A Vegan Lifestyle: What is it?

Maybe you want to become a vegan and adopt a vegan lifestyle, but you might don't know where to start or what to expect. ''Am I not allowed to wear my leather sneakers anymore? Can I still use honey for my meals/tea?'' Questions like these are very detailed and are not what you should worry about when you're first starting out. So lets give you a concise and easy to understand overview about what things you need to take into account when you're looking into adopting a vegan lifestyle.

1. Stop eating meat

The most important thing of a vegan lifestyle is cutting out all meat/dairy products from your diet. So no more chicken, beef, fish etc. Going vegan is an incredible positive life-changing event. According to The Vegan Society, it's a way of living that seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing and any other purpose. This step to become a vegan and adopt a vegan lifestyle is really a no brainer.

2. Diet changes

Now that you made amends with the fact that you won't be eating animals anymore for the rest of your life, you can start looking at all the delicious, and maybe unexplored food, that you can eat. And believe, there have been countless population groups who have been thriving on a all-plants diet for centuries. You can start looking into different cuisines such as the Indian, Indonesian and other eastern countries. You do need to watch more carefully about whether you reach the daily amount of vitamins, minerals. Maybe you need to add a B12/Iron supplement. Though many vegans can live without supplements because of their varied diet so it depends all on yourself.

3. It's a marathon

Adopting the vegan lifestyle is not a sprint. You don't have to make the switch at once. It takes work, so it should also take time, Almost nobody does it right the first time, and the few ones who did verify this rule. You should look at adopting the vegan lifestyle as a marathon. As you learn more about the lifestyle, the more things you will explore and try out. And don't be too hard on yourself if you made a mistake. Mistakes are part of the learning process. They're a crucial aspect of transitioning permanently into a vegan lifestyle.

4. Vegan For Everything

You'll also find out that the vegan lifestyle doesn't concern itself only with animals. The vegan lifestyle is also about preservation of our earths natural resources and the environment. Furthermore going vegan is also much healthier than you expect. Just go to scholar.google.com and type in the word 'vegan' so you can take a critical look for yourself. So adopting a vegan lifestyle has benefits to all earthlings, and it's therefore a very compassionate way of living.

5. Should you stop wearing leather boots?

Well according to the definition of The Vegan Society, you should. But then again, it would be a waste to just throw them away and simply said: not fun. Remember,the vegan lifestyle is not about restriction. For example a solution could be to stop buying new leather shoes and keep your old ones. This way you can keep yourself happy and the environement/animals as well. This is just one example of the many that you'll come across during your vegan lifestyle. The important thing to remember is to be creative in your approach.

Adopting the vegan lifestyle will be a fun, meaningful and incredible experience. The beautiful part of going vegan is nobody ever went vegan for selfish reasons. It's an absolutely altruistic way of living that is much needed in this world right now! GO Vegan <3