All the info you need to make the switch sustainable. (And delicious.)
Amy Sefton / BuzzFeed
Regardless of why you're going vegan — whether it's for health, environmental, ethical, or personal reasons — making the change can be challenging, even if you really want to make it happen. So, BuzzFeed Life spoke with a couple of experts — Ginny Messina, registered dietician, and Ryan Andrews, registered dietician and coach at Precision Nutrition — to get their best tips for making the switch to veganism as smooth and sustainable as possible. This isn't medical advice though, so be sure to talk to your doctor before making any dietary changes.
Probably don't go vegan overnight. Instead plan to transition gradually.
Messina says recent research indicates that the more gradually people transition to veganism, the more likely they are to stick to it. Of course, if you're already vegetarian or not eating that many animal products, you'll probably be able to comfortably make a quicker transition. But if you have a diet fairly heavy in meat, cheese, eggs, dairy, etc. just know that from the day you decide to go vegan, it's OK (if not optimal!) for it to take weeks or months until you're fully animal product–free.
Make just one big dietary change at a time.
Instead of making a bunch of huge dietary changes all at once, take it step by step and break it up into big changes (which you make every so often) and smaller changes (which you can do more regularly). Messina recommends that people continue veganifying their diets only once they feel comfortable with the changes they've already made.
For instance, a big change might be something like cutting out all chicken or all eggs.
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