Morning loves! Day in and day out I get questions on my vegan (ish) journey, the questions range from how I’m doing with it, to how to get started for someone who is looking to switch to a vegan lifestyle to my favourite documentaries, recipes and cookbooks so today I’m going to share ALL of that with you!!

My Experience

Let’s start with where I’m at with my journey … Welp. I’m not going to lie, it’s been a bit of a struggle over the past years and I haven’t been consistent with it! I certainly don’t consider us to be vegan but we definitely eat about 90% plant-based in our home … so I guess that makes us plant-based … or, vegan-ish, if you will!

Just like anything, some days I’m super amped and motivated and totally kick ass with the whole plant-based lifestyle and some days I’m not, some days it’s just easier to eat real cheese and have my coffee with regular cream. I compare it to my relationship with the gym … some days I eat salad and workout and other days I eat a cupcake in my underwear while holding down the couch. You win some, ya lose some, right? Wrong! It’s not really not a matter of “winning” and “losing” it’s a matter of being aware and mindful and giving it your best shot! I try not to beat myself up over the days where I “fail” because sh*t happens and as Harry Truman says “Imperfect action is better than perfect inaction”, thanks, Harry. I owe ya one.

To be honest, I find the whole vegan thing super confusing … and I feel like there is a lot of pressure to do it “right” and be strict with it but that’s not how I look at it. I’ve come to realize that it’s important to be educated about the food we consume and to put that knowledge to some good use! Yes, there are times when our household eats meat, granted, it’s not very often, but when we do I always source it from a small, local, organic, farm! Also, while I’m on this topic, I should also mention here that as ‘organic’ farm isn’t always the best … (I know, just to confuse you even more!!) it’s important for it first to be a SMALL, LOCAL farm but also important to be FREE RANGE! In the end, it’s important how the animals are fed… for, example cows might be grass fed, but they should also be grass finished. If you’re confused, your local Farmer’s Market is always your best bet!

I ALWAYS get the question; “Where do I begin?” and I get why people ask that, they ask because we are bombarded with information and sometimes it can be SUPER overwhelming, so my advice would be to start SMALL, make little changes in your household such as “Meatless Monday’s” or swap our your butter for vegan butter … then move on to your coffee creamer and milk … it’s those small actions that will eventually lead to bigger actions and more knowledge! Secondly, educate yourself, watch a documentary, read some blogs, the more you learn, the more you’ll know!

For those of you who email or private message me wanting to know more about making the change to a plant-based or vegan lifestyle, I would recommend watching the following documentaries and testing out some of my fave vegan recipes and products! Hey, it’s a start, right??

Documentaries to Watch

If you want to learn more, I would recommend watching some of the documentaries I’ve listed below, these are a few that I’ve personally seen but if you want a more extensive list, make sure to check out Erin Ireland’s faves!

What the Health

Food Inc.

Cowspiracy

Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead

Food Matters

Recipes to Try

There’s nothing better than playing around in the kitchen and creating something DELISH!! If you’re just starting your vegan/plant-based journey here are a couple recipes of mine that you should give a go!

Products to Taste

Below are some of my favourite vegan products and brands, if you’re new to the game these are the items I would recommend swapping out in your fridge!! It’s taken alot of trial and error over the years, especially to find a yummy vegan cheese! If you want to learn more about dairy alternatives, check out my latest post here!

Vegetarian/Vegan Meat

Vegan Dairy Products/Brands

Cookbooks to Buy

I absolutely LOVE cookbooks and generally find most of my inspo flipping through some of my faves with a glass of wine in hand! If you want to pick up some great vegan cookbooks, these are some of my top picks!

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There you have it! I hope this helps to answer some of your questions!!

xo

Jilly