My first 6 months on a plant-based lifestyle.

First off - WOAH! I can not believe 6 months has gone by since we made the decision to live a plant-based lifestyle.  Let me tell you, it has been WAY better than I expected.  Sure, it hasn't been without obstacles but overall, it's been much easier than I imagined. (We tried going plant-based before a few years back and it was horrible... ) I'm here to share with you the five things I've learned in these last six months....

Coconut yogurt, bananas, mango, and chia seeds

The top 5 things I've learned since transitioning to a plant-based diet: 

1) Plant-based and Vegan are not the same thing.  I first started this journey "going vegan."  My understanding was that vegan meant eating no animal products. Right? Well it wasn't long until I realized that I was VERY wrong. (I mean... yes & no...just keep reading) I'm going to go into a deep explanation because I want to be 100% clear.  "Veganism is a philosophy deeply devoted to animal rights, and being a vegan (n.) is a lifestyle choice that involves diets, politics and ethics. Vegans (n.) not only eliminate animal products from their diet, but from all aspects of their lives." (Thanks, Chloe, for the great explanation) Plant-based is a way of eating where you consume whole plant foods (fruits, veggies, nuts, grains, legumes) and do NOT consume animal products & bi-products. On a plant-based diet, you also limit consumption of processed foods.  Basically, Vegan = plant-based but plant-based does not= vegan. *Phew... does that make sense? 

(If you want me to talk more about my experience being "vegan" for the few weeks we called it that, let me know...It was...an adventure in itself)


2) Start simple. You don't need to jump in making super fancy meals, using all the fanciest "must-haves",  or even stray from what you love.  My NUMBER ONE TIP to newbies is to find plant foods you enjoy and EAT MORE OF THEM.  If you transitioning from a omnivore diet, take it one step at a time. Start with your favorite meals dishes and remove all animal products. Now eat those more often!  Don't too much for the first few weeks on eating "the healthiest" or "most balanced" meals. (unless, of course, you're up for it!) For example, make fajitas as you normally would but without the cheese or sour cream.  Make EXTRA guacamole to replace those dairy items and indulge!

My go-to foods are; avocado, tofu, broccoli, rice, and quinoa. They are all incredibly versatile, delicious, and nutrient dense!

3) Experiencing a detox is totally normal. The first few weeks after you've removed all animal products from your diet, you are likely to go through a detox period.  Depending on how your nutrition was previously, you could experience headaches, mood swings, breakouts, exhaustion, etc. Thankfully, the only things we were cutting out was eggs/cheese (as we were previously on a vegetarian diet) so our detox was not as bad. The biggest thing I noticed was headaches and I think the reasoning behind those was that I was not consuming enough. Which leads me to my next point.

4) It's normal to feel hungry more often. On a plant-based diet you will be eating lower calorie foods in larger quantities and you will quickly feel full especially while your body adjusts.  I realized that I need to not worry about what I used to believe (ex: Potatoes are unhealthy carbs and should be eaten VERY infrequently) and just eat what my body wants, when it wants, and however much it wants. I feel confident that I am getting what I need and have an understanding of caloric intake BUT if you need extra help, I highly recommend Cronometer.

5) It's okay to utilize transition foods. (And transition at your OWN pace) I'm gonna be honest here.... when we first made the decision to go vegan, we were terrible at it and used ALL the transition foods.  We still use them occasionally but I'm quickly noticing that I don't like how they taste anymore. (We used them a lot when we were vegetarian) This is part of the reason why we've changed our mindset to "plant-based" over "vegan". Anyways, there are so many mock meats and cheeses on the market and many of them are VERY tasty. I definitely had to give myself grace because I felt like we HAD to go all in and eventually realized, we needed these transition foods (especially for Otto's sake: ie coconut yogurt in place of dairy yogurt which he LOVED) otherwise we would have become quickly discouraged and could easy feel like we "couldn't keep up."

My favorite transition foods are; Treeline Nut Cheese (vegan), Nate's Meatless Meatballs (vegan) and most of the Morningstar Farms product line (vegetarian and vegan).

Now that we've been {almost 100%} animal-product-free for 6 months we are finding our new go-to meals, easy "cheeses" and "cream sauces" that are totally plant based, and a new appreciation for fruits and veggies. My body is CRAVING them all the time.

I am still learning about this lifestyle and what exactly it entails (Can we eat wheat bread, technically? I'm not entirely sure...) but this journey is exciting and always changing.  Moving forward, you may see me share some things that are "vegan" but not "plant-based" and that is because I'm still finding myself and learning more to understand this lifestyle.  PS: If you didn't see this post, go check it out! My class started TODAY!

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If you are feeling like you need inspiration that this is something you can do, check out Tish's video.

PS: If you're curious the impact you're making by transitioning to this lifestyle, check it out! Even 1 plant-based meal a week MAKES A DIFFERENCE.
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