The Successfully Smart Vegan Knows

by Rebecca Bennett

One of the rising stars within the healthier living lifestyle these days is Veganism and Vegetarianism. But to help you clarify what a vegan is here's how you can tell the difference from a vegan and a vegetarian:

Vegans  are 100% Pure Vegetarians eat only foods that come from plants, like grains, fruits, vegetables, and nuts and they exclude all animal by products from their lifestyle (e.g. meat, eggs, dairy, wool, leather, items that contain animal fats, products tested on animals etc.).

Vegetarianism  on the other hand is the practice of living on products of the plant kingdom, with or without the use of eggs and dairy products, but excluding entirely the consumption of any part of the body of an animal as food (including chicken, fish and seafood).

There are Many Types of different Vegetarians. Here are some vegetarian definitions:

*       semi-vegetarian: eats meat, but only fish and chicken

*       lacto-ovo vegetarian: eats no meat, but will eat dairy products (milk, butter, cheese) and eggs

*       ovo-vegetarian: eats eggs, but no meat or dairy products

*       vegan (say: vee-gun): eats no meat or animal products

So Why Are People Vegetarians or Vegans?

People usually have different reasons for becoming vegetarians or vegans. Some follow vegetarian or semi-vegetarian diets mostly for health reasons. For instance, a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and grains tends to be lower in fat/cholesterol, which is good for your heart and body. It's also likely to be a high fiber diet. Then there are the people who choose a strict vegan diet for ethical reasons, health reasons and/or environmental reasons. No matter what the reason being a vegan or vegetarian does not in any way limit a person's lifestyle choice or deprive a person of anything that a non-vegetarian might have.

And if you would like to understand some of the moral, ethical, environmentally reasons behind Why Vegan, then let's start here ...

- It takes 22 times the acres of land to meet the food energy needs of one person eating meat than it does for one person eating potatoes.

- It takes more than 13 times the water to produce one day's food supply for an omnivore than it does for a vegan.

- It takes 27 times the petroleum to produce a hamburger than it does a soy burger.

- The land animals confined and killed every year excrete 130 times the feces and urine produced by humans.

- Livestock production also utilizes more than eight percent of global water use, primarily for feed-crop irrigation.

- The annual greenhouse gas output from burger consumption is the equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas output from between four and 13 million SUVs.

- In the Amazon, approximately 60-70 percent of deforestation results from cattle ranches and soybean cultivation. (ref:vegnews)

That's some pretty interesting food for thought right! (Has it not been said many times in history, "that if you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem", something to ponder at least)

Now if you are interested in becoming a smart vegan/vegetarian then here's a few tips to help you gain success with a healthier lifestyle quickly and easily (even if you are not a vegan/vegetarian but would like to cut-back on your intake of animal by-products then these tips can help you too) . . .

Here's a Few of Our Top Tips for Smart Vegan Living and Health  . . .

Vegan Tip 1:  Know your nutritional needs - this is some of the best advice we can give. Know how to obtain healthier patterns and nutritional benefits through a wholesome and healthy balanced and varied vegan diet. Do this before you put anything else into practice. Education is the key to any successful venture afterall. So if you are not up to speed with what your body needs nutritionally you may fall short on some vital points. It's actually not that hard to understand nutrition when starting a vegan diet as you don't have to add up all the dairy, meat and eggs - so there are three less foods to have to worry about.

You are what you eat afterall.

Vegan Tip 2:  Your health is the single most important ingredient for life. Look after it by understanding what your own body needs for maximum health and longevity. Grab yourself a great vegan nutritional book, there are many on the market these days. Plus we highly recommend you print off 'The Vegan Food Pyramid' and stick it on your fridge to help clarify what you should be eating and how many servings you need per day for maximum benefit.

Vegan Tip 3:  Center your diet on whole plant foods (vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts); Select a wide variety of foods (preferably organic). Minimize your intake of heavily processed foods, junk foods, sugars and fats where possible. And don't forget to drink heaps of pure clean water daily.

Therefore it may make sense that you should spend some time making sure that your family understands what a vegan will and won't eat.

Vegan Tip 4:  Listen to your body. Eat when you're actually hungry and recognize real hunger from emotional eating. Tune into what your body is saying; if you feel hungry go for a snack of fruits, wholegrain breads, crackers, nuts or even some vegan jerky (yes there are some amazing tasting vegan jerky's out there).

Vegan Tip 5:  Make exercise a regular activity in your life. Try to exercise at least 5 times a week, preferably everyday for optimum health; exercise and stretching are essential ingredients for excellent health afterall. For more vibrant energy and health start breathing consciously with greater awareness.

Now if you are already one of the Successfully Smart Vegans or Vegetarians out there hopefully you will know your nutritional needs and ethical stand-points of such a lifestyle.

Eating vegan is hardly about deprivation. Vegans have access to such a joy of organizations, restaurants, blogs, cookbooks, nutritionists, ideas and recipes (and yes vegans can even eat junk just like anyone else if they choose to). When you make the effort to understand how to be Vegan or Vegetarian the Successfully Smart way, you can and will change the way you look at life, for the better.

When you choose a vegan diet, you are choosing more than a different way to eat, you are choosing to be more environmentally friendly, ethically aware, and healthier in general.

To be one of those Rising Stars for yourself and your planet check out some more information and grab over 40 free recipes on our site today (see below for details).

Authors BIO:  Rebecca has worked in the vegetarian and vegan industry in Australia for years. She is the founder of http://www.VeganSecrets.com  and http://Vegetarian-Secrets.com  portals with many interesting vegan and vegetarian books, articles, veg living tips and tricks plus also of her blog at: http://www.VeganSecrets.com/blog which has online information on everything vegan, vegetarian and cruelty-free