After following a vegan diet for the last three years, I am delighted to see more and more people jumping on to the plant based lifestyle bandwagon. For myself, being intolerant to dairy, my health and fitness took a turn for the best. By no longer digesting dead animals I was lively, my energy was higher than ever, I no longer had a constant bloated stomach and my skin became a dream. But maybe I’m one of a few to experience these life changing effects of a vegan diet. So is it just an Insta craze blown out of proportion or have vegans genuinely struck gold with this life style choice?
I see and hear a lot of critics against veganism, but even if it is fad, surely the environmental benefits are a huge considerations too. Even if a small proportion of the population jump on the vegan-bandwagon for just a short period, the positive environmental domino effect would be considerable.
Another argument I often come by is non-vegans telling me they could “never live on a plant based diet” as they wouldn’t know what to cook. This is where I find Instagram an absolute dream! There are endless pages from vegan chefs and bakers, to everyday vegans cooking up a storm, that it is near impossible to run out of vegan cooking ideas. Here are a few of my highly recommended pages, which give me daily vegan cooking inspiration:
@fatgayvegan
It is another awesome page which guides you to the the best vegan cafes and restaurants around town. The brilliant bonus about this page is that he also finds and recommends vegan alternatives to so many different foods, making life even easier. Basically his page is a great place to start, for a vegan eating guide.
@veganbowls
It is a great recipe page for a much healthier vegan lifestyle. This page mainly features food that keeps us glowing from the inside out. It’s all very ‘conscious-cooking’ with focusing on health benefits, and accompanied with delicious looking imagery. From my own experience, the recipes taste as good as they look on Insta.
The high street is now packed with great options for the Vegan consumer. Big chains such as Wagamama, Zizzis, Pizza Hut, ASK and nearly every restaurant I go to lately has the most delicious vegan options. So there really is no better time to jump right into vegan diets.
Now let’s talk chocolate! If like me you’re a chocoholic, giving up my Galaxy bars really was the toughest part of being a vegan. I found plenty of chocolate alternatives but they never really came close to competing with the old milk based Galaxy bars. Even with the stomach ache from my dairy intolerance, I would still indulge and just take the pain. It was always sooooo worth it. But now I am over the moon to be able to say Galaxy have introduced their Vegan chocolate range, I’ve tried all three flavours released: Galaxy caramelised Hazelnut, Smooth Orange and Caramel and Sea Salt, and they taste exactly like normal chocolate! If I dare to say it, maybe a bit better than normal chocolate too, as it’s even smoother!
Whilst on the sweeter side of veganism, if you love ice cream, the new dairy free Magnum ice cream is to die for! In fact my step Dad who couldn’t be further from a vegan, tried the vegan Magnum and now only has vegan ice cream as he prefers it to regular!
If you are struggling to find any of the Vegan products I’ve spoken about or want to take a look at all the vegan options around, there is an online vegan supermarket called The Vegan Kind. You find them at www.thevegankindsupermarket.com their Instagram handle is @thevegankind I would definitely recommended checking them out.
If you found my little article helpful for your journey to a healthier and more environmentally conscious diet, you should check back to read my dedicated monthly column “The Subtle Vegan” I will be keeping my eyes open for new vegan pages, products and vegan alternatives to help you through!
You May Also Like
