I didn't turn to a vegan diet cold turkey. I turned to a vegan diet out of necessity. I was vegetarian for many years. Yet I suffered from severe heartburn and reflux. It was BAD. At times, I felt like I was having a heart attack, and the pain was so unbearable that I thought I was going to die! Yes, it was as bad as that. Medication didn't help. So I decided to eat alkaline food only. To my surprise, I was able to cure the heartburn and reflux by switching to a 100% plant based diet. I also started to sleep better. Last but not least, I was able to do proper hikes again. I happily transitioned to a vegan diet.
Because of all the pain and nausea, it was an easy choice for me. I started to focus on my health only. Because I felt so sick, I was happy enough if I managed to cook vegan and alkaline food for myself.
I know transitioning to a vegan diet is not easy for many people – yes, including myself. So, I made this list of 10 tips for a healthy transition to a vegan diet for you. I know these tips helped me, and I hope you find them useful, too. Enjoy.
When you empty your kitchen of unhealthy food choices, it's easer to focus on healthy eating choices. Go through all your cupboards and fridge and get rid of everything that's processed or not 100% plant based.
Foods in unopned packages can be donated to your local street kitchen. Everything else goes in the garbage bin.
2. Stock up your kitchen
Time to go shopping: buy lots of fresh fruits and vegetables – this is a given. Here are items I always keep stocked in my cupboard:
Beans – any will do, like lentils and chickpeas – I prefer dried over canned.
Grains – I look for non-gluten types like quinoa and rice
Tofu
Nuts and seeds (flaxseed is #1 in my book)
Miso (fermented beans)
Vegetable stock (not necessary)
Nutritional yeast (not necessary)
Spices
Herbs, whatever is in season
3. Baby steps
Start slowly. My suggestion is that you add foods to your diet and not remove any, to begin with. Start by eating a salad before lunch for a week, then expand to a salad before lunch and before dinner for seven days. When you eat a salad before your meal, you will, without thinking about it, eat less. In the following week, eat 50 percent less junky food per meal. Into the third week, keep cutting down until you eliminate 75 percent of the junk. Finally, by the end of a month's time, remove everything that's not plant based.
4. Eat what you like
If you don't like kale now, then you will not like kale when you transion to a vegan diet. Eat the fruits and veggies you like. And try new varieties to find new favorites.
5. Cut down on processed foods
Processed foods are bad for us, because they make us addicted to fat, sugar and salt. If you buy a lot of prepared meals, start cooking for yourself. Prepping your own lunch is easy, and you can find many videos online for creating easy vegan lunches. A few videos are added at the end of this post.
Drop the softdrinks. It's time to drink water when you are thirsty and not drink sugar. A beer or wine occationally – vegan of course – and with a meal is a nice treat, if you drink. You can find out if your favorites are vegan here.
6. Know your food.
Most of the commercial vegan products on the market such as fake burgers, meatballs, and cheese are processed foods and not healthy. Think saturated fat and excessive amino acids: these foods are often packed with highly refined oils, flours, sugars, and salts. Therefore, it's better to indulge in these foods only once in a while. The good thing is, our bodies get addicted to what we eat most of. Be prepared! Your body will soon prefer fresh foods to processed. It's pretty aweome when your body craves healthy vegan diet options, not junk.
7. Make you meals easy and fun.
Unless your hobby is cooking or you are a chef, I recommend you find easy and fast recipes. It's easy to make your meals more exciting and fun, through online videos, posts, and vegan communities. I like to find vegan cookbooks to pore through.
8. Give up dairy
Now is the time to give up dairy, if you're serious about a vegan diet. There are growing varieties of plant milks on the market. There are also vegan cheeses and dressings. During the transition period it can be good to buy those, but I do not recommended continuing to consume a lot as they are also processed. I have added a homemade cheese recipe at the end of this post.
9. Breakfast
I did a smoothie diet challenge, and now all the greens goodness is a part of my morning routine. Overnight oats is a great thing to eat, in the summer fresh fruit and bread. Quinoa bowls is another fun thing to try. If you are stuck on bread or muffins still, try making your own plant-based quick breads or muffins tht are easy to freeze and take out a serving at time as you need it.
10. Go easy on yourself.
You ate something non-vegan? don't beat yourself up, just go back to your vegan diet immediately. Nothing bad happened, you are human. After my reflux was healed and I could eat “normal” again, I planned cheat meals, at the beginning once a week. Now I barely cheat more than once a month, if that. Remeber you are on a journey, not a race, but do remember to get some kind of exercise regularly.
Here's an easy cheesy recipe for you:
Vegan cashew cheese
1 cup of soaked cashew nuts
2 teaspoon lemon juice
60 ml / 3-4 Tblsp. water
salt & pepper to taste
Pulse everything but the water – add the water little by little as needed.
Before we start the list, there's a few things I would like to make clear:
We need about 1000 mg of calcium per day for healthy and strong bones, everyone does, not only vegans. As we age we need more: An intake of a minimum of 1200 mg of calcium is recommended for women over 51 years and for men over 70 years.
There is a trap; if you do not know of it, you might be eating loads of calcium but it will *not* be absorbed in your body, here goes: Oxalic acid, which is found in spinach, rhubarb, chard, and beet greens binds with the calcium in those foods and reduces its absorption. These foods should not be considered good sources of calcium. Calcium in other green vegetables is well absorbed. Dietary fiber has little effect on calcium absorption though.
Protein’s effect on calcium needs and bones remains uncertain.
To maintain strong and healthy bones it is recommended you do regular weight-bearing exercise such as walking. You will also need to keep an eye on your sodium intake because it increases the amount of calcium lost in urine (about 20 mg of calcium are lost with each gram of sodium in the diet) and higher dietary sodium is associated with lower bone density.
How much sodium do we need? Well, the answer is “we do not know exactly.” Look at these figures:
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA): 2300 mg.
American Heart Association (AHA): 1500 mg.
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND): 1500 to 2300 mg.
American Diabetes Association (ADA): 1500 to 2300 mg.
So… there is definitely a consensus among these organizations that we should aim for less than 1500 mg of sodium per day, and definitely not more than 2300 mg.
1500 mg of sodium equals about 3/4 teaspoons or 3.75 grams of salt per day, while 2300 mg equals about one teaspoon and 6 grams of salt per day.
And you will need Vitamin D together with calcium for best absorption; the best source is the sun and you get that with a nice walk.
Without further ado let's go to the list: (1 cup = 2.3 dl.)
If not, now is the time, because your condom could be made from lambskin and contain petrochemicals, parabens, casein, milk powder and spermicides.
Not Vegan or ethical.
But there is a Vegan alternative out there: Glyde. Its the only certified ethical and Vegan condom brand, crafted from plant-based ingredients, and never tested on animals
Eco-friendly, Sustainable and Fair Trade
GLYDE is the first condom company built upon eco-friendly, ethical and sustainable principles. We source our non-GMO natural rubber latex from a Fair Trade, owner operated grower where workers are not only paid a living wage, they are shareholders in the operation. Because ‘sustainability’ and ‘carbon footprint’ are not just catchy buzzwords, but practices key to protecting the environment, our rubber is indigenous to the region and grown within local proximity of our Malaysian manufacturing facility. Our packaging is made with 100% recycled materials, soy and vegetable inks.
And they have this promise to be sensational on their site:
Sheer Sensation
Our exclusive natural latex formula and patented technology makes GLYDE responsibly thin to maximize sensation for both partners, without compromising strength and reliability. The best word to describe the texture of GLYDE condoms is “silky,” which makes practicing safer sex sensational for both partners.
A vegan passport might just smooth out and enrich your travel experience. Traveling, seeing the world, getting to know foreigners, and eating all sorts of exciting, delicious foods seems so exciting… but it's not always easy being a vegan, trying to explain what not to put in your food. The answer to the problem is right here.
What's a vegan passport?
A “Vegan Passport” that explains in detail, to your waiter or chef, what you want to eat and what you will avoid.
There are two ways to do it. Either way, it covers over 95 percent of the world's population with its 74 languages. I love this new era of instant information! I did plenty of shoestring travel throughout Asia when I was younger, and I often ate things I had no idea what they were or what was in them. I'm not too sure how well I would have fared as a vegan back then. But in the five years that I've now committed to a vegan lifestyle, the internet has grown in vegan information, too.
Vegan passport to easy travel
Below are a couple of choices to help you:
1. You can buy the travelers guide online: The Vegan Passport cost is in paperback and also has a mobile app for easy reference.
2. If you are more into do-it-yourself or not traveling that much, you can print travelers cards you can fold and have in your wallet. Go to vegan cards – there are over 100 languages, so you can choose to print the language(s) you need.
It's a true blessing to have this kind of support with you when you are sitting in a local restaurant in a foreign land and you don't know the language that well.
As always when you are abroad and wish to find a vegan restaurant or cafe use Happy Cow's list – it's far the best I've seen and I use it every time I travel.
