Going vegan is a big lifestyle change at first (for me anyways). After a while, like with most changes, you adapt and then everything you learn becomes routine. But sometimes these changes manifest unintended consequences for you and those around you. Here is a list of 11 things that I wish someone had told me before going vegan.

1. Once people find out you are vegan, they become instant nutritionists.

This was very difficult for me to both comprehend and deal with at work and with the family. Before going vegan I treated my body like a trash can, drinking lots of energy drinks and eating tons of fast food and other unhealthy mainstream food. But when I became health conscious and vegan, all of the sudden people wanted to offer their advice for how I should eat. But no one said anything before when I was woofing down 10 Jack in the Box tacos. Also, you will be asked ‘where you do get your protein from?’ more times than you can imagine.

Advice: Prepare for triggered reactions from those around you. Educate yourself to prepare for those who will sometimes question you. For example, the majority of vegetables you find at the grocery store have plenty of protein.

2. People around you will think you are malnourished and whither away into dust.

I was at work once when someone asked me if I was going to be okay, after they found out I was vegan. Many asked what in the world I eat if I don’t consume animal products? For many people, being vegan is a strange and far-away world where mysterious things happen and somehow people survive living through it. When the truth is, animal products are just one part of people’s meals, and most of what they eat is actually some form of vegetable.

Advice: Research, research, research. Becoming more health conscious means becoming educated about how food production works and how well the human body functions with just fruits and vegetables.

3. Family gatherings may be awkward.

This was something that became a bit awkward when the time came around. I thought, I’ve never experienced a Thanksgiving dinner as a vegan with my family before. What do I do? At this point I had tried to eliminate GMOs and conventional food as much as possible so trying to eat just organic was my goal. This led to not being able to eat anything my mom cooked, which was awkward when I tried to explain it to her. I ended up cooking some breaded soy curls, mashed potatoes, gravy and mixed veggies for my dinner:

Also luckily, we don’t have huge family gatherings, so I don’t have to experience trying to dodge family members asking me about my eating habits like other families probably do.

Advice: Weather the storm. Stand with integrity, veganism is the future. Continue to be amazing.

4. You can’t hide being vegan for long.

At some point, someone somewhere somehow will offer you something with an animal product in it, and even though you politely decline, you may be questioned, which might end up with you revealing you don’t consume animal products (if you choose to). This will sometimes result in point number 1, they will find out you are vegan and the health probing might begin. Just remember, you are part of a massive transformation that is taking place on this planet right now. This transformation requires brave souls who are willing to be pelted with questions and insults in order to help make this aspect of the change happen.

Advice: You can choose to keep being vegan to yourself, or be outspoken. This is up to you. Most people don’t realize that when they become vegan, they automatically become activists. For me personally, I pick and choose my battles.

5. Multi-generational brainwashing from the meat and dairy industry is STRONG.

Another thing that I learned pretty quickly was how strong the advertisements and brainwashing by the meat and dairy industries were. When you are born and raised in an aspect of The Matrix, you generally don’t see it. It takes someone from the outside to point it out to make it become clear, even then, the mind-control is so powerful and strong, coupled with reinforcement of ‘following the herd’, that this knowledge sometimes causes cognitive dissonance.

When you give up meat and dairy, and interact with everyday people, especially people online, you realize how brainwashed people are into believing that they need meat and dairy to survive. When in reality, the opposite is true. Cow’s milk is made for baby cows. Just like human breast milk is made for human babies. People know this logically, and yet they continue to buy cow’s milk at the store. Why? The only answer is mind-control. Fear of stepping out of the routine, out of The Matrix.

We also know that the meat industry, as it exists today, is another expression of the Luciferian control structure here on this planet. These people sacrifice humans and animals as part of their rituals. Well how much more powerful are these rituals when billions of animals are sacrificed each year?

Advice: Becoming more educated about the meat and dairy industry is key here. Some documentaries I recommend are Cowspiracy, Forks over Knives, Earthlings, What the Health, Food, Inc., Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead are among a few available on Netflix as of the time of this writing. Also screaming into a pillow helps. Also getting in touch with other vegans.

5. You will be amazed at what foods have animal products in them and ones that don’t.

I can’t tell you how many times I went to go check the ingredients on something that looked great, and it contained milk. Like what the hell man? How does a bag of chips need to have milk in it? I’ve also been shocked to learn about things that don’t have animals products in them. Like Oreos. That’s right, the ‘cream’ filling is not made of ‘cream’, as we think of it. I remember one time I bought a bag of chips that I assumed had no dairy products in it. I mean, who would guess that some spicy chips would have milk in it? But it did and I was so angry at myself. I double check everything now.

Another important thing to check on labels is whether or not the food you are looking at was made on equipment that also processes dairy products.

Advice: Who cares what people think, check the labels on food and try your best to do your part to not support companies that use animal products.

6. You learn about deceptive wording used by food companies to hide non-vegan ingredients.

This is one that I know a lot of vegans, even now, don’t take into consideration. Certain unnecessary ingredients like Palm Oil (derived from Palm trees which are homes to orangutans) are disguised as ‘vegetable glycerin’ or sometimes ‘palm kernel oil’ or other names. It is important to do the research and learn about these names so you don’t unintentionally support and eat animal products.

Another big one is ‘natural flavor’. Unless it specifically says ‘vegan natural flavors’ there is really no rules for what this ingredient(s) could be. Here is an excerpt from Today.com in regards to the official definition of what natural flavor is:

(Today)

“The definition of natural flavor under the Code of Federal Regulations is: “the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional” (21CFR101.22).”

So as you can see, it can pretty much be literally anything. So it’s important to keep an eye out for these things when looking at the ingredient list.

Advice: The idea here is to continue to do research and ride the learning curve until you know what is what.

7. Watching food commercials is a totally different experience.

This one was something that was totally strange to me. I found myself being disgusted with food commercials, perfectly positioning animal products so they would be ‘appealing’ to those watching it. I usually look away now when I see them. But since they are everywhere, it is hard to avoid them. After a while, you realize what a strange, almost foreign, mind-controlled world you live in.

Advice: The best advice here is to continue to healthily release emotions that arise from experiencing such publicly-accepted animal abuse. Talk to other vegans. Get it out and continue to be the change.

8. You may sometimes get cravings or miss certain animal products.

Since it’s 2018, there is a vegan version of pretty much anything and everything meat and dairy-related. In reality, if all of this meat and dairy was replaced by plant-based alternatives, most of the world would not notice, that’s how good they are. But there are times, that I admit, where I have craved some kind of meat or dairy product. I would never act on it, but it has happened here and there. Again, there is no manual for this lifestyle change. It is literally someone just being this necessary change the best way that they can in such a toxic and mind-controlled environment. Just doing the best you can with what you have is all that is possible.

Advice: If you have a craving, that’s usually your body trying to tell you that you need something, so looking into that would help. But also know that there is a vegan version of almost everything and it wouldn’t hurt to try and make it yourself! (If you have the financial means anyways)

9. Don’t be afraid to offer others vegan food.

Part of this world transformation is stepping outside of The Matrix, one person at a time, and doing something, anything different. I decided I would try and show my co-workers and family that this food is good and worth having more than once. I made some vegan gluten-free jalapeño poppers at work once, which were a huge hit. And I even made some mongolian soy curl ‘chicken’ with broccoli and rice that was also a huge success.

Another thing that is helping is the rise of vegan restaurants and vegan products being offered at restaurants which serve meat and dairy. I took my family to a vegan restaurant a few times which featured amazing Asian food and American comfort food (deep fried things). Arizona even got its first all-vegan grocery store recently. I went a couple of times to support them and they had a lot of great stuff there.

Happycow.net will even show you the nearest vegan or vegan-friendly restaurant near you.

Advice: If you feel guided, offer something to those around you once in a while. Simply existing as a vegan is a huge change that this planet needs. Being a crack in someone else’s Matrix can be as easy as offering them something vegan to eat.

10. Just because someone is vegan, doesn’t mean they’re healthy.

So there is a loooot of vegan junk food available. Lots of chips and desserts and everything else you can imagine. If you go vegan it will be up to you to decide what to put in your body. I admit that I will go crazy on some vegan taquitos or a cheesecake once in a while. But I try to keep things as healthy as possible. It’s all about balance. But know that not all vegans are skinny or muscular people. (Oh boy if I didn’t exercise!)

Advice: Vegans come in all shapes and sizes. Living consciously in general should also entail respecting others just as you respect animals.

 11. Some people will turn animal abuse into a joke.

Due to the strong mind-control and subsequent cognitive dissonance taking place here on Earth by the meat and dairy industries you will find that many people will not be able to come face to face with the reality of such horrific abuse and will become triggered and sometimes attack the person trying to share knowledge about these industries. Try to realize that in a lot of cases you are not talking to the person themselves, but actually the multi-generational programming they received since they were born. This can be extremely disappointing and even infuriating but it’s important to remember that change IS happening and that although it is slow, there is progress being made.

Advice: Don’t give up on humanity, the majority of people are kind at heart and mean well, but the programming is very powerful. Think of yourself as a seed, planting yourself here and there as people find out about veganism. Eventually the seeds will grow and sometimes in the most unexpected ways.

This is everything I can think of. If you know of anything I left out, leave a comment! Much love all <3 PS here is a funny video some might like. Most probably won’t since it is rap, but I thought it was funny: