Healthy Tips for Smart Vegan Living

Author: Ian C. Langtree - View Credentials
Published: 25 Feb 2009 - Updated: 19 Apr 2015

Table of Contents:
Synopsis - Overview - Related Content

Synopsis

In vegan cooking it is tempting to create bland dishes that seem similar to each other.

Overview

People often get confused between vegan and vegetarianism. While a vegetarian typically avoids all meat products, vegans avoid all fish and meat AND the by-products also. Such by-products include dairy, eggs, and even honey. Any product that comes from animals must be left out when preparing food for vegans.

In vegan cooking, it is tempting to create bland dishes that seem similar to each other. You can easily avoid this mistake. In Point Of Fact, dishes can be as exciting those cooked in carnivorous meals. With the huge number of TVP style alternatives to animal based ingredients, you can use substitutions for ingredients from beef to bacon, which can also introduce plenty of of flavor and variety to the feast.

• Know your nutritional needs - this is some of the best advice we can give. Know how to obtain healthier patterns and nutritional benefits through a wholesome and healthy balanced and varied vegan diet. Do this before you put anything else into practice. Education is the key to any successful venture after-all. So if you are not up to speed with what your body needs nutritionally you may fall short on some vital points. It's actually not that hard to understand nutrition when starting a vegan diet as you don't have to add up all the dairy, meat and eggs - so there are three less foods to have to worry about.
• Your health is the single most important ingredient for life. Look after it by understanding what your own body needs for maximum health and longevity. Grab yourself a great vegan nutritional book, there are many on the market these days. Plus we highly recommend you print off 'The Vegan Food Pyramid' and stick it on your fridge to help clarify what you should be eating and how many servings you need per day for maximum benefit.
• Center your diet on whole plant foods (vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts); Select a wide variety of foods (preferably organic). Minimize your intake of heavily processed foods, junk foods, sugars and fats where possible. And don't forget to drink heaps of pure clean water daily.
• Listen to your body. Eat when you're actually hungry and recognize real hunger from emotional eating. Tune into what your body is saying; if you feel hungry go for a snack of fruits, wholegrain breads, crackers, nuts or even some vegan jerky (yes there are some amazing tasting vegan jerky's out there).
• Make exercise a regular activity in your life. Try to exercise at least 5 times a week, preferably everyday for optimum health; exercise and stretching are essential ingredients for excellent health after-all. For more vibrant energy and health start breathing consciously with greater awareness.

Eating vegan is hardly about deprivation. Vegans have access to such a joy of organizations, restaurants, blogs, cookbooks, nutritionists, ideas and recipes (and yes vegans can even eat junk just like anyone else if they choose to). When you make the effort to understand how to be Vegan or Vegetarian the Successfully Smart way, you can and will change the way you look at life, for the better.

When you choose a vegan diet, you are choosing more than a different way to eat, you are choosing to be more environmentally friendly, ethically aware, and healthier in general.

Author Credentials: Ian C. Langtree is a writer, editor, and the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Disabled World, which he established in 2004 as one of the longest-running independent resources for disability news and information. Over more than two decades, he has written and edited thousands of articles on disability rights, health, accessibility, and assistive technology. Drawing on a global perspective shaped by extensive travel and lived experience, Ian is a committed advocate of the Social Model of Disability, the framework developed by disabled activists in the 1970s that focuses on removing societal barriers rather than on individual impairments. His writing is grounded in that framework and in a lasting commitment to disability rights, accessibility, and social inclusion. To learn more about Ian's background, expertise, and accomplishments, visit his full biography.