Becoming A Vegan Is Easy
Becoming a vegan is easier than you probably think. Become a vegan for your health. Going vegan will help the animals, the environment and your body.
As in any diet of course, these things should be eaten in moderation and if you are giving up animal fats and animal ingredients, you will not want to ruin the benefits that a vegan diet will give your body.
Becoming a vegan means not eating anything derived from an animal or any insects. No meat, fish, dairy, eggs or honey. There are other animal derived ingredients to watch out for such as gelatin which is made from animal flesh and bones. More of that later though.
You may be thinking "well if I can't eat meat, fish, dairy, eggs or honey and this gelatin stuff, then what can I eat?" Well, you will just have to eat plants wont you? Only kidding!
Nowadays, becoming a vegan is so easy. Most supermarkets label their food items as being vegan and usually have a special section for special dietary requirements. I also do a weekly shop at my local health food shop. Most towns and cities have a health food chain shop but I prefer to use more independent health food shops which most towns and cities will also have.
Most well stocked supermarkets will sell the vegan versions of these products or will be naturally vegan anyway:
The thing to remember is that a lot of foods are vegan anyway. For example, a lot of tomato ketchup brands are vegan although some will have dairy products in them. The same applies for other food items such as bread and baked beans which are mostly vegan but are sometimes made with dairy products too. Mustard is mostly vegan as are sandwich pickles, a lot of cereals and most baking products.
This is where I get my specialist vegan meat replacement products from. Do a search of vegetarian chinese restaurants in your area and see if they deliver. Some of these products taste like the real thing and a lot of vegans will not eat them for that reason. I should warn you though that some of these products are better than others and it is all a matter of taste. However, I love them and make some very tasty vegan meals from these products, such as chicken curries, duck sweet and sours and many other recipes. 
Another thing people should know is that becoming a vegan means watching out for sneaky ingredients. For example, a lot of sweets and ready made puddings will contain gelatin which is used as a thickening agent. Gelatin is derived from animal waste such as intestines (can you be sure that the intestines are empty before they are ground up or are they still full of poo?), bones and ligaments. Not a nice thing to put into your body. There are other animal ingredients such as cochineal which is a red dye made out of crushed beetles. I don't know about you but I don't fancy eating crushed insects and neither do many people going by those programmes that dare people to eat them for a reward. The good thing about people who become vegan, is they seem to prefer natural unprocessed foods, and obviously, the more natural and unrefined the food is that you're eating, the more unlikely it is that they will contain ingredients from animals. But learn to check labels and if you're not too sure about a particular ingredient, then try to choose a product which is labelled as being vegan.
Becoming a vegan is very easy nowadays. Vegans arn't all hippies (although nothing wrong with being a hippie in my books) and the vegan diet is a growing market. As more and more people become aware of the impact of eating animal derived foods has on the environment, the animals and their bodies, they become more aware of what they are eating and how they can help certain issues and their health.
I really hope you do try a vegan diet and I hope, like me, you are pleasantly surprised at what you can eat. Good luck!!
Animal Ingredients List
Leave Becoming a Vegan and go to What do Vegans Eat
Leave Becoming a Vegan and go to the Vegan Food Pyramid
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Whether you become a vegan for health reasons or for ethical reasons, you should know that giving up eating animal products
