What Is “Vegan”?
A way of living which excludes all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, the animal kingdom, and includes a reverence for life. It applies to the practice of living on the products of the plant kingdom to the exclusion of flesh, fish, fowl, eggs, honey, animal milk and its derivatives, and encourages the use of alternatives for all commodities derived wholly or in part from animals. -The Vegan Society Articles of Association
Why Go Vegan?
- It is better for the environment.
- Health (Obviously).
- Animal cruelty.
- Just click and read this.
How to go Vegan?
- Just do it! I decided that June 5th, 2013 was going to be my first day taking on an exclusively plant based diet, and I’ve been going strong since. I’ve found that it is not as expensive as people would like you to believe. Also, you can still eat great (often better tasting!) food. There are probably many restaurants in your area that have vegan options (be sure to ask, as some may not be on the menu), and if they don’t you can almost always piece something together. Even Burger King has a veggie burger now (get it with no mayo) and Subway has veggie patties you can ask for (great with the avacado spead). If going all in on Veganism is too much, try starting off with #MeatlessMonday.
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Resources/knowledge/inspriation to get you started (will update periodically):
- Green juices and smoothies are a great way to get all of the servings of raw fruits and veggies that you need daily. I like to start and end my days with some kind of green smoothie. You can even do a clense and consume nothing but green juices and smoothies for a few days (some days it might be all I have, trust me you won’t even notice that you haven’t eaten). Check out The Complete Guide to Creating Green Juice and Smoothies & 7 Day Juice Fast Plan.
- Why Isn’t Vegetarian (and Vegan) Enough?
- Food For Thought: Drinking Cow Milk Is Bizarre
- Wikipedia’s list of famous vegans.
- Smart Ways To Get Protein As A Vegetarian/Vegan.
- 5 Smart[ass] Answers to 5 Dumb[ass] Questions About Veganism.
- Check out the Vegan Food Pyramid for info on balancing your vegan diet.
- Fooducate Android/iPhone App – This thing is really cool. It lets you search for or scan the barcode of pretty much any food product and assigns it a grade based on its healthfulness. The paid version lets you scan to see if it is vegan. Definitely worth it!
- Vegucated Documentary (Buy DVD | Buy stream from Amazon Video) –
Part sociological experiment and part adventure comedy, Vegucated follows three meat- and cheese-loving New Yorkers who agree to adopt a vegan diet for six weeks. Lured by tales of weight lost and health regained, they begin to uncover the hidden sides of animal agriculture that make them wonder whether solutions offered in films like Food, Inc. go far enough. This entertaining documentary showcases the rapid and at times comedic evolution of three people who discover they can change the world one bite at a time.
- Foodmatters Documentary – This is a super insightful film about the amazing effects that a raw, plant based diet can have on your health. It gets into juicing and blending, and how people have lost incredible amounts of weight and reversed chronic, terminal conditions such as diabetes and cancer. I can’t begin to get into some of the great information contained here.
- Happycow.net – This website will help you find vegan eats in your town.