1 00:00:03,538 --> 00:00:07,937 When you first go Vegan, it can seem overwhelming figuring out what to eat. 2 00:00:07,937 --> 00:00:11,930 The idea of finding new recipes and checking labels appears daunting. 3 00:00:11,930 --> 00:00:15,002 but it's much easier than you'd think. 4 00:00:15,002 --> 00:00:18,576 Regardless of how healthy you want to be, how much money you have to spend or 5 00:00:18,576 --> 00:00:22,773 wherever you are in the world, there are always plenty of things to eat as a Vegan. 6 00:00:22,848 --> 00:00:26,032 Although I personally eat a diet rich in whole foods like fruits, vegetables, 7 00:00:26,032 --> 00:00:29,571 beans, potatos and rice, the animals and the planet don't care what you 8 00:00:29,571 --> 00:00:31,859 eat as long as you aren't harming and destroying them. 9 00:00:32,459 --> 00:00:33,768 Just bare in mind that you will be 10 00:00:33,768 --> 00:00:36,780 much healthier eating a diet rich in whole foods and you won't feel your best if you 11 00:00:36,780 --> 00:00:40,987 are undercarbed and undernourished. One of the most important things for Vegans, 12 00:00:40,987 --> 00:00:44,082 especially new Vegans, is to understand that the whole plant foods are much less 13 00:00:44,082 --> 00:00:47,988 calorically dense than animal products. If you undereat you will feel weak and dizzy 14 00:00:47,988 --> 00:00:50,484 and making this mistake can often discourage people from living 15 00:00:50,484 --> 00:00:54,090 compassionately. Therefore it's important to ensure that you consume enough 16 00:00:54,090 --> 00:00:58,032 calories for your age, size and activity level. It's often a good idea for new 17 00:00:58,032 --> 00:01:01,465 Vegans to use websites or apps like Cronometer to make sure that they're 18 00:01:01,465 --> 00:01:03,682 eating enough for the first week or so. 19 00:01:03,682 --> 00:01:07,629 For breakfast there are many cereals that are Vegan. Use a dairy free milk and add 20 00:01:07,629 --> 00:01:11,315 things like fruits and nuts. Oatmeal is also a great option and tastes great with 21 00:01:11,315 --> 00:01:14,079 cinnamon and fruit like raisins, dates, apples and bananas. 22 00:01:14,609 --> 00:01:18,770 Toast or bagels are another option. You can top these with jam, fruit, nut 23 00:01:18,770 --> 00:01:22,836 butters, hummus, guacamole, dairy free butter, Marmite, tofu scrambles or even 24 00:01:22,836 --> 00:01:26,074 do a full Vegan fry-up with scrambles, beans, mushrooms and Vegan sausages 25 00:01:26,074 --> 00:01:27,140 and bacon. 26 00:01:27,140 --> 00:01:31,035 A fruit based breakfast is perfect for starting the day energised and hydrated. 27 00:01:31,035 --> 00:01:34,514 You can have a fruit monomeal with just one fruit and you can make fruit salads, 28 00:01:34,514 --> 00:01:37,916 smoothies, ice creams and juices are also great for accompanying something like 29 00:01:37,916 --> 00:01:41,548 cereal. But remember to base your meal off of calorically dense fruits like dates, 30 00:01:41,548 --> 00:01:45,886 bananas and mangoes. These fruits can make up a meal or as it's not easy to make a 31 00:01:45,886 --> 00:01:48,093 meal out of something like berries. 32 00:01:48,093 --> 00:01:52,497 For lunch, bread based meals are very popular. Using fillings like salad, hummus 33 00:01:52,497 --> 00:01:56,176 and avocado you can make all kinds of sandwiches, burritos, pittas and wraps. 34 00:01:56,514 --> 00:01:59,862 You can also make great pizzas too. And you can also have pasta salads, 35 00:01:59,862 --> 00:02:03,467 potato salads, couscous salads and quinoa salads for lunch. 36 00:02:03,977 --> 00:02:07,578 For dinner you can make a Vegan quiche, a stir-fry with wheat or rice noodles and 37 00:02:07,578 --> 00:02:12,372 potato wedges, curries and chillies with pasta, mash or noodles. You can have Vegan 38 00:02:12,372 --> 00:02:16,646 burger or fish products with chips. Pasta bakes, potato bakes and all kinds of 39 00:02:16,646 --> 00:02:21,054 soups. You can make stuffed peppers or mushrooms, spaghetti bolognese and 40 00:02:21,054 --> 00:02:26,493 sheppard's pie. Vegan sausages, mash and veg are great and Vegan pizza is amazing. 41 00:02:26,493 --> 00:02:29,913 For desserts you can make or buy so many great Vegan cakes, pies, cheesecakes and 42 00:02:29,913 --> 00:02:33,996 chocolates. You can have ice cream, sorbets, biscuits, bars and chocolate 43 00:02:33,996 --> 00:02:39,277 mousses. Fruit is also a great dessert. For snacks fresh and dried fruit works 44 00:02:39,277 --> 00:02:44,030 well. As do rice cakes, crackers and nuts. There are loads of Vegan bars like Trek 45 00:02:44,030 --> 00:02:48,345 bars, Nakd bars, Cliff bars, Rude bars, Frank bars and Luna bars. There are 46 00:02:48,345 --> 00:02:51,622 plenty of Vegan flapjacks and many biscuits, crisps, sweets and chocolates 47 00:02:51,622 --> 00:02:53,104 that are accidentally Vegan. 48 00:02:53,304 --> 00:02:56,786 When you're eating out, use the app or website HappyCow, which will show you 49 00:02:56,786 --> 00:03:00,632 all the Vegan friendly restaurants near by. And there's always something Vegan 50 00:03:00,632 --> 00:03:04,359 friendly that you can pick up to snack on. For example you can get a cheap pack of 51 00:03:04,359 --> 00:03:07,608 pitta bread and eat it with a salad bowl and hummus. And you can also get things 52 00:03:07,608 --> 00:03:09,862 like bars and fruit juices. 53 00:03:09,862 --> 00:03:13,801 Although things like meat and dairy substitutes are nice, they can be quite 54 00:03:13,801 --> 00:03:17,681 expensive and we don't need them to be healthy. You can be healthy and ethical 55 00:03:17,681 --> 00:03:22,144 eating for less than 5$ a day. Rice, potatoes, pasta, beans, oats, corn, 56 00:03:22,144 --> 00:03:26,186 bananas and raisins are the cheapest foods you can buy. And if you base your diet 57 00:03:26,186 --> 00:03:29,503 around eating them, it'll be a lot cheaper to live. 58 00:03:29,503 --> 00:03:34,093 If you're busy with things like family, school or work, or just feeling lazy, here 59 00:03:34,093 --> 00:03:35,972 are some tips for saving time: 60 00:03:35,972 --> 00:03:39,831 Make food in bulk and freeze or refrigerate it. You can then have these 61 00:03:39,831 --> 00:03:42,839 meals throughout the week and months with minimal effort. Most people don't 62 00:03:42,839 --> 00:03:46,204 get enough time to eat a proper breakfast. Oatmeal is quick to make and 63 00:03:46,204 --> 00:03:50,017 very filling, so eat a big bowl of that first thing. If you're going out early get 64 00:03:50,017 --> 00:03:53,598 a bottle blender and quickly blend filling fruits like bananas, then drink your 65 00:03:53,598 --> 00:03:56,394 breakfast smoothie while walking or in buses and trains. 66 00:03:56,614 --> 00:04:00,340 It's also a good idea to carry dried fruit like raisins and dates around to snack on 67 00:04:00,340 --> 00:04:04,275 when you get a spare minute. Pitta breads are also quick and easy to snack on. 68 00:04:04,275 --> 00:04:07,333 And for making meals, instead of chopping and preparing loads of vegetables and 69 00:04:07,333 --> 00:04:11,680 things, use frozen ones that are already prepared. Although you do not need meat, 70 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:15,144 dairy and egg substitutes to be healthy, many of them are great if you miss the 71 00:04:15,144 --> 00:04:17,204 taste and texture of unethical animal products. 72 00:04:17,774 --> 00:04:21,233 Some of these are in supermarkets but health stores and online shops will have 73 00:04:21,233 --> 00:04:25,097 a much larger variety. There are loads to choose from like Vegan cheeses, meats, 74 00:04:25,097 --> 00:04:29,005 milks, yogurts, ice creams, cakes, chocolates, burgers, sausages and even egg 75 00:04:29,005 --> 00:04:33,764 replacers. Many new Vegans don't realise that not all alcohol is Vegan. Some 76 00:04:33,764 --> 00:04:37,190 contain gelatin which is made from animal bones. And many are filtered through 77 00:04:37,190 --> 00:04:42,004 isinglass, which is from the swim bladders of fish. So if you go to barnivore.com, 78 00:04:42,004 --> 00:04:44,796 they have lists which will tell you which products are or not Vegan. 79 00:04:44,796 --> 00:04:48,520 It is worth mentioning that a lot of Vegan process foods contain palm oil. 80 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:51,746 Although new Vegans should focus on things like meat, dairy and eggs before worrying 81 00:04:51,746 --> 00:04:55,914 about palm oil, it is an unethical product which causes a great deal of harm to both 82 00:04:55,914 --> 00:04:59,690 animals and the environment. This is why many Vegans choose to avoid it while 83 00:04:59,690 --> 00:05:00,608 possible. 84 00:05:00,837 --> 00:05:05,037 It can seem overwhelming trying to look on labels of familiar products. So here's how 85 00:05:05,037 --> 00:05:08,996 to quickly work out if something is Vegan: look out for the obvious ingredients like 86 00:05:08,996 --> 00:05:12,670 meat, dairy, eggs and honey (dairy and eggs are often in bold and in the allergen 87 00:05:12,670 --> 00:05:17,118 list, but meat and honey aren't); a "suitable for vegatarians" label will 88 00:05:17,118 --> 00:05:20,240 quickly show you if something contains meat, but look out for these common 89 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:25,748 ingredients: casein, whey, rennet and lactose come from dairy products, although 90 00:05:25,748 --> 00:05:30,841 lactic acid is almost always Vegan. And carmine which is also called "red 5", 91 00:05:30,841 --> 00:05:36,144 "E120" or "cochineal" or "carminic acid" which comes from insects and is used as 92 00:05:36,144 --> 00:05:41,780 a red dye. And beeswax and shellac which are often used as coatings for things like 93 00:05:41,780 --> 00:05:46,398 sweets. Also look out for vitamin D3 which is extracted from either fish or sheep's 94 00:05:46,398 --> 00:05:56,276 wool. And look out for E numbers E542, E913, E966 and E1105. It's impossible to list 95 00:05:56,276 --> 00:05:59,395 every single ingredient, so in the description I've included lists with Vegan 96 00:05:59,395 --> 00:06:03,420 and non-Vegan ingredients and E numbers, which you can use for quick referencing. 97 00:06:03,420 --> 00:06:06,018 Don't worry about making mistakes and accidentally eating something with an 98 00:06:06,018 --> 00:06:08,976 animal ingredient. You'll learn as you go! 99 00:06:09,626 --> 00:06:12,773 Just by eating lots of whole plant foods you'll get virtually everything you need. 100 00:06:12,773 --> 00:06:16,710 But you can use Cronometer to check if you're getting enough. If you find that 101 00:06:16,710 --> 00:06:20,398 you don't eat enough of a certain nutrient, look on this list on adaptt.org 102 00:06:20,398 --> 00:06:23,394 which explains exactly which foods to eat to get each nutrient. 103 00:06:24,214 --> 00:06:28,281 Vitamin D should ideally be sourced from the sun but if that's not possible, eat 104 00:06:28,281 --> 00:06:32,398 some fortified foods like dairy free milks or take a supplement. Since credible 105 00:06:32,398 --> 00:06:36,670 doctors like Michael Greger recommend supplemeting B12, I recommend taking 106 00:06:36,670 --> 00:06:42,436 a weekly B12 supplement providing at least 2000 mg. You can find recipes to all the 107 00:06:42,436 --> 00:06:46,434 meals recommended using google and Youtube. Simply search "Vegan recipes" or 108 00:06:46,434 --> 00:06:50,125 "Vegan what i eat in a day". I recommend checking out channels like The Vegan 109 00:06:50,125 --> 00:06:53,116 Corner and plantbasedjudy. 110 00:06:53,116 --> 00:06:56,348 No one really wants to harm animals, people or the environment. 111 00:06:56,348 --> 00:07:01,660 And by choosing to be Vegan you have the power to save over 1,100 gallons of water, 45lb 112 00:07:01,660 --> 00:07:09,295 of grain, 30 sq ft of forrest and land, 20lb of CO2 and 1 animal's life. 113 00:07:09,295 --> 00:07:11,342 Every single day. 114 00:07:11,342 --> 00:07:14,680 Regardless of how much time or money you have, what foods you enjoy and how healthy 115 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:17,710 you want to be it so easy to eat Vegan. 116 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:21,090 I've compilled the informantion presented in this video with links and 117 00:07:21,090 --> 00:07:25,309 more detail into a short free ebook. So click the link below to download it. 118 00:07:26,780 --> 00:07:31,098 It takes hundreds of hours to produce free educational resources like this one, 119 00:07:31,098 --> 00:07:34,660 so if you want to help support my activism please visit my Patreon page for more 120 00:07:34,660 --> 00:07:35,588 information. 121 00:07:36,397 --> 00:07:40,494 As always, if you need help progressing to a Vegan lifestyle, email me or add me 122 00:07:40,494 --> 00:07:41,464 on skype. 123 00:07:42,027 --> 00:07:44,672 I'm happy to help you with any obstacles you're facing.