Are you thinking of going vegan this year? Perhaps you want to eat healthier, or you don’t want to consume products that come from animal cruelty. Especially now, we all want to stay healthy, right? To prevent diseases, we must nourish our bodies, and a plant-based diet is ideal for that.
How can you stay vegan, though? Have you had any doubts? That’s OK, we all wonder about it before we go vegan, or at least, many of us do.
Difficult or Not?
A vegan diet is probably the most ridiculed and attacked among the general public. This is a fact, and yet, scientific evidence has proven again and again that a plant-based diet is good for your body and health.
A common problem is that most people don’t know what veganism entails. Not consuming animal products is all we know, and it sounds nearly ominous. “Oh my god, what do they eat …?”
The most difficult part, however, is not the food. When you check the recipes on my website, you’ll see several easy recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and even vegan booze. Vegan food is the best I’ve ever had (and believe me, I love to eat). It is rich in flavor and mouthwatering good.
When I see silly jokes about so called “horrible” vegan food in Hollywood comedies – like I once saw in Adam Sandler’s Grown ups, it just makes me realize how little some people know about it …
What can be hard is the lack of support and the constant comments you will suddenly receive from other people. While some comments are well-meant or can be genuinely interested questions, there are others that are launched at you like missiles, with the intent to provoke you into a discussion or an admission that somehow you “are still going wrong”.
In my opinion, food is not the reason why some vegans stray from veganism. I think it is lack of support, constant badgering from family and friends (it happens to some), lack of vegan products in your hometown (especially when you live in a small town), not knowing how to or not wanting to cook meals that aren’t available, or forgetting why you went vegan in the first place.
How Can You Stay Vegan Then?
Here are a few tips.
- First of all, remember why you became vegan. If you did it for ethical reasons, remind yourself of the animals’ plight. It doesn’t go away, just because you stopped watching the live slaughterhouse footage. If it was for health reasons, look at what your new diet has done for your body and health.
“It takes nothing away from a human to be kind to an animal”
Joaquin Phoenix
Photo by Ben Mater on Unsplash - Build a community. Find other vegans. There are vegan groups on Facebook where you can find local vegans and where people share recipes, tips, advice, and offer understanding that non-vegan friends or family can’t always give. Ask for help. Vegan online groups are very helpful and always happy to welcome newbies into their midst.
- Find comfort foods. We do need them sometimes, and there are some amazing vegan comfort foods. There are also several snacks that are “accidentally” vegan. Some examples are Ritz crackers, Lays salty chips, Lays Barbecue chips, Pringles BBQ, Sun Chips Original, Kraft Creamy Italian salad dressing (in the US, for other countries, please check ingredients to be sure they have the same), Campbells mushroom gravy, Hershey syrup, and more …
- Splurge! You don’t need a big wallet to spoil yourself. When you go to the grocery store, treat yourself to that nice vegan chocolate bar, or what about Morningstar veggie chorizo? It always feels great to give ourselves a well-deserved treat.
- Try new things. Get a cookbook or find recipes online. Try out something you’ve never done before, like making vegan chocolates or vegan fondue. Or what about vegan Baileys? Be adventurous and have fun with it.
- Get educated. Find vegan life and recipe blogs and follow them. Find vegan cookbooks. Get information about protein, vitamin B12, calcium, and so on. Watch documentaries such as Cowspiracy, Forks over Knives, or the Game Changers.
- Be pro-active. Tell your family that you’re vegan when there is a family dinner or barbecue. Bring your own vegan meal if they don’t know what to cook for you, or give them some ideas. When you’re at a restaurant, ask if they have vegan options. Even if they don’t, many are open to veganizing their meals by leaving out dairy or any other animal ingredient.
- Visit an animal sanctuary. There’s nothing like a cuddle with a loving calf or giving a pig a belly rub to remind yourself why you went vegan. Check out Esther the Wonder Pig‘s story. I follow Esther the Wonder Pig on Instagram, and I always see these beautiful updates of her lying on a bed, playing with a dog, cuddling with her human guardian, it’s heartwarming!
- Don’t be too harsh on yourself. It’s OK to make mistakes. It’s all right to slip of the wagon. If that happens, just climb back on and continue your journey. We are all learning. It’s not a competition or a race, it’s a lifestyle, and it takes a while to adapt to a new way of life.
Final Thoughts
When you begin a new journey it’s always helpful not to be alone in it. I started my vegan journey alone and met some ridicule along the way, but things are different now. Things have changed and more information about the vegan lifestyle is available nowadays.
I created this website, mainly to help newbie vegans find their way, by sharing recipes, cookbook reviews, and tips. Whenever you start a new path in life – and not only in veganism, in anything basically, affiliate marketing, dance classes, a new course, etc – you can make that path a little easier by having some company 🙂
And remember, nobody’s perfect. It’s not a race, it’s a journey.

Hi there,thanks for this interesting review.
I really learnt alot from your article. I would love to go vegan this year to live a healthier life. I didn’t know that there are vegan groups on Facebook where I can find local vegans and where people share ideas, recipe,advice and offer understanding that non vegan friends or family can’t often give. Vegans online groups must be very helpful.
Hi Martha,
Vegan online groups are very helpful. They share a lot of information and give plenty of tips to any newbie vegans. What I like about vegan groups is that they always make you feel welcome 🙂
Thank you for this great article and amazing website. I could not seem to find any real good information out there for a vegan diet. I have bookmarked this website so I don’t lose it!
I really appreciate all of the information you have taken so much time to provide here.
Thank you again.
Hi Russ,
I’m glad you found some info here 🙂 If you have any questions, let me know.
Thank you for commenting!
I am not actually vegan, but my family and I follow what is, essentially, a vegan diet quite frequently. In our case, it is for religious purposes, but in any case, we make use of many resources geared toward the vegan community. While we don’t follow a vegan diet at all times, it really isn’t that hard in itself. So, I think you are correct. If people give up on it, the food probably isn’t the main reason. There are a lot of vegan options in the grocery stores and, if you live in certain areas, there may be more vegan options for eating out, as well. By and large, though, it takes a deliberate effort. If you have to eat away from home, it can be even harder. We’ve found that the surest way to stick to our guns is to be well prepared. Having ample options at home, or being prepared before going out, is the best guard against the temptation to cave in when you find yourself hungry and unprepared at the same time.
Hi Randy,
It is true that eating away from home can sometimes be a challenge if you’re not prepared. One other thing we could do is calling a restaurant in advance and ask about any vegan options. Or if you’re going to a gathering of friends and family in the middle of nowhere with no stores nearby (it can happen, right 😉 ) perhaps you could bring your own plant-based meals.
Thank you for your great comment!
Okay, Recently this semester, we have a class on a vegetarian diet and I was wondering if I should get started since you get some of the nutrients on dairy food in vegetable but you have families that you eat together all the time and have less money to provide to the families, how will make that possible?
Thank you…
Do you mean big families who have only one provider? The vegan (or vegetarian) diet is not that expensive. People always say it is costly, but I don’t think that’s always true. I was vegan on a low budget for several years and I managed fine. I posted an article about vegan shopping on a budget. I hope that helps. If you have more questions, please let me know.
I heard the rate at which people leave vegan and start back with their normal eating habit and because I don’t want to get to backslide from my commitment to go vegan, that is the reason I decided to research about how to stay vegan. This is really a good post. I think creativity in the kind of foods we eat as vegans can really help to ginger the desire to keep up being a vegan. Also, maintajning the drive to be in a community of vegans too would help. Thanks
Hi Ella!
I’m glad you found this helpful 🙂 Thanks for commenting!