Vegan Diets Are All the Rage

I’ve been hearing a lot about vegan diets throughout the day today and I think I have a good feeling why. Oprah announced on her show earlier today that she and 378 of her staff are going to do a 7-day vegan challenge. She did a 21-day vegan cleanse back in 2008, so this challenge shouldn’t be too difficult for her.

If you don’t know what a vegan diet is, it’s basically a vegetarian diet taken to the next level. You can’t eat meat obviously, and you can’t eat anything that contains animal by-products. This includes things like gummy bears because they have gelatin which is created by boiling down animals bones and tendons. Gross huh? You also can’t eat honey because it’s created from bees, which are kept in confinement against their will.

It’s little things like this that make a vegan diet so hard. You have to check the ingredients in everything you eat. No more honey-nut cheerios. No more cheesecake. You also need to take extra vitamins to make sure you get the nutrients necessary to keep you body going strong.

I know this because my fiance is a vegan. I’m not a vegan myself, but I’ve learned a lot just from being around her. I’ve learned a lot about checking foods when she asks me to go the store. I’ve also learned to check restaurant menus before we go out to dinner. My fiance isn’t vegan for diet reasons, but for ethical reasons, so it’s not just a temporary diet for her. This also means that she won’t buy products that have been tested on animals or clothes made from animals.

Do you think you can do a vegan diet? Once you learn what you can eat, it’s not that hard. Replace meats with tempeh, tofu and seitan, all of which can be seasoned just like meat. You can also eat rice, quinoa, potatoes, veggies, bread (not made with milk), hummus, beans, and all sorts of other foods.

Here’s a two week sample vegan meal plan from Peta if you want to give it a go.

*image courtesy of joyosity