Living Vegan For Dummies - Alexandra Jamieson [11]
Mushrooms: Edible mushrooms aren’t just a great meat replacement for vegans. They’re a powerful class of medicinal foods. Mushrooms and their extracts are used to treat cancer, strengthen the immune system, and reduce inflammatory conditions.
These foods are only a few of thousands of plants, herbs, and spices used for centuries to heal and protect human health. By relying on these powerful plant-based foods, your kitchen truly can be a natural pharmacy.
Living Vegan Beyond Your Diet
Veganism doesn’t stop at the dinner table — it leaps out of the kitchen and transforms your whole life. From what you wear to the products you buy to beautify yourself and your home, vegan living encompasses every aspect of your daily life.
Fierce, fabulous, fur-free fashion
A full vegan lifestyle not only includes a diet of solely plant-based foods, it also is dedicated to avoiding harming any living creature for any type of fashion product, whether it be handbags, shoes, sweaters, belts, or coats. Most vegans don’t buy new leather, wool, or silk. Chapter 11 shows how vegan fashion can be fun and fabulous without being cruel.
Keepin’ it real at home
Home is where the heart is, and a vegan home takes every purchase to a deeper level. Your home should reflect your beliefs by offering sanctuary, entertainment, and space to nourish and nurture yourself and your family according to your values.
Learn to express your individual style as a vegan at home using cruelty-free materials and decorations. Cleaning your home, making up your face, and washing your hair take on new significance when you use products that are nontoxic and not tested on animals. The labels and brands discussed in Chapter 11 can help you choose fantastic products that work for your home, body, and morals.
Staying vegan in a nonvegan world
After you know that you want to live a vegan life full of integrity, you may find areas of cruelty-free living that you just don’t know anything about. Part III illustrates the nuts and bolts of daily life as a plant-food lover. Knowing how to shop for food, cook it, and make it delicious are the most important, basic, vegan skills a person can have. Even if you can’t boil water or your cupboards are as bare as Mother Hubbard’s, Chapter 7 can walk you through the steps of creating a basic vegan kitchen.
Living in a vegan bubble with vegan friends who love to make vegan food would be ideal, but many of us live in “mixed families” of meat and veggie heads. The combining of food ethics at home can be tricky, but Chapter 8 helps you navigate the choppy waters of sharing a kitchen with a carnivore.
Living a vegan life can be challenging if you don’t map out a plan in advance. So, like a five-star general plotting a path through enemy territory, wise vegans ensure their success by learning how to strategize. Chapter 9 shares menu suggestions, healthy vegan snack lists, and shopping and meal planning guides. Integrating these blueprints on a regular basis takes the stress out of shopping, cooking, and living a busy, modern life.
Energetically Speaking: The Spiritual Side of Veganism
Various religions around the world have specific dietary rules to demonstrate their faith. Some religions avoid pork products or alcohol and others set aside certain days for fasting. The spiritual side of food has a long history that vegans can adopt to create a deeper connection with other people and animals.
Here are just a few of the many religions that have adopted vegan or vegetarian lifestyles:
Buddhism: Buddhists believe that every person should try to minimize the harm that they inflict on all beings. This belief has led several Buddhist sects to live vegan lifestyles. Cultivating a “pure heart” by making the extra effort to be as compassionate as possible easily translates into avoiding eating meat and other animal products.
Jainism: Jainism is an ancient religion from India that has