1. Accept responsibility for your health and your choices. Advice from others, including health professionals, is helpful, but you have the final say about what you eat and how you live.
2. Eliminate animal products from meal plans. Do what works for you, and take as much time as you need.
3. Be conscious of EVERYTHING you take into your body–what it is doing FOR you and TO you and WHY you are taking it in. If you eat it as food, drink it as beverage, swallow, inject, snort or smoke it as therapeutic or recreational drug, be conscious of what you are doing.
4. Start with what you know. Meat-based meals and fast food culture make us settle for potatoes as just about the only vegetable, but most of us are familiar with many edible plants. Some are delicious with no more preparation than washing. You can try new foods as you’re ready, but don’t get overwhelmed by making too many changes or trying to understand too many “requirements.”
5. Eat a variety of foods. Eliminating animal products clears the way for health-building foods to do what they do best, but you have to provide those foods.
6. Keep learning. The more you know about nutrition the more you will be able to choose foods that build and maintain good health. Don’t settle for distorted studies as reported on social media. This Resources link will lead you to some reliable videos, books, studies and articles.
7. Have fun! If for you that means keeping it simple, then keep it simple. If it means learning about new and exotic ingredients or making gourmet plant-based meals, go for it!
Mary Ann Lesh