How to become vegan

Program of gradual reduction of animal products in the diet

I created this program to help those interested in doing something about over-consumption on our planet, hunger and misery of people and animals. It has been created from my own experience, experiments I have undertaken on myself and others (students and friends). 

Stage one-duration one year: 

Eat meat and fish only once a week * and eat fresh raw salad with every meal. The other days we eat fruits / vegetables / grains / legumes / dairy/eggs being careful not to increase the quantities of dairy.

* Chicken is meat.                                

* The fresh raw salad can be made of any plant, as long as it is not cooked. Try plants that you are only used to eating cooked, raw and experience new delicious tastes:  zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, sprouted seeds - generally almost all vegetables can be eaten raw.

Stage two -duration six months: 

Stop eating meat and eat fish only once a week. Eat fresh, raw salad with every meal and be careful not to increase dairy.

Stage three- duration one year: 

Remove fish from your diet. Now the only food of animal origin is dairy and egg. Consider dairy as a main meal-like meat. If  for example you would have steak with potatoes, now you have a piece of cheese with potatoes and salad. NOTE: FROM THESE, ALL YOU NEED IS SALAD – what we are doing is freeing ourselves from the dependency on concentrated and complicated food. Remember to eat fresh salad with every meal!                                                                                                              

Stage four :

Now you will cut the dairy or the eggs. It is not necessary to replace it with plant-based milks and vegan cheese.  But It is necessary to increase the raw food. Activated Diet suggest one raw meal per day  (nuts soaked in water 3-8 hours, raw fruit, raw vegetables, raw grains soaked in water 8 hours, raw legumes sprouted)

Last Stage 5 : Cut eggs and dairy. 

At this stage you're vegan!!! Here are some practical guidelines:

1.       Be careful not to increase the quantity of cooked food in your diet. Please be aware that a piece of meat is equivalent to at least two large bowls of RAW salad. Go for a walk in the countryside and watch the cows or the goats. They are perfectly healthy living off greens (and they are mammals like us). They also eat once a day a more concentrated feed such as wheat, carob etc, but again the food is RAW. If the food is cooked, you can eat less and get more nutrients but it has to be freshly cooked!

2    Yesterday’s cooked food does not offer much! It simply gives us the illusion of feeling full for a while. If you plan to eat yesterday's food at least combine it with fresh raw salad.

3.       At the beginning you might feel hungry all the time, and not be able to find ways of filling your stomach. This is a very normal state, one that we all have passed through. Give yourself the freedom to eat a little more cooked food but keep reminding yourself that the body does not really need it - it's just a habit.

4.       You may find that you “need” more sweets. This is only at the beginning, until the body adjusts itself to your new diet. Do not indulge in excessive amounts of sweets - set a limit and stick to it.

5.       Remember that if you do not follow any spiritual practice, you don’t need to be so hard on yourself. If one day you're invited to a house or you go to a tavern and do not want to be the "black sheep" - you can have some cheese or fish as long as this is not very often.

For those who do follow spiritual practices or for those who are sensitive to overpopulation and overconsumption here are two more stages (where I am experimenting this period):

Stage six:

70% raw food in two meals, with the third meal to be 100% raw food. Fasting once a month.

 Check with yourself what meal you do not mind ... "missing” (breakfast, lunch or dinner) and:

a) if you have a lot of physical activity in the day, eat raw fruits or vegetables in this meal.

B) if not, have a fresh juice.

Start fasting once a month. Fasting can be only raw food, or only fruits, only juices or water for 24 hours.

In this stage we are already contributing to our health and the saving of the earth resources.

I will mention one more step for those interested to know, even theoretically.

Stage seven:

 Fasting 2 times a month and one main meal every day. 

At this stage the two meals are fruits / vegetables (and nuts if the day is dynamic) and only one meal which contains cooked food (30% cooked and 70% salad or raw food). Fasting is done twice a month with water only (you can follow the “Ekadashi” - fasting 11 days after the full moon and the new moon).

CAUTION: While science does not support the one- meal-per- day-theory (research shows that the body does not react positively to this "oppression") this habit is an excellent spiritual practice as it allows the system to focus on the mind, rather than constantly digesting the food we are taking in. I remind you also that your body will get used to eating once a day in about 6-12 months and then, the negative effect of the one-meal-only, will disappear. Babaji in Haidakham Ashram allows food only once a day (not even fruit between) in the name of the three basic principles of his teachings: Truth, Simplicity, Love. 

Korina Kontaxaki - YogaLife