Vegan Tips?!
Any other tips would be greatly appreciated. =)
Answers: I've been thinking about becoming a vegan, right now I'm a vegetarian. I've done a lot of research on what types of foods I can eat... but is there more than just foods? Fur and leather, I know, I can't have if I am a vegan, but what about daily household products, etc? Someone told me that some chapstick is made out of "whale blubber"... is there anything else I should know about before switching to veganism?
Any other tips would be greatly appreciated. =)
Some of the guidelines for vegan living include the obvious,
no meat, dairy (milk, cheese, and other items that use dairy derivatives such as casein), eggs, or honey. You will need to accept that fact that being vegan means you'll be reading labels for the rest of your life and learning about all kinds of fun things like the truth behind the chemical names in the food you eat and the products you use. For example, white sugar, what you would probably normally get when you go buy sugar at the store, is refined with bone char, literally the ashes of animal bones. Therefore you would need to start using either raw sugar (turbinado sugar) or what some stores sell as "vegan sugar" (Whole Foods sells it) which is just evaporated cane juice. This site here will help you with looking for lists of animal ingredients: http://www.vegfamily.com/lists/animal-in...
If you're serious about this, I would suggest getting this book "Animal-Ingredients A to Z" by E. G. Smith Collective and Bruce Friedrich (available on Amazon and places like Borders and Barnes & Noble in the vegetarian section) which is a complete guide to animal ingredients. I keep mine in my purse so when I go shopping I have it with me to check things that I don't know.
You might also want to check out this link:
http://www.caringconsumer.com/resources_...
where you can get two different PDF files to help you shop; one that lists companies that do NOT test on animals and one that does. Remember that you need to keep in mind who has animal products in their items as well. While something might be listed as being "natural" or "organic" that doesn't mean it's vegan. For example Burt's Bees is organic, but most of their products have beeswax, bee pollen, and/or honey in them which therefore makes them non-vegan.
This isn't an easy thing to get started with but once you start to know who the vegan companies are and what ingredients to look out for, it's really pretty easy. It takes time and can get frustrating but if you remember the many great reasons for doing this, both for the animals/environment and for yourself, it's more than worth a little inconvenience when you're starting out.
No dairy products. Not just excluding meat anymore. Meat and dairy products.
Well its also very hard to eat out when your vegan. For me anyway. I dont eat fried stuff or anything like that so mostly I end up just getting a baked potatoe and veggies plain. But at home I make lots of good stuff :-)
Its true that there's animal products in almost everything and its almost impossible to be 100% cruel free. But veganism is more of trying to be cruel free and trying your best to buy vegan items when you can. Sometimes you may have to use soap in a bathroom that may contain animal stuff and other times like that- there are things that are going to be impossible to dogde. Being 100% vegan is something people must strive for- you can't just be it.
Good luck with everything and sorry for my rant,
annabell
Many vegans also don't buy wool, silk, down (duck feathers) products, etc. as well as leather and fur.
Some chapsticks may contain animal glycerin which is fat but usually not from whales, these days animal glycerine comes from mainly cows and sometimes pigs. You can find vegan chap sticks online and in stores like Whole Foods.
Most Household cleaners contain or test on animals but there are alternatives on the market. Sometimes vegans can't afford these alternative cleaning products but that's okay, just continue what you're using until you can afford it.
Bath/beauty/body products contain animal fats and often test on animals. There are alternatives to these as well and you just have to look around. Some health food shops as well as Whole Foods contains great products that don't test on our animal friends.
If you ever need something that is vegan or hard to find for vegans check out veganessentials.com they have lots of great stuff.
Animal by-products have all kinds of "secret" names. You know gelatin, I'm sure, and then there is Casein and Whey...both dairy, and in lots of margarine. You really have to look it up, the good thing is that if you can eat it, you will most likely remember so you never have to read it twice.
Leather, down, wool, silk...all animal products.
Cleaning products and some toothpaste and deodorant....soaps...look for a brand that you like (i.e. Kiss My Face...all natural, all organic) and stick to it, then start experimenting later.
I just kept reading about still, like some sugar is filtered through bone char...actual bone filters, bone china have ground up bones. By-products on in so many things....it's a slow process to learn...it's been a year and I still get surprised at some ingredients.
Good on you for trying, I love being a vegan :) it makes me happy.
(hanging around here, you can learn allot too)
good luck :)
There are things like ground up beetles in red lipstick to give it that red color, however they change the name from ground up beetles to carmine (I believe the name of the beetle) Even the vaccinations we get or give to our kids have animal traces in them. To be 100% Vegan would be extremely difficult but worth a shot if its what you believe in.