30 Apr How to become Vegan: A Beginners Guide on going Vegan
A BEGINNERS GUIDE ON GOING VEGAN
The vegan diet has become more and more popular this day. A lot of people are transitioning into vegan diets or others may call plant-based diets. There are a lot of health benefits from the vegan diet if it’s done right, including healthy weight loss, improvement of skin health, healthier and shinier hair, and a lot more. However, in some cases, a diet that relies on plants can increase nutrient deficiencies.
In this article, we will give you the proper guidelines on how to be vegan in the correct way.
Here are the things that will be discussed in this article:
- What is the meaning of vegan?
- What is a Vegan diet or a plant-based diet?
- What are the reasons for going vegan?
- To save animals
- To help the improvement of the environment
- To improve your health
- What are the foods that can be eaten, and can’t be eaten?
- How to create a vegan diet or a plant-based diet meal plan?
- Is a vegan diet expensive?
What is the Meaning of Vegan?
Before you go vegan, let us first understand what does vegan really means?
What is Veganism?
If you will ask a lot of people what does vegan mean? The first thing that comes to their mind is food or that Veganism or vegan is a type of diet, but there is so much more about Veganism!
Veganism is a type of lifestyle that does not support any form of animal cruelty or using any type of product that causes animal exploitation. This includes not only eating any food that has ingredients from animals, but also includes not buying products that have animal parts or were tested on animals. This means only buying vegan products such as clothes, cosmetics of beauty products, personal hygiene products, etc.
A lot of beginners find going Vegan intimidating because changing the food in your diet is already hard, what more looking at every product that you will buy to make sure it is vegan. That is why many people decided to focus on a plant-based diet and not going full vegan which is also awesome! Attempting on eliminating animal products from your diet or lifestyle, whether the effect is big or small is still great because we’re doing something to help the environment and to save animals.
What is a Vegan Diet or a Plant-based Diet?
Vegan diets or plant-based diets are eating food that doesn’t contain any type of ingredients from animals such as meat, poultry, fish, and dairy. A diet that relies on greens or vegetables.
What Are the Reasons for Going Vegan?
Going full vegan will help primarily the animals, but here are other benefits that will make you consider going vegan.
- To save animals
- By going vegan, it will minimize the animal cruelty and exploitation that has been caused by using animal products. You might think that one person’s action is not making a difference, but trust me, it does.
- To help the improvement of the environment
- The study shows that minimizing the consumption of livestock products will reduce energy consumption, for example, raising livestock will cause a lot of energy consumption. Why? There a lot of factors that include in raising livestock: (1) it takes a long time to raise livestock; (2) they need to be fed, and their food comes from the plants that are cultivated from the land that could have been used for other things; (3) their meats need to be shipped in a refrigerated form which will consume electricity; (4) lastly before we can use their meat, it will take a long process from the slaughterhouse to our kitchen table.
- To improve your health
- A vegan diet can help you lose weight, consuming the proper vegan food will help you decrease your weight in a healthy way. It can prevent high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. A vegan diet will also make your heart healthy.
What Are the Foods That Can’t Be Eaten?
As has been mentioned above, vegans don’t eat or use any form of animal products, which means that meat, dairy products, poultry, and eggs are not allowed to be eaten if you are a vegan.
This is where you need to be more careful and make sure you read the ingredients of the products that you will buy, you also need to research thoroughly because there might be ingredients that come from animals that you are not familiar with. That’s why it will be easier if you buy products that have vegan labels on them.
Make sure that if you buy the products it’s either you read the ingredients or buy a product that has a vegan label on it.
Here are the ingredients that come from animals:
- Meats
- Dairy products [Milk, Butter, Yogurt, Cheese, Ice cream]
- Poultry
- Eggs
- Mayonnaise
- Seafood and Fish [Any type]
- Honey [Beeswax, Honey comb]
- Adrenaline [from hogs, cattle, sheep]
- Amino Acids.
- Animal Hair
- Angora
- Cashmere
- Cetyl Alcohol [Wax originally found in spermaceti from sperm whales]
You can read the Animal-Derived Ingredients List by PETA to know more.
What are the Foods That Can Be Eaten?
Any foods that are vegan. As long as it does not contain any animal products that can be eaten.
Here are some of the examples of the foods that can be eaten:
- Vegetables
- Meat alternatives
- Nuts
- Beans
- Plant-based milk
- Cheese Alternatives
- Any products that are labeled as vegan
How to Create a Vegan Diet or a Plant-based Diet Meal Plan?
- First, you need to know the elimination diet, elimination diet is a process of removing certain foods or ingredients from your usual diet for a week or more. For example, if you used to eat meat, try to lessen the amount of it until you get used to not include it in your diet. If you have allergies, make sure to be careful about the alternatives that you will be using on your diet.
- Second, research, try to research for the alternatives that you can use for your diet and research for recipes that you can make on your own until you can create your own recipe.
- Third, don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things. Becoming vegan is not an easy process and it will be a continuous process, always make sure you explore your taste buds and keep your options open.
Is a Vegan Diet Expensive?
The real question is: Is becoming vegan expensive? The answer is, it depends on your health and your chosen vegan products. Due to the expensive vegan products that starting to pop up, it is easy to assume that becoming vegan is expensive. However, it still depends on you if you want it to be expensive or not.
One of the main reasons why we think that the vegan diet is expensive is due to the vegan restaurants that serve expensive vegan foods when there are some restaurants that serve vegan and non-vegan food at a much lower price. Another reason is the instant, processed, or packed vegan food that is expensive in price.
It is up to you if you want those products or not. For example, if you can make your own vegan meal, the cost will not be expensive and you can adjust the taste based on your liking.
Conclusion:
Don’t be intimidated about becoming vegan, don’t think that transitioning your diet to a vegan diet is hard, just try to motivate yourself, try a lot of research, or if you have vegan friends try to ask them for help. Always remember that a person’s action, whether it is small or big, matters. Ali Optimal Wellness is willing to help you, you can reach us in our contact form.
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