More and more people are switching to a vegan lifestyle every day, and with the new year about to start and veganuary coming up, you might be thinking about it too. But becoming vegan isn’t quite as easy as a simple diet change: getting rid of all and any animal products is not just a vast change to your consumption and even your routine, it’s also a dedication to a cause. Because of the struggles people have with the transition, we’ve come up with some tips to help you do it properly.
1 – Do Your Research
A lot of products you already use might be vegan, for example New York Bakery Co. Bagels or Cadbury’s Bournville chocolate. Vegan blogs often write about ‘accidentally vegan’ products, which can help you find the products you already use that are vegan, making it feel like less of a drastic change.
2 – Join Subscriptions Or Online Communities
Finding recipes and meal ideas can be difficult when going vegan, but meal plan subscriptions, vegan magazines and vegan blogs are the best way to find inspiration, reviews and up and coming vegan trends. Branded vegan foods can sometimes come with recipe cards or ideas of how to use that product and you can sometimes find more inspiration on their websites as well.
3 – Find Your Motivation
While deciding to go vegan you may have already found your motivation, but as a change to your daily life it can be easy to forget why you’re picking this route, or lose your incentive. So do your research, watch some documentaries and find your inspiration.
4 – Don’t Go ‘Cold Turkey’
The transition to vegan is better to do slowly if you want to stick to it. Gradually replacing animal products with vegan alternatives allows your body to acclimate to the diet, start with animal products you won’t miss and begin incorporating vegan foods you don’t already eat.
5 – Find Your Supermarket
Finding the supermarket for your vegan diet is important, because even in 2020 a lot of shops have only a small range of vegan foods, and shopping around for ages isn’t something everyone has time to do. It might take a few weeks to find the shop you prefer, with the largest range or the best range, but it’s definitely worth it to find everything you want and need in one place.
Words by Daisy Grace Greetham, Graphics by Victoria Zhao
