“Vegan” a word that is more familiar than ever! I would probably go as far as saying it is more familiar than Bumbershoot, which is an umbrella if you didn’t know. A few years ago this word (vegan) would have hardly been recognised whereas today a lot more people either know someone who is vegan or have looked into being vegan themselves. I have been vegan almost two years and I am so happy that I made the change. It has made me feel a lot better with things such as digestion, skin, and energy. I also recover from training a lot faster than I used to. Don’t get me wrong I am not claiming to be super human I am just stating some of the benefits that I have felt. It makes me laugh when I say I am aching from training to someone who is not educated on nutrition and their response is “but aren’t you vegan” like because you’re vegan you are saying you’re superman or in my case Ant-Man. Some of these benefits sound great right? But what to do next? Well I am going to give you five tips to help get you started.
Research
Make sure that you do your own research. Use websites, books, and documentaries. They are all useful for educating yourself on going vegan. I would start with reading the China Study and Food Over Medicine both books are powerful and good reads. As for documentaries I don’t think you can go wrong with Forks Over Knifes, Cowspiracy, and Earthlings.
Use Social Media
I am not going to lie I am not a big fan of social media for personal use but for connecting with people, learning and educating it is second to none. If you are one of the few left who are not using social media, get yourself on there and start connecting with other people you more than likely will never meet face to face.
Focus on Wholefoods
This should be a given in any lifestyle that you choose to follow. However, lessons learnt from having many clients over the years is that this does not happen. I have heard some ridiculous comments about food over the years and it has been quite funny. The one that always gets me is “it’s brown bread so it is better than white bread”. Let’s be honest they are both awful. No nutritional value whatsoever. So try to base your diet around wholefoods such as vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, and nuts. With these food groups it’s hard to go wrong. I am writing this whilst drink a banana, avocado, and blueberry smoothie and I don’t want it to end.
Disregard The Vegan Myths
There are plenty of vegan myths out there. The one that always gets me is that when you’re vegan your Mum leaves a banana under your pillow rather than money when your tooth comes out. Of course this is a joke however, if this does happen to you I’m jealous. The main ones that I hear a lot are “you can not get enough protein”. Best way to prove this wrong is to track your calories. If you are sticking to a wholefoods diet, protein intake will not be a problem and without even trying I bet you will hit 100 plus grams of protein easy. If not let me know and I would love to see what you’re eating. Simple choices such as beans and pulses will easily get you there. Another one that gets me is “you must be hungry all the time because you can not eat anything”. I don’t think so you doughnut, yes that’s right there are vegan doughnuts out there. But in all honesty every time I eat I enjoy it you just have to be creative. Educate yourself with recipes and you will soon find some that you love. If there are certain things that you don’t think you can go without then find alternatives. Trust me they are out there.
Enjoy It!
This is probably the most important tip. If you don’t enjoy it then it is unlikely that you will continue with it. There are ways to make it enjoyable. Try different recipes and smoothies. You will find some that you will love I’m confident of it. Be proud of what you’re doing and it will inspire others. It has happened to me several times and it’s such a good feeling.
By Ant
