Veganism: What is it and should we all consider the swap?

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It’s a phrase you’ve more than likely heard of, but do you know what it actually is? Veganism is a diet choice which has increased in popularity over previous years and has seen people from across not only the US, but over the world switching to a vegan diet.

We’re all aware of the different diets we can follow. Whether it’s to encourage weight loss, lower cholesterol or to reduce the amount of meat we consume, we all choose a diet preference for our own personal reasons.

The vegan diet is unique in its own right, as it removes any form of animal product from your day today life. For people who aren’t aware of what’s involved with a vegan diet, you may think it’s not much different to vegetarianism, as this is another preference which removes meat from your diet. Although the vegan and vegetarian diet have this factor in common, veganism means you won’t be consuming any animal ingredient at all. Whether it’s egg, milk, meat or animal fur on your clothes; products like these will be removed from your lifestyle.

What is veganism?

We’ve briefly described part of the vegan diet, but what are the main reasons for people wanting to follow this lifestyle?

For some people veganism is all about removing animal products from everyday life, as they feel consuming meat is inhumane and cruel. As well as for this reason, climate change and the environment is also a huge deciding factor.

We’re all aware of how important reducing our carbon footprints are, but everyone may not be clued up on the damage farming, travel and manufacturing can have on the environment. From pollution caused by the range of transportation methods or the large amount of greenhouse gasses emitted by manufacturing companies; there are a number of important reasons why people make the swap to veganism.

Should we all consider veganism?

It’s down to personal preference which diet choice we decide to follow, but we should all take into consideration the ethical factors each diet provides.

Although manufacturers are now taking veganism into consideration by creating and labelling vegan friendly products for their audience; for some people a plant-based diet may not be for them. It’s clear how much farming effects the environment so we can all at least try and reduce some of the strain.

A potential swap could be from a meat based diet to vegetarianism, as this only removes meat from your diet and not animal products as a whole. If you feel you can’t sacrifice meat from your diet then it’s important to start introducing meat free meals into your diet a few times each week. Although this may not seem like a huge change, it is helping to reduce your carbon footprint.