Going Vegan – Beginners Guide.

What if I gave you an easy solution (or two) for cutting out meat and dairy? Would you try it?

I have had so many people ask for my suggestions on trying to cut out meat and dairy and realistically what that looks like, is it possible, and can it be easy?

Absolutely, 100% yes.

It can be realistic for you and your family.

It does not have to be a HUGE drastic change.

It can be as easy or complicated as you want it to be.

It will be delicious.

For health reasons, I completely changed my diet last April. Because my hormone receptors were so high (99 and 100% +) for estrogen and progesterone – meaning that my breast cancer was fed through these hormones, it was necessary for me to change my diet. I decided, after much research and conversation with people much more knowledgable than me, that I needed to “go” vegan (aka no products from an animal – however I do consume honey and any soy I eat has to be organic), gluten free, no processed foods or added sugar. I do eat gluten every so often and processed food is hard to pass up when I’m in a pinch. Added sugar can be necessary when I’ve had a hard day parenting my toddler, but for the most part I stick to it.

Now, what about you? No, you may not have cancer (or any other life threatening diagnosis) thank goodness! Why would this benefit you? hmmm…. I could make a list of 1,000 reasons without even pausing to think, but the best way to put it would be for prevention of any disease or dis-ease in your body (aka auto-immune, digestion issues, predisposed to any genetic problems, headaches, fatigue, inflammation, lack of sleep – gosh I could go on and on), but the main word being PREVENTION! You want to live and be your best self for you, your family, your kids, your future… that doesn’t include eating fried chicken and a coke every week unless your my husband and he may disagree. 

I am a BIG BELIEVER in not treating the problem once you already have it, rather preventing it NOW! Your diet is the one thing that you have control of and I truly believe food is one of the best medicines out there. Feed your body what it needs.

Now, what are some easy changes you can do, we will talk about this through a few posts, but here are some easy suggestions to get you going:

1. Drink Green Tea. All day long! There are caffeinated and decaffeinated versions. I drink caffeine ones in the morning and fora pick me up in the afternoon, then decaf at night. Specifically, I drink Matcha green tea – has more antioxidants. When you’re not drinking green tea, drink water. Lots of it! you should be drinking at least half of your body weight in ounces of water everyday.
2. Meal Plan! When you’re in a pinch, its SO EASY to not eat well. Pick one day every week, spend a few hours deciding what you will eat for the week, then prep and stick with your plan. Use Kroger Clicklist or Walmart’s shopping option for groceries so you don’t have to do it yourself. Amazon is also a great way to get all of the essentials.
3. Find substitutions that you love and start trading them out. Play around with recipes, find 2-3 that you can cook really well and cook those, then add another one every other week or so until you have a handful of recipes that you like, are easy, and healthy. Oh She Glows and Minimalist Baker are two fantastic cooks that have great vegan options for meals that you would seriously think weren’t vegan at all. Find something that looks delicious and try it.

Now what?!?  I have a TON of ideas and how to get started. I’ll start with breakfast on my next post, tomorrow!

Stay Tuned!