The Three Little Biggies

I find Silk soymilk tastier than real milk. 

I even drank it before I was vegan!

I would say the three most generic questions people ask vegans regard health, taste and convenience.  I would love to know how different people deal with these issues, so please comment! I would say the largest concern would be health.

 I am purposefully avoiding absolutes here. I would never say veganism is healthier than eating meat, just as I would never say being an omnivore is healthier than a vegan. Being a vegan can be as healthy as being a meat-eater, or even more so. It truly depends on the person and their particular diet. There are still plenty of non-healthy vegan foods (refer to the cupcake recipe...a whole cup of margarine and shortening in the icing) The stereotype of the stick thin vegan is not true. That being said, vegans can be healthy. It takes more thinking to get all of one's required nutrients but it becomes second nature once you know what you need in a day. I have living proof of a healthy and active vegan that I am so excited to have coming up soon on my blog.

Admittedly, because vegans are the minority (roughly 1% in Canada I believe) our society isn't completely suited to eating solely plant based foods, so finding healthy foods can be more difficult and more expensive than eating a typical diet including milk and dairy. For me, in all honesty it was nowhere near as difficult as I expected. There are so many delightful vegan packaged and non processed natural foods out there. It just takes a little research, looking up recipes and talking to other vegans. I hope I can help other people researching. Add a splash of inspiration and veganism is  a cinch. Inspiration for veganism is different for everyone. Remembering why you started is a good way to stay motivated. In short I do it as an environmentalist, but I will cover that in a different post.

Lastly, taste is something most people think vegans are sacrificing. Admittedly there are dairy items I loved the taste of: cheese, icecream, eggs...I loved them all! But finding tasty food is an adventure for me more than a challenge. It has made me try new things and in turn made me find so much delicious food I never would have tried. I don't feel like I actually gave any food up because I have never come across any dairy product that doesn't have a vegan replacement. Mayonnaise, ice cream, milk, yogurt, s'mores, even different types of cheese! There are so many vegan replacements, and granted they don't all taste exactly like their dairy equivalents, many do or better than! I prefer Silk to the taste of real milk and drank it before I was vegan.  Plus I think that as more people reduce the amount of dairy products in their diet  the dairy replacements will become more and more abundant and better tasting.