What, Why & How?

What is Veganism? Veganism has different stages, depending on how far you are able to go. Following a vegan diet means living plant-based = No intake of any animal products at all: No meat, no cheese, no eggs, no honey etc. but don't worry - there are endless kinds of replacements. If you are able to enhance your lifestyle a lot and go "truly vegan" you'll need to keep track on everything in your household - theoretically you'll be excluding, as far as it is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose. But even if you can't do it all the way, however much and far you can go will already help making a difference, and shows of importance! Maybe try to start with a day, then a week and so on but remember to inform yourself about how to do it correctly, otherwise you might miss out on supplements and won't feel too well. Don't worry, I got you covered in here and it's not as difficult as you might think. Keeping track on all of the ingredients will also make you more conscious of what you're giving to your body and help you eating clean.

• Why did I go vegan? I was curious out of many different reasons, so, I started informing myself about Veganism as there are so many, different opinions, stories, things you need to consider and follow; reasons why People went vegan: health, environment, ethnicity and so on. When I did my research on the internet, I put together a little fact sheet which I'd like to share with you. I was pretty surprised to see the impact on the world by only one individual avoiding animal products and going vegan as I first thought that one person couldn't have a big influence. Did you know that, when one person goes vegan can save approximately 219,000 gallons of water a year? It takes 1,000 gallons of water to produce just one gallon of milk, and beef has an overall water footprint of roughly 4 million gallons per ton! Going vegan saves approximately 30 animal lives in only one month (=one a day) or at least 100 a year. Also the huge influence on the environment, as animal agriculture is a major contributor to climate change. Regarding your own health, compared to meat-eaters, vegans weigh less, have lower cholesterol, blood pressure and rates of type 2 diabetes. They have a 30 per cent lower risk of heart disease and lower cancer rates. Isn't that amazing? Already about 8% of the world population is vegan. I related to these reasons deeply because I've always felt guilty eating meat and had been vegetarian for some time already so, reading about these facts and statistics only made the thought about veganism and their followers more inspiring, motivating and increased my hope for a better world!
  

"Rather many people trying & doing it with mistakes than a few people doing it perfectly."

• How changing my diet changed my life after only two months Most of my life, I had suffered from stomach aches and internal problems so, reading about people's passionate stories, life-changing events regarding this matter and understanding that Veganism is about so much more than about your diet; that it is a selfless and caring act -which I truly adore- really inspired me to give it a try.

I already started feeling unappealed to any kind of animal product before only informing myself about going vegan which is why I was even more interested in it, when I finally did. I used to be a vegetarian twice but sadly went back to including meats on my plate.

On June 7th 2020, I decided to follow the vegan diet for one day, for the very first time.

That was very interesting as I hadn't been keeping track on food all that much beforehand and it is much easier than you might think.

After my first successful vegan day, I decided to make a week out of it because it made me feel amazing and I was interested in how long I could manage to stay this disciplined and dedicated..

When I absolved my first month, I realized how much cleaner, lighter, happier and more grateful I felt like.

My body responded insanely positive to my new diet: less internal pain, lost a bunch of weight because I exchanged processed food to whole and clean foods; additionally avoided most sugar and gluten which makes my meals much lighter and easier to digest, my skin looks much more relaxed and less invaded by acne, even my moon cycle is less hurtful.

Of course, I'm taking my supplements and drink much water to just really embrace my healthy new lifestyle and it made such a big difference.

I am not gonna lie,, I sometimes did have my nighttime-cravings for eggs, cheese and so on,certainly because I grew up with that diet and my body was used to consuming it! But I chose to not give in to them which made me really proud. After approximately three weeks they were almost completely gone.

"When you can control what you eat and not eat, you have control over almost everything else in your life."

As I surely wanted to stick with my new diet and be sure that I keep my personal reasons on top of my head, I started following related and supportive pages on Instagram which give me strength, always more reasons and awareness of why I -and many more people- choose to be vegans; as well as avoiding those pages which might make me unsure about my decision and would rather support my cravings

It is important to surround yourself with positivity and exclude those people who won't show their support for any of your decision or well-being and I mean this regarding everything in your life.. :) See your worth. You are worthy good, clean food and happiness. Let's be honest, there are many people who react very negatively towards veganism and would always try to misunderstand or suppress a "grass eater" and you might have already dealt with a couple. Please don't let that discourage you, just be aware of the possibility that, when you choose a plant-based lifestyle, people disagreeing with you lots. They'll want to discuss about your food choices yet ignoring the facts you submit or trying to actually understand you, rather get angry about the conversation because they don't know how to deal with their conscious telling them that you're right. Don't let their arguments influence your attitude, your values or your decision. Be your own rock and always stay respectful and polite. There will -as always and in every aspect of life- be people who won't support your thinking or journey and they honestly don't have to.. The same goes for you, though. Just know that you're not alone in your diet .or your life- and there are so many people out there just waiting for you to introduce yourself into their lives. Choose to be around motivating, understanding and loving people but also, dare to discuss with people, maybe you'll be able to change some minds. And yes, you do can change the world. Change happens through support and people who dare and take a risk. At some point it'll hopefully be like Dominoday, I believe!

I am very thankful, I changed my diet. Just like with Yoga - I wish I'd have started earlier but hey, at least I did start. It is never too late to change your life and take it in your own hands.

"Veganism is not about what you can and cannot eat; it is about what you will and will not eat."

My current goal is a year at least but honestly, I'd love to keep this lifestyle for a lifetime.

I enjoy that I finally sensibilized my knowledge and values regarding this important subject.

Additionally,, I changed my morning routine and started journaling as well, which is a beautiful thing I can only recommend. I am mentioning this because besides writing down Affirmations of the little and big things I am grateful for, I think of all reasons to remind me why I am doing what I am doing, before starting every new day and I feel like it only inspires me more.

Get that Qualiytime in every day and choose to start your day on the right foot! But about that in another post.

Now, I'd like to share the pages I find most helpful on how to get started, replacements and yummy, healthy recipes. *Please do consult a doctor regarding a change of your diet as every individual has other needs and things to consider.*

1. Healthline is probably the best page to first look into because, they created an amazing list of replacements to find in other, whole foods instead of supplements and even suggest a vegan meal-plan for a complete week! I felt very safe to start my veganism trial after reading their webpage.

2. If you'd also like to reduce your Gluten-intake and have more options of replacements which might even be healthier, check out this link from the same company as mentioned above:

3. When searching for appropriate recipes to follow the diet, I usually searched for "vegan & gluten free recipes" and my goal is to find affordable, simple and quick but delicious recipes. After experiencing and understanding different dishes, I started adjusting to my preferences or even created my own recipes, which I will share with you starting today! So far, I got my inspirations for my meal requirements from following web pages, which I hope you'll find helpful:

• Budget Bytes for affordable dishes

• The Minimalistic Baker for very simple dishes with few ingredients

• Tasty for yummy dishes including a How-To-Video

• She likes food for amazing desserts and more and

• Instagram also has many amazing Accounts as already mentioned. You can easily find them going on my main Account and search in the "Following"-tab for related Hashtags and Accounts.

I am happy if I could help you get started and am always happy to answer any questions!

I'll be uploading new and healthy recipes for any time of the day and also include some healthy and indulgent dessert options. Check out my first post "Vegan Tofu Bowl" for a yummy introduction taste.