3 Axioms of a Vegan/Vegetarian Diet
I’ve sustained myself for four and a half years on mostly vegetable diets. I want to share what I’ve learned to make the transition easier for those who choose the same.
I didn’t write this article to convince you to become a vegetarian or a vegan. If you want convincing see here.
What are the Axioms?
1.) You will have to explain yourself.
Family gatherings and dinners with friends can get awkward until you are comfortable with your new choices.
2.) You will need to prepare in advance.
There will be many times when there are no vegetarian or vegan options. You may have to bring food with you to social gatherings.
3.) You will need to learn new recipes.
Becoming vegetarian or vegan doesn’t just mean cutting meat and dairy out. It is replacing these foods with healthy and easy alternatives that poses the problem.
So, those are the axioms, but what to do about it?
- What do you say when it gets awkward?
- How to prepare in advance?
- Where do you learn to cook new recipes?
Explanations
If your family or friends are genuinely curious about your dietary choices, explain your reasoning. Invite them to join you.
But certainly, don’t turn the conversation into an argument. Remember that diet choices are intensely personal and sometimes even based on medical concerns.
If you want more people to join the plant eater ranks, making your conversation partner defensive won’t work.
If they are joking, take it with good humor and give them a little tease back.
“God made thousands of delicious and nutritious plants, and you all eat the same four dead animals for every meal?”*
*I lost the source for this joke, but it was a young woman on social media making fun of her meat-eating friends.
Advance preparation
There are no vegetarian or vegan-friendly options at the social gathering?
The severity of the situation depends on how hardcore your convictions are.
If you are strict and won’t allow animal products to enter your body, think to prepare in advance. Or you can eat before you go. Not a very social solution, but it can get you through the event.
For snacks, think of fruit, carrots, or celery sticks coupled with hummus or peanut butter, a sandwich, or some nuts. There are processed foods you can buy at the store too. Granola bars for example.
Learning new recipes
I think having to learn new skills is the biggest obstacle to most people going vegan/vegetarian.
There’s no easy button for this. You are going to have to do the work. But acting purposefully can make it easier.
Here are three tricks to make it easier:
1.) Adapt one meal at a time.
Figure out your breakfast first. Breakfast is the easiest meal to adapt to a plant-based diet. Get something consistent that doesn’t need much thought or time, like oatmeal. Add some fruits or nuts. Voila, you’re a third of the way through the day.
2.) Buy a cookbook, or create a YouTube playlist with recipes you’d like to cook.
a.) Stick those new recipes or meals on a calendar. Try one new recipe each week until you have learned enough that you will have plenty of variety during the week.
3.) Batch cook.
Batch cooking will make sure that you don’t fall back on easy and fast options that are technically vegetarian/vegan but that don’t offer a lot of nutritional value like pasta, lettuce salads, and potato chips.
Additional Considerations
Where will I get my protein?
If you are worried about protein, get yourself a pressure cooker and some dried beans. You’ll save your wallet and decrease your impact on the environment at the same time.
The Ultimate Pressure Cooker Time Chart is hands down my most re-visited web page. It is a great resource if you don’t instinctively know how long to cook your beans. (No one knows this instinctively.)
And no, beans should not be equated with flatulence.
Whoever has that problem
a.) isn’t preparing their beans correctly, or
b.) isn’t washing them enough.
I still don’t know what to eat!
See here for some ideas.
Are there any downsides to Vegetarian/Vegan diet?
See here for a personal story of when I was diagnosed with anemia. Sure, not eating red meat was a contributing factor, but only one of many.
How about you? What is your experience eating vegetarian or vegan? Do you have any good recipes to share?