What Tips Would You Give to a First-... - Vegan Foods for Life
What Tips Would You Give to a First-time Vegan? 🌱💚
Please select all that apply:
What a great poll. I didn’t vote for finding a mentor, but with a community like this it is possible to find mentors and get advice and guidance. Which I hadn’t thought of when I voted! My advice would be, find what’s right for you, and not what other people tell you is right. It’s your choice for you, so eat what you enjoy eating and cooking. It’s not an endurance test. Some people will be unkind to you, in the way that some people are unkind to anyone who’s perceived to be different. Just be prepared for that. Definitely pack food suited to the length of your trip. Obviously you can’t pack 6 weeks worth of food, but do pack enough to make pasta or potatoes with veg more interesting. Even if you’re only taking hand luggage, pack some favourite foods. And certainly enough for during your journey. Also when you’re invited to a meal with someone, either decline the offer or let your host know in good time what you eat, or better still what you don’t eat, as some people think fish or pork or chicken isn’t meat 🤔Really. It can be very awkward. Otherwise like the poll said, don’t beat yourself up. Enjoy your food and the cooking of it 😋
Thank you very much HungryHufflepuff and much appreciated your advice to our fellow vegans as they are very realistic and enlightened! 🤗🙏
Vegan diet/lifestyles are still very foreign to many people as they are not the norms and hopefully we can assist each other on this journey for a green planet. I came across questions like where do you get the energy? What I eat won’t make one’s feel fulfilled? Definitely very awkward for me to hear. If people can do research plant based diet is the most effective way for our bodies to absorb nutrients with ease. Many great athletes choose vegan diet and they represent well. One of our pro-footballer, Tom Brady, he is still winning at every game at the age of 44 at Super Bowl and he is vegan. 🤷♀️ businessinsider.com/vegan-a...
Great point on emphasizing it is a choice and individual’s choice to make our journey meaningful and fun. We often encounter many raising eyebrows but that’s okay as long as we understand and love what we do. 😁👍
Great suggestion on what to pack during our short trip and guest over for meal invitation’s etiquette which makes so much sense to me. 😊
I hope this poll can reach out to our vegan beginners just how I once were can ease in the vegan journey with joy just like many of us. 😁
Some questions can be surprising, like where will you get your vitamins from if you’re a vegan 🍏🍐🍊🍋🍌🍉🍇🍓🍈🍒🍑🍍🥥🥝🍅🍆🥑🥦🥒🌶🌽🥕🥔🍠🥗🥜
Yes, it is just mind blowing to me to see how they would go great length to validate their meat eating while diminishing plant based diet. Just the word “folate” itself actually derives from foliage, which refers to the leafy green veggies. 🤷♀️😅
This is an excellent post Koko 😁and a very important one. For me I would say to keep the reason for being vegan in your mind because to start with it feels like a challenge but like with anything once you get in the swing of it - it just becomes easier. Also prepare your self for comments - if you go against the majority, it is not going to be an easy ride.
Also important to do your home work with regards to Nutrition, especially things like Iron and also to ease yourself into it, any major change in diet can cause effect you, so slowly is the best way. I had been vegan since I was 14, so making the switch to vegan was much easier for me.
I would say also to watch out when buying vegan sweets and vegan ready meals - they are often no healthier and loaded up with lots of sugar, and lots of Vegan choc contains Inulin - which if you suffer with IBS is a big problem
Best wishes
Debs
Thank you Debs very much for saying that and thank you for sharing your wisdom and realistic advices to many vegan beginners just like me once were! 🤗🙏
That’s the reality we always get chaotic comments when we don’t follow the norms but what are the norms when the most important thing is we need to do what’s right for us and for our planet, the future to come. 😊
Excellent pointer on doing our own homework Debs. It’s like each of us has to build the foundation first by understanding the basic knowledge and then we can enhance our own production through others’ advices. By understanding nutritional facts will make not only vegan diet but any diets beneficial to our bodies.
There are so many misconceptions about vegan diet and if one does their due diligence to incorporate right will ripe the benefits at the end. We choose home cook meals with lots of whole some veggies to enjoy instead of frozen section as the main source of meals then of course it can’t be good. Just common sense to me. 😁
I have gluten intolerance so I’m always being mindful about the ingredients as it’s not always one size fits all when it comes to our bodies.
Hopefully we all can make vegan diets more common and feel joyful with what we can contribute to our green planet! 🌱😇🌏💚
Spot on Koko 😁 the world is turning but us vegans are still the minority (for now) I often get called a hippy who lives off lentils - I just laugh at such ridiculous inaccuracies. In my eyes meat is murder and anyone eating meat/wearing leather etc is supporting this and i will not be apart of this or normalise it
Absolutely Debs and I respect and admire so much your way of life! 😊
First if we were unaware then we made wrong actions but once the awareness exists, what and how we choose to do with that is coming from our own effort to change.
I am taking a strong stand for myself not being part any of those violence in the name of fashion and food nutrition. Mother Nature is so kind to us, provides us with sources of food and joy of living things and it’s horrific for anyone to go and destroy that. Nothing will have to sacrifice for my taste buds and lifestyles. 🌱😁💚
Thats really great Koko, you really are doing vegans proud 😁
We are becoming a stronger, more prominent group
This green planets need more vegans like us and we are walking on this Earth without living any carbon footprint and harmoniously enjoy all the beauty of living things! Thank you for being you Debs! 🙏🤗🌱💚
Aww, thats lovely - and same to you Koko - what a lovely person you are 😊
Dont fret about it, its only food, just no dead animals included. So many vegan bloggers out there giving huge variety of delicious recipes, its dead easy now. Any veganised meal u want, just google it. My diet has never been so varied
That’s so true. There’s so much variety. There’s absolutely no need to miss out on anything. I certainly don’t feel like I’m missing out, because I’m not 😊
Hi Ninn, thank you for sharing your advice with us! 😊🙏
You are right that there are so much information out there and it’s up to individual to look for the healthy vegan meals. However, I got the same comment from time to time that they don’t feel fulfilled after just eating vegan meals, rather stick with meat to give them energy and that makes me think what exactly vegan meals did they eat as many feel so satisfied with rubbish processed food like sausages and bacon. 😐
I’m glad you are living proof that vegans food can be varied, wholesome and delicious. 😁👍
Perhaps they need more carbs , include whole grains such as millet, quinoa, brown, black and red rice, whole wheat flat breads, beans and lentils. A variety of nut butters make good snacks and additions to soups and casseroles. One thing i wd add to my comment is variation is important on a vegan diet, to get all nutrients required. Everything u eat contains a variety of amino acids, minerals, vitamins. Your body breaks all food down to components and uses as required. So as long as u eating a good variety of veg and whole grains u will prob have consumed complete proteins every day. Most people are deficient in fibre rather than protein, which has been in media a lot recently as essential for a good gut bacteria population, which is good for immune system. Ive had nothing worse than light cold since becoming vegan, so cant be wrong.
Thank you, that’s very helpful advice. It is true the gut bacteria is very important not only for our body but also for our mental health. Serotonin is produced in our guts and many do not have enough pro and prebiotic when you can get from lentils, cheekpeas, beans for our guts health. When it comes to whole grain, we also have to choose good source with vitamins and minerals rather than white bread or white rice which has no nutritional values. Definitely building a strong immune system is important for us to over come many ailments everyday.👍
Very thoughtful poll with good information to share. Vegans step outside the majority of society and it's great when we can help a fellow vegan get started on their journey🤗🙏.
Thank you Zazen. Sometimes people do have their hearts in being vegan and at the beginning can get discouraged, it’s great we can give some pointers to help easing in Vegan journey. 🤗You are gluten-free Vegan also so you can share your experiences with others with same interest also. 😁👍
What I did was write down a list of all the things I would miss, that might make me stray. So cake, mayo, pizza and chocolate. Then I wrote down next to it a vegan version. I got the alternatives in my cupboards ready, just in case. It really worked. Also. I went vegan gradually and I didn't stress if I had a wobble. I just tried harder or found solutions so it wouldn't happen again.
Hi Moonlight-run,
Welcome to VFL and we are happy to have you join us! 😊
Thank you for sharing your tips and experiences with your vegan journey and that is so helpful to many who consider being vegans. I did the same thing, writing my recipes on my notebook and gradually changed my diet over the course of 6 months. Yes we can mistake things at the beginning but it’s okay as we want to be joyful on this journey. 🌱🤗💚
Forgot to say. Be prepared for abuse and questions from people who for some crazy reason are very concerned as to where you get certain nutrients. People who never cared less what you ate before suddenly seem obsessive about your health and diet.
I’m sorry that happened to you and I think we all experienced that more or less. As long as we do our diligence to understand and find out the right information that work for our bodies and mind. 🤗
Moderation team