I have a hunch that most people who go vegan don’t stay vegan. Many people don’t last longer than a week or two.
Here are five common mistakes people make when they go vegan, which can make it difficult for them to stick with it.
Mistake 1: You start with a 30-day challenge
30-day challenges are popular, and it sounds cool to say you’re doing one.
But when it comes to making significant changes in your diet, and you have little to no prior knowledge about what that looks like, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Eliminating animal products from your diet is simple in theory, but it can be challenging in practice. There’s so much you don’t know:
What a meal without meat looks like.
How to create a filling, delicious meal without meat.
What foods contain animal products.
How to identify vegan options at a restaurant that isn’t vegan-friendly.
Unless you’ve lived with a vegan for quite some time, you’re probably walking into the challenge armed with very little information.
So day after day, you wake up, and you have to figure out what to eat. That’s exhausting and stressful. And don’t even throw “being hungry” into the mix.
If this is what you’re going through, giving up makes sense.
Avoid this Mistake
Instead of doing a 30-day vegan challenge and essentially going vegan overnight, I encourage you to make a plan to transition slowly. That’s what I teach in The Vegan Roadmap Digital Workbook.
You start with the goal of eating 21 vegan meals each week. Each week, you add a few more vegan meals. Here’s what that looks like:
To go vegan in…
Six weeks, add four vegan meals each week
11 weeks, add two vegan meals each week
21 weeks, add one vegan meal each week
The key is keeping a list of your favorite vegan meals each week.
In The Vegan Roadmap, I call these your “Go-To Meals.” These are meals that you really like. Not just meals that you’ll tolerate.
Eventually, you want five go-to meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The goal is to not have to think too hard about what to eat.
Mistake 2: You add additional dietary restrictions
Most people don’t know that vegan (when it comes to food) only means that the food doesn’t include animal products.
A lot of people think that vegan means the food is…
“Healthy”
Low Carb
Sugar-Free
Gluten-Free
“Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose… ”
It has nothing to do with health and everything to do with compassion and non-violence toward animals.
Obviously, you can choose to eat mostly whole foods.
However, if you’re just starting out. And your starting point is the standard American diet, and you…
Eat meat at most of your meals
Eat out a few times a week
Eat dairy, specifically cheese, several times a week
Transitioning from that to a more restrictive vegan diet is doing too much too fast.
Avoid This Mistake
If you’re really going vegan with the intention to stay vegan (and not just follow a fad for a month), approach it in a way that’s sustainable long-term.
You’re already eliminating several food groups by going vegan, don’t eliminate more foods unless medically necessary.
Photo by Mike Kenneally on Unsplash
Mistake 3: You don’t eat enough
It makes me sad to hear someone say, “I went vegan, but I was hungry all of the time.”
You should never be hungry just because you stopped eating animal products.
This happens when you don’t have enough information to create optimal meal plans.
People often assume that vegan meals consist only of salads and smoothies. However, this is a very limited view of what vegan meals can look like.
The truth is vegan meals are full of abundance. There are probably over 20 varieties of vegetables and at least ten types of fruit at your local grocery store. And I’m not talking about Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. I’m talking about Farm Fresh, ShopRite, and Walmart.
There are also so many different grains, beans, nuts, and seeds that you probably don’t even know about and have never tasted.
When prepared with flavorful seasonings and sauces, these foods can create delicious, satisfying, and filling meals.
Avoid This Mistake
Take the initiative to learn about these types meals and expand your food repertoire. Craft meals that are filling, satisfying, and delicious.
Be open-minded and curious. This increases your chances of success.
Mistake 4: You rely on expensive meat substitutes
I used to recommend that people start eating more vegan meals by replacing their meat with a vegan alternative.
These days, I’m rethinking that approach.
While that’s an easy strategy, it can be expensive if you’re cooking for more than one person.
More importantly, it’s a crutch that limits learning.
Avoid This Mistake
Set a goal to learn how to…
Cook satisfying, flavorful, filling meals without meat.
Transform beans, vegetables, grains, tofu, tempeh, spices, herbs, and pantry staples into delicious meals you can’t wait to eat again.
See the possibilities in a vegan diet.
The ultimate goal is to reframe the lens through which you see and perceive food. This is a serious paradigm shift that takes time.
Vegan meals are not synonymous with restriction, scarcity, and limitations.
You just have to learn to see it.
Photo by Becca Tapert on Unsplash
Mistake 5: You Don’t Want to cook
If you depend solely on convenience food and restaurants for your meals, it will be expensive. And unless you live in a city where vegan options are abundant at restaurants (not fast food restaurants), your choices will be limited.
I strongly encourage new vegans to learn how to prepare simple dishes that taste amazing, and are satisfying and filling.
Cooking at home in real life doesn't look like it does on Top Chef.
Avoid This Mistake
Learn how to do simple things like…
Add oil to a pan, sauté, and season vegetables.
Coat vegetables with oil and seasonings and roast them.
Press tofu, pan-fry it, and add your favorite Asian-inspired sauce.
And with some planning, you don’t have to cook every night. Instead, you can prep a few meals worth of food at one time. It takes the same amount of time to roast vegetables for one serving as it does for 4-6 servings.
Learning knife skills changes the whole experience.
You’ll become more confident.
The more confident you are, the more you’ll enjoy it.
The more you enjoy it, the more you’ll do it.