What is a vegan? (and how to go vegan EASILY!)
- Lily Green
- Nov 24, 2015
- 5 min read
Hey there! Today I just want to make a quick post to talk about what exactly a vegan is (for those of you who may not know!).
Now I'm definitely not a vegan know-all, this week marks my 3rd year as a vegan and it's been a HUGE learning process as many of you who are vegan would know. There's a lot of non-vegan lingo you have to translate for yourself when reading food labels, a lot of fashion garments you won't want to have on your skin and you'll even find yourself boycotting a few makeup brands that undertake horrifying product testing on animals.
Now you may be thinking the struggle will be real... but BELIEVE me it becomes like second nature and no matter where you are, you are sure to find a whole bunch of new recipes, products and foods you'll absolutely fall in love with. Initially I went vegan for my health, then stayed vegan for animals, now I thrive on thsi lifestyle because it's so much fun and I know I am contributing to minimal cruelty while I live this way :)
So...what is a vegan?
Basically a vegan lifestyle omits all animal products in the form of food, fashion, cosmetics and products. We don't really like consuming or buying products that came from an animal or involve cruel measures toward animals in order to produce something for us. A lot of the time it's unecessary and can ultimately contribute to OUR poor health! Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy....
It makes so much sense to live this way, especially given the current state of our planet, and also the epidemic of western diseases that can actually be prevented and even reversed on a whole food plant based diet (which I'll talk more about in an upcoming post).
A vegan basically avoids:
-Meat
-Fish (nope, fish isn't vegan for ya'll who think it is for some reason)
-Dairy
-Eggs
-Honey
-Gelatine (cow hooves)
-Animal fats (lard etc)
-Certain natural colourings (cochineal/form of red colouring is CRUSHED BEETLES EEK)
-Leather
-Wool
-Angora
-Fur
-Animal tested products (but yes, sometimes we accidentally mess up in this area, but try to double check because I've made this mistake before)
It seems like a lengthy list, but we avoid these things to live a more compassionate life. It's really hard to keep buying these commodities and eating these foods once you become aware of how the animal industry operates. The mass murder and the cruelty that goes on is really just wrong and I speak for most vegans when I say that I stopped buying animal products because I am no longer willing to fund this kind of cruelty and vote "yes" with my dollar. I'm not going to be 'that vegan' and link a bunch of slaughterhouse clips (let's be real, you'll be mad hehe) but please if you want to learn more check out my GlowingGreenInspire page where you can get a heap of info on why most people choose to go vegan. It's not as 'stupid' as people say, it's fun and we love it!
Plus you get to eat A LOT of food...
Sound good? What's next?
Going vegan can be really intimidating. What the hell can you eat without cheese, meat and hawaiian pizza?
Lots. That's what!
My tip with going vegan is to start with the food, because that's the main one. The meat industry in the US alone slaughters more than 9 billion land animals per year, and that's not even counting fish and sealife. The planet cannot sustain everyone's hunger for meat and seafood, the oceans are expected to be empty by 2048 if we continue to overfish our waters.
Some people find it easier to transition to vegetarian first, which is what I initially did. Explore substitutes for meat on your plate. What can you replace the mince in your pasta sauce with? Lentils? Chopped up veggie burgers? Other veggies and mushrooms?
Rather than seeking direct meat substitutes like soy beef and meats made from wheat and oil, experiment with using whole vegetables. To this day a huge plate of roasted potatoes with a salad is still my favourite meal and it is so simple.
In truth our tastebuds have kind of been destroyed with strong tastes of heavy salt, MSG, sugars, fats and artificial flavourings-- making us lose our intuitive cravings for really good whole plant foods. Doesn't mean you have to eat whole raw carrots for dinner... I don't even like raw carrots! But creamy potato kale soups, roasted veggie lasagne, vegan sushi, massive berry smoothies, roasted potatoes, bean tacos... the list is endless, you won't run out of things to eat! The more of these nourishing foods you fill your body with, the less junk food you'll crave, it won't even appeal to you anymore :D
(and if it does, Melbourne has AMAZING vegan donuts)
So if veganism pushes your buttons a little too much, try going vegetarian where you'll avoid just meat and gelatine basically. Learn to cook amazing veggie dishes and then slowly transition off dairy, which can be the hardest for most. What I've found with many people is that animal slaughter videos draw people away from meat however the negative HEALTH effects of dairy are what really strike a chord in some people. Dairy is shit for you. And imma be dedicating a whole other blog post to that one!
There are so many amazing dairy substitutes that in 2015 vegan really is made easy. Feast on almond/soy/rice/oat milks, vegan cheeses, TD4 soy/almond/coconut milk yogurts and incredible vegan chocolates, cakes, puddings... they all beat the moo juice, trust me!
So you've cut meat and dairy: eggs are next. I found eggs super easy to cut out as I was never really an egg fan, they weren't a staple, but more something that prevented me having pancakes at a sleepover or cake at a birthday. That's okay, you will survive without eggs. And NO we do not need them as a 'whole' protein source. If you think vegans are full of b.s propoganda... oh lordy meet Mr Egg Industry. More to come on that.
When you're baking a super eggfective (cwutIdidthere) replacer is chia gel--chia seeds soaked in water to form a jelly-- or apple sauce works well as a binder in sweets, plus you won't need to add as much sugar!
See how you go without meat, dairy, fish and eggs. You're practically all the way there, and yes yes yes it gets so much easier you won't even think about the latter, it'll all be easy as vegan pie :)
As you become more confident cooking without animal products and eating out etc, you can look more closely at things like artificial colourings (which are easily googled) and avoiding honey at all costs. Sometimes honey is hidden in a lot of really natural brands (unfortunately..sad face) as a sugar alternative so beware. There are a lot of mixed opinions about whether honey is ethical or not, given that bees are struggling in the wild and bee farms can help with breeding etc, but I personally avoid it because I prefer cane sugar haha.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, I'll also link some really great videos on going vegan down below and will be posting a shit tonne of amazing vegan food ideas to get you going! Wooo!