My First Story...Going Vegan!

So I decided to go vegan back in 2017; I believe it was about September I started making some slow changes. I decided to go vegan for health benefits because most food I was eating was making me bloat and feel sluggish! So after hearing some people say going vegan was great and not just for the animals I decided "why not?!" so I did some research and have been slowly changing! Rome wasn't built in a day!

So I made a list of the different food groups you don't eat as a vegan, dairy (milk, yogurt, cheese, butter, cream, ice cream etc), honey, meat, eggs‚ basically anything that comes from an animal. I already wasn't a fan of dairy so that was easy to stop eating except ice cream and finding milk for my hot chocolate! Can't live without my hot chocolates!

Basically I started going through the food I did eat and kept eating it if was vegan or went to find alternatives such as milk, tried almond milk, oat milk, soy milk—didn't like any of them! Tried coconut milk and was in HEAVEN! Makes hot chocolate taste like a bounty bar drink. Vanilla milk is also nice and sweet.

Giving up meat was difficult but when you watch zombie movies/shows whilst eating meat—trust me that helps A LOT to go off meat. Learning to read labels is habit that can take time to get use to, took me 4 months to get into habit of reading labels so take your time if your going through the struggles.

Discovering how much food has dairy or egg in it can make it hard as well! Korma curry is the only curry I like yet I never knew they used milk. So it really is important to read the labels of food because of this! Noodles from a Chinese takeaway are egg noodles—you can get rice noodles from shops and I haven't seen any takeaways that do rice noodles but they are just as tasty from a shop! Alpro is a company that do vegan yogurt, creams, and puddings which are tasty as hell! They are worth trying if you are new to being vegan.

I checked out Veganuary on Instagram and for the first month they send you recipes every day in an email, roughly 3 in each email for simple things like vegan mac and cheese to lasagna! I also came across on Instagram, The Vegan Kind and The Vegan Kind Supermarket, which is also great if you're new to being vegan! You can get these subscription boxes as well which are great to start with and try different vegan food to work out what you like! They have the Lifestyle Box which is only £13.15 a month each month that comes with 6-8 items roughly like snacks, food, sometimes household items, and a recipe for you to add to a binder which you get once you have been subscribed for 6 months! So far I have shampoos, body lotions, and body butter that smells exactly like an apple (seriously you'll want to eat!). There is a beauty box which I believe is every 3 months and you pay £18.15 and is basically make up and other cosmetics! I got in one box a pair of eyelashes from Unicorn Cosmetics! I also got coconut toothpaste which is super minty!

These boxes are really great for starting out and finding what you like! On their website, they have other boxes you can get such as past boxes and ones with a theme, for example I bought one that was a hot chocolate box with vegan whipped cream, marshmallows, and sauce! You can buy mugs as well so if your a mug collector like me—they feed your need! The Vegan Kind Supermarket is their website which is basically an online food store so if you like something you know where you can always find it! It is so great and makes going vegan much easier!

It's now March 2018 and I feel like I have more energy, I feel physically ill when I eat meat sometimes so do it once every 2 weeks and even then it is a very small amount. Going vegan feels great for my body and when you learn about the animals you definitely want to make the change. There are so many benefits to going vegan even just trying can make a difference.

Soon I will be going to vegan cafes and restaurants around Dundee and will write my reviews and thoughts on them!

Till next time, Toodles!

xo

Soon to come...

Vegan cafe lists in the Dundee area & reviews on them, their food & hospitality!