Vegan At Sea: My Top 10 Tips!

You know how to be vegan at home.  You’ve learned what you like, found a local farmer’s market, frequent your favourite restaurants and have a routine.  So what happens when everything gets shaken up?  Maintaining a vegan diet in restrictive circumstances can be difficult, something I know all too well from working on cruise ships!

I have spent a cumulative 7 months at sea, and I can tell you it hasn’t always been easy.  I hope that my top ten tips for maintaining a vegan diet at sea (or wherever you may find yourself) can help you on your journey.  Let’s get started!

1. Take a deep breath.  More damaging than all the eventualities you have begun imagining is the stress and anxiety that worry brings.  You are vegan for a reason, and you have the fortitude to remain true to your values no matter the obstacle.  The more you get centred, grounded, and believe in yourself the easier it will be!  Try meditation.  I am definitely no expert, but I find even a couple of minutes a day make a huge difference in my ability to handle stress and anxiety! (Headspace is a great introduction to meditation!)

2. Ease up.  I understand that 100% vegan is the only way for you, it is for me as well.  But is oil free just as important?  Or high carb?  You may need to take a step back from your ideal dietary habits when you’re away from home and focus on keeping it vegan.  I’m not saying you should through nutrition and health out the window, but don’t hold yourself to such a high standard that everything falls apart!

3. Remember why you’re vegan.  When times are tough, it’s important to keep your motivation in plain view.  My favourite way to do that is to continue to work on my blog and to listen to vegan podcasts (check out my resources page to see my recommendations).  Perhaps for you it’s bringing along your favourite book on veganism, loading up a hard drive with documentaries, or volunteering in your free time.  Whatever it may be, keep your inspiration close!  You could even make a page with all of your reasons and put it up where you’ll see it everyday.  Here are my reasons as an example!

4. Take it back to the basics.  The longer we’re vegan, the more our tastes evolve.  We become more adventurous, try new ingredients and combinations, and get into the latest superfoods.  When you don’t have access to these foods it may feel restrictive.  I suggest you take this as an opportunity to go back to basics.  Simple is definitely the way to go!  When I’m on the ship I eat a lot of whole fruits and vegetables, both raw and steamed.  A typical day would be lots of whole fruit for breakfast, a large salad with beans and some fruit at lunch, fruit for snacks, and rice and beans with vegetables and a salad for dinner.  It may not be exciting, but it’s healthy, satisfying, simple, and nutritious.  (Feel free to print out my vegan food pyramid to keep with you!)

5. Remember to practice self care.  it can be difficult to be constantly surrounded with people consuming animal products, believe me, i know.  Remember to be kind to yourself and take time for yourself to deal with the stress tat can bring.  Be understanding and gentle with yourself, and try to focus on what you're doing to help rather than on the suffering on others’ plates.  I love to maintain a daily yoga and meditation practice while living on the ship to feed my soul and find peace amongst many stressors. // I personally recommend Banana Blondie's yoga videos and Claire from Self Taught Yogis!

6. Take advantage of opportunities.  Have a day off?  Find a vegan or vegan-friendly restaurant and treat yourself to a great meal!  Grab a smoothie or fresh juice on your break.  While these may be costly and feel like a luxury, it’s important to treat yourself and reward your dedication!

7. Find like-minded individuals.  There are more vegans, vegetarians, flexi-tarians, and dairy-free folks than it may seem.  Focus on your similarities rather than your differences and engage in meaningful discussions about the things you’re passionate about!  You never know when something you say in passing may plant a seed in someone’s mind or heart!

8. Eat enough!  This one can be tough, but is so important!  I don’t need to tell you that as a vegan you need to eat a higher volume of food than someone eating a standard omnivorous diet, but for some reason we forget when we’re dropped into a new environment (me included!)  It can be almost embarrassing to eat far more than your peers at every meal, I completely get it.  But it’s also kind of awesome!  Not only can you eat far more than them consistently and maintain your weight (or even lose), you are promoting far greater health!  Once again, you never know what kind of interest you may spark in someone else by eating huge quantities of fresh, healthy, delicious looking food and maintaining a slim figure and vibrance!  

9. Be prepared.  If you can, always carry fresh fruit or another whole-food plant based snack with you.  It’s far better to be prepared than to end up hungry with no vegan options! 

10. Keep it in perspective.  For most of us, a change to our routine such as working on a cruise ship is not a permanent one.  Remember that, while it may feel difficult in the beginning, slight inconvenience for you is nothing compared to the suffering you are preventing!  Hold your head high and keep on making that difference!

And there you have it!  My top ten tips for keeping veganism simple while in less-than-ideal circumstances.  I encourage you to print the resources I created for this post to keep with you.  You never know when they may come in handy!

I also ask that if you have any further questions that you leave a comment below or email me at plantbasedbride@gmail.com so I can help you out!

Until next time,

The Vegan Food Pyramid

What do vegans actually eat?  That's a question I hear more often than you'd think.  And the answer is very simple.

Vegans eat plants!

Now obviously there are lots of ways to achieve that.  High or low carb, raw or cooked, whole foods or junk foods, vegans eat it all.

Me?  I like to eat a whole foods high carb nutrient dense plant based diet.  Bit of a mouthful, right?  (Pun intended.)

So what does that actually look like?

Let me show you!

To make it super clear for you, I made this handy-dandy graphic to show you exactly what I mean!  

My diet is based off of YEARS of research into nutrition, and is a culmination of all of the most compelling evidence I have seen.  I've written quite a few posts here on my blog on the topic of nutrition exploring protein, iron, calcium, and more (see every post I've written on nutrition here) and have also listed many of my favourite books and other resources here!

Let me break it down for you.  

My focus is on whole foods, as I believe the less processed a food the healthier it is for our bodies.  Food science has come a long way in a short period of time, and I guarantee our bodies have not evolved at the same pace.  Our cells don't recognize processed foods and therefore can not utilize and expel them in an efficient manner.  If you want your digestion to be a well-oiled machine (and top-notch health) whole foods are the way to go!

I eat high carb because carbohydrates are the fuel our bodies need!  We run on carbs.  Carbs are not the enemy!  They give us energy and make us feel good.  Ever wonder why you love sweet things and crave sugar?  Because sugar is our fuel, just like gasoline in a car!  You wouldn't try to run a car on sugar water any more that you'd try to live off of gasoline.  Why force your body to do extra work to get the energy it sorely needs to keep your vital functions going?  Especially when carbs taste oh so good!

I aim to eat lots of foods that have a high nutrient to calorie ratio, because the more nutrients I can get the better!  Which foods pack the biggest nutrient punch?  Vegetables and fruit.  I encourage anyone trying to improve their health to start with increasing their consumption of vegetables of all types (including starches), fruit, and especially leafy greens (the most nutrient dense of them all!)

Lastly, I eat plant based because I truly believe that animal products are deleterious to our health.  Plant foods provide everything we need without the negative health effects that come with the consumption of meat, eggs, and dairy.  I also eat this way because it aligns with my ethical beliefs.  I have written loads of posts both subjects, which you can find in my blog post archive!

Now, I'm human (just like you, I presume!) and I don't always eat a perfect diet.  That's why I included the 'other' category.  This is for those times when you just REALLY want a vegan brownie chock-full of oil and sugar.  And you should have it!  We only live once and treats should definitely have a place in our lives.  The biggest thing to remember is that a treat doesn't happen every day!

I also want to remind you to DRINK ENOUGH WATER!  Yes, I am yelling.  It is so important.  Don't complain.  Just do it.  Your body will  thank you a thousand times over.  And then you'll thank me!

Oh, and don't forget to stay on top of your B12 and vitamin D intake.  If you don't know why B12 is important, read my post on the subject here.  And vitamin D is a problem we are all facing as a species, now that the majority of us spend our lives indoors or slathered in sunscreen.  Get out in the sun every single day or be sure to take a (vegan!) D3 supplement!

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What kind of vegan diet do you eat?  I would love to hear about it in the comments!  Also, let me know if you would be interested in a 'what I eat in a day' video on my YouTube channel!

Until next time,