Dealing With Cravings

Why Vegan? http://veganvideo.org/

A common challenge for many new vegans (or vegetarians) is dealing with cravings. Here is a helpful reminder:
Whatever you do, the craving will go away eventually.

Here are a few options for how to deal with cravings:

1) GIVE IN TO THE CRAVING - Remember that sometimes 'doing the right thing takes practice.' Give yourself the opportunity to practice. "Falling off the wagon" doesn't mean you're a failure. You can get right back up on the wagon after you've satisfied that craving. It's OK. Don't be too hard on yourself. Just make sure you get back up on the wagon!

2) FIND AN ALTERNATIVE - If you crave a certain nonvegan food, try to find a vegan substitute. Try lots of different brands and different recipes to see if you can nail exactly what the craving is. Sometimes it's a craving for salt or fat and not truly a craving for flesh or another animal product. (If it's for cigarettes, sometimes the true craving might be for a hand-mouth activity, so try gum or lollipops.)

Options for vegan products that satisfy cravings for nonvegan foods:
Meat:
http://www.meatalternatives.org/

Cheese:
http://www.teesecheese.com/
http://www.galaxyfoods.com/ourbrands/...
http://www.followyourheart.com/vegang...

Ice cream:
http://turtlemountain.com/products/or...
http://www.gotemptation.com/

3) POWER THROUGH IT - Eventually the craving will go away. It will be a struggle, but the craving WILL end. The more healthy, vegan foods you eat, the less you will crave unhealthy nonvegan foods. The more days spent as a nonsmoker, the less you'll desire smoking. Habits are habits. You can create new, healthy habits. Affirmations can help. Remind yourself of all the good you're doing by avoiding animal products and by eating healthy plant foods: you're helping animals, you're helping the environment, and you're helping yourself by improving your health.

BUT also, make sure you eat tasty vegan foods. If you force yourself to eat the foods that you *think* are healthy but that don't taste good to you, you won't succeed. It's a recipe for failure. Try a variety of foods. Try new vegan recipes and see what you like. Try adding a little salt to your veggies. Try different spice combinations. Experiment.

- More -
Links about the addictiveness of unhealthy foods:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...
http://www.pcrm.org/news/health030529...

For nutrition information, check out:
http://www.veganhealth.org/
http://www.drmcdougall.com/medical_nu...
http://www.plantbasednutrition.org/

For more of my videos, take a look at:
http://kangarooelaine.blogspot.com/

I am one of the writers at Vegan Soapbox. Check it out at:
http://vegansoapbox.com/

THANKS FOR WATCHING!