The KInd Life Community Forum

Chelsea, congrats on deciding a vegan diet is the route for you :) You are on the right track. It's completely normal to feel a little overwhelmed when making a huge change like you are but what I try to tell people switching from a meat/dairy diet is to take baby steps at first so you don't feel overwhelmed all at once. What I recommend doing is replacing your meat items first with some non-meat items to try out (these are mostly soy based). When I first went vegan (I didn't really eat red meat too much but I did like chicken). I recommend the Boca brands (vegan burgers, spicey chicken patties) or the Morning Star brand is really good too (they have great mini corn dogs, chicken patties, etc) you can find this in the frozen section of any supermarket store so that's a way to start replacing meat items with non-meat substitues. Also try out some beans :) Before I went vegan I didn't realize just how good beans are, and just how much protein they have as well (my favorites are lentils and black beans). Beans are a regular staple of my diet day to day and you'll soon realize that beans are a huge source of protein for your body & they are filling too. Also have you picked up The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone? Once I read through her book, it completely transformed my way of life. She really helps explain why a vegan diet is a kinder solution to your body as well as for the planet too, I highly recommend you pick that up. Also I highly recommend reading Vegan for Life by Jack Norris and Virginia Messina, this book is fantastic too! Gives you a very detailed explanation on how to live a vegan life :) What I recommend for getting off dairy is to try out the different non-dairy drinks. I personally love soy milk (I use Silk light and I love their chocolate soy light milk) ..very yummy. Also rice milk is very good too, it resembles dairy milk pretty well. Rice milk has the same smooth texture as dairy milk but it's much better for you. Hopefully that helps you a little bit on the meat/dairy area. The main thing to keep in mind when switching to a vegan diet is to not think of how you are giving up meat/dairy, its more like how you are trying out the wide variety of nourishing foods for your body. I'd say at this point for you, I would "flirt" with the various vegan foods out there. In Alicia's book, she has a section on being "flirt" and suggests a lot of products to pick up and try out, you'll be surprised just how good vegan/vegetarian substitues are. Good Luck :)