Four Ways to Trial a Vegan Diet

A lot of people probably think a vegan diet is either terribly tasteless and boring or too difficult to even contemplate doing. Of course neither of these things is true – if you break it down into simple steps, it’s actually very achievable and completely delicious too.

At Deliciously Gorgeous we pride ourselves on our range of vegan dishes and drinks, and if you are thinking of embracing a vegan diet full time, then here are four simple stages to get you there!

Give up one animal a month

Doing things slowly and steadily is always the best way to achieve something – complete and utter lifestyle changes will rarely stick, whereas going slow will result in a gradual change you barely notice.

With that in mind, when giving up meat, try giving up one animal group per month. Starting with one you generally eat the least of is probably best and finish up with the one you eat the most of. It doesn’t have to be a full month each time, you could decide you don’t eat much of a few groups and give them up together, or you could choose to do it using fortnights instead of months – whatever works best for you.

Switch out your dairy

There are so many dairy alternatives out there now – there’s almond milk, oat milk, soya. Switch it up! What’s nicest in your coffee? What’s good for pancake mix? Oat milk smoothies are amaaazing. Don’t worry if you have the odd cheat or accident – it’s a process every vegan goes through. Once you’ve got your milk sorted then you can start to think about other substitutes like butter and cheese replacements. Or you could just give up on the concept of dairy replacements all together – there are millions of recipes in the world that don’t need any dairy or substitutes whatsoever.

 Add more fruit and veg to your plates

Seems obvious doesn’t it? But it’s true – just add more to your plate! Don’t think about what you are taking away, think of all the tasty things you are adding. Cooking your veg in unusual ways (roasting is always a good one!) will add so many new flavours and textures to your dishes that you’ll forget that meat isn’t on there any more. The more colour on your plate the better – and you’ll soon start to feel the additional health benefits of veganism to boot.

Find your protein favourites

One of the main concerns surrounding vegetarian and vegan diets is protein – how can you possibly get enough without eating meat? Well of course that’s rubbish. It’s easy to get all the protein you need from non-animal produce. Quinoa instead of rice is just one simple way of adding protein, then there’s soya, tofu, beans of every description, sweet potato, banana’s…the list is honestly endless!