I’ve been vegan for a little over a year now. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it, I feel so much better and lighter and I eat more…I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing. I get asked a lot about how I became vegan and why so I thought why not write about it. Today we’ll talk about what veganism is and how and why I made the transition.
What is Veganism?
According to the Vegan Society veganism is the philosophy and the way of life which seeks to elude – as far as possible and practical- all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose. This meaning has been twisted and contrived into different meanings but ideally, you just don’t want to cause any harm to any animals for personal gain so long as it is practical to you. Practical meaning you don’t stop taking medicine you need to live because it was tested on animals NOT still putting honey in your tea because you have a sore throat.
Why I became vegan
I love nature, it’s my happy place and if it was practical for me I would live in the woods. The more I learned about eco-activism and how I could help the world would be to eat less meat. I didn’t do it just for the animals even though I know what they go through is awful. It’s the mixture of both, I don’t believe the unnecessary torture animals go through is worth it. I don’t believe the waste produced from hoarding all the animals is worth poisoning the water and making the area around slaughterhouses toxic. Let’s not even talk about how commercial fishing is killing our oceans by overfishing. I couldn’t call myself an activist by funding this industry when I don’t need those products to live. It wasn’t practical to me so I decided to make the switch.
How To Be Vegan
Just to be fair, I wasn’t a huge meat eater. I grew up with veggie meat in my diet because my mom is a vegetarian. I did still eat meat on occasion like if I was out to eat or something but I wasn’t huge on it. Even when I moved out I didn’t like cooking with meat watching the blood and oils come out of the food I was supposed to eat was gross so I never kept it in the house. Same with milk, I don’t drink a lot of milk and I’m lactose intolerant so almond milk was my jam anyway.
If you are considering going vegan I encourage you to start slow. Your life doesn’t need to be an overall of your life. You don’t need to throughout everything that’s non-vegan, it’s wasteful and they already have your money. Follow these steps for an easy transition.
Start with a Vegan day.
- Once a week go vegan and don’t eat any meat or dairy products. You’ll begin to learn different recipes and various places that are vegan-friendly so the transition is easier.
Embrace tofu and other faux meat options.
- I know tofu gets a lot of slack but to me, it doesn’t taste that much different, except tofu I’m still getting used to that. But Big Franks, and Gardein Beefless Crumbles are nice substitutes for meat cravings if you’re having them. Treat them as if they’re beef, season them all the same and you’ll hardly know the difference.
Learn to love cooking.
- Unfortunately, the world isn’t vegan friendly yet, although a lot more places are meatless some of them still contain milk and dairy products, like cheese. So you’ll have to learn how to cook. This was the hardest thing for me because I don’t like to cook it wasn’t a pastime of mine. However, I’m sick of eating out honestly so I went on Pinterest to find some awesome recipes. Once you get into it, it gets easier the meals get quicker and it’s not so much of a chore.
Learn More About Your Clothing
- When it comes to clothing you want to avoid anything that comes from animals which are fur, leather silk, cashmere, shearling, wool, etc. Pay attention to the brands that you’re buying from and if you’re not sure if you’re buying something that might have animals look at the tags and google. That’s what I do.
Make Up and Skin Care
- More brands are turning away from using animals for their products but you still want to look into them. One of the tools I like using is Vegan Double Check I reference them in a lot of my posts like the review I did for Melanin and Mad Hippie it’s a great tool. Also, look into the brand it’s self, I don’t need to have the entire brand vegan but the brand does have to be cruelty-free and the product that I use has to be vegan. The key is to look into it, I’ll come up with a list of my favorites but I don’t have enough to make a list right now.
I hope these tips help if you’re considering going vegan. Remember its not a all or nothing it’s a journey and even if you just go vegetarian and stop wearing animal products. That’s all love honey. Good luck!