This thread on the Vegan.com Facebook page has some good advice for people switching to a vegetarian or vegan diet. Here are some of my favourite bits.

Join the online Twitter community of vegans, and look to popular vegan blogs for information.

Experiment with lots of new foods.

Don’t get overwhelmed by all the minutiae, just try your best when it comes to being ethical.

People will get defensive about YOUR choice. Be easy going and don’t exhaust yourself trying to defend it.

Just keep trying. Sometimes it will be hard but the feeling of living in accordance with your values is so amazing that it will help you through the rough patches.

Learn lots of new recipes and foods that you love so that you won’t feel deprived, but will rather feel how much you are gaining.

Open your mind about what you can eat instead of focusing on what you can’t eat.

Eat as fresh, as natural and as many colours as you possibly can at every meal.

If at first you don’t succeed…try and try again.

Make friends at the farmers market.

Do your research and have answers readily available for those with inquiring minds and questions.

Explore various ethnic foods… you’ll find you are eating a wider variety of things than you ate before.

Learn to cook! Make your own delicious fresh food.

Take your B12, buy a good food processor, and ignore the haters!

Read….read….read….

It’s not about purity or a label. It’s about making realistic changes that have a tangible impact on our planet, our bodies and the innocent animals.

Set an example. Don’t try to strong-arm or shame people who are not vegans. Many new vegans become zealots who turn people off. Invite people over for delicious vegan food and let them find out for themselves how good it is and how easy …it can be to prepare and eat vegan meals. They may not convert, but may incorporate some vegan meals into their weeks AND will have positive things to say about their vegan friend.

Be patient with yourself. It’s OK to become vegan gradually. Be flexible and you’ll eventually be more successful.

Be meticulous about nutrition.

Don’t beat yourself up if it takes a while to go full on vegan. It’s a huge lifestyle change.

Don’t be too hard on yourself if/when you mess up. ie. if you don’t realize something is an animal product until after you’ve eaten it. There is a learning curve, so educate yourself on what’s plant based and what is animal based.