Transitioning to a whole food, plant based lifestyle is healthy and rewarding, but it can be a lonely road!
I was lucky to have my husband on board. My children are grown and accept my new lifestyle and even comply with it on family gatherings. However, it can be a challenge when you have picky eaters or die hard carnivores!
Just what is WFPB anyway?
WFPB isn’t just about eliminating animal products.
It is about eating food in it’s natural form. Eliminating the chemicals present in processed foods. It’s not necessarily a raw diet but certainly focuses on fresh food or food that has been minimally processed.
If you can give up the fat, sugar, oils, artificial dyes, flavors and chemicals, you can have a little trout or salmon during your transition and still reap huge health benefits!
Don’t preach and keep meals interesting!! You can find ways to get your family on board.
The important thing is to take it slow.
Prepare a meal with meat if necessary but with enough vegan options that you can eat too. They will get slowly get used to the vegan options.
Start with one day a week. Declare meatless Monday to be meat and dairy free! Eventually make it two nights. Increase the number of vegan nights as long as you are not meeting resistance. Reduce the amount of animal products in your meals. Limit your menu to 3 to 6 ounces of meat per person per week.
Try a new vegetable or fruit when you go shopping. Lets your kids each pick something to try! Take them to a farmers market!
Vacations and Social Gatherings
Fried plantains and onion rings? The ONLY thing I found vegan in the entire town!
Vacationing is an extreme challenge. Often there are no restaurants that cater to vegan eating at all! (I say vegan because it is difficult enough without having to explain WFPB to a waiter!).
Often you have to resort to the few vegan sides they might have on the menu and they are likely fried, seasoned with butter or have no options at all! I shake my head in disbelief when a restaurant has a vegan sandwich on the menu with a buttery croissant or brioche bread!
Eating out or travel isn’t the only issue! Social gatherings with friends, parties, events on the job and any place that offers entertainment is going to cater to the mainstream!
Often barbeque, pizza or donuts are the first thing people think of to bring to the office. Donuts might be vegan but they are not whole food, plant based food!
Outside of abstaining, the best thing to do is to eat ahead of time or bring your own snack if possible and just enjoy the time!
On vacations, rent a place with a kitchen and prepare your own meals.
Do a search for vegan restaurants in the area and check the menu.
Often, any place that has a side salad or continental breakfast will show up as vegan. Google searches are not real helpful. Even if they have salads, the dressings are not compliant.
You may wish to try an app on your phone called The Happy Cow!
This is an app that can guide you to find restaurants that cater to vegans.
Going against the medical mainstream!
You know the drill!
I see a lot of posts where someone’s physician blames a WFPB diet on any health issues. They are convinced you can only get protein from animal products!
Well there is plenty of protein in plants but the food industry has had control of the media, food guidelines and medical industry for so long that people trained in the medical industry seldom think differently.
The best thing to do there is just make the change and let them see the results!
By no fault of their own, the medical industry is all about prescribing medication, not finding the source or getting people well.
I’ve noticed that I can have abnormal test results but it it is not something the Dr. can prescribe a pill or treatment for, it doesn’t even get diagnosed.
Cravings and addictions
Cravings are a real thing. Many of the foods on the market are addictive.
Casein in dairy products is addictive and carcinogenic and is sometimes added to non-dairy substitutes. If this is on purpose to make them addictive, it wouldn’t be the first time.
Addictions and cravings take at least 10 days to subside.
Mucus and inflammation take at least 30 days to be reduced.
It takes but much longer if you still eat the addictive foods unknowingly or cheat on a regular basis.
Go cold turkey to get past cravings.
Be aware, you can limit your cheese but at some point you have to go “cold turkey” and stop eating cheese and other dairy to get past the cravings. From personal experience, you only have to eat cheese once for the addiction to return.
The cravings do pass, and believe it or not you will lose a taste for the old way of eating!
Cheese was often present in every meal. T thought of myself as a cheese connoisseur. Some of my meals had three or four cheese at the same time. We ate it several times a day and a lot of it! With that much fat from dairy, there was not a drug on this earth that would keep my triglycerides and cholesterol down.
My 50 weight loss was likely a direct result of eliminating the cheese and butter from my diet.
Where’s the fun?
A pleasant side effect may be wardrobe issues! I had a beautiful wardrobe I was very happy with but after my weight loss, clothes hang on me. If you are fundamentally healthy and overweight, you can expect a huge weight loss. If you have some medical reasons for your weight, it may take longer because your body has to heal first.
Also you will be happy to know that so many options exist with vegan food!
Try different cuisines, different spices and different combinations. You might wonder where this delicious food has been all your life!
Find a cuisine that reduces animal products considerably. Check out a Blue Zones diet. Try creating bento boxes. They are fun and healthy!
Making the transition is lonely but has beautiful results! The light will finally come through when you start seeing results!
Your health is everything and it is difficult to get back once it is gone. If you can turn around your problems it has to be worth it.
How to start your transition!
If you don’t have time to cook or don’t know how, it is difficult to know where to start.
Restaurants and take out is convenient for a busy family but true WFPB restaurant meals are hard to come by.
Even it is meat and dairy free, you may have your meal prepared on a grill where meat was prepared. Chefs don’t think about the egg in the pasta, the fish sauce in your condiments or butter in the bread! Seldom will a waiter let the chef know your dietary needs. A restaurant dish will almost always have oil, butter, eggs, meat broth or a packaged product loaded with artificial ingredients.
Do prepare your own meals more often. Try a meal plan company like Purple Carrot to deliver ingredients and instructions. Teach your kids how to cook! They have a tendency to be less picky if they know what they are eating.
Forks Over Knives offer a great cooking class. I took the professional class and learned a few things despite cooking for 50 years.
Learn some quick recipes. Try them with different vegetables. For example, try my Oyster Mushroom Rockefeller. If everyone likes them, try substituting the mushrooms for artichokes. Make it in a casserole and serve it an an entrée.
I have to say that when you are happy with the new improved you, the hard work will be worth it!
