Going vegan involves making a decision, the decision that you will not any more support or participate in the use and killing of non-human animals, and then living by that decision. Once you’ve made the decision you take it a day at a time, ensuring you avoid consuming animal products as much as possible and learning as you go. Have a look at our website at the food sections (How Do I Go Vegan - Vegan Food for recipes, supermarket vegan lists and vegan friendly restaurants and bars) join a couple of Facebook vegan groups (if possible including a group local to you - see our photo album of local groups). Do a couple of searches for vegan versions of your usual meals and decide what you’re going to eat / make / buy tomorrow. Then tomorrow on your tea break, bus journey or after work, have a look at vegan versions of some more dishes and plan what you’ll eat the following day. You’ll continue like that, learning more each day, maybe trying new foods you weren't aware of before, notice your taste-buds are changing, appreciate flavours more and realise that it wasn't a case of willpower and denying yourself things, but rather a change of focus and the introduction of lots of new things. With food on the way to being sorted you can turn to look at non-food products (see our web site under How Do I Go Vegan - Non-Food Products). For household and toiletries there’s lots of options, some of them in our photo albums on our Facebook page, but an easy starting point is that all Superdrug own brand toiletries are not tested on animals and state clearly on the back if they are suitable for vegans. The same is true of all Co-op own brand household / cleaning products. That makes it easy to begin with and you can find other options as you go. For any clothing items you’ll have more time to plan and can have a graze through our clothing albums and a look in some Facebook groups for ideas. That’s really as much as you need to get you started. You’ll learn as you go. Don’t worry if you have small slip ups on the way with ingredient lists (see our food pages on reading labels) or accidents in coffee shops - these things can happen and, as long as you’re doing your best to avoid knowing consumption / demand, you should see it as part of the learning process and move on. You also don’t have to gut your house / wardrobe of all animal products immediately. Some people can and will, but this very much depends on circumstances and many people draw a line under what they’ve already got (pre-vegan stuff) and move forward avoiding animal products as they replace things over time. There’s no right and wrong in this, just do what works for you initially and you can revisit it later once you’ve got the hang of living vegan day to day. We understand that it involves change, but with all the information and support available lots of people do go vegan overnight. If you absolutely cannot do so, you could break the food transition down over a number of days. Perhaps think, "ok tomorrow I won't eat meat or fish", and have a think about what you’ll eat tomorrow. The following day you don't eat meat or fish, and you don't die or starve. You have another look on Facebook and Google, finding some good ideas for plant-based meals and pick up some shopping on the way home and the following day you don’t eat meat, fish, or dairy and you don't die and don't starve. You then have a look at egg replacers and why honey isn’t vegan and the next day you don’t eat meat, fish, dairy, eggs or honey, you eat vegan, you eat well, and you feel good. With that approach there’s no lengthy "journey”. You realised it was wrong to use and kill non-human animals and decided to stop; you didn’t stop overnight but you acted on your decision quickly. Vegans are not special. We don’t have super strong willpower, a stronger moral compass or different tastebuds. We’re just people who have gone through the process outlined above. Moreover, most of us had help. Maybe we knew a vegan who helped us get there, and/or we tapped into the online vegan community for information and support. It’s all there, it’s all mapped out for us, because those who went vegan before us realised it was the least they could do and that what they needed to do next was help others get there. Make use of the resources and the support, on and offline. We will help you as much as we possibly can. The decision though, that part is up to you. For non-human animals being used as if they were unfeeling commodities, it’s the least you can do. Don’t put it off, do it now. Make the decision, then live by that decision. goveganscotland.com
Photo credit: We Animals, Jo-Anne McArthur