Many say that becoming a vegan is hard and this can be true for many. But most times this is true of people who don’t have the drive or the self control that this change requires especially in the beginning. You don’t have to feel terrible if you find that you cannot totally eliminate animal products from your diet at first. It is good to note that even a small reduction is a forward step in the right direction. Keep in mind that you cannot just become a vegan overnight but instead it is something that you will have to progress to. Put is this way, if these people can do it, you can do it.
The pace that you take is up to you as everybody is different. While it is important for you to focus on not only animal meats but also products can contain animal derivatives each step you take is equally important and you should never forget that no matter how slow your progress is. You will find that this lifestyle will mean a lot of compromise and only you can decide where to draw the line. One thing that many vegans do is to decide to only purchase things that do not have any animal by-products in them but if in a social gathering where they have not many vegan friendly options they may opt to choose the safest option that may have some animal content in it. Here are some basic tips on how to incorporate a vegan diet into your lifestyle.
Tips On Eating A Healthy Vegan Diet
- Consume a balanced diet with vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, enriched grains, nuts, seeds and nut butters.
- Choose protein sources that are low in fat such as beans and peas
- Limit your intake of beverages and foods that are high in sugar content.
- Limit your use of cooking methods such as frying and instead use methods such as grilling, roasting, steaming and boiling.
- Count calories, though you will be limiting fat and protein from animal’s, nut butters, nuts and vegetable oils can still add up calories fast even if you are not frying foods.
- Ensure that you get regular amounts of exercise into your routine.
So know you know that becoming a vegan has no set route or time frame you are ready to begin your journey. But where you can you find vegan foods to purchase?
Where can I by Vegan Ingredients
There are actually a lot of places you can find ingredients for preparing your vegan meals. Since more and more people are trying to incorporate less animal products in their diet the food suppliers have responded and now you can get vegan foods easily at your local grocery store. You can find everything from tofu to prepared vegan TV dinners; you can also find an assortment of different types of milk to include, rice and soy milk as well as egg substitutes and vegetarian cheeses etc. You will be able to find all your favourite foods in vegetarian equivalents such as bacon, sandwich slices, dinner roast, burgers, sausages and a number of other food items. But your local grocery store is not the only place you can look and there are a few things that you won’t be able to get there, where can you find these?
1. Natural Foods Stores, Health Food Stores, Co-ops
These stores have a wealth of whole foods that you may not find at your grocery store or you may find them at higher prices. Here you will be able to find things like unusual or new to the market soy products, seitan and tempeh to name a few. You may be familiar with “Whole Foods” which is one of the largest natural food suppliers in the United States. You can easily find their location online or in the yellow pages if you aren’t very tech savvy.
A great thing about these stores too is that they generally have a section for items that are sold in bulk at reduced prices. These items generally have a long shelf life and are used in major recipes and so purchasing in bulk will be ideal. Another advantage for shopping at these stores is that they can source items for you that are not in stock. This is true of even items that they do not usually carry.
2. Produce Stands, Farmers Markets
These are available depending on where you live. They can come weekly or seasonally so you have to look out for them. Here you will be able to find local produce that are grown organically such as vegetables, fruits and eggs. You will find that since these items are coming directly from the source they will be a lot cheaper than what you find in any store. You also get the added benefit of being able to talk to the farmer about what they are selling and ask any questions you may have always wanted to ask about how a particular food item grows. If you are lucky you can also find dairy free salad dressings and spices at these places too.
3. Ethnic grocers
The great thing about purchasing food items at these places is that you get to explore a lot of new flavours. At Asian grocers you will find of course tofu, seaweed, stir fry sauces and vegetable broth among other vegetarian friendly ingredients. In larger stores you can find fruits and vegetables that you wouldn’t be able to find elsewhere. You can also find interesting variations of spices and teas to add to your diet wether vegetarian or not.
At Greek and Middle Easter stores you will find things such as grains, falafel, hummus and things that may be unfamiliar to you such as grape leaves. They are also great places to find dairy free items such as kosher stuff at Jewish grocers.
If you can’t find any of these stores in your area you can always purchase your vegetarian menu items online. You will be able to find everything from items for baking, desert and sauces to mock meats like vegetarian ham and speciality items that you can find nowhere else.
If you are still not sure if adapting a vegetarian lifestyle is right for you let me give you some of the facts on how meat consumption affects the entire world.
What to Do About Hidden Animal Ingredients
When you first start out you don’t have to comb through every last ingredient on the label to find even the tiniest one. Instead you can just look out for the major ones that are obvious right away. An example of being too attentive to the details would be in the case of sugar. Sugar by itself is not from animals and by that rite is considered a vegan food. But there are some sugars who go through a process that involves being mixed with animal bone char. This removes impurities, minerals and colours from the sugar. The end product doesn’t contain the bone char but there are people who would not want to use this sugar and so they prefer to use alternatives such as raw sugar, beet sugar, turbinado and a couple others. While this is ok, you don’t necessarily have to do this and can instead use your time to plan healthy meals with the ingredients you do have.
