From “I will never become vegan” to becoming vegan

First, let’s take a step back! For years, I was still saying that vegan food was a bridge too far for me. I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 13, but I saw vegan food as a step that I found too radical for myself. Moreover, I was crazy about cheese and my breakfast always consisted of a huge bowl of cottage cheese, which I preferred to eat straight from the package. I was addicted! I even felt a little sad when I took my first bites of soy cottage cheese. Brr, this doesn’t look anything like my beloved cottage cheese from Jumbo’s own brand, does it? Yet I became vegan. How come?

That wasn’t a choice I just made one day. It actually happened slowly and more unconsciously. In retrospect, I think that’s great. I never forced myself to “eat vegan from now on”. Nor did I express it to people in that way. I simply started leaving things out or replacing them, and seeing how I felt about it. If it didn’t work out once, that was fine too. That way suited me. I gradually discovered that there are many vegan alternatives, that pasta can also be tasty without cheese (or fake cheese) and that I could eat a full meal without animal products.

At the same time, it gave me the chance to get used to it. In all sorts of ways. Getting used to new products ( soy curd turned out not to be that bad if you keep trying different types! ). Getting used to the idea that I am “someone who is vegan”. But also getting used to possible judgements from people. Especially the latter. Saying “I eat vegan” felt vulnerable. You know that you belong to a minority and that some people have an opinion about it. Maybe people think that as a vegan you have to do everything sustainably. Others think it is nonsense. Still others start defending themselves why they themselves do not eat vegetarian (while that really is not necessary – you do you ). That is sometimes exciting and difficult, especially when you are still discovering what you want. That is why I allowed myself my own search first.

Why did I go vegan?

Why did I decide to become vegan? The number 1 reason is my big animal heart. In second place are the climate and the world I hope to leave behind. Something that not everyone knows about me is that I have been watery-eyed by any form of animal suffering since I was young. I am not very activist by nature and will not quickly start a fight with banners. But I do want to do what I can myself. It is not without reason that I became a vegetarian at the age of 13 and my parents soon discovered that this was not a teenage whim. I could not accept that an animal would die for my dinner menu.

Why the switch to vegan now? I didn’t feel ready for it before. In my early twenties, I wanted to build a healthy relationship with food again . I also never saw vegan eating as something feasible. Until two things came together: a forced lactose-free diet (for my irritable bowel) and Farmer Wants a Wife. What does the latter have to do with this? Just after I had started eating lactose-free for a month, Yvon and her farmers appeared on TV. I still remember farmer Jouke taking a mother cow away from her newborn calf and explaining in great detail how this works. My heart broke into 694 pieces. I still remember sobbing to Bart, saying “as far as possible, no more dairy”.

It helped that I had already started eating lactose-free. Before that, I couldn’t imagine anyone ever taking my beloved cheese away from me. But now I had already noticed that I didn’t have to miss out on as much as I thought in a cheese- and dairy-free life. I actually became more creative in the kitchen now that I was cooking and baking without animal products. I suddenly started buying ingredients that I had never heard of before: tahini, almond paste, soy quark, nutritional yeast flakes… And I discovered how much I enjoyed coming up with my own cooking creations and how much is possible. Okay, I haven’t yet found the perfect cheese substitute that is a real look-alike in terms of taste and structure. But I can live with that now.

And now we stand here and I say it

So it started with not eating lactose anymore. In the beginning I sometimes ate lactose-free cottage cheese or made an exception for Parmesan cheese. Later I started finding vegan alternatives for that. Baking with eggs was still a challenge for me, so 2.5 years ago I sometimes threw one or two eggs in my baking. Until I decided to bake without eggs. The first bakings were complete failures. They looked like collapsed puddings. Sometimes even a mess that you couldn’t make a cake from, even with the best sculpting skills. But I kept persevering and experimenting. If I could bake without eggs, that saved a lot of eggs. It worked better and better, and after a while Bart was the only egg user at home.

That’s how I became vegan after all. And yes, typing that sentence feels strangely enough like revealing a side of myself that not everyone knows. A side that people may have an opinion about. Or that some may find crazy, unnecessary or radical. I myself believe very strongly in “I do my thing and will never force anyone to do the same”. I still regularly bake real meatballs for Bart without complaining, and I have no problem when people opposite me in a restaurant order meat, cheese or a combination of the two. And I will never try to persuade anyone to also give up meat, fish and dairy. I can only hope that people will not judge the choices I make in return.

But sometimes I still keep it quiet. I even find it a bit exciting to put this article online. But it is a part of me. I also don’t want to talk about that with shame or fear of judgment.

Plant-based eating: am I doing it right?

One of the reasons (besides missing cheese) that I never thought of becoming vegan, was that I was afraid that you would not eat a wholesome diet. Especially after what I have been through (I had anorexia for about 10 years in my youth), I wanted to be sure that I could approach it in a healthy and wholesome way. If that did not work, then I would of course choose my health over my ideals.

While browsing websites, devouring videos and reading books about this topic, a whole new world opened up for me. I discovered that I may have almost no vegans in my environment, but that the internet is bursting with people who like to share about this. That’s how I came across the videos of Lisa  and her book Vegan Vibes . Lisa is a dietician specialized in vegan and vegetarian food, and knows a lot about even the smallest details. On YouTube she already shares a lot of great tips and insights about this ( really a tip to watch her videos if this topic appeals to you! ). But I was curious how I do it personally. So I booked a consultation to see if I eat fully vegan and how I can dot the vegan i’s and cross the t’s.

Conclusion: Yes, I am doing well. But…

Fortunately, the most important conclusion after the consultation with Lisa was that my eating pattern already looks very good. By that I don’t mean that I eat 100% healthy. I myself am in favor of a balance between healthy eating and also allowing yourself tasty, less healthy things ( what is life without chocolate and pancakes every now and then ?) . But Lisa is purely looking to see if I am getting the right and sufficient nutrients. Fortunately, that turned out to be the case! She did tip a few vitamins and nutrients that I should pay extra attention to.

I enjoyed sparring about this, so that I know for sure that I am not making unnecessary mistakes or missing nutrients. It is also nice that a dietician (Lisa at least) is independent. You can also do tests at many vitamin webshops, but they obviously benefit from you arriving at the checkout with as many supplements as possible. This (usually) does not apply to a dietician, which is why I trust that advice more.

After the consultation I made 6 changes as advised by Lisa. Some were a huge eye-opener for me, other things were mainly lost good habits that I had to revive. These are the changes I made:

Change 1: taking vitamin D faithfully again

Years ago I had a vitamin D deficiency and I speak from experience when I say that it can make you feel really bad. I faithfully took vitamin D every fall and winter for a while. In the winter months I mainly go outside when it is already dark, which makes a deficiency quite lurking. In the Netherlands we have a greater chance of this anyway, because we do not live on a sun-drenched tropical island. And if you eat vegetarian or vegan, you run an even greater risk of a deficiency. But you probably know how it goes: when your jar of vitamins is empty, you forget to buy a new one and before you know it, the good habit has already crept out. At least that happened to me.

Since the consultation with Lisa, I have been faithfully taking vitamin D pills again. I really want to use them all year round. If it doesn’t help, it doesn’t hurt! For me, vitamin D also helps tremendously to prevent a winter blues . Of course, a winter blues can also have something else going on. But I noticed that a weak and listless feeling due to a vitamin deficiency five years ago didn’t really help to get through the winter energetically and happily . For that reason alone, I am obediently taking the supplements again.

By the way, I only recently discovered that many vitamin D supplements contain bovine gelatin (what is that stuff doing in vitamin pills?) . In my search for a gelatin-free version, I ended up buying a jar of Davitamon, but I believe Amazon has many more options.

Change 2: to the vitamin B12

This is also known as a vitamin that you almost always have to take as a vegetarian/vegan eater. Vitamin B12 is the only vitamin that you can only naturally absorb from animal foods. Fortunately, supplements are a good alternative. Even if you eat meat, fish and dairy, you can still develop a deficiency. Fortunately, I have never had it myself, but I know a few people who have had it and felt really bad about it. Mike from DQ has written an extensive article about why vitamin B12 is so important and how to supplement it properly.

I had started with it once, but this too had gone wrong. Since the conversation with Lisa, I have restarted with good courage and I take this supplement daily again. I was quite shocked when I read about the consequences of a vitamin B12 deficiency and now make sure that I never skip my pill in the morning.

Change 3: take seaweed (with nose closed)

I would definitely not buy this jar for the taste and especially for the sickly smell. But it is good for something and fortunately I only need a teaspoon of it per day. I learned from the dietician that it is difficult for Americans to get enough iodine. Because there is not enough iodine in the American soil, iodine has been mandatory for supermarket bread for years. It is also in a number of other products. But because we eat less and less bread (me too!), you quickly get a deficiency. I was quite shocked when I found out that I structurally get little iodine. If you have a deficiency, it can cause unpleasant complaints. Thyroid problems, for example. Lisa made a video about it.

Fortunately, according to Lisa, this is quite easy to solve. I now use this jar of seaweed. The taste is super salty and the smell is certainly not something to write home about. So I happily ignore the serving suggestion on the jar to sprinkle the seaweed over your salad. But I do faithfully take a teaspoon of this stuff every day to keep my iodine levels up. With my nose pinched – mind you.

By the way, you also run the risk of iodine deficiency if you don’t eat vega(n). Bart also eats a bite of this seaweed stuff every day – since I started.

Change 4: 1x algae oil per day for Omega-3

Another thing that certainly doesn’t sound particularly tasty but that I still put on the menu every day is algae oil. This jar was very expensive, but it was one of the few vegan versions I could find. Why did I go for this stuff? For the Omega-3! That is one of the few ingredients that is very difficult to get naturally if you don’t eat fish. For this reason, I now take half a teaspoon of this oil every day. Also not very tasty, but that one bite with a flavor combination of orange and fish is something I am happy to do if it is good for my health.

Change 5: Be more generous with chia, linseed and hemp seeds

This is not a supplement, but another product that I started using more often. I did occasionally make a chia pudding with chocolate or this chia pudding with coconut . But those seeds were not a standard part of my breakfast. Lisa advised me to use chia seeds, hemp seeds or linseed more often for a complete diet, because those seeds contain many good nutrients. And so it happened!

I have all three in my kitchen cupboards as standard, but I didn’t use them too liberally before. Now I try to take one of the three every day and sprinkle it over my oatmeal or lunch. Chia seeds are ideal in oatmeal porridge; and you can sprinkle linseed and hemp seeds over all kinds of dishes. I even sprinkle hemp seeds over my dinner sometimes. You don’t taste much of it ( even though the sickly smell coming from the jar suggests otherwise ).

Change 6: Pay attention to calcium

Furthermore, I have started using more plant-based milk and cottage cheese than before. I get more than enough protein in a day, so that has nothing to do with it. But these products are often enriched with calcium. Because I was not at a healthy weight during my puberty, I have a greater chance of osteoporosis than the average person. To limit that risk as much as possible, I now take calcium supplements and use more plant-based milk and vegan cottage cheese.

The osteoporosis was also something that scared me. Unfortunately, I can’t turn back time. In retrospect, I would have liked to have taken better care of myself at a young age, but I can do my best to take care of myself as well as possible NOW. And I do that with all my love.

So: I now eat vegan even more confidently

All in all, Lisa’s advice has helped me a lot. Even if you think “I eat healthy, don’t I?” it is sometimes good to have someone take a look. I didn’t want to just “mess around” and then suddenly discover that I don’t eat wholesome food. I wanted to be able to be vegan with confidence. The consultation certainly helped with that. What I also liked is that Lisa could specifically recommend certain brands of supplements. There are many different vitamin brands on the market and the prices vary enormously. Now I could make a well-considered choice about whether or not to go for the more expensive brand.

And no, that basket in the drawer full of supplements is not dirt cheap. But for my health I am happy to do it. Moreover, many jars last quite a while. I (fortunately!) do not have to take the algae oil very generously, so it certainly does not go down very quickly.

The only thing left for me to do is to come out more often that I eat vegan . Not to feel bad if I make it “difficult” for others, but to think in solutions (“Should I bring something myself?”). A coach, who helped me to worry less about the opinions of others, once said to me for a reason: “Maybe saying that you are vegan is the best step you can take in that”. So this article is now online, I am proud that I did it, and I continue to enjoy delicious vegan food. OK, with those unappetizing seaweed bites in between every now and then. Everything for health.

Which supplements do you take regularly?