Sometimes the idea of being Vegan isn’t portrayed as you would like it to be. When my friend first told me about her Vegan lifestyle, the only thing I thought about was the food she was avoiding. I believed her choice to be Vegan was very complicated and not realistic. After being friends for three years, I have come to learn that being Vegan isn’t as complicated as I thought it was. I have found that the easiest way to get people to be less weirded out by the diet is by trying these five things.
1.) Cook for them!
A Vegan diet sounds more complicated than it is. Family members or friends may find it unusual. They may have a hard time understanding how normal the food is because they have never seen it called “Vegan” before. Invite them over for dinner sometime or bring Vegan food to a potluck to help them know how the food tastes. It may be good to cook for them a few times. Eventually, you will help them realize that the food is healthy, delicious, and not strange.
2.) Talk about your favorite foods.
Just because you have a new lifestyle doesn’t mean that you don’t love it! Everyone loves food, and each person has their favorite foods. So instead of telling them about all the foods that you are missing, tell them about all the foods you are enjoying. Tell them about the new flavors that you have discovered. Or the new desserts that you have tried that feel good when you eat them! There is no suffering here, and the food is still delicious!
3.) Invite them to your favorite restaurants.
Instead of having people stress out about where they can take you to get food, change it up, and invite them to your favorite food joints. Almost every restaurant has something on the menu that is vegetarian that could transform into a vegan food option. It can be really fun to show people the restaurants that you love that have all the stress free options that you enjoy. We love Mexican, Indian, Thai, and Japanese restaurants.
4.) Be excited about the positive health benefits that you receive.
One of the reasons that I changed my lifestyle was because of the small conversations I had with my friend about being Vegan. Over time it all started to make sense, and it became easier to accept in my mind. It was her example and support that helped me to understand the concepts more and research it more. She told me small things like, “I had a lot of health problems until I started eating this way.” “I lost weight because I started eating this way.” “I have so much energy now that I eat this way.” These conversation bits helped me accept the lifestyle for the benefits.
5.) Tell them who your lifestyle will help in the long run.
Besides healing ourselves with the health benefits, we hope for a better world for everyone. We want people, animals, the environment to be treated better. Our choice to be plant-based may not change everything, but we know we are a step to a bigger plan. This hope fuels us. The knowledge about this change needs to be out there but in a very non-judgmental kind of way. It takes time to change a lifestyle, a community, a culture, and then the world.
I hope this post helps you on your quest to COME TO THE PLANT SIDE!
Sincerely,
Chantel
