The world is facing an going through a climate emergency. Some people may say that in the next decade, if not enough is done, we will have caused irreparable damage to the climate of our only planet. Some might say it’s already too late.
What an opening right?
I’m somewhat proud of that one … really gets you right at the beginning. However, it is true. Now I’m not going to make this a true hugging, ‘ban fossil fuels and recycle everything’ kind of post (however you should be recycling as much as possible and trying to live more sustainably for future generations). In this post, I’m going to talk about the Vegan diet.
Last year, I decided (towards the end) to try and have ‘meat free Mondays’ where, as the name suggests, I don’t eat meat on a Monday. Being an “adult” of 30+ years and eating meat practically every day, this felt like it would be a hard thing to do. While at first it was, I found it was actually easier than I thought. I wanted to include more fruits and veg into my diet, and I already counted calories for the majority of the week, so obviously, more fruits/veggies meant that I naturally felt fuller on more foods whilst easily achieving my calorie deficit goal. In fact, some days I found it hard to reach my minimum calorie goal. Even more so, I found out I was enjoying those days, as I had to plan, and research different meals and I felt like I was having more good foods. Granted my weight didn’t drop as dramatic as id have liked, I did lose/maintain weight.
For this year, I decided to keep up the ‘meat free Mondays’ but also decided to throw in a vegan day. So, Monday I don’t eat meat, and for the majority of Wednesdays, I go completely vegan.
For those who may not know (I’m not sure how as veganism is making headlines everywhere lately by boomers who are offended by people going vegan and the world going “completely mad” by selling products that contain no animal products) there is a difference between vegetarian and vegan.
Vegetarian is the diet that doesn’t eat any meats of any kind.
Vegan is the diet that contains no animal product of any kind, which includes animal milk, honey, animal gelatine, any item that uses animals to manufacture like some beers and wines … NOTHING.
Now I am used to checking food labels with being on calories for most of my week, so switching to vegan days isn’t as hard as it might be for others. However, its only when you do vegan days or go completely vegan, that you realise how many things aren’t vegan. Also, for a large number of items, it’s not clearly stated that it does contain animal products. A big example of this that I only realised this week is the ingredient E120. This e number is actually a product that makes food a red colour and is made from crushed up insects. I guess you now know why it’s an E number and not what it really is. So, this fact, makes things a lot harder for those who go fully vegan, you have to research everything!! Even this product, the Galaxy VEGAN chocolate;
On the back of the packaging it says this;
It’s strange that if you have this product that CLEARLY states that its vegan on the front, could contain milk … so even vegan labelled products could contain a slight % of animal products.
Herein lies the problem. As veganism has become the “popular trend” these days, and more people are going vegan, more and more brands and companies are producing items to cater to these people and to get their money. So, if you are going vegan to reduce your carbon footprint, which I think a fair few people are, is it ok to have these products that COULD contain trace levels of animal products?
Some people go vegan for health reasons. If you were to watch the game changers documentary (which I did watch and was amazed by) then it could convince people that a vegan diet for sport and exercise could be the best diet. The only problem I find with these kinds of documentaries, is that they are COMPLETELY biased. The maker of the documentary will only give the results of tests that back up their claim in the first place. They’re not going to get funding to showcase the benefits of a vegan diet for sports and then show that it doesn’t matter (I’m not saying it does or doesn’t matter, but I would like to have these tests done myself to see if they are accurate).
The one thing I got from the documentary, is that vegan food doesn’t have to be hard. They showed a simple bean burrito that sounds (and I’ve made some that are exceptional) very nice. It also plays into me wanting to consume more vegetables and pulses. As of writing this blog, I have mostly stuck to the vegan Wednesdays and am actually considering doing more vegan days. However, I tend to have the same meals when I do these things so I will have to try more recipes (if you have any at hand, I would love you to link or put them in the comments for me to try). With the exception of today (I accidentally had an Actimel yoghurt drink this morning) I have fully stuck to the vegan Wednesdays. The strange thing for me is that I’ve actually enjoyed them and look forward to them. Now, this doesn’t mean I will go fully vegan, I enjoy chicken, bacon, milk, eggs, cheese and other ‘bad’ things too much for that, but I am enjoying doing them. I would recommend that if anyone is considering going vegan to just try one day at a time. Have a full day of it and try to cut out more and more animal products the rest of the week.
I decided to do these days, 1) to see if I could do it (and I can) and 2) to try to reduce my carbon footprint. Now for this, there are only a few things I can do. I don’t look after the energy bills and there are a number of other people in my house so it’s tricky to do anything that way. I CAN recycle more of the items I buy; I DO drink more water than sodas, I eat less meat during the week, I don’t have a car so walk most places if I can, I try not to leave electrical equipment on etc.
The next thing I’d like to try with this is to source my food a lot more locally. Obviously, some of the foods I have aren’t locally grown. Quinoa, beans and pulses aren’t grown in this country. However, when I can get my own place and actually do my own shopping, I’d like to me more aware of where my food is coming from. Usually, the cheaper things are the worst for the environment (as they come from other countries and are flown in and then put on lorries and shipped around the country), but I would like to try and source better. Even this summer I would like to grow my own lettuce so I’m not buying it all the time (plus I don’t eat much lettuce so if I grow small amounts, none is going to waste as it will also take in CO2 as it’s a plant).
Now around the country, many fast food places have included vegan options. I want to try them all!!
I’ve had the KFC burger (very nice but a little dry)
Greggs vegan sausage roll (wonderful and you don’t ever get sinew in it)
Greggs vegan bake (very nice, the addition of onions makes it good)
Subway vegan meatballs (very nice)
Weatherspoon’s will do a beyond meat burger (had the burger patties from Tesco and love them)
I haven’t tried the burger king burger yet as there aren’t any near me (however, these are cooked on the same grill as the normal burgers, so if you’re picky about it touching meat then don’t get it)
I also haven’t tried McDonald’s vegan option as I feel its very pathetic compared to the rest.
With all of these options though, people think that because its “vegan” then its healthy. THEY ARENT!!
Vegan doesn’t always mean healthy as some crisps and chips can be vegan but if you live on a diet of chips, crisps and sodas, you won’t be healthy at all. So, if you’re wanting to go vegan for health and weight loss, make sure to go about it the right way by having veggies and again try to limit your consumption of processed foods. The rule of thumb is, the less ingredients the better.
For this last part, I’m going to include a SUPER simple recipe that I’m going to make for my dinner (tea if your northern English). I enjoy this recipe and it’s so easy and can be improved in so many other ways.
It is my simple vegan chilli;
Serves 2;
1 tin (400g) of tomatoes (can be chopped or whole but then chopped)
1 tin (400g) of kidney beans in chilli sauce (if you can’t get these then normal kidney beans are fine)
Mushrooms (to taste)
Courgette (to taste)
Sweet pointed pepper (to taste)
Dried chilli flakes
Cholula chipotle chilli sauce (to taste)
Wholemeal (brown) rice
Dice up the veggies and fry off in a pan
Add the tomatoes, kidney beans, chilli flakes and chilli sauce to the veggies
Allow to reduce down
Cook the rice
Serve
It’s really that simple.
I’ve even swapped kidney beans for black beans, added sweet potato chunks, can add any other veggies you want and it’s all good.
With this dish you’re getting veggies, protein from the beans, carbs from the rice, it’s great.
Thank you for reading if you got this far.
What are YOUR favourite vegan recipes?
Do you think YOU could go vegan?
Why?
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