Vegan start: switching to a plant-based diet

The vegan lifestyle is often perceived as complicated and time-consuming. In many people's minds, it is associated with sacrifice and effort. However, this concern is completely unfounded and the opposite is actually the case. A plant-based diet allows you to discover so many new foods and recipes that switching to a plant-based diet is an enrichment and not a sacrifice. Nevertheless, many people feel overwhelmed at the beginning. In today's blog post, we will therefore show you how you can easily change your diet. To help you get started, you can also use our shopping guide and our food ideas

There are three simple steps to establishing a vegan diet in your everyday life.

1. replace animal-based ingredients with plant-based ones

Do you love chili con carne, spaghetti bolognese and burgers? You don't have to give up your favorite food even if you follow a vegan diet. Simply replace the animal ingredients with plant-based alternatives. Minced meat can be replaced with tofu or soy mince, yogurt or quark with plant-based products made from soy, almonds or oats. As more and more plant-based substitutes can be found in supermarkets, this has become very easy to do.

You should be aware, however: Meat or sausage substitutes are not healthy per se just because they are purely plant-based. Just like their animal counterparts, they often contain too much salt and saturated fat. It would therefore be ideal if you replaced the animal component with natural and unprocessed foods. Instead of buying your burger ready-made in the supermarket, you can also simply make the patty yourself (try the Gorilla burger, for example). To make a delicious Bolognese sauce, use red lentils or tofu instead of vegan minced meat

Tip:

Some people don't really like the unfamiliar taste of soy and the like. We humans are creatures of habit. To get used to new flavors, it can help to mix the animal and plant-based options for a while. Don't like plant-based milk in your coffee or soy yogurt? Then mix cow's milk with plant-based milk, for example, and gradually increase the proportion of the plant-based alternative. After a while, you'll get used to the taste and find the plant-based option just as tasty as the animal-based one.

2. simply leave out non-vegan ingredients

Today, there is a plant-based substitute for almost every animal-based product. However, people don't always want to resort to substitute products - whether for reasons of money and taste or because they are not available in the local supermarket. What many people often don't think about is that sometimes you can simply leave out the animal component. If you love pizza, for example, you can continue to eat it. You can also use cheese substitutes, but you can enjoy your pizza just as well without cheese. If you try it once, you'll notice that the other flavor components - such as the fruity tomato sauce or the crispy base - are much more intense. So before you despair of finding a suitable vegan substitute, consider whether you could simply leave out the ingredient in question altogether.

3. search for new recipes

When switching to a vegan diet, many people are surprised at how varied the food choices are. You often come into contact with foods or vegetables that you have never considered before. Most vegans report that their diet is much more varied and diverse than before the switch. Try new things. If you're not sure how to prepare something, you can look it up on the internet. There are also lots of vegan recipes on recipe blogs or Pinterest. You can also find a few food ideas to get you started here.

Eating vegan on the go

The first two steps to veganizing dishes are also easy to implement when eating out. Although most restaurants now also offer vegan alternatives, this is unfortunately not always the case. Just ask if you can leave out the non-vegan ingredient or swap it for a plant-based one. In most cases, this is not a problem and is something that hospitable restaurants are happy to do.

Further tips on how to eat vegan food with delicious recipes can be found online at ecodemy, for example. The specialist school for nutrition and health offers numerous eBooks with recipes and information on vegan nutrition free of charge on its website.