Step-By-Step Instructions on How to Become a Vegetarian and Not Relapse
So you’re interested in becoming a vegetarian! Well I won’t waste your time, let’s get straight to business. The key to making this journey successful is discipline. It won’t work without it.
1-Pick a transition date. Choose a start-date, any date! Whether it be a week, month, or year away, decide on a date. But the catch is that you must stick to it and set your preparation schedule in accordance to the date you choose. Avoid picking a date so far out that you don’t have to work towards it now. If that’s the case, you’re kicking the can too far down the road and you’re probably not ready. Anyway, choose something in reach (I recommend within 6 months) so that the countdown matters right now. Got your date? Congratulations, this is the first step of your journey!
2-Clean out your kitchen. Okay, now you have a date and it’s time to get to work. Revamp your kitchen (and life, lol). Get rid of your meat. If you pick a date far enough in advance you can eat it all before you convert. If your start-date is soon, you can always give it away. Remove the things that may cause you to relapse back to meat (i.e. hide your deep fryer). Failure to do this step will increase your chance at missing your start-date or quickly falling back into your old meat diet once you begin.
3-Stock up and practice. Close to your start-date, stock up on fruits, veggies, snacks- anything you will want to eat in your new life. Start eyeing recipes and saving the ones you want to try. There are so many vegetarian dishes you can make in your air-fryer and crock-pot. If you want, you can even practice in advance. Experiment and get comfortable with eating meatless dishes. For example, you can commit to “Meatless Mondays” or “Veggie Taco Tuesdays” until your start-date. Perhaps you can even set up a gradual transition over a longer period of time. Or you can be like me and go crazy eating all the meat you want until your start date. And then go cold turkey (no pun intended). I’m an all-or-nothing type of person so a firm cut-off date worked better for me. You decide.
4-Get your mind right. Now that you made the decision to convert, get it together! Grieve, pout, vent to your friends or talk to your therapist. Deal with your feelings NOW! Because when you get to your start date, it’s go-time and all business.
5-Survive the first 2 weeks. This will be the hardest two weeks of your journey! My first week wasn’t that bad. However, by the 2nd week I felt down and out as my new life set in. DO NOT cave or collapse during this period, just be strong and ride it out. Your meat withdrawals may be very uncomfortable, but see it through. Fight the negative feelings and keep your mind right! Weeks 3 and 4 will be much better and then it’s smooth sailing!
6-Don’t fill your meat void with the wrong things. In the first month of my vegetarian journey, I made a critical error: I replaced meat with carbs and gained 10 pounds. Trying hard to fulfill an emotional void, I accidentally tripled my carb intake. Assuming I could eat whatever I wanted and still be healthy, I filled my meals with fries, pizza, and pasta. It didn’t take long for me to see each of these choices piling up on my hips in real-time and I figured I was probably worse off than before. Once I adjusted my habits and switched to a plant-based diet, the initial pounds fell back off.
7-Don’t give into temptation. Yes you’ll see Popeyes Chicken commercials, smell BBQ wafting on a summer day, or be tempted to slide into a Chick-Fil-A drive-thru. But DON’T DO IT. Get a hold of yourself and control your actions! Once you expertly ignore the temptations a couple of times you’ll get the hang of it. Luckily, I’m now at the point where someone can dangle a hot lemon pepper chicken wing in front of me and I won’t even bat an eyelash.
8-Find substitutes for your temptation. Find a replacement that stops the temptation in it’s tracks. For me, I discovered that fried eggplant or fried lasagna reminds me of chicken Parmesan and takes away my meat craving. Buffalo cauliflower works well for me when I start missing hot Buffalo wings. Whether it’s tofu, an Impossible Burger, or the latest Jackfruit creation (I hear Jackfruit turkey tips are fire), figure out what your substitute is and use it like a weapon (against yourself)!
9-Find an accountability partner or support group. If you’re BAD, gon’ ahead and knock it out alone! It is definitely possible. But for the rest of us, an accountability partner may be the best route. I advise choosing a partner that converted to vegetarianism in the past. This person or group will already understand the struggle firsthand and may be in the best position to guide you along and talk you out of temptation.
10. Keep going and going and going! Now that you have all the tools, you’re set. The only thing moving you further or holding you back is YOU. Watch your vegetarian week turn into a month, season, year, and then decade. The only way you will go back to meat is if you, and only you, decide to end your journey.
