Your get-started guide for living a healthy and compassionate life by Victoria Moran 3 Steps to Rocking a Vegan Lifestyle by Victoria Moran Your spirit is ageless and timeless -- reflect that. Then follow the three recommendations of Dr. Brian Clement of Hippocrates Health Institute: “First, choose to think positively. Then, act in a way that is consistent with those affirmative thoughts. Finally, fuel yourself and create newly broadened horizons with the bountiful banquet of vegetarian offerings so full of life [they] give you strength, vigor, and unlimited physical and mental vigor.” 2 3 Steps to Rocking a Vegan Lifestyle by Victoria Moran Implement these 3 easy steps into your life and make these small changes to start rocking your healthy and compassionate vegan lifestyle RIGHT NOW. I didn’t go vegan overnight. It took time, some trial and error, and some three-steps-forward/two-steps-back moves to get to where I am today. What is so wonderful about this way of life, though, is that it’s not about instant perfection and personal purity. It’s about compassion -- to animals, the planet, and yourself. If you go from omnivore to vegan after seeing one video, hurray for you. If your path is a bit slower, hurray for you too! I want to share with you the 3 steps that will make transitioning to a vegan lifestyle on the dietary level easy, seamless, and user-friendly. These are: Step 1: Change your mindset, change your life Step 2: Do a detox…on your kitchen *Bonus: Get savvy about vegan substitutes for items you might miss Step 3: Treat yourself like a rock star Now let’s dive deeper into each step to help you ROCK a vegan lifestyle. 3 3 Steps to Rocking a Vegan Lifestyle by Victoria Moran Step 1: Change your mindset, change your life I’ve seen too many people get excited about adopting a vegan lifestyle and go all in, only to abandon it and return to their old ways a few months later. The problem? Misinformation spread by the media and public, and pressure from friends and relatives. Rocking a vegan lifestyle is not for the faint of heart. It takes confidence, and that comes from knowledge. Knowledge is power, after all. You don’t have to have be an expert in nutrition, animal law, or environmental studies. You don’t have to be able to cook like The Minimalist Baker, run like Rich Roll, or calm an audience of thousands like Dr. Will Tuttle in order to be a rockin’ vegan star. You do need to know enough about the basics to live well, raise your children healthfully and happily, and answer the questions that will come from well-meaning – and maybe some not-so-well-meaning – family members, friends, coworkers, and healthcare providers. I’m going to list a lot of great books, documentaries and websites that will stand you in good stead, but here are the basics to get you going right now. Diet: • You’ll probably need to eat more. Unless you’re eating a lot of processed vegan foods – vegan cheeses, pizza, faux meats, desserts, snacks, etc. (and that’s not a great idea), you’ll need to eat more than you might think of the fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts and seeds that comprise a healthful, plant-sourced diet . Other than the nuts and seeds, these foods are low in fat. All plant foods are high in fiber and fruits and vegetables are water-rich. Fiber and water are calorie-free; carbs and proteins have 4 calories per gram; fats have 9. You’ll simply need to eat more food to get full and maintain a normal weight. For most people, this is great news. 4 3 Steps to Rocking a Vegan Lifestyle by Victoria Moran • Focus primarily on natural foods: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. Use whatever processed and specialty items you need to get you through without feeling deprived. I’ve been vegan for 35 years, and there are processed and packaged foods in my kitchen right now: soy milk, almond milk, almond milk yogurt from Kite Hill, sliceable and spreadable cheeses from Treeline, Beyond Chicken® Strips from Beyond Meat (these are for my husband; they’re a bit too much like the real thing for me), rice cakes and rice crackers, canned beans, tomatoes, and pumpkin puree, and some pasta and whole-grain ramen. Everything else is fresh, frozen, or dried (i.e., dried beans and dried fruit). • Don’t get too caught up on “somebody’s diet.” There are myriad ways to transition to a vegan foodstyle – eating the way you always did and substituting plant foods for animal foods; going macrobiotic with a lot of brown rice and cooked vegetables; getting into raw foods and consuming 75% or more of your foods just as the vegetables, fruits, sprouts, nuts and seeds come from nature; or getting into some variation of the “Whole Food Plant-based Diet,” which eliminates extracted oils, and in many iterations does away with salt, sugar, and virtually all processed foods, too. Or you can do some combination. None of this stuff is etched in granite. You may also need to modify your food choices to your own circumstances and take into consideration any allergies or sensitivities you’re dealing with. The plant kingdom is vast: even if you need to avoid gluten or soy or tree nuts or peanuts or something else, there’s tons left to choose from. • Take vitamin B12 and perhaps a few other well-chosen supplements. B12 is non-negotiable. It’s made by bacteria and not found in plants. Perhaps if we lived in the wild and ate “dirty plants,” we’d be okay, but DON’T RISK THIS: get 100 mcg. (that’s micrograms) daily of vitamin B12, ideally as methylcobalamin or adenocobalamin. You may also be wise in supplementing vitamin D (look for a vegan vitamin D3) and the algae-based Omega3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA. (My personal favorite is a tasteless spray, Complement, created by Matt Frazier, The No Meat Athlete, and Toronto dietitian, Pam Fergusson, RD, PhD. The quick link is https://tinyurl.com/vluvscomplement, and putting MAINSTREETVEGAN in the discount code box will get you 10% off. But any vegan B12,, vitamin D3 and DHA/ EPA supplement of your choice also works.) For more information about vegan nutrition and about these and other supplements you might wish to consider, check out Vegan for Life, by Virginia Messina, MS, RD, and Jack Norris, RD. 5 3 Steps to Rocking a Vegan Lifestyle by Victoria Moran • Where do you get your protein? Everywhere! Protein is in every food that grows up out of the ground. If you eat a variety of vegetables (including leafy green vegetables), legumes, and whole grains, you will consume an abundance of protein and all necessary amino acids. Read, or get on Audible, Dr. Garth Davis’s excellent book, Proteinaholic. Books to back you up: How Not to Die, Michael Greger, MD Vegan for Life, Virginia Messina, MS, RD, and Jack Norris, RD Becoming Vegan, Brenda Davis, RD, and Vesanto Mellina, MS, RD Proteinaholic, Garth Davis, MD Meal planning and food prep: With the exception of baked goods, which take precision in any iteration, vegan cooking is largely foolproof. The first question a lot of people have is “What do I put where the meat used to be?” Generally, you put something heavy, “meaty” in taste or texture, higher in protein and complex carbs than the other dishes in the meal. In the vegan world, these foods include: • Legumes: adzuki beans, black beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils, lima beans, mung beans, navy beans, pinto beans, split peas, soy beans and soy foods (tofu, tempeh, and more). Peanuts are a legume, too, so peanut butter fits here. • Whole grains: gluten free -- brown rice, black rice, red rice, quinoa, oats, millet; and gluten-containing – wheat, spelt, farro, barley. (Wheat is a protein found in some grains. 1% of the population has a condition called celiac, a dangerous kind of allergy to gluten; some other people feel that they simply do better without this protein. That’s your call. You can be vegan and consume gluten, or you can be vegan and gluten-free.) 6 3 Steps to Rocking a Vegan Lifestyle by Victoria Moran • Processed Meat Substitutes: Although not recommended for extensive use over the long term, these substitutes can be a lifesaver when you are transitioning and a welcome addition later, too – I always have a Tofurky on Thanksgiving. Processed meat substitutes include chicken-less strips (Gardein makes some very authentic ones), Tofurky sausages (made with tofu and wheat gluten), and Beyond Meat burgers. More and more companies are coming out with new vegan faux meat products everyday (or at least it seems that way). • Other meat replacements: Tofu (soybean curd), tempeh (a fermented Indonesian soy patty), seitan (wheat gluten used in hearty plant based dishes and faux meats, for those who are okay with consuming gluten) can do a lot that meat does for a meal. Use these in stir-fries, burritos, and pasta sauce, and call on tofu’s versatility to makes everything from quiche to scrambled “eggs” to chocolate mousse. And when people say they’re looking for protein, they’re often simply looking for something substantial, a stick-to-the-ribs something that is more sustaining than an apple or some celery sticks. Along these lines, mushrooms taste surprisingly meaty. Starchy vegetables – potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash – work well here.