Almost Vegan
Almost Vegan
Veganism is plant based commitment movement removing all animal products from the diet. Its rapidly growing worldwide. “Committed meat eaters” are making the decision to adopt a lifestyle to decrease meat, fish, dairy, eggs permanently from their plates turning almost vegan. Globally there is shift towards a vegan diet which the UN advises is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impact of climate change.
As the global population surges, its predicted western tastes for diets rich in meat and dairy products are unsustainable. A substantial reduction in environmental impacts could only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change away from animal products.
Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has urged people to observe one meat-free day a week to curb carbon emissions as factory farming alone (incl. meat and dairy products) accounts for a total of 19% of the world’s green gas emissions today.
Other significant contributing environmental concerns include: increased volumes of agricultural fertilizers and pesticides, over exploration of fisheries and forests, contaminated water, poor sanitation, urban air pollution and lead exposure just to mention a few. These increasing environmental impacts and the estimated global population prediction of 8-9 Billion people by 2050 simply highlights the unsustainable requirements to produce under the worsening conditions that we foresee.
To even get close to meeting these needs, Dr Bonny from Murdoch University claims the meat industry would need to increase production by approximately 50 to 73 per cent; to put it simply, this is simply not sustainable.
Each person has their own acumen and the reason for the vegan shift. The reasons are numerous and could be for the long term health benefits, food intolerance and allergies, the moral issue of factory farming, the killing and eating animals, religious beliefs or for weight loss/control or any combination.
The initial change may be tough, and a lifetime commitment to become 100% vegan will take a lifestyle change. As an almost vegan you will need to try and eliminate many foods from your weekly shopping list that may have been your comfort food, like chocolate, cheese or bacon for example. The good news is you can learn new ways to replace, substitute and re-create those favorites and develop new tastes too.
There are many almost vegan either by choice or have fallen off the wagon. Old eating patterns can be tough to break. Occasionally sneaking a little cheese, chocolate, bacon or caving in to eat a meat/seafood dish. It can be challenging to change, especially if you are living in a mixed diet household. There are many couples where one eats meat and the other only eats plant based food. There’s an adjustment for both involved with a successful outcome.
Being almost vegan can be testing particularly during the ‘dinner party analysis’ or interrogation for your dish selection. Any confrontation on your eating philosophy can be painful. This is where almost vegan may sound repentant or declare war on the meat eating Philistines.
Overseas travel can also be troublesome or near impossible to remain 100% vegan in some foreign countries. Many Asian countries have a variety of delicious looking tofu dishes but unfortunately they can contain ingredients like Benito (fish flakes), floss (fluffy dried meat product) etc. Most Asian countries consider fish or seafood as vegetarian. You need to check before ordering dishes, never guess by appearance dishes can look deceptively meat-free. This applies to local eateries too. Double check on the stock base of soups, tofu dishes, desserts, gravy, sauces etc you may discover a sneaky animal product was included.
For some people the full time commitment to become vegan can take a long time before they completely cut out eggs, meat, poultry, seafood, milk, butter, and cheese. If you need to ease into being a full time vegan realize you are not alone. Giving up certain foods groups for some, like cheese, cakes, chocolate, cookies etc may be a challenge. Over time most will learn to replace these with a vegan alternative. Cheese is possibly the most difficult for people to eliminate completely from their diet, even people with dairy allergies can find it be hard. Remember, everyday you omit eating meat, fish or using dairy products helps green our world and saving a life. Another encouraging factor for an almost vegan shift, is its much cheaper than a carnivorous diet. Meat is much more expensive than vegetables, nuts or soy protein products. You are in control, you will plan your meals and explore a delicious range of vegan recipes available today. The health benefits definitely overshadow eating unhealthy processed food.
Over the past few years there has been a 40% rise in the number of people pledging to trial the vegan challenge conducted by the Vegan Society. Plus there is a definite shift in attitude when it comes to males going vegan. In the past it was macho for men to eat steak. Today we are witnessing the more moneyed men to state they are almost vegan or vegan without any unease. Going dairy free, gluten free has increased by 70% in the last few years. Germany and UK have opened an all vegan supermarket chain called Veganz, offering over 6000 vegan products.
Very few people go ‘cold turkey’ and turn to a full time vegan lifestyle overnight, for some its a process of eliminating gradually all animals products, cheeses, dairy and eggs from their diet. Others change to vegetarian, almost vegan and then go vegan. Whether you change to almost vegan or full time vegan is choice. What will amaze you, is the impact you will have on others, more than you realize it does help for a change. Many meat eaters are now adopting ‘meatless Mondays’. You never know could be the start of a permanent vegan change.
