Your First 30 Days as a Vegan

How to use this

Don't read it all today. Read week one today. Come back next Sunday.

Week 1 — The fridge

Goal this week: replace dairy. That's it. Don't try to overhaul the rest yet.

• Day 1: Buy oat or soy milk. Try it in chai once. (Soy holds heat best, oat is creamier.)
• Day 2: Buy tofu. Press it 20 minutes, marinate in soy + ginger + lemon, pan-fry. Eat in a roti.
• Day 3: Try a vegan curd (Epigamia coconut yoghurt) or skip curd this week.
• Day 4–5: Pick three favourite home meals and figure out the vegan version.
• Day 6–7: Cook one new dinner from a recipe. Just one.

Week 2 — The supplements

• Order a B12 tablet today. Methylcobalamin, 500–1000 mcg. Take it 2–3 times a week.
• If you haven't had a blood test in a year, book one. Ask for B12, vitamin D, iron, ferritin, TSH. Establish a baseline.
• Add a fistful of nuts and seeds daily — almonds, walnuts, flax, chia. This handles your omega-3 and calcium quietly.

Week 3 — The outside world

This is the week you'll have your first restaurant test. Here's the order to make it boring:

• South Indian: idli, sambar, plain dosa (no ghee), uttapam.
• North Indian: dal tadka, chana masala, bhindi, jeera rice, tandoori roti without ghee.
• Chinese: veg fried rice, hakka noodles, chilli mushroom, manchurian.
• Italian: any tomato-based pasta, ask "no cheese, no cream." Bruschetta.
• Thai: green curry with tofu, jasmine rice, papaya salad (no fish sauce).

"I was so nervous about my first restaurant meal. Then I just said 'no ghee, no butter, no paneer,' and the waiter said 'okay ma'am' and that was it."

Week 4 — The audit

You've done a month. Review honestly.

• What three dinners do you actually like? Lock them in.
• What did you buy that you didn't eat? Don't buy it again.
• What did you miss most? (For most people: paneer, or cheese.) Find one specific solution — Bombay Cheese Co. for cheese, or marinated tofu for paneer.
• Did you remember B12? If not, get a habit-tracker app today.

What'll feel surprisingly easy

• Indian breakfast — most of it was already vegan (idli, dosa, upma, poha, chilla, paratha if you skip butter).
• Snacks — Parle-G, Hide & Seek (Bourbon), most chips, most namkeen.
• Travel food — South Indian thalis, Subway veggie patty without cheese, McDonald's veg meals (ask without cheese/mayo).

What'll feel hard for a minute

• Tea/coffee at someone else's house. Carry your own oat milk sachets if it matters.
• Birthday cakes. Theobroma and most bakeries do vegan now — just ask.
• Family dinners where someone's feelings get involved. (See: Talking to Indian Parents.)

By day 30, the food is invisible. You'll be deciding what to wear and what to watch — and what you eat won't be the thing you're thinking about anymore.