Making the Change to Veganism: The 5 Things You Should Know

Making a major dietary transition can be difficult without the proper education and support. Here are the top 5 things that you need to keep in mind when making the transition to veganism.

1. (Almost) Everybody cheats.
There is absolutely no sense in beating yourself up if you fail to eat 100% vegan all the time. If you have a bad day and fall back on an old comfort food, chalk it up to the bad day, not to personal backsliding. The simple fact of the matter is that everybody slips up from time to time, and berating yourself because you had a slice of cheese pizza isn't going to do anyone any good. It would serve only to make yourself feel lousy about yourself, which is likely to make you actually backslide, which is exactly what you don't want to happen.

Some vegans have a cheat food that offers them comfort. For some it's chocolate or their grandmother's corned beef sandwiches on rye. The nature of the food doesn't matter nearly as much as your personal convictions. If you feel yourself sliding away from your ideals as a whole, then you have a problem, but if you fail to notice that the chocolate you were offered has milk in it until after the fact, the damage has already been done and there's nothing else left to do but move forward on your path.

2. You're making a great decision for yourself and those around you.
Studies have shown countless benefits to eating a vegan diet. Not only are you no longer exposing yourself to the horrors of the meat-packing industry, from unsafe work conditions to the hormones and antibiotics pumped into most farm-raised livestock and poultry, but you also reduce your diet to the things that your body really finds essential.

The human body does not need to eat other animals to survive; in fact, our digestive tracts are not fully equipped to process large amounts of animal protein. The high rate of heart disease currently epidemic in the western world today can be directly linked to the large amounts of animal flesh in everyday diets. When doctors operate on patients with heart problems and remove blockage from veins and arteries, the thick white substance being removed from the patient's body is all animal fat, which is still solid at 98.6 degrees and cannot be pushed through the body fast enough to purge it. Instead the fats solidify in the body, creating high blood pressure and arteriosclerosis, among many other equally unpleasant coronary diseases.

In addition to the health benefits of being vegan, your choice to pursue a purer dietary track also has lasting benefits for the environment. The earth is not large enough or productive enough to support over 6 billion people eating the way that they currently do. A vegan diet cuts down on the amount of land needed to support you, as your food is coming from land used to grow crops rather than to raise cattle or other meat. Using the land to grow crops rather than animals is infinitely more effective, as it requires a large amount of land to grow the crops that the animals eat. Being vegan, you just cut out the middle man (or animal) and your food is coming straight from the ground to your plate.

You, as a new vegan, are also not consuming any animal flesh, which means that you're doing your part to undermine the workings of an industry that does not have your best interests at heart. If enough people can do what you're doing, perhaps the meat industry will learn a lesson about what people really want and will change forever.

3. You're not "being difficult" or "hard to accommodate."
Meat-eaters and vegetarians alike have long winced or even scoffed when a vegan speaks up about their dietary choices. Vegans are often seen as "picky" or "high-maintenance," regardless of the fact that most vegans are typically quite understanding that not everyone has a diet quite like theirs. Don't let anyone make you feel as though your choices aren't reasonable; you're making a fabulous choice, and their obstinance springs largely from lack of understanding. There is no need to feel as though you can no longer go out to eat with your omnivorous friends and co-workers. Almost all restaurants offer a salad option, and many dressings are both vegan and commercially available, even in fast food places.

If you're worried about time constraints and fitting a specialized meal into your short lunch break, never fear-- even fast food giant Burger King has a vegan option (the veggie burger without mayo, with fries). If you get tired of salads, as you're apt to do from time to time, there's always pasta; the vast majority of Italian restaurants create their tomato sauces (pomodoro, marinara) completely without the use of any animal products.

4. You catch more meat-eaters with compassionate understanding.
The absolute best thing that you can do is lead by example. For a long time, I had serious qualms about becoming vegan because the friends that I had who were vegan were not exactly exemplary cooks. I associated veganism and vegan food in particular with curries (which I don't like), weird carob-fruit combinations, and food that was often dry, bland, or overseasoned. When I eventually made the leap from being an omnivore to being a vegan, it was because I was introduced to a variety of genuinely good-tasting cuisine. I, as a chef, welcomed the challenge to learn to create all of my favourite dishes (and those of my loved ones) in a healthier, more environmentally-conscious way. When I made the transition, mind you, it came because of an extensive exposure to the truth about veganism, much of which was prompted by my own research. I watched videos regarding the medical effects of eating animals and noticed that my vegan friends rarely, if ever, were ill. I began to wonder what I was missing.

This is to say, of course, that I was not at all converted by militant bullying, by people easily offended and determined to seperate the culinary debate into a discussion of what was "right" and "wrong." Right for one person does not necessarily mean right for another, or right for anyone else. Making the transition to a vegan diet is difficult and requires a great deal of fortitude and support, and it cannot be done in an environment of naysaying and guilt. You should make the transition because you want to, because you feel that it is the right choice for you at the right time, and not for any other reason. Likewise, you should make sure that the people around you are offered the same luxury. Present them with options and good examples of vegan food, let them know your own reasons for making the transition if they ask, but do not, under any circumstances, bully them into changing their diet or make them feel guilty for the foods that they do eat. Everyone is different, and we each have so many needs and emotions tied around food that to undermine one's security in that regard has the potential to do far more damage than good.

5. There are plenty of resources available for you. This is not a transition that you need to go through alone. Internet searches will yield names and locations of vegan potlucks in your area, and there are countless sites aimed at providing you with all the information necessary to defend your new lifestyle from naysayers and educate you about what you can expect. Online guides will let you see menus before ever making it into a restaurant, so you can see ahead of time whether an establishment carries food that you can eat.

If you're considering making the transition and have questions in need of answers, check out www.goveg.com, a site with considerably comprehensive knowledge regarding the change to veganism. The internet is truly the vegan's best friend. When you need a new vegan recipe, you can search for it online, and if you can't find exactly what you're looking for, you'll be able to learn plenty about the art of vegan substitution in the kitchen. There's no excuse for not cooking up a vegan storm of your own!