THE VEGAN DECALOGUE: HOW TO GO VEGAN IN TEN EASY STEPS.
If you are not born in a vegan family, going vegan could be something scary: everywhere, you will see and heard people warning you about the terrible consequences of this choice. Anaemia, lack of essential elements to life and development, anorexia, “if you have canines, there must be a reason”, …and all the other common places about veganism.
But this must not induce you to lose hope: passed the panic of being (probably) alone in this new adventure to protect the world as a whole, with the help of these 10 steps everything will be easier.
- If you passed the major part of your life eating meat and drinking milk, you are addicted to that type of tastes. Vegan food is not tasteless, but simply different: you have to accustom to these new flavours. Maybe you can try “veganize” your “old food”, for example modifying the ragout using seitan, and gradually introducing all other novelties, such as tofu, vegetable milk, tempeh…
- Enhance vegetables and legumes: in a non-vegan life, you have been grown thinking of these foods just as side dishes. Conversely, vegetables and legumes can be the main course of the meal. It is just a matter of prospective.
- Try, try, try. The savour of the first “vegan substitute” you eat will probably not rejoice your taste buds, but do not be discouraged: there are thousand things to experience. For example, vegetable milk is numberless, from soy milk to oat milk, from rice milk to almond milk, from hazelnut milk to coconut milk… you just have to choose.
- Diversify your diet: always eating the same thing is not just unhealthy, but even boring. Boredom, in the long run, will depress everyone and will bring you to believe that the vegan diet you chose is not something good for you. The internet is full of vegan recipe suitable for all, from the laziest till the more complex challenges for the bravest vegan MasterChef. And if you are not so technological, in every bookshop you will find at least ten different vegan-recipe-books!
- For your own wellness, especially in the first phase, you should contact an expert in vegetable nutrition. It is not uncommon that people approaching the vegan diet are enthusiastic, and this enthusiasm can be both positive and negative. Indeed, it is necessary to remain mentally sane: you are changing your lifestyle completely, and so it is fundamental to evaluate what your body require. A nutritionist can help you elaborating a planned diet and making sure you will not meet health problem.
- Remember: you are a single person and you cannot change the entire world, but think about the animals you will save simply by not eating them. Likewise all the other industries, the one which exploit the animals need to have a demand to continue the production of the offer: the market rules are the same. If the demand reduces, in the long run the offer must reduce or costs will become unsustainable, and this means that the farm industry will considerable decrease the number of animals bred.
- Read the label! That is the best advice in order to become a real vegan: unless you are in a vegan shop, the label are your best friends, because they warn you if in what you want to buy there is something hidden. Usually the offending substance is… milk powder. You will find out by yourself: it is everywhere.
- Try ethnic food: many traditional foods in other cultures are already vegan. The principal is the hummus, a Middle East delicious specialty made of chickpeas, but even falafel, vegetable patties made with fava beans, are great. In every culture you can find something vegan, you just have to search for them.
- Explore the natural and organic food stores. In these shops you can find “newer foods”, which are not necessary for the vegan diet, but are similar to the “old food”. For example, you can find vegan meat and hotdogs, that can be shared with non-vegan friends, to enjoy a nice evening.
- Lastly, remember that someone will always feel accused by your choice (ahhh, what a great thing the consciousness), even if you have not say a word. Just ignore them, or you will go haywire.
Learn more: https://www.oipa.org/international/veg/
