Considering a vegan diet?

Homemade vegan foods

The following post is the first in a series focused on trying to help those who are either considering a vegan diet or who are finding being on a vegan diet challenging.

Everyone chooses or comes into a vegan lifestyle for many different reasons. Animal rights, a more healthy experience or allergies are just a few reasons why some people want or need to have a diet free of animal products. When my diet comes up in conversation, I have found it really interesting how many people assume that I am a vegan because they think that I am an animal rights activist. While I am sensitive to those issues, this is not the primary reason I myself decided to go from being vegetarian (something I have been my entire life) to being vegan. I chose it because I felt that being vegan would mean that I would finally be healthy or at least healthier. That’s both true and not, but that’s another topic for another time.

In the time that I have been vegan I have found that there are several misconceptions out there about what it means to be a vegan, so if you are considering becoming vegan here are a few things that you need to keep in mind. You may have already thought about these things, but if not, really take time to consider each one of them.

• Figure out exactly why you want or need to be a vegan. For some people it’s a pretty obvious choice to become vegan, but others make the decision on a whim. You should seriously consider why you are doing it, because your decision will affect not only yourself, but those you live and dine with on a regular or semi-regular basis. If you are switching because you have allergies, then to me this is a no brainer – you need to do what is best for your health. If you are supplying your body with dangerous foods or chemicals because they taste good or are convenient, then you need to be your body’s best advocate and feed it what it can thrive on. If you are doing it because you are angry at the food industry for animal abuse and you are nauseous at what you’ve seen in Peta films, then this is a fine decision. Bottom line is that you need to figure out, is this a decision that makes sense for me?

• Know that being vegan does not equate being healthy and it doesn’t mean you’ll lose weight. It matters not what diet you choose to eat – any diet can be unhealthy if you abuse it. If you are choosing vegan because you think it will earn you a youthful disposition with energy and gusto you have not experienced in years, please do think again. If you wish to be healthy, you need to look at your diet objectively and realistically. You may currently choose to gravitate towards fattier foods, processed foods like potato chips, or towards candy or desserts. It’s likely that you will also do this on a vegan diet. You’ll find that deep fried tofu tastes delicious, that organic potato chips are just as fantastic – or better – than their cheap name brand counterparts or that desserts are still just as good without the dairy and eggs. Recognize that being healthy is more than a diet change – there are habitual changes you need to make within yourself.

• It’s not going to be easy at first to be a vegan, no matter what diet you follow now. I was raised a vegetarian, so you’d think that it would be really easy for me to switch to a no eggs or dairy diet. But you know what? I will admit freely and honestly that I love the taste of eggs, and I love the taste and texture of cheese. I tried going vegan once several years ago, but I never lasted. It was only until I tried going raw vegan for about a month that I realized that being vegan would probably be easier for me after doing a raw diet (and I’m not knocking a raw diet, but I found that it’s not for me). It’s okay to miss the food you once ate on a regular basis, but like with anything you decide to stop consuming it will be challenging to say you are never going to eat it again. Granted there are the rare few who find that it’s not difficult at all, but most of us will find that it’s easier said than done to make a lifestyle change.

In this series of posts I will give you action items for you to work on, which are meant to help you understand where you are in your current diet lifestyle and to help you figure out what you need to do to enjoy being a vegan. By no means am I a dietitian or medical expert, so it’s important that you ask your own dietitian or doctor if you are concerned about diet changes. My goal here is not to tell you what to do, but rather to give you food for thought so you can come to your own conclusions on what is best for you.

Action Item
Join a website like SparkPeople or The Daily Plate and monitor what you eat for at least a week, but preferably at least a month. It’s extremely fascinating to see how many calories you intake, as well as how much fat, sodium and sugar (for example) you are consuming on a regular basis. It’s easy to join, enter in the food you eat and only takes a few minutes a day. If you do this, let us know what you’ve discovered about yourself after you’ve tracked for a few days (if you don’t mind sharing).

Question
If you are already vegan, what misconceptions have you encountered that I failed to mention? And did you find becoming vegan, if you are not a lifelong vegan, a challenge?