It’s the start of 2017 and many of us are taking up diets, the gym and other New Year resolutions. 
One that seems to be popular among those I have spoken to has been the interest in the vegan diet. I know many people who like the idea of being vegan but have never given it a go or know much about it. I am not a vegan or a vegetarian but do appreciate the amount of animal products we consume after trying to make a vegan three course meal last year. Let’s just say I almost had a break down in Tesco’s as everything said ‘may contain milk’.
I interviewed one of my best friends, Keira Estall to find out what it meant to be vegan and how it has changed her life. She is an English Studies graduate, who has recently returned from travelling Australia and Asia and has been a vegan for two years.
Keira started being vegan because she said “it seemed the morally right thing to do. We all say we love animals, yet every day we give our money to an industry that tortures and exploits them.”
Even when trying to make a three course meal I appreciated how hard it would be to adjust to the diet so I was very impressed that Keira has managed to keep it up for so long. She said, “It was hard to adjust at first because I had eaten meat and dairy my whole life, but I slowly learnt more about veganism and began to love vegan food, and meat just seemed tasteless and boring.”
“For most people, they say they can’t go vegan because they love cheese too much. This is because of the casein in the cheese, which is used to keep a baby calf drinking its mother’s milk. Once you fully quit eating dairy, your taste buds will change and dairy will have a bad taste so I no longer crave it.”
“Veganism has countless benefits to our health, the environment and the animals. It has been proven that if the whole world became vegan it would end world hunger. This is because converting animal farm-land for food crops would increase the amount of food for humans.”
As someone who isn’t vegan, I often associate veganism with being healthy but I asked Keira if this was the case and if to be a healthy vegan it would be much more expensive than a regular diet. Keira responded, “Yes the vegan diet can be really healthy but a can of coke and chips are also vegan. Animal products are the only source of dietary cholesterol, so eating a vegan diet does provide added benefits.”
“A vegan diet is expensive but it is actually far cheaper than buying meat and cheese. Grains, pulses and vegetables are some of the cheapest items on the planet to buy, it only becomes pricey when you start buying fancy meat replacements and soy cheeses, all of which don’t necessarily make up a healthy vegan diet, but are good for transitioning.”
I hope that this has given you food for thought, no pun intended, if you ever wondered what the vegan diet was all about or were ever wanting to try it yourself! Get in touch with any suggestions for topics or questions on my Facebook page.