Health & Fitness: 4 ways to bring your co-workers along for the ...

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Are you flying solo as the only vegan in your workplace?? Unless you work at Google, Whole Foods Market, or any other venue where healthy vegan has gone mainstream, you may feel like a lone duck in the lunchroom pond.

And when you open your brown bag and dive in, you may even get curious looks and questions about your food.? More often than not, if your experience is like mine, you?ll also hear a lot of ?That looks good!?

So, how do you share your passion for your healthy vegan vittles with grace and ease?

Here are 4 tips to help bring your co-workers along for the healthy, happy vegan ride

1)? Don?t expect instant embrace.? You?ve probably already experienced this, if you?ve been eating vegan for any amount of time.? It is not uncommon for your mention of the word ?vegan? to stimulate a defensive response.? Somehow your choice immediately presents carnists and even lacto-ovo vegetarians with a sense of ?being judged?, no matter what your tone.? Be mindful of the fact that you have no control over their reactions.? Your choice NOT to eat animals and animal products makes other people instantaneously aware that they have chosen TO eat them.? Perhaps they are confronted with the possibilities of all the horrors and health risks that choice holds. Think back to your first exposure to the idea of veganism.? What was your reaction?? How did YOU respond to those with a vegan diet and lifestyle before you chose this path? Remembering your origins brings more caring into the present.? This is more about them, and not you.

2)? Carry compassion in your heart.? No doubt high on the list of your reasons for eating vegan is compassion.? Seeing that as a theme of your choices, carry it forward in your connection with others.? It furthers the message in a way that defensiveness can?t.

3)? Be resourceful, but don?t expect to know it all.?? Resourcefulness can take on many forms.? If someone sincerely expresses interests in your choices, suggest that you can direct them to some excellent resources and would be happy to share these with them so that they can further investigate for themselves.? Honestly, once someone finds out that you?re vegan, you are expected to be a nutritionist, dietician, physician, health professional, and environmental expert all at once!? If you are firmly grounded in some facts, it can be an opportunity to share, yet if you run right into the route of argument, there are going to be some high expectations that you deliver factually ? all the nuances of your choice.? You know what I?m talking about.

4)? Share your eats.? Everyone likes yummy food.? Each time you share the deliciousness of what?s on your plate, you open the possibility to winning another heart, mind, and body to a vegan diet.? Bringing enough of a special dish to share can be the inroad to change.? You may well even get asked for recipes.? Never underestimate the power of persuasion of the perfect bite.? Heck, maybe it will prompt a ?lunch and learn? opportunity for you to share more about veganism.? How about a? lunchtime showing of Forks Over Knives or Farms to Forks?? A distinct possibility!

Have you some ideas about? how to creatively bring vegan into the office?? Please share them in comments below.
Lani Muelrath, M.A. is Vegan Mainstream?s Health & Fitness Expert. Watch for regular articles from Lani on how to be a strong, healthy, fit vegan. Articles, videos, and more from Lani at www.lanimuelrath.com.

Lani is also ?The Plant-Strong Fitness Expert? of www.lanimuelrath.com and creator of Fit Quickies?., The Body Transformation Formula, and Boot Camp Mind: Top 10 Motivational Tools for Health, Weight Loss, and Fitness Success. She has a Master?s Degree in Physical Education and over 30 years of experience as a teacher, coach, and trainer. She has received awards for her instruction, created and starred in her own CBS TV Show, and her expertise in the area of health and fitness is called upon by examiner.com, Dr. John McDougall?s Health and Medical Center, Dr. Neal Barnard?s 21-Day Vegan Kickstart program, the CHIP Program, and Engine 2 Diet.com. She is Certified in Plant-Based Nutrition Certification through Cornell University.

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