13 Strategies for Transitioning to a Vegan Lifestyle

One of the major areas of my life map that I wanted to improve upon this year was my health. (Finances was another big area, but I haven’t yet made enough progress there to report on. Baby steps!) I’ve always slacked off on eating fruits and vegetables as well as exercising – mostly because I don’t have a physical incentive to do so. I’ve been a size 1 since I was 13 (I’m 28 now) and honestly I’ve always had this secret fear that if I did begin to eat healthy and exercise, I would begin to lose weight and look “anorexic.” Over the years, though, I’ve been able to work through most of my body issues and become comfortable with the fact that I have an extremely high metabolism, I’m naturally thin and I’m beautiful even without all the curves that black women are known for.

Little did I know that my journey to a healthy lifestyle would culminate in me becoming a vegan! In case you’re not familiar with all the terms (I wasn’t), a vegan is someone who does not consume meat or animal products. At its most basic, a vegan is a vegetarian who also does not eat eggs or dairy. At this point, I am just a dietary vegan, as I am not eliminating the use of animal products (such as leather) from my life in any other ways. I’m also continuing with most of the things I was doing for my 21-day cleanse – no coffee or soda, plus limited consumption of alcohol, processed sugar (and processed foods in general), white rice and white flour. If you’re interested in adopting this lifestyle for yourself, I can tell you that I’ve already experienced a ton of benefits, both physical and mental. For one thing, I lost five pounds in three weeks! As I mentioned earlier, my goal is not weight loss – just overall better health. But if you do want to lose weight, this diet seems like it would help.

So here are 13 strategies from a newly minted vegan . . . I will try to post some of my recipes and lessons learned here on HBW if folks are interested. Let me know in the comments!

• Read Kris Carr’s book, Crazy Sexy Diet. Seriously. It will transform how you think about your health, what you put into your body and how you treat yourself as a person.  I can honestly count CSD as one of the books that changed my life. I even sent my grandma a copy last week and she’s already beginning to shift her eating habits to address her diabetes.
• Throw out all the non-vegan food in your house. Unless you have other people living with you, of course. Then you’ll probably just have to make sure that you have enough of “your” food stocked up in the house, maybe even in a special cabinet or in one section of the refrigerator. That was actually one of the first things I did when I decided to do Kris Carr’s 21-Day Adventure Cleanse from the book. Once I got rid of my non-vegan options, it was either shape up or starve!
• Use the Vegan Food Pyramid as a guide on what to eat. It looks like a lot of food, but it’s a good reminder for me to get enough calories in. It also helps to ensure you get enough protein in your diet, as this seems to be a concern for people considering a vegan lifestyle. But rest assured, it you eat a well-balanced, plant-based diet full of whole grains you will get all the protein you need. I only need about 40 grams of protein a day and I actually get most of that at dinner with my beans, lentils, tofu and brown rice dishes.
• Shop at local farmers markets, ethnic supermarkets or specialty stores. You will need lots of fresh fruits and veggies and your corner grocery store may not have the best selection. I love Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods in addition to our farmer’s market here for fresh produce and vegan-friendly staples like tofu and other meat alternatives. They also tend to carry the more hard-to-find spices and ingredients that make your veggies taste good.
• Join a CSA or get your produce delivered. I never intend for my busy work schedule to get in the way of me eating healthy, but let’s face it – sometimes you just don’t have time to go to the supermarket. So once a week, I have a box of seasonal fruits and veggies delivered to my apartment from a service that sources from local farms. It’s only about $30 a week and I get a variety of items to last me at least seven days. Just this week, I got fresh peaches, blueberries, broccoli, tomatoes, red chard, lettuce and bananas! Many cities have a similar service, you’ve just got to search the Google.
• Cook your own food and try a new recipe every week. This one is HUGE. Becoming a vegan would be 100% more difficult if I didn’t like to cook. It’s really easy to get bored without meat on your menu. Gotta keep experimenting in the kitchen! So far, my favorite recipe sites are Post Punk Kitchen (thank Ericka for the link!), the Crazy Sexy Diet website, Vegan Dad and Steamy Kitchen (not a vegan site per se, but so many of Jaden’s yummy vegetarian and rice dishes can be adapted). If you like cooking, this can be part of the fun of transitioning to a vegan lifestyle. If you don’t cook much, this could be your catalyst!
• Make smoothies. This is a great way to get your recommended servings of fruits and veggies per day. Since I’m following a lot of what’s in the CSD diet, I’m starting to make green smoothies as part of my daily regimen and get my spinach/kale/fruit on in a natural way. I also add spirulina powder to get additional protein and nutrients.
• Invest in a good blender. So you can make smoothies! Also, many vegan recipes require you to blend sauces or dressings or frostings, so it comes in handy for many different types of meals you may want to try as well. I’m still learning what fruit/veggie combinations I like best, but for now I’m enjoying my spinach/berries/banana mixture with coconut water and orange juice. I have an Oster 7-speed blender and it takes about 2 minutes to mix everything up, even my frozen berries!
• Stock up on vegan snacks. I looove my sweets and snacks, so this is really the hardest part for me as MOST commercial snack products (chips, cookies, cakes, etc.) contain egg, dairy or some trace of animal product like gelatin. Whole Foods has the best vegan snack selection I’ve ever seen, hands down. Right now, I’ve got raw almonds, raisins, dates, brown rice cakes and almond butter in my cabinet. My favorite product by far, though is the Late July vanilla bean sandwich cookies. I call them my “vegan Oreos.”
• Learn to read the labels. Thanks to the CSD book, I know what to look for in terms of ingredients related not only to milk, cheese and meat products, but also processed sugar, high fructose corn syrup and all of its complex cousins. Before I buy any food item, I read the entire label on that sucker and as a result, I realized that some things I thought were vegan are actually not. Same thing with restaurants – read the menus! And when in doubt, ASK what’s in the product or dish.
• Make friends with vegans. I’m only now realizing how many vegan friends I already had. Definitely been connecting with them more during my transition phase and they’ve been so generous with emotional support and of course, recipes!
• Join your local Vegetarian Society. Most major cities seem to have a chapter of the Vegetarian Society. The one we have in DC is extremely active with events, an African American networking group, even a book club! I’d just do a Google search for “vegetarian society” plus the name of your city to see what’s up in your area.
• Join vegan Meetup groups. I just joined the Washington DC Area Meetup Group so I can meet and learn from other vegans in my journey. There’s probably a similar group in your area – just search for “vegetarian” or “vegan” on the Meetup site and enter your city!

I’m really excited about my new lifestyle as a vegan and my body is feeling better than it has in a long time! I’m hoping this step will lead to greater improvements in my health and commitment to exercise, which is something I still struggle with. Next step: find a vegan man

If you’re already a vegan (or vegetarian), what tips would you add to this list? If not, do you think becoming a vegan could make a difference in your own journey to health?

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