‘Vegans only
eat salad’ is a statement I think a lot of us have been guilty of believing at
one time or another. I remember sitting
in the office around 18 months ago discussing being a vegetarian (as I was at
the time). One of my colleagues asked if
I would ever consider going vegan and the look on my face probably said it
all.. ‘No way! I couldn't live off just salad, I like chocolate too much!’
It was only
about 3 months later that I stumbled across Essena O’Neil on YouTube. I was watching her videos on health and
exercise not actually knowing she was vegan, once I realised and saw how much
variety she had in her diet I started researching more, watching more YouTubers and eventually watching some documentaries that made me realise what veganism
was really all about & why it was something I wanted to be involved in. It took me another 6 months or so to
completely cut out dairy and eggs from my diet (I was already vegetarian)
mainly due to my love of chocolate. Six months into my journey I am completely
animal product free and can’t ever imagine going back to how I was.
So what do
vegans actually eat?
When I first
started researching vegan diets I wanted to make sure that I did it right &
was healthy. I was concerned about
cutting out essential nutrients and wanted to make sure I thrived and didn’t
fall of the wagon early on. If you’re
new to veganism you may find that the majority of the vegans on social media
categorise themselves based on their ‘diet’ and it can come across as quite
confusing and cliquey – how do you know what all of these variations of
veganism are and which one is right?!
It’s
important to remember that there is no ‘right way’ to eat a plant based
diet. For some people, the above styles
work perfectly, but everyone’s bodies are different and you have to find what’s
right for you.
I personally
relate best to HCLF – however my exercise level is a lot lower than many of the
YouTubers I watch meaning I shouldn't be eating the same volume of carbs as them. Like I said you have to work out what’s best for you. I personally don’t follow a diet at all. I try to eat fairly HCLF but also eat a lot
of the treats I loved before I became vegan.
Vegans eat
salad and quinoa and sweet potatoes.. but you know what – vegans also eat cake
and chocolate and ice cream. Vegan doesn't mean healthy – it’s about protecting the animals and the
environment. It’s up to you whether you
want to be healthy or not!
I have linked
below some of my favourite vegan treats. I'm not recommending eating them everyday as a number are extremely high
fat, but I do believe in everything in moderation. Whether you’re vegan, vegetarian or not
interested in ever giving up meat, dairy and eggs I would recommend you try
some of them out. A lot of the time you
can’t tell the difference between the vegan alternative and the real thing,
even if you just swapped one bar of chocolate a week to a soy alternative the
impact for the animals would be huge! There’s no shame in baby steps, every
little helps!
Are you Vegan? Did you ever think you could do it? Have you ever tried the alternative products? Get in touch via the comments or Twitter and let me know!
Please let me know if you would like more posts about veganism!!
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