How to go vegan without losing your mind

The dreaded five-letter word. The joke of the meme world. While I’m all for a good vegan joke (because let’s face it, they’re funny as hell), let me tell you about the time I went vegan for half a year. Naturally, I’m a vegetarian because of medical reasons, but I mostly identify as a ‘junk food vegetarian’…because pizza is the essence of life, amirite?

I had been looking into the vegan diet for quite sometime before actually jumping right into it. There was so much I didn’t know and so much I continued to learn while on this diet.

What I have ultimately learned from this diet is that going vegan is the absolute best thing anyone can do for their body. Period.

How to start

Not only is this beneficial for your health, it’s scientifically proven to help your mind, body and overall mood. The easiest way to start is to not look at veganism as this complex diet. It really is as simple as eating your fruits and vegetables. If you can go two weeks of eating just fruits and veggies, you will notice a dramatic change in your energy levels and how you feel on a daily basis. If you can do it two weeks, push it farther than that. The more you dive into the vegan diet, the easier it is to choose organic foods over processed foods. Be warned that there is vegan junk food…stay away from it (it’s addictive!)

What even is veganism?

A lot of people get vegan confused with vegetarian. Vegan means made with 100 percent plant-based ingredients including zero meat, eggs, dairy or any animal byproducts at all including honey. For me, the dairy was the hardest to get rid of (Fact: Dairy causes bloating! Eliminate dairy from your diet and you’ll notice a huge difference). You honestly just need to gain all the willpower to make the best decision for your body and overall health. There are actually several foods you can find in your local grocery store that you would never think are vegan– just get into the habit of taking a look at the ingredients! (i.e. BBQ Pringles…yes, they are vegan. WTF?)

Try “Raw Til 4”

Freelee the Banana Girl. Ever heard of her? If not, feel free to look her up on Youtube. She is a vegan activist and spokesperson who inspired me to give the vegan diet a shot. Her entire diet is a high-carb, low-fat vegan diet, which entails eating all raw organic foods until 4 p.m. everyday, where you can then cook your vegan meals to your liking. It can certainly be a challenge to keep up with this kind of diet, but it’s the diet that helped me lose weight, tone up, and feel absolutely fantastic everyday. I’m indebted to this diet!

Carbs are our friends

Calm down. Not all carbs are bad! In fact, a lot of veggies are very high in carbohydrates, and our bodies are designed to need carbs to survive — they are essential to our everyday diets. Fruits are also high in these excellent carbs and help fill us up quick with all the nutrients we need, as well as sugars (yes, there is such a thing as good sugars, too). So, by eating a diet that is high on healthy carbs and low on your overall fat intake, you are heading in the right direction! Do not let carbs scare you!

I absolutely loved being vegan. I’ve been off the vegan diet for quite awhile now and am noticing the change not just in my weight, but my overall mood and energy. When I was vegan, I would wake up early, take a 3-mile jog, lift weights and still have the energy to clean the entire house while incorporating the healthiest, most organic foods into my day. Now, I struggle with my sleeping pattern, am constantly exhausted, find myself craving energy drinks and so on.

Something as simple as a change in lifestyle can truly make a world of difference.