What I Learned From Being Vegan For Nine Years

If you stay away from processed vegan food and stick with the just as delicious plant based dishes, they tend to be very low in calories. Which means you can eat bigger portions and oftentimes you’ll find yourself as full as ever with half the calories. It really is a good diet for those trying to lose weight or who like to eat a lot. Especially, if you choose to eat clean.

This is something a lot of people don’t understand. When people think vegan they automatically think salads and fruits. However, I was the queen of junk food veganism. In the beginning of my lifestyle change I did lose a lot of weight from eating raw vegan (which is a whole other extreme). However, later down the road I discovered how many amazing alternatives there are. Cookies, chips, pastas, vegan meats (like tacos, chicken nuggets, burgers), and vegan cheese. They are just as delicious as the real thing, but they are extremely processed and can be wicked high in calories.

There are so many benefits to going vegan and this is one of them. I was so full of life and energy when I was vegan. I was vegan for nine years, but ended my veganism about a year ago. Since stopping I’ve felt nothing but lethargic and tired from all the heavy and unhealthy foods I’ve eaten. I miss all the energy it gave me and it shows what a difference your diet can make in your life.

A lot of people will have something to say about your veganism. The best thing to do is ignore them because only you can define your rules of veganism. There are some extreme vegan activist and they’ll shame you for things like wearing leather shoes or not eating raw vegan. There is no such thing as a perfect vegan. Sometimes non-vegan foods are just unavoidable. Two things I did that I got a lot of criticism for, is I wore Adidas Superstars, and ate honey. I got criticism from both vegans and non-vegans for this, but I had my reasons. I’m not perfect and I set the rules and limits to my veganism and the same for anyone who decides to go vegan. For some people it’s just a diet and to some it’s a lifestyle. There will always be someone your not vegan enough for.

Just like for anything in life there are gonna be haters. Vegans have gotten a really bad reputation over the years. Many people assume that you’re hardcore vegan activist especially if you try to defend yourself or explain anything about veganism to them. I’ve gotten every objection or argument there is surrounding veganism from haters. They’ll try anything to make your lifestyle seem dumb or a bad idea. All it ever goes to show is how little people know about being vegan. My advice for you in this aspect is to do your research. Know as much as you can about diet and lifestyle, so that way when the haters try to start an argument with you, you can kindly and quickly shut them down. Don’t get me wrong, I love having discussions with people and hearing both sides of the argument because not everything about veganism is perfect. However, it gets old hearing “You don’t get enough protein” or “Plants have feelings too” over and over.

I know some people struggle with gaining the support of their family when going vegan. This is something I had a hard time with for years. I was constantly belittled by my family about my veganism at every meal and it took years to gain their support. Eventually, they will accept your lifestyle and learn how to accommodate you. It’s important to not only keep educating your family about veganism, but it’s also important to make it clear it’s something that’s important to you. Once they know how to be able to accommodate your dietary needs and understand it’s something you are serious and passionate about, they will learn to accept it whether they agree with it or not.

This is probably the only real problem I had with being a vegan. No one wants to cook every single night and going out to eat every once in a while is a nice little treat most people enjoy. It’s even better when you can go out with your family and friends, but that’s where it gets tricky. A lot of restaurants offer vegetarian options, but not much more than fries and a house salad for vegans. There are some restaurants, depending on where you live, that heavily cater to vegans, however trying to get non-vegans to dine at a vegan restaurant is difficult to say the least. My advice if you wanna go out to eat with your non vegan friends is to look at the restaurant’s menu ahead of time. This way you can see if there are any vegan options and if there aren’t you can see if there are any dishes you can modify. Many places are a lot more accommodating than when I first started being vegan, so don’t be afraid to ask to modify a dish!