• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • 2
    CommentGo Back
Download
 
The Successfully Smart Vegan Knows
by Rebecca Bennett 
One of the rising stars within the healthier living lifestyle these daysis Veganism and Vegetarianism. But to help you clarify what a veganis here's how you can tell the difference from a vegan and avegetarian:
Vegans
are 100% Pure Vegetarians eat only foods that come fromplants, like grains, fruits, vegetables, and nuts and they exclude allanimal by products from their lifestyle (e.g. meat, eggs, dairy, wool,leather, items that contain animal fats, products tested on animalsetc.).
Vegetarianism
on the other hand is the practice of living onproducts of the plant kingdom, with or without the use of eggs anddairy products, but excluding entirely the consumption of any part of the body of an animal as food (including chicken, fish and seafood). There are Many Types of different Vegetarians. Here are somevegetarian definitions:*
semi-vegetarian
: eats meat, but only fish and chicken*
lacto-ovo vegetarian
: eats no meat, but will eat dairyproducts (milk, butter, cheese) and eggs*
ovo-vegetarian
: eats eggs, but no meat or dairy products*
vegan
(say: vee-gun): eats no meat or animal products
So Why Are People Vegetarians or Vegans?
People usually have different reasons for becoming vegetarians orvegans. Some follow vegetarian or semi-vegetarian diets mostly forhealth reasons. For instance, a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, andgrains tends to be lower in fat/cholesterol, which is good for yourheart and body. It's also likely to be a high fiber diet. Then there arethe people who choose a strict vegan diet for ethical reasons, healthreasons and/or environmental reasons. No matter what the reasonbeing a vegan or vegetarian does not in any way limit a person'slifestyle choice or deprive a person of anything that a non-vegetarian might have.
 
And if you would like to understand some of the moral,ethical, environmentally reasons behind Why Vegan, thenlet's start here ...
- It takes 22 times the acres of land to meet the food energy needsof one person eating meat than it does for one person eatingpotatoes.- It takes more than 13 times the water to produce one day's foodsupply for an omnivore than it does for a vegan.- It takes 27 times the petroleum to produce a hamburger than itdoes a soy burger.- The land animals confined and killed every year excrete 130 timesthe feces and urine produced by humans.- Livestock production also utilizes more than eight percent of globalwater use, primarily for feed-crop irrigation.- The annual greenhouse gas output from burger consumption is theequivalent to the annual greenhouse gas output from between fourand 13 million SUVs.- In the Amazon, approximately 60-70 percent of deforestationresults from cattle ranches and soybean cultivation. (ref:vegnews) That's some pretty interesting food for thought right! (Has it notbeen said many times in history, "that if you are not part of thesolution you are part of the problem", something to ponder at least)Now if you are interested in becoming a smart vegan/vegetarianthen here's a few tips to help you gain success with a healthierlifestyle quickly and easily (even if you are not a vegan/vegetarianbut would like to cut-back on your intake of animal by-products thenthese tips can help you too) . . .
Here's a Few of Our Top Tips for Smart Vegan Living andHealth
. . .
Vegan Tip 1:
Know your nutritional needs - this is some of the bestadvice we can give. Know how to obtain healthier patterns andnutritional benefits through a wholesome and healthy balanced andvaried vegan diet. Do this before you put anything else intopractice. Education is the key to any successful venture afterall. Soif you are not up to speed with what your body needs nutritionallyyou may fall short on some vital points. It's actually not that hard tounderstand nutrition when starting a vegan diet as you don't have
 
to add up all the dairy, meat and eggs - so there are three less foodsto have to worry about. You are what you eat afterall.
Vegan Tip 2:
Your health is the single most important ingredient forlife. Look after it by understanding what your own body needs formaximum health and longevity. Grab yourself a great vegannutritional book, there are many on the market these days. Plus wehighly recommend you print off 'The Vegan Food Pyramid' and stickit on your fridge to help clarify what you should be eating and howmany servings you need per day for maximum benefit.
Vegan Tip 3:
Center your diet on whole plant foods (vegetables,fruits, seeds and nuts); Select a wide variety of foods (preferablyorganic). Minimize your intake of heavily processed foods, junkfoods, sugars and fats where possible. And don't forget to drinkheaps of pure clean water daily. Therefore it may make sense that you should spend some timemaking sure that your family understands what a vegan will andwon't eat.
Vegan Tip 4:
Listen to your body. Eat when you're actually hungryand recognize real hunger from emotional eating. Tune into whatyour body is saying; if you feel hungry go for a snack of fruits,wholegrain breads, crackers, nuts or even some vegan jerky (yesthere are some amazing tasting vegan jerky's out there).
Vegan Tip 5:
Make exercise a regular activity in your life. Try toexercise at least 5 times a week, preferably everyday for optimumhealth; exercise and stretching are essential ingredients forexcellent health afterall. For more vibrant energy and health startbreathing consciously with greater awareness.Now if you are already one of the Successfully Smart Vegans orVegetarians out there hopefully you will know your nutritional needsand ethical stand-points of such a lifestyle.Eating vegan is hardly about deprivation. Vegans have access tosuch a joy of organizations, restaurants, blogs, cookbooks,nutritionists, ideas and recipes (and yes vegans can even eat junk just like anyone else if they choose to). When you make the effort tounderstand how to be Vegan or Vegetarian the Successfully Smartway, you can and will change the way you look at life, for the better.When you choose a vegan diet, you are choosing more than adifferent way to eat, you are choosing to be more environmentallyfriendly, ethically aware, and healthier in general.
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
SP-W

This may be good for some people for a while for them to detox but after while it catches up with them I am hearing doctors say. There is a Christian nutrition book that has 2 amazing chapters on veganism and vegetarianism that are documented science. The book explains many (not just a few) deficiencies of these diets. There is a shocking quote about veganism from Ghandi that will blow your socks off! The name of this book is "Eatin' After Eden"(eatinaftereden.com). Been there, done that...

reply01 / 18 / 2009
CalmThoughts

Thanks for lovely information!

reply01 / 19 / 2008
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...