Being vegan is not easy, at least not for me. The main reason for my blog and my Instagram account are to hold myself accountable. That means that I am overly enthusiastic online all the time, showing my success as a vegan. The truth is, there are a LOT of times where I am successful, but there have been a few setbacks too. There have been 3 occasions that I can think of when I ate a non-vegan item. It has been 57 days today that I have been embracing this lifestyle. The important part is, when I ate the non-vegan item, I just moved on. I didn’t cave and keep eating that way. I acknowledged it, and then set my sights on continuing to eat vegan. In my personal opinion, three small discrepancies (I mean seriously, one of them was one of those little Ferrero Rocher candies) over the course of two months is not too bad! I have to remember that I have been eating a meat based diet for 26 years, and change is not easy.
I find it helpful to have a lot of bananas on hand. Those work for when I am too tired to make a new recipe or go food shopping, but still need some vegan food to hold me over until I decide what to cook.
I also find it helpful to have peanut butter and vegan dark chocolate. These are the things that keep me away from the candies! Not to mention, with bananas, these are a treat (see my banana bites post!).
I have to wake up a lot earlier to make sure that I have time to eat an entire vegan breakfast. Eating fruit takes a long time. This is sometimes tiresome, but when I get a good nights sleep, it’s rewarding to be up early.
I live in an apartment complex where I try not to make too much noise in the morning. If I want a smoothie at 6am, I find it helpful to make it the night before, leave it in the blender in the fridge, and then just hit the pulse button once or twice in the morning. The smoothies still taste just as good, and I don’t feel like a terrible neighbor.
I have a lot more dishes. This might be because I am packing more food, using more knives and cutting boards, and cooking a lot more – but it adds up to a little more effort.
Sometimes the combination of foods in my stomach does not produce good results, and my day gets slightly changed because of it. I think this is a food combination issue that I will have to figure out.
I have not yet determined what to do about my B12. I know that down the line this will present an issue, and I will need to take supplements or get injections. It has not been long enough to tell. Also many cereals are fortified with B12, as well as 5 hour energy drinks, etc. I try to avoid caffeine so I haven’t had any of those, and I haven’t had my levels tested. That will have to be done shortly to see where I stand!
The purpose of this post is not to discourage anyone from being vegan, but to tell you a few things that I have noticed, and the bumps in the road from a normal perspective, not one that is overly bubbly or focusing only on my successes. I plan to continue to use this blog, and my Instagram to post all my successes as motivation to continue forward, and I am very happy with the choice I made. I just want to express that it is not an easy change, but it is absolutely worth it. It is also completely obtainable. I feel happier, healthier, and I have more energy than I did before. Additionally I feel like I have control of what goes into my body and I feel good about it. I see this as a lifestyle change, not a diet, and longevity is the goal. To anyone considering being vegan – you have nothing to lose if you just try it out!