21 Side Effects to Expect As A New Vegan
When I first brainstormed this list, I focused so much on physical side effects of what to expect when you go vegan and have since realized it’s not just about what happens to your body it’s soooo much more than that.
If you do want to know more about what happens to your body, check out this article to read more.
When you go vegan, your world flips upside down.
Let’s be honest.
You aren’t just changing what you eat, you’re changing your life.
You’re choosing to be different.
You’re opting for inconvenience.
You’re being the one who doesn’t do what everyone else does.
This new identity; this new YOU...well, it has side effects.
And, the truth is, some are GREAT and some wholeheartedly suck.
But remember, you’re doing this because you are aligning your morals with your plate, and with that comes side effects.
You are choosing to be brave and stand up for what you believe.
You are defending the planet, animal lives, and your health.
And, you are a part of a new community of compassionate humans.
Embrace the good and the annoying that comes with being a new vegan.
Let’s do this.
Boost in Tastes, Sensations, Hearing, and Vision
When you remove animal products, specifically dairy, you may experience a boost in flavors and cravings for fresh foods.
Your hearing and vision may also improve as you decrease your intake of animal products and increase your intake of fruits and vegetables.
For more about the astounding benefits of a vegan diet with your senses, check out this blog post.
2. Clearer Attention & Focus
Some new vegans have claimed they’ve experienced a clearer mindset and improved focus. They’ve also said they experienced a boost in creativity in their first few months of cutting out animal products.
3. Better Smelling Body Odor
Consuming meat and dairy products has an impact on your body odor, which has been described as a sour smelling sweat.
When you go vegan, your odor tends to change because your body is eliminating hormones, toxins, and bacteria that you had been consuming through animal products.
A diet based on fresh fruits and vegetables will help cleanse your cells and shift your smell to a less pungent odor.
4. Improved Sex
According to several sources, including the recently released documentary Game Changers, you may experience a higher libido, which can improve your sex drive.
Male vegans may also experience stronger and longer duration erections when leaving animal products off their plate.
A bonus of a vegan diet could be that you taste better...down there...which may also improve your sex life.
Consuming things like “Pineapple, kiwi, plums, apples, and all kinds of citrus fruits are suspected to cause a sweeter taste for vegans.
Along with these fruits, some people attest to the benefit of eating herbs like parsley, cilantro, spearmint, peppermint, and green tea for a better taste down there.” (Source)
5. Positive Regard for Yourself
Whether this sets in straight away or after a while of being vegan, your self-regard is likely to improve due to the positive impact your new lifestyle is having on your health, the planet, and animal lives.
A plant-based diet has demonstrated positive effects on people’s moods as they tend to consume foods with higher levels of quercetin, which is a natural antidepressant that “increase[s] the amount of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine in the brain.” (Source)
Foods that contain quercetin are:
Apples
Kale
Onions
Grapes
Green tea
Berries
(Source)
6. Emotional Detox
When you go vegan, you’re essentially changing your identity.
You are letting go of certain traditions and habits and bringing in new ones.
This may take some getting used to, but emotional detox is definitely a part of going vegan.
You’re essentially changing the attachment you have to food memories, like Christmas dinner or your Grandma’s favorite soup.
Just because you’re vegan doesn’t mean you have to give up these traditions, though.
When you put it in perspective, it’s not the food you’re attached to, it’s the memories surrounding the food you’re likely attached to
Swapping out foods at family gatherings, or eating something different than the rest of your relatives, doesn’t mean you have to stop being a part of your family or stop having fun.
Side note:
We recognize that you may get some pushback from non-vegan family members during this time, but that shouldn’t mean they’ll love you any less or exclude you in any way.
It takes some getting used to -- they may experience an emotional detox themselves when you go vegan -- but it’ll become normal and it’ll be second nature for you to be vegan in the family.
7. Increased Bathroom Time
This may not be something you want to hear, but with increased amounts of fruits, veg, legumes, and beans, you’re likely going to be visiting the bathroom more often than you had before.
When you switch to a vegan lifestyle, your body detoxifies itself, which means excreting toxins in alllll the ways.
Plus, with more fiber in your diet, you’ll be passing your contents (and gas) more often.
8. Hormonal Changes
One Planet describes this side effect perfectly, “Hormones control nearly every aspect of how you feel, or are directly affected by life and how you eat. It’s as simple as that, despite how complicated hormones can be. Insulin, serotonin, cortisol, and dopamine, not to mention estrogen and testosterone are each affected by the food choices we make.”
9. Headaches and Fatigue
People who are new to veganism and are hoping for some weight loss to come with their new lifestyle tend to restrict their caloric intake, which can lead to headaches and/or fatigue.
If this isn’t you and you’re getting headaches or feel abnormally tired, this could be due to the detoxification process your body is experiencing as it sheds toxins caused from the previous consumption of animal products.
10. Broken Out Skin Before It Gets Better (Acne)
While many people are in the camp of “my skin has never been clearer since I went vegan,” you may be wondering why your skin hasn’t yet gotten as clear as a magazine model’s...yet.
There are two likely reasons your skin may be breaking out after going vegan.
One, you may be taking too much vitamin B12 supplements in a period of time.
Sometimes larger amounts of B12 consumed every few days can overload your body causing your skin to react.
If you take lesser amounts more regularly, such as every day, your skin may calm and your body may have an easier time digesting the supplement.
And two, the hormonal changes of going vegan can cause your body to express itself through your skin’s presentation, but after some time, your body will get used to it and hopefully your skin does, too.
If you don’t see any changes from abnormal acne after going vegan, please consult your doctor or dermatologist.
11. Mentality shift
Whatever the reason you have for going vegan, we’ll guess you’ve learned something new to cause a change in your mentality in one way or another.
Whether it’s for the environment, the animals, your health, or all of the above, going vegan typically is associated with deeper learning of one of those three topics.
You’ll likely start seeing the world differently, which could come with anger (this article can be reaaaally helpful for that) or frustration that you weren’t expecting.
A wide variety of emotions will likely wash over you throughout your transition into veganism and it will take a mentality shift to maintain your lifestyle, but you can do it. :)
12. Reduced inflammation
“Inflammation is an immune response that occurs in the body when cells are signaled to heal damage caused by something foreign.” - VegNews
Animal products create inflammation in the body as foreign influences on our cells, so when you remove them from your diet, your body will begin to heal itself and be relieved of that inflammation.
Plants have an anti-inflammatory effect on your body and cells, so when you consume more of them, it gives your body a chance to recover.
The best plants with ultimate healing properties are:
Kale
Spinach
Cauliflower
Carrots
Beets
Sea vegetables
Strawberries
Raspberries
Blueberries
Pink grapefruit
(Source)
13. Lower cholesterol
“Cholesterol is a wax-like substance produced by the liver that aids in building cell membranes and producing hormones.”
What this is saying is, cholesterol is made in your body naturally and your body knows exactly how much to make for itself.
When you consume animal products -- the only other source of cholesterol -- you’re putting your body at risk since fats are deposited in your arteries.
With blocked arteries comes weaker blood flow to your heart, which in turn may place you in higher risk for heart disease.
By eliminating animal products from your diet, you will inevitably lower your cholesterol levels and see a shift in your health.
If you want a boost in lowering your cholesterol, some vegan foods that can help with that are:
Oats
Beans
Barley
Soy protein
Nuts
Wheat germ
Wheat bran
Almonds
Brussels sprouts
Other foods containing substances called phytosterols and high fiber levels
(Source)
14. Microbiome makeover
Your microbiome, or your gut, is the best indicator of your health. Our microbiome is made up of trillions of microorganisms in our bodies that do a few things to keep us alive.
According to Forks Over Knives, some of the duties of our microbiome are to:
Help digest our food
Produce important nutrients we need
Turn genes on and off
Keep our gut tissue healthy
Help protect us from cancer
The bacteria in your microbiome is determined by what you eat.
When you consume animal products, you’re putting more harmful, disease-inducing bacteria into your gut.
When you consume plants, you’re giving your gut a chance to repair with the healthier, more “friendly” bacteria that eating plants provides.
15. Gene expressioN
Did you know that you can actually change your gene expression with a plant-based diet?
That’s right!
The ends of your DNA, called telomeres, keep your DNA safe and protected.
When you eat a plant-based diet, you lengthen and strengthen your telemeres, which optimizes how your cells repair damaged DNA (source).
It’s incredible what the body can do when it’s fuelled with the right sources.
16. Planetary health contribution
One of the biggest side effects of eating vegan is the contribution to lowering your carbon footprint.
The animal agriculture industry is the #1 contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, higher than any other industry combined.
When we demand less animal products, the less animals need to be farmed.
The less animals that are farmed and bred into existence for our consumption, the less carbon emissions on the planet.
So, by eating a vegan diet, you’re voting with your dollar and voting for better planetary health.
17. Saving animal lives
This one is pretty obvious, but by not eating animals, you’re essentially saving animals.
The more vegans there are on the planet, the less animals are slaughtered for human consumption.
When you buy tofu, seitan, beans, legumes, fruits, vegetables, and other vegan foods instead of animal products, you’re telling farmers you don’t want the animal products they’re selling.
18. More energy
Some people experience having more energy within a week of going vegan, while others take some time for the energy boost to kick in.
The reason you may experience an increase in energy is because it’s actually harder for your body to break down animal products than plants.
It takes more energy digesting meat than it does spinach, for example, so your body will have extra energy when you cut out those hard-to-digest-animal-products.
Plus, certain plants have energizing effects, so consuming more of those may give your body a much needed boost.
19. Less sluggish after meals
To follow on with #18, your body tends to bounce back a lot easier after eating vegan foods than animal-product-based foods.
When you consume a big meal filled with animal products, don’t you want to just take a nap and be horizontal?
Many people report losing that desire when they switch to a vegan diet, so they’re often buzzing around after a big meal instead of wishing for the couch.
20. More intense conversations
People aren’t always going to be on board with your new lifestyle. While it’s not necessarily their business, they will likely let you know their opinion.
Being vegan means being different than the norm; it’s going against the status quo.
People are going to be curious about your choices and they’ll try to challenge you more than ever before.
Watch YouTube videos, read articles, and watch documentaries to learn as much as you can in order to be well equipped for these conversations.
Expect some to be more difficult than others, but remember that your vegan lifestyle is based on compassion for yourself, the planet, and animals, so how can you not walk away from any hard conversation being proud of yourself?
You’ve got this.
21. InconvenienceS
Eating out at restaurants, shopping in certain stores, family gatherings, parties at friends’ houses, and travelling are all impacted when you go vegan and can often feel inconvenient.
We don’t live in a vegan world...yet...but the inconveniences that come with being vegan are truly annoying at first.
After some time, you get used to it and learn how to prepare yourself to avoid any inconveniences.
Some tips for avoiding the initial “inconvenience” of being vegan:
Research restaurant menus before making a reservation
Shop at vegan-friendly grocery stores
Download the app “Happy Cow” to find vegan eateries wherever you are
Prepare snacks and bring them with you in case you don’t find any vegan treats when you’re out and about
Eat at home before you go somewhere
Get creative with the options you have available.
