Becoming vegan

What is vegan?

Being vegan. Some people are scared of the word or even against it. 

Before you bash it, you should understand what it means. Being a vegan is a type of diet for a lifestyle that excludes any animal products.

Tips for becoming vegan

1. Eat your whole foods: Don’t get full from every meal from carbs such as pasta and bread, include some veggies in your meals to get your nutrients in
2. Get creative: Make food that will make you happy. Enjoying the food you make will make you more motivated to keep you on track of being vegan. 
3. Listen to your body: If you are hungry, eat! Snack on some carrots or peppers, or roast some chickpeas to snack on throughout the day. 
4. Find vegan friends: When you have a supportive community of people that encourages your eating habits, you feel more on track with your process.
5. Do your research: I highly, HIGHLY recommend watching “The Game Changers”, it’s a great documentary about veganism and the science behind it with athletes. Even if you want to make the transition towards this lifestyle or not, this documentary is worth the watch.

Being vegan excludes meat, eggs, dairy or any other animal products.

Going beyond food, some vegans restrict themselves from buying wool clothing, fur, and leather products.

What do they eat?

Vegans don’t starve themselves, they eat a combination of hardy fruits and vegetables, beans, legumes, and grains that make a variety of foods when you make them together. 

There are tons of vegan products out on the market now due to this popular lifestyle. 

Many foods that people eat on the regular can be found in a vegan version, such as ice cream, cheese, veggie burgers, chicken, and mayonnaise. 

There are multiple foods that go around being vegan, such as tofu, which is a meat alternative, and nutritional yeast, which is a cheese alternative. 

As for meals, vegans can eat lots of familiar foods that most people eat, like peanut butter sandwiches, chips and salsa, thai curry, spaghetti, and a green salad. 

How to become vegan

It is important to take the process of becoming a vegan slowly. A person might start being a vegetarian first. 

Being vegetarian means excluding meat from one’s diet. A vegetarian can eat dairy products such as eggs and cheese and then slowly omit those foods until they feel comfortable making the transition to being vegan.

My experience

I’m not vegan, but I do love the idea of people achieving this lifestyle. I went vegan for a week. I got the idea from my co-worker who also wanted to try the new lifestyle. 

I ate lots of grains and vegetables for every meal, which caused a lot of meal prepping. 

Because I only did it for a week, I didn’t really feel much different, the main thing I felt was less tired. 

The grain I ate made me feel bloated, that’s why I try and avoid grain in my everyday diet. 

Every Monday, I have “Meatless Mondays.” I try and not to eat meat just to make me feel better about my eating habits. 

I learned that the lifestyle of being vegan is a huge commitment. There is a lot of temptation in our society about meat making a person manly and stronger, to avoid those advertisements the market puts up is a huge accomplishment. 

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the GENESIS staff. Email Felisha Campanello at [email protected] .