When is World Vegan Day?
Today (1st November) is celebrated as World Vegan Day. Since the COVID19 started worldwide, millions of food lovers switched to vegan diet. It was first started on 1st November 1994 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the UK Vegan Society. They came up with the term “vegan” in 1944 and established “The Vegan Society”.
What is Vegan diet or veganism?
Vegan diet is a diet when the consumer avoid eating animal product in any form. Vegans consume all the food extracted from plants. That’s why its also known as “plant-based diet”. It is believed to be existing in the world for more than 2000 years and vegetarianism started about 500 years before veganism. The great Greek Mathematician and a philosopher, Pythagoras always believed in been kind and not hurting any animals. The same concept exists in Buddhism as well, where they don’t believe in hurting animals for their comfort or need.
Difference between vegetarian and vegan diet
Most of the time people mistake by thinking that both the diets are same. But there’s a huge difference. I myself didn’t know the difference. In a nutshell, I can say that vegan diet is a completely plant-based diet where the individuals don’t consume anything which is coming from the animals, whereas vegetarians consume cow milk and other products made from cow milk.
Benefits I made/got after making the changes
For me, every single day is vegan day. 2 years and 2 months ago (to be very precise) I turned vegan, and since then I never consumed meat or any animal products. I love consuming plant-based food and mainly I’m on gluten-free diet. The reasons are as follows which inspired me to turn vegan:
1. To eat the right thing for my diabetes. Instead of depending on medicines, I decided to make changes in my diet.
2. I had migraine issues, which is almost gone now. I don’t get tremendous headache anymore.
3. Improved my skin, hair and nail qualities. Earlier my hair used to be dry and frizzy all the time and now it’s quite smooth without much of split-ends.
4. Due to diabetes, I used to have joint pain, which is gone now. Within a week of starting complete vegan diet, my joint pain stopped on it own.
5. Digestion issues are totally solved and now I feel more energetic and can carry heavy loads. I have fracture and dislocation in my hands, so I was not able to carry heavy loads earlier, but now I can carry without any issue.
6. I’m contributing in protecting the nature, so I’m not killing animals to satiate my taste buds. I’m not contributing to the cruelty happening in the dairy, fashion and cosmetic industries.
7. I use vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics to make my life easy. Technically, I didn’t face any issue while switching. It was a conscious decision and paid off honestly.
8. I use shoes, handbags and wallets made with vegan leather. In India, this is still coming up so there are only handful of brands available, but I’m happy that I made this change.
How can you celebrate this day?
1. You can visit nearby vegan restaurants to try authentic food.
2. Add more greens to your diet and look for the changes you found since the day you switched to plant-based diet.
3. Eat more locally produced organic vegetables and groceries. This will contribute to the local organic producers, farmers and manufacturers.
4. You will save gallons of water while cooking vegan food as they consume less water. Water and fuel are more used while cooking meat, fish and eggs.
5. You can volunteer and raise awareness among people about vegan diet.
6. You can read and watch videos of the vegan celebrities to get encouraged.
Hopefully, the changes I mentioned here are going to help you a little bit. While I was making these changes, it was not easy for me. I was changing a lifestyle which I believed since the day I was born. But I’m glad that I made those changes.