Tips for Becoming Vegan

Here are a few tips to help you on your way to becoming vegan:

You don’t need to transition slowly, many people go vegan overnight. Once you make the connection as to why eating meat, dairy and eggs is wrong you’ll most likely lose all desire to eat these foods. Don’t bother eating the rest of the animal foods in your fridge and cupboard, this will just draw out the process and you probably won’t enjoy it! Our suggestion is to give any animal foods to friends, or donate to food banks if they are long life products.

Make sure you eat enough. Plant-based foods tend to be less calorically dense than animal foods so you will more than likely need to eat more than you are used to, another benefit of a vegan diet!

You may experience some stomach discomfort for a few days, possibly a week or so, after changing your diet due to the increase in fibre, don’t panic. It will return to normal shortly and your digestion will soon be better than ever.

Don’t worry about protein intake! Or any other nutrients for that matter (except vitamin B12 - see below). A vegan diet is extremely nutritious. Try and make up the majority of your diet from whole foods (fruits, vegetables, wholegrains, legumes, nuts, seeds, etc.) and you will have no problems at all. This article should calm any worries about protein: The Rise of Plant-Powered Body Builders.

The only supplement that is recommended on a vegan diet is Vitamin B12 (take one to two 1000microgram tablets a week). This is not as a result of any deficiencies in a plant-based diet but due to the excessively clean process of modern crop farming (Vitamin B12 is produced by bacteria in soil). Click here for everything you need to know about B12. Go for the Methylcobalamin variety as these are more effective, available here for a very good price.

Although not everyone cares about eating healthily... so for all you junk food lovers out there we’ve got lots of great recommendations in our Vegan Foods and Eating Out sections!

If you ever begin to doubt your decision to become vegan, whether it be because of things that your friends and family are saying to you or you have any concerns about nutrition; just remember what made you change in the first place. Watching a video or two about the farming industry will bring it all back and reaffirm why you are making a stand against the needless suffering and slaughter of billions of animals every year.

All major supermarket own brand toiletries are not tested on animals and you’ll find just about everything you need in Superdrug’s own brand line (these are labelled as suitable for vegans and approved by Cruelty Free International). These all tend to be very good value for money.

Get in touch with other members of the society / other vegans if you ever have any questions or concerns (maybe you're worried that a vegan diet will be more expensive, it really isn't!) we’re all here to help. Alternatively, there is a huge amount of information available online.

Don’t stress over getting rid of non-vegan clothing and toiletries you already have. You’ve already bought them and the damage is done. After wearing them out / using them up, replace them with cruelty free products or if you wish to get rid of them straight away, we suggest donating them to a charity shop or giving them to a friend, it’d be a waste to bin them.

If you’re worried about what you’ll be able to eat in cafés and restaurants then have a quick search online before you go; most places have plenty of options. Alternatively, we have lots of suggestions in our Cafés, Restaurants and Food on the Go sections to save you the trouble.

Food will often be labeled as saying “May contain traces of eggs and/or milk”. Do not worry as this is just a legal health and safety warning for people that are extremely allergic to these foods. This is due to factories and machinery that are used for other products that contain these ingredients. As long as no animal products are mentioned in the main ingredient list then the product is okay to eat.

If you accidentally eat something that contains animal products don’t beat yourself up about it. Your knowledge of what foods are and are not okay to eat will get better and better as time goes on and these mistakes won’t last.

When you first turn vegan many people may debate or argue with you about the change you’ve made as they may (possibly without even realising) feel the need to justify their decision to eat meat, dairy and eggs. You might not have all the answers to their accusations at first but don’t get disheartened if you can’t counter their argument! As time goes on you will gain more and more knowledge about the subject and will soon be able to deal with any arguments with logic and well-reasoned replies. This page http://www.vegansidekick.com/guide is particularly helpful for learning the ins and outs of the common arguments.

If you are ever unsure if a non-food product you are looking to buy is suitable for vegans then have a look around online to see if you can find an answer. If this fails, simply email the company asking if the product contains any animal derived ingredients and if the product or its ingredients are tested on animals, most companies are pretty quick at responding and are very helpful! For more information click here.