"Vegan" is a weird word. I'm the first to admit I always thought of vegans as annoying because what kind of person doesn't want to eat meat and cheese? Honestly what kind of human does that willingly? Then I learned I was that type of person. After my first month of being meat and dairy free because of a variety of reasons, here's what I've learned.

1. Dairy substitutes are your best friend.

Some of your favorite dishes that have dairy in them can be very easily made to be dairy-free. PSA: Mashed potatoes are surprisingly easy to make and taste almost the same when made with almond milk and vegan butter.

2. Eating out is not a big problem.

This was something I was really worried about when I first started this new lifestyle. But you can pretty much get steamed veggies and a plain baked potato at any restaurant. Also, anything you get from a restaurant with no meat already in it can be quickly made vegan by asking for no cheese and asking that anything cooked in butter be replaced with olive oil. A quick google search can give you hundreds of vegan menus at every type of restaurant.

3. Asian food is the easiest way to eat out when vegan.

This could be wrong, but from experience, most asian-inspired restaurants have many dishes that are already vegan or can be easily made vegan. These restaurants also have tofu in most cases. Veggie spring rolls and tofu fried rice with no egg are some of my personal favorites.

4. You still have to be healthy.

At first I just thought I could eat pasta and rice all day long. Just because you're not eating meat or dairy doesn't mean you're automatically being healthy. It's called a plant-based diet for a reason: you have to get the essential nutrients from lots and lots of vegetables.

5. You should learn to cook.

Finding different recipes on how to cook veggies is the best way. Eating a lot of vegetables is so hard, but there are about 100 different recipes for each vegetable on how to prepare them so you'll actually like them and not get bored.

6. But, you can still pig out.

Sometimes you just want to eat unhealthy. That's obvious. Sometimes it feels impossible to find a fatty, greasy food item that really tastes amazing when you can't eat a huge cheeseburger or five cheese mac n'cheese. My favorite vegan-friendly junk food is any kind of fried potato. French fries, potato skins and kettle cooked chips.

7. Protein is important.

We really don't need as much protein as we think we do, but we still need it. Plenty of veggies pack loads of protein like broccoli and brown rice. But, my favorite way to get protein is with a scoop of vegan protein powder in a smoothie every morning.

8. If you're on a budget, shop at Trader Joe's.

Trader Joe's is the spot to shop vegan on a budget. They have plenty of vegan items along with loads of fresh and organic veggies and fruits for the same price as your generic grocery store. When you're buying vegan at Kroger, those items tend to be more expensive than the real thing, but not at Trader Joe's.