-nutrients in seed type products and makes their goodness more available to you.

 

[The Vegan Virgin]

Hi Julie!

Congrats on taking the plunge! There are 5 things I recommend new vegans do (and that I wish I knew before I went vegan). Hope this helps!

1. Tell someone! A lifestyle change is a big decision and telling other people can help you stay accountable and ensure that you stick to your commitment.
2. Find inspiration in others! Peruse social media to find inspirational vegan chefs, athletes, celebrities, charities and sanctuaries. Discover new recipes, delight in learning which celebs are vegan (Joaquin Phoenix, Peter Dinklage, Sia and the list goes on!) and get involved.
3. Check-out local eats! Find vegan and vegan friendly restaurants in your area and check them out. Not only will you be supporting local vegan businesses but you’ll also have suggestions at the ready whenever you’re making plans.
4. Get cooking! Practically anything you loved eating before going vegan can be vegan-ized. Burgers? Yep. Donuts? You betcha. Ragu sauce? Heck yes! Look up vegan recipes for your favorite foods and get cooking – I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
5. Practice self-forgiveness. You might not have been expecting this one but there have been times when I honestly thought a product was vegan and was later shocked to learn that it wasn’t. In my case it was cane sugar that used bone char (usually derived from cow bones) to filter and bleach the sugar to it’s perfectly white color. Do your best to stay informed but don’t beat yourself up for an honest mistake – the learning curve isn’t steep and you’ll get the hang of things soon enough!

Best of luck!

 

[Veganite]

Welcome from BC, Canada. I wish you the best of success with your new healthy lifestyle.

My personal suggestion is "YouTube" as a valuable resource. I find answers to questions there...after weeding through the hater's and rhetoric, but the truth is out there if you look. I aso subscribe to many vegan channels for recipes and ideas for dinners, etc. You will also find inspirational videos there. Who knows...maybe you will someday be a Youtuber with a vegan lifestyle channel.

Don't be a stranger here. This forum is also a great support system for new vegans learning the lifestyle.