Is There Unwarranted Pressure Around Veganism?

The world of veganism is growing year upon year, and as a vegan myself, I couldn’t be prouder. I wanted to talk a little more about my journey with it, how my boyfriend is coping with it so far with his own short-term goals and why I still get frustrated with the perception of veganism. 

The start of January marked my two-year anniversary of becoming vegan and it still feels so strange to say that because that was never the plan. I had never planned to become vegan; I wanted to try Veganuary because it was something that I was fascinated by, and I was looking for another challenge. The nutrition side to a plant-based diet has always interested me and considering the food intolerances I was already dealing with, I wanted to see how I would cope. At that point when I tried Veganuary, I had been vegetarian for around ten months but I had adapted to that change quite easily. If you want to read about my vegetarian to vegan journey; I have a range of posts you can read which I’ll link to below:

Becoming A Vegetarian
What I Eat In A Day: Veganuary Style
So what happened after Veganuary?
How and why I turned vegan.

My boyfriend Scott, is adapting his diet to vegan this month for Veganuary and I never thought I would see him do this. I sometimes read threads online of other vegans asking could you be in a relationship with someone who wasn’t vegan, and for me, it’s never been an issue. Scott has been very up front about the reason that he’s trying veganuary (you can read his post here!) and it’s been an eye-opener for me to see someone who isn’t looking to permanently change his diet, to change it for a short-term period. 

I call myself his mentor as a joke, but he cooks the majority of our evening meals which have been all vegan, and whenever he wants, he cooks some meat on the side to add to his. We’re always double-checking labels together and we want to explore new recipes because as much as I love his vegetable korma, he wants to see what else is out there. We’re always questioning certain parts of the vegan lifestyle, and sometimes we agree and other times it can turn into a debate, but it’s a healthy debate. As much as it’s nice to have someone who is on the same wave length as you (which I absolutely value in any type of relationship) a healthy debate and another view point is something that I cherish too.  

I believe Veganuary is a fantastic cause, whether that means that you continue being vegan (like I did) or you plan on cutting down your animal-based products further afterwards, it’s still a step in the right direction. There seems to be so much pressure on being vegan or becoming more eco-conscious which is something I am very passionate about but there are some individuals on the online space who seem to follow the all-or-nothing thinking, which in turn, can deter others from trying to make a change. I can understand that in order to help the planet, one of the biggest changes you can make, is to your diet but sometimes that’s not possible for people. You may have to be on a specialised diet that means you have to cut out so many food groups and individual foods that then cutting out additional food, may be too much. You may still live at home and can’t afford to buy your own food, so you have to eat the food that your parents or guardians eat. You may think that going vegan cold turkey (excuse the pun!) is too much in one go; in that case, it may be easier to cut down on your red meat first, then move to chicken and slowly coming off fish. 

Personally, I think the whole philosophy of becoming vegan seems to be lost sometimes; part of the journey is about being compassionate, not just to the animals and the world around you, but to other people. There can be criticism to other people who choose not to follow the vegan lifestyle, and it can be understandable in some circumstances. When you first learn of the choices that are made against the animals for our food products (to give one of many examples) it can be hard to understand why someone would choose not to follow the same lifestyle. I believe we all get like that sometimes no matter what the subject choice is; we all have our own views and it can be hard to remember that not everyone will have the same opinion as you, but it’s something that over time, you start to realise that you won’t be able to change everyone’s opinion, that’s not your job. 

For me, I’m so happy that Veganuary and the vegan lifestyle is becoming more popular, because the food ranges are absolutely fantastic and are getting better constantly, which is only a good thing. However, if you want to change your diet or change your lifestyle but feel like you can’t do it all in one go, that’s okay. You don’t have to turn a vegan overnight to make a real change for our planet; if it’s something that you can’t do, or simply don’t want to do, it’s a valid reason and you shouldn’t feel the need to have to justify your decision. There are many other ways you can help our environment without pushing yourself completely out of your comfort zone beyond the point where you’re not happy.  

Are you trying Veganuary this year? Have you tried it before, what were your thoughts with it? Do you think there is too much pressure sometimes on completely changing your lifestyle? I’d love to know your thoughts on anything I’ve talked about today. Thank you so much for reading, I really do appreciate it. 

Changing My Environmental Impact With Small Changes.

Sunday 22nd April 2018 marks a very special occasion, it’s known as Earth Day and considering I have started to look more consciously of my impact on the Earth; I wanted to write about the things that I have incorporated into my life. 

If you read my latest post on the Low Tox Box (which I’ll link here), you’ll know that I absolutely loved the box and I have used every single product ever since I got it. I’ll try my best not to repeat some of the same points that where in that post, so it’s not too repetitive. 

Using a reusable drink mug 

If you have known me personally for the last few years, you will know that I used to carry around one of my favourite possessions all the time. It was a tea flask, but it wasn’t any tea flask, it was a Dunder Mifflin flask. The Office US is one of my favourite television programmes and Dunder Mifflin was the name of the company. I would guess that I had this cup for about six or seven years, it was a very long time. Unfortunately I misplaced it, I think I might have accidentally set it down somewhere in the city centre and I never found it. Devastated was not the word I would use to describe how I felt but eventually I got over the loss and I was on the look out for a new cup. Being a woman who loves her research, I came across one particular product called a “Keep Cup” and I was more intrigued about the fact that it was glass. I try and not buy impulsively so I slept on it and a few days later, I seen a post by Flow Studio Boutique advertising that they sold them so I decided to buy one. 

I chose the grey coloured top from their cork series and reading that the cork is sustainability sourced, made that decision much easier. It’s a fantastic cup; I have the large size because I don’t believe in a small cup of tea. My only complaint about it would be that you have to be very careful for the first ten minutes when you’ve made your tea. The water is very warm when you’ve poured it in so the glass is hot as well so you have to make sure you hold it using the cork strip or your hand will be very sore. Apart from that, I would highly recommend it and I’m seeing more people in coffee shops using them, which is even better. 

What makes this change more beneficial in the long run is that more coffee shops are offering a discount for bringing your own cup with you rather than using disposable mugs. So you’re saving money and saving another cup from being thrown away. If you’re looking for an interesting read on the growing use of products like Keep Cup, The Independent wrote an article on the Latte Levvy back in January and went into further detail about the impact take-away cups have and what could be in store for the UK in the future, hopefully following the lead from Australia. 

Drinking Loose Leaf Tea 

Keeping on the theme of tea for a moment, I have been trying to minimise the amount of tea bags that I use and going for the loose leaf tea version instead. I’m not perfect, I still use them sometimes in work but my house is almost one hundred percent loose leaf, which I’m quite happy with.  

We’ve been told to put our tea bags into the food wastage bin, thinking that they are bio-degradable but I was very surprised to read that there are some brands out there that still use plastic in their bags, therefore not being biodegradable. This article from Country Living gives more details on the brands that do use plastic, the ones that don’t, and more importantly, what the brands that do use it, are currently planning on doing to change that. 

I tend to find that when I drink loose leaf, the flavour comes through much stronger and I know you shouldn’t do this, but I can get a second go from the leaves I used previously. It’s not as strong but it still gives a good flavour. I love this comparison from The Tea Spot on the difference between loose leaf tea bags and traditional tea bags, they go into more detail than I ever could. 

Walking to Work 

It’s very simple really but I know not everyone can do this. Whether that’s because you work further away or maybe physically you can’t walk that far, that’s absolutely fine but this is what I do (No judgement here.) My workplace is a little over thirty minutes away walking or seven minutes on the bus, and it’s much more sustainable and cheaper for me to walk to work. I get my steps up every day and it gives me time to myself to listen to a podcast on the way there. This article from Let’s Reach Success lists a number of good reasons why we should be walking to work if we live within the distance to do so and are (physical) able to. 

Using Energy Efficient Light Bulbs 

For some, this might not be an option and unfortunately, it isn’t for me. Most of my light bulbs are wired into the ceiling rather than being your standard lightbulb so if I can figure out if I can replace them, then I’ll be changing to energy efficient bulbs. The reason I’m bringing this up is when I lived at home, most of the rooms in the house had these light bulbs and I found it incredibly frustrating at times. Mainly because they took longer to light up rather regular bulbs; my problem was my patience and at the end of the day, waiting a little extra time shouldn’t be a reason not to use them if they’re going to make a difference to your energy usage.  

For the statistics, benefits and a more detailed answer, I would recommend this article by the U.S Department for Energy.

Meal Preparation 

You all know that I am a huge advocate of cooking in bulk for my work lunches, and if you cook it all at once; then you minimise your time used throughout the week cooking individual lunches, you lower the energy whether that be from the oven, stove or microwave and you lower your stress levels in the morning because you can grab and go rather than panic that you have nothing for lunch. I understand that it may not be for everyone but I urge you to try it for two weeks and I can guarantee you will feel great for it. Speaking from experience, it helps me every time knowing I have everything ready to go. 

I absolutely loved these blog posts from Project Meal Plan and Engine2Diet who both gave their top tips on being more eco-friendly when it came to meal prepping. If there’s one extra thing I need to do, it’s starting to use more glass tupperware rather than plastic (I reuse it though!) 

My Change of Diet 

I became vegan in January 2017 and I haven’t looked back since. (I wrote a blog post about which I’ll link here) Reducing my consumption of meat, dairy and fish products has made me feel more ethical conscious and while not everyone will want to do that, campaigns like Meatless Monday and Veganuary have had huge success in informing people on the damage that animal products also has does to our environment. I do a majority of my food shopping at a local supermarket but I have started buying my fruits at a local green grocers, and in doing this, you know that the majority of the fruit is coming more from a local area which overall means, less travel from being picked to shop front. I don’t feel like I’m qualified to give you the statistics on the more environmental side so I have found a great selection of articles that will give you a better sense of it. 

One Green Planet is an American company so their statistics are of course, based on the United States but I believe it is important none the less. The chocolate brand (and my favourite chocolate of all time) Ombar have an informative article on three environmental benefits and finally, CNN has a fantastic article from last year talking about the last effects of a vegan diet. 

I think it’s important to remember that even though there is one special day to celebrate Earth Day, we should be taking the initiative to celebrate Earth Day every day. It’s our planet, we have to look after it as best we can, and if you think you aren’t making a difference, look at the little things you do and change one thing.  

Before I finish up today’s post, I want to share some blog posts I found while writing this blog post that I couldn’t seem to fit within each section. 

A Considered Life with Sustainable Living Choices to Celebrate Earth Day. 
Crazy Blonde Life with 12 Things To Do For Earth Day and Every Day! 
Curiosity Stream with Celebrate Earth Day With These Top Five Documentary Picks.  
This Little Blog Of Mind with Plants: Why You Need Them In Your Home. 
Portle Bay Popcorn and The Eco Edit with Roxy Hempel: 5 Ways To Be More Eco-Conscious. 

I hope you enjoyed today’s post; it’s an important one to me and I think we should all be looking at our impact individually by changing our routines gradually one day at a time. 

What I’ve Learned From Being A Vegan For One Year.

The magical first day of the year marked my one year anniversary of becoming a vegan. Over the last few months, I’ve written a number of blog posts about my vegetarian story and why I became vegan but today’s post is about what I’ve learned over the last year transitioning to this lifestyle.

Research is key.

I have always been the type of human who researches to the point of no control. I’m very heavily interested in finding out the maximum amount of information about a subject I’m interested in and veganism was no different. Now, thankfully I have scaled down my researching skills because I don’t have time like I used to, but I wanted to be well informed about what I was taking on. If you have read my other vegetarian and vegan posts, you’ll know that I cooked vegan meals for quite a few months so I wasn’t exactly going in at the deep end with Veganuary. Admittedly, I looked more so at what foods I could and couldn’t eat, and what little secret ingredients I had to keep an eye on rather than the animals issues surrounding veganism. I did over the next few months start to look into this.

Explaining myself isn’t always necessarily.

I quickly learned that I had to judge certain people very quickly when the subject of veganism came up. There’s a saying that goes like this: “You’ll know when someone is vegan because they will tell you.” In my experience, the fact that I’m a vegan has been brought up more by others than it has been by me. I’m really fortunate that the people that I choose to surround myself with, are genuinely interested in the subject and if they ask a question, they’re not doing it in a cruel way to make a joke out of it. I don’t mind answering questions about this way of life to people who are genuinely interested but I’ve learned that some people just want either make a joke out of it or are simply looking for an argument. It’s up to you how you handle those, I walk away because the way I see it is, it’s me living this life, not them.

I became more creative with my cooking.

There’s nothing more satisfying than cooking a meal from scratch when you know exactly everything that has went into it, because the majority of the time when you take the time to cook a meal, it works out healthier too. I was vegetarian for almost a year before I became vegan so I was mainly cooking vegan meals for the most part, so I knew what my staple meals would be. My boyfriend is a meat-eater and he loves cooking too so he would say himself that it’s helped him improve his cooking skills because he has had to find new recipes so they can be suitable for me. He has made lasagna, spaghetti bolognese, falafel and sweet potato burgers, just to name a few and he has said that you don’t lose any flavour with a meal just because it’s vegan.

(This Christmas was my first Christmas as a vegan and it’s very safe to say that my boyfriend knocked it out of the park with what he served.)

I became more open minded.

From practising meditation on a daily basis, incorporating affirmations into my mindset, looking into the minimalist lifestyle and looking further into issues that surround the meat and dairy industry; I have become a more open minded person who is willing to educate herself. While not everyone will understand what you choose to do with your life; whether that is a different lifestyle to them or why choose to meditate, you have to take a step back from other people’s opinions and decide if they matter. Most of the time they won’t. You’re living your life, they are living theirs, and there’s nothing wrong with educating yourself more on subjects you are becoming passionate about or simply interested in.

I became more comfortable calling myself a vegan.

For the first numbers of months, I was very apprehensive about calling myself a “vegan” for two reasons. I didn’t feel like a vegan, yes I changed my diet to a vegan diet but I was still trying to figure out what household products, cosmetics and bath products to transition to so while I was going through that, I almost felt like a fraud saying I was something that I wasn’t. Over those next few months I realised that I’ll never be perfect, I’ll never be a one hundred percent vegan and no-one can be, it’s impossible. What is possible however, is trying your best because as cheesy as it sounds, we’re all learning at the end of the day. My second reason was, vegans sometimes get a bad reputation. You know what I mean; the one who preaches at you every time you eat meat, the one who judges you when you’re sitting in a restaurant, the one who will sit and tell you how you are hurting the environment and the animals, and the one who, will eventually have no friends if they keep acting like that. I don’t believe I’ve ever been a “preacher”; most of my friends and family eat meat and it’s really at the bottom of my list for me caring about that. As I said before, if people let me live my life, I’ll let people live theirs. It’s really that simple. Who am I to jump in and force my opinion down someone’s throat who might not necessarily want it? For those two reasons; learning that I can only improve myself and educate myself day by day, I became more comfortable with calling myself a vegan rather than just saying I eat a plant based diet.

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Being vegan, as cliche as it sounds, has become more than what I eat; it’s a large part of how I live my life and the last year has opened my eyes up to new people, new opinions and given me more of a sense of not caring what people think when it comes to this subject in particular. I hope you enjoyed today’s post and over the next few months, I’ll be sharing more of my vegan journey so I hope you take the chance to read those too.

If you’ve missed any of my posts related around food, they’ll be linked here:
How and Why I Turned Vegan
Becoming A Vegetarian
What I Eat In A Day: Veganuary Style
So what happened after Veganuary?

SS: Sunday Saves (#84) Veganuary.

Good morning everyone and Happy Sunday! I hope you have all had a lovely weekend so far! Today I’m back with another Sunday Saves and this week’s theme is Veganuary; I thought it was appropiate since we’re coming up to the end of the month to share other people’s experiences and possibly some questions that non-vegans have. Unsurprisingly, I wrote about my Veganuary journey last year so if you have a minute, you should take a look at that too.

1) One Girl Two Cities (Vegan Diet for January – Half Way There!)

I wanted to share a story from someone who is taking on Veganuary and how they have very openly, admitted their mistakes but also their successes. Kendra (who blogs over on her own website, this is a guest blog post!) talks about being worried about going to a pot luck dinner so she took a meal with her, and she ended up not being the only one there with a vegan option. Also, you NEED to go and see the photograph of her pizza! It’s the biggest pizza I’ve seen, it looks incredible. Towards the end of the post she talks about not knowing what will happen in February and beyond, which I think many people taking part in Veganuary tend to feel the same.

2) Mercy For Animals (Dear Non-Vegans, It’s Not That I Can’t Eat That – It’s That I Won’t)

“Oh, you can’t eat that, can you?” This phrase doesn’t come up too often for me; more often that not someone will offer me food (which is very sweet of them!) and I admittedly say that I “can’t eat that”. For obvious reasons, if it’s something to do with my intolerances, the word “can’t” is the perfect response, because if I do, I get sick. If someone was intentionally floating food in my face, then that’s when I would step in and say that I “choose not to eat it” which in my opinion, is a very appropriate response and that’s why I loved Rachel’s view point on this.

3) The Foraged Life (How A Plant Based Diet Is Better For The Planet (And You)

Looking for sources and statistics on the impact a plant based diet can have not only on you but the planet? This is your blog post. Rachel talks about water conservation, cutting your carbon footprint and even recommends a number of documentaries to watch if you’re interested in finding out more.

4) Northern Life Magazine (9 Things Vegans Get Asked All Too Often)

Ever wanted to know the questions vegans get asked the most? Jen has you covered in this article for Northern Woman Magazine. Apart from the tofu and soy questions, I’ve been asked every other question which, if someone is genuinely interested, I’d sit and talk to them all about why I turned vegan and what I eat, but if you’re just looking for an argument, you won’t get that from me.

5) Will Flirt For Food (Mushroom and Sweet Potato Curry Recipe)

What a perfect way to end a post than with a recipe. Before I became vegetarian and vegan, chicken curries used to be one of my favourite dinners and since changing my habits, I haven’t had a curry that resembles a chicken curry since. From the photograph alone, it seems like Kaylea’s is very similar so I might have to give this a go.

That’s all for today’s Sunday Saves. If you have any Veganuary or simply any Vegan posts you love, please send me the links on my Instagram or Twitter, I absolutely love reading new posts on this subject. Have a great day! 

How and Why I Turned Vegan.

For today’s post, I wanted to talk about how and why I turned vegan. I say vegan, I prefer to say plant-based but I am slowly getting there with changing my beauty products and household products for example so now I feel more at ease with calling myself a vegan. I have a whole post on how I became a vegetarian so if you haven’t read that, this might make more sense afterwards.

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If you’ve missed any of my posts related around food, they’ll be linked here:
Becoming A Vegetarian
What I Eat In A Day: Veganuary Style
So what happened after Veganuary?

When did I first think about veganism or a plant-based diet?

If you’ve read my vegetarian story, you’ll know when I started experimenting with vegetarianism but the vegan lifestyle never once entered my head at that point. I had heard of it, but I didn’t know a lot about it and because I was changing my diet for only a month, I didn’t do any further research on it.

The first time that I truly thought about not only the diet but this way of living was towards the beginning of last year (2016) My ex-boyfriend went vegan while we were still together at Easter in the same year but he had been talking about it for a few months. So when he did change to a vegan diet, it was really the first time I seen how it wasn’t as inconvenient as I first thought. Bearing in mind that he wasn’t gluten free and didn’t have intolerances, he seemed to cope very well with the diet changes. When we cooked together, we stuck to a vegan diet and mainly used recipes from my Deliciously Ella books because they were easy and weren’t filled with a million ingredients.

(Still to this day, one of my favourite meals to make. Sweet potato, quinoa and turmeric curry. It’s so delicious!)

When we went out I still had my regular cheese on my pizza while he either had a vegan cheese or if that wasn’t an option, he done without. His family raised chickens so I would always take some eggs home with me but the latter months of our relationship, I stopped eating so many eggs. Not for any particular reasons but the thought of eating eggs just made me feel a little more sick. I ate them from time to time but not as much as I used to. I was still having cow’s milk in my tea but I was drinking green tea more often than a regular breakfast tea.

(Forever drinking some sort of green tea now!)

Once that relationship ended and I moved back home, it took some time adjusting to being on my own again and cooking for one, but one of my most comforting past times was to cook despite feeling sad that I wasn’t sharing that experience with someone else. I experimented with new recipes; I tried nut milks in my breakfast tea and while nothing quite tasted the same as cow’s milk, I was slowly veering away from regular tea and drinking more green tea. At this stage, I definitely thought about the possibility of changing to a plant based diet but I didn’t have the complete urge to in that moment.

When did I start to make a change?

Towards the middle of December once I came back from Rome, I started thinking about what I wanted from the New Year and what I wanted from my life. I wasn’t in a great place mentally and hadn’t been for months; I felt so stuck in one place and had no idea who I was or where I belonged (sounds like a midlife crisis doesn’t it?). I got approved for a house shortly before I left for Rome (This was included in my life update which you can read here) so I used that as my motivation to have another change in my life (as if moving out straight after Christmas wasn’t a big enough change for me, right?). That’s when I decided to take part in Veganuary.

(One of my favourite meals from Raw Food Rebellion; the chickpea curry was amazing. Still devastated that they have closed down now.)

If you don’t know what Veganuary is, it’s a challenge to be completely vegan for one month. I thought it would be a good way to test the waters to see if I could do it and to see how I felt about it afterwards. After the month was over, I wrote a blog post about my experience and why I done it (That’s linked up above too.) I had it all planned out; for New Year’s Eve, I had got myself one of my favourite lemon cupcakes and made sure I ate it that night. Once midnight hit, I was vegan and I didn’t turn back. If you haven’t read my blog post about the month itself, I would recommend you do. I talk about accidental slip ups and my overall experience of eating plant based for a month.

(If you follow me on Instagram, you know how much I drool over these on a regular basis.)

Apart from Veganuary, what was my motivation?

My health was my motivation for this change. I know a lot of people do it for the animals and that’s fantastic for them, and it did enter my mind when I first became vegetarian but it wasn’t a main focus for me.

I consider myself a healthy person; I was avidly going to the gym, I was eating a relatively healthy diet but I wasn’t satisfied. I was going through a very transitional and strange time in my life including depressive episodes and anxiety so this all was a component of my dissatisfaction. So it wasn’t just a physical health reason, it was also to try and balance out my mental health too. However, no matter where you are in life, food will always play a huge role so knowing I wanted to add in extra vegetables and fruits into my diet, that helped the transition further.

It wasn’t long after when animal welfare came into my mind. It’s hard going through life as a vegan and not think about how animals are being treated; I don’t know how I went through life regardless of what food I was eating and not think about it. I haven’t watched that many documentaries about animal welfare and Veganism so I definitely want to educate myself more over the next year about these topics whether that’s through books or documentaries (If you have any good recommendations, please send them through!).

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In January, I’ll be one year as a Vegan so I’ll have a post about what I’ve learned along the way so stay tuned for that and of course, I’ll have it linked here when it’s up. Thank you so much for reading today and if you have any blog posts about how you turned vegan, please send them my way, I love reading other people’s journeys.

SS: Sunday Saves (#62)

Thank you for clicking onto today’s brand new Sunday Saves, I hope you’re having a lovely day so far, whatever you might be doing. If you’re new here, hello! This Sunday Saves has been created by me to come to you on a weekly basis to show you three blog posts that I have found throughout the week (or on the day I write the blog post) that I thought were interesting and I wanted to share them with those who read this blog. Today we’re not working from a theme so I’ll be talking about attitudes towards morning routines, a cruelty free exfoliation method and veganism not being a cure.

1) Kat Horrocks (How My Morning Routine Has Changed My Life)

I just want to gush for one second; Kat is one of my favourite YouTubers and I could honestly sit and watch her all day so if you haven’t came across her YouTube channel, I’ll link it here. Now onto her blog post, Kat is a huge advocate for morning routines and since the beginning of the year, I’ve been trying to experiment with a morning routine myself and I find it really therapeutic. In her post, she talks a little about her actual routine but more so about how it makes her feel, so if you feel like a morning routine won’t make a difference, look at Kat’s post and it might inspire you to look at your morning differently.

2) Pale Girl Rambling (Konjac Sponge)

Since changing my diet to completely plant based back in January, over the last few months I’ve been changing up my skin care, make-up and hair care to be vegan friendly. It’s all a work in progress because let’s face it, if I had the money to completely change everything in one go, I would but skin care, hair care and make-up are all expensive. One thing that has been missing from my skin care routine is an exfoliator; I know LUSH have one or two but I find they can be very harsh for every day use so I want to explore a new avenue. I’ll let PGR tell you about the sponge but she gives it rave reviews which makes me even more intrigued.

3) Spooky Kiah (Veganism Doesn’t Cure Everything)

I remember one of the first things I heard about turning vegan or going plant based was “Oh you’ll have clear skin” or “any digestive problems you have will become a lot better”. Well, as someone who has been eating plant based for almost eight months, I can tell you that neither or those are true and Kiah feels the same way. She talks more about the medication sides of things but it’s definitely an interesting read if you’ve heard this type of vegan myth before.

Thank you so much for reading this week’s Sunday Saves! Remember to have a read of everyone’s posts and give them a follow if you want to see more from them. If you’ve missed any of my other Sunday Saves, click here and you can see my other sixty one editions. Have a great day! 

Life Update #2: Spring 2017

I’m back with another life update! My last one was just before Christmas during Blogmas when I was just back from the stunningly beautiful Rome so I thought almost five months later, I was due an update. (If you want to read that update: it’s right here!)

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In December, I spoke about finding out about renting my first house before I went on holiday…

(This was me the day I moved in, I was very excited!)

I moved in on 4th January and it’s one of the best decisions I have ever made. I’m so unbelievably happy living on my own and it just proves that it really was something I needed to do. Of course I’ve been here a few months and my spare room is still a mess, I haven’t got a rug for the living room and I have a few pictures that I still want to hang up, but apart from that, I think I’ve settled in quite well.

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If you’ve been keeping up with the blog, you’ll know that I went from being a vegetarian to eating a plant based diet permanently…

(Just one of my obsessions from one of my favourite places in the world, Tony and Jen’s. Yep, gluten free AND vegan. Match made in heaven right? ❤ )

I’ll not talk too much about why I changed to a plant based diet because I have talked about it a lot recently; I wrote a post about completing Veganuary (right here), I documented what I ate during Veganuary (right here) and I spoke about how I became vegetarian last March (right here) so you can check those posts out for more detail.

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Very very recently I also bought my first little kitten…

I used to be terrified of almost all animals (except goldfish) but over the past year or so, things have changed. For the majority of the year last year, I lived with my ex-boyfriend and he had the cutest cat ever, and that was really my first experience of living with another animal. My Dad had dogs but because we were only ever there one or two nights a fortnight, I never felt like I lived with them. So that experience of living with a cat showed me that there’s nothing to be really scared of and I should embrace the love of a little furry munchkin (Even though when she does jump up on me, I still get a little scared) Plus my three best friends all have cats and they’re both adorable, so even more help to show me that I can do it.

So once I knew I was moving out of my family home, I told myself to wait a few months to get myself settled in before thinking about getting a cat and that’s what I did. I named her Audrey and when I got her, she was about nine weeks old.

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I’m very grateful to be who I am and where I am today…

(Outstanding photography skills and credit goes to the wonderful photographer that took this during one of our lunch dates.)

I feel very supported by my lovely group of friends, my family have been fantastic since moving out (except for the change to my diet, they’re still coming to terms with that) and I’m very blessed to be in a new, happy and healthy relationship. I now believe everything happens for a reason and I can’t wait to see what the next year brings.

❤ ❤ ❤

I hope you enjoyed this little life update and if you want to keep up to date with me, you can follow me on Twitter or over on Instagram.

So what happened after Veganuary?

At the beginning of January, I lay out my New Year’s Resolutions for the year and the first one was to complete Veganuary, which I’m very happy to say that I did! So today’s post is giving an overview of the month and what happened next. If you want to read about my journey to vegetarianism, you’ll find it here and if you want to see a typical “What I Eat In A Day: Veganuary Style” you’ll find that post right here.

So what were my thoughts on Veganuary? I really enjoyed it but I didn’t expect not to enjoy it. I only accidentally messed up twice and both times were with food I was given at Christmas; jellybeans and fudge to be exact. I was a little annoyed at myself at the time but reflecting back on it, I tried my best, I didn’t do it on purpose and I was able to move on without thinking “I had ruined everything.” That is a massive step for me.

I didn’t have a lot of challenges throughout the month. If I was going to restaurants, I rang in advance if it was somewhere I haven’t been before but I believe throughout January, I mainly stuck to restaurants and cafes I knew I would be okay in. I did slightly miss my cups of tea with milk, it’s a habit I have had for almost twenty years so to be without it, it was definitely different but I quickly got past it.

A few family members did ask me “When was I going to eat real food again?” Because fruit and vegetables aren’t real food apparently. Having to defend my point almost everytime I seen them for, I would say, a month and a half got very tiring after a while. When you grow up with the concept of meat, potatoes and two vegetables on your plate for so many years (and I believe this is why a lot of the generation above me still haven’t come to terms with a vegan or plant based diet), depending on who you are; it can take a while to get your head around the fact that when you take away the meat (and the potato for me of course!) then what do you do to substitute that. From that point of view, it’s understandable why some people have a hard time with that.

So February 1st came and I thought I was going to go back to eating my regular bread (You’d be shocked to see how difficult it is to find gluten free bread that’s also vegan), back to my regular cup of tea that I’ve grown up with ever since I started watching Coronation Street with my rich tea biscuits at the old age of seven or even treat myself to a lemon cupcake that I love finding in the Sainsburys Free From aisle. I couldn’t have been further from the truth…

I had zero urge to drink another cup of regular tea, I wanted to stick to my gluten free vegan bread and the cupcakes no longer fell into my basket. I don’t mind not being able to eat most of the cakes in the Free From section and I don’t mind having a green tea instead of a regular tea (I love green tea anyway!).

The one thing I have changed though is I don’t call myself a vegan. I’m not a fan of labels but I think in a diet context, it can get very complicated. Having a plant based diet and being vegan are of course, two very different things. I haven’t changed all my make-up to cruelty free, the same goes for my body, skin and hair care and I haven’t made that transition with my clothes and shoes yet. So right now, I don’t feel comfortable saying I’m a vegan, I prefer to say I’m eating a plant based diet. When I’m talking about my diet to someone who doesn’t know a lot about eating vegan or when I’m perhaps calling a restaurant, I will state I’m vegan, just to make things less complicated. (See, it can be complicated!) Another example is when I’m hash tagging on Twitter or talking about it online in general, then I will use both terms, just because I know people will look for tips for transitioning to becoming vegan and my plant-based experience will help if I use vegan in a diet sense (Again, just a little complicated, right?)

Overall, I’m really happy eating a plant based diet and I’m so glad I’ve finally made the transition. I’ve wanted to do this for a long time now but leaving at home and not having as much cupboard and fridge space for all my food made it difficult so I knew when I moved into my own place, it was the perfect time to start.

Did you take part in Veganuary? What did you find the most challenging? I’d love to talk to more people who took part in Veganuary so leave me a comment below or tweet me over at @RetroSnowflake on Twitter or @RetroSnowflake on Instagram.

 

SS: Sunday Saves (#14)

Welcome to the fourteenth Sunday Saves post! I’ve been absent from the blog for two weeks now! ): I’ve really missed it. Something accidental happened to my laptop so I’ve been without it for a while, but now I’m back. I’ve still been on my social media though so I didn’t completely disappear.  If you’ve missed any of my other Sunday Saves, click here to discover new blog posts that I found interesting and wanted to share.

1. See The Stars (Olsen Twins DVD’s: Childhood Favourites)

This was a post I seen a few weeks ago before my laptop went bust. It’s such a cute post! I think everyone was a Mary-Kate and Ashley fan at some point when they were younger, I loved them. Two of my favourites were “Switching Goals” and “Winning London”, and I loved their TV show, “So Little Time”. And I always wanted all their merchandise! Sarah Lauren talks about her favourite films of the sisters and tell us little mini stories of what she can remember about the films and how she got them.

2. Tally Rye (10 Healthy Habits I Swear By)

For the first time, I’m introducing YouTube videos into my Sunday Saves! My first one comes from Tally Rye who I discovered through Zanna Van Dijk, they co-own the company “Girl Gains” and I didn’t actually know that Tally had a YouTube channel until I seen her blog. She talks about the ten healthy habits she swear by each day; now some are ones you will have heard before like drinking your water, eating a balanced diet but Tally just talks to you about it and isn’t aggressive or over-powering with it, she’s just very chilled but informative. Can’t wait to go through more of her videos later.

3. Katy Belle (Why It’s Okay To Not Have A Ton Of Friends)

As soon as I read Katy’s post, it had to be included. I am in the exact same boat! I don’t have a lot of friends. Sure, I have friends but I have the very minimal amount and that’s taken me a good few years to make peace with. Katy talked about watching Friends and wanting a group of friends like that for yourself and I couldn’t agree more. It’s the same for me when I go on Facebook and I’ll see all these night outs with “the girls”. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not a “going out” type of person, but I think it’s more the fact that it’s a group of supportive women surrounding each other, having a good time. It’s all about quality, not quantity and I would much rather have three really great people in my life than twenty not-so great people (and yes Katy, I’m waiting on a Tinder style app for new friends too!)

4. Hollie Wakeham (What is a VEGAN? Why so much hate?)

If you’re looking for a video that talks about veganism, the ethics behind it, the story of why a person goes vegan and just a friendly looking face who you won’t feel intimidated by, please watch Holly’s video. I’m not vegan myself, my boyfriend is, but watching videos on veganism or plant based diets do interest me even though I hadn’t made that change myself yet. Holly doesn’t shout at you, she gives you the facts but with a smile and with the knowledge that you know she is passionate about her choice and all she wants to do is share it with the world.

5. Memoirs and Musings (Musings: Can Everyday Be Special?)

Char talks about something that almost everyone does, and I can agree, it annoys me too but I do the exact same thing! “Oh I’ll keep that for a special occasion” but then, realistically, does that occasion ever come around? Probably not. I have the perfect example! So a few years ago, I used to buy myself a few sets of really fancy underwear then for every day use, I would just buy ordinary underwear and bra sets. The really fancy ones would never get used and they were just sitting there gathering dust. So one day after I had gotten paid, I went into Ann Summers and bought myself fancy bras and fancy underwear and I wear them every day. Yes, every day! Why? Because if I feel like I can feel special and really pretty on special occasions with underwear, why can’t I do it every day? Now, I’m not saying I wear a really gorgeous dress everyday or I glam up my make-up every day but I feel like with underwear, you can get away with it because really, it’s just you that’s seeing it.

6. Allison Anderson (How to Organize Your Life and be Productive)

Lately I have been so into organisation videos and blogs, mainly because they motivate me to clean and sort out my life (which I have still to do!) I found Alison through Ingrid Nielsen but I tend to watch Alison more now because I feel like my interests have grown with Alison and I find her more relatable now. She talks about minimalism which is a subject that fascinates me, much like a plant based diet, I love reading about it, I just haven’t taken the plunge yet. In this video though, she goes through tasks you can do to try and make it so much easier for you to be clean, not just you but for your home and your life, so everything after that, is just a little easier.

And that’s it for this week’s Sunday Saves! I hope you enjoyed reading (and watching) this week’s post. Let me know if you like the YouTube aspect to my Sunday Saves, and if you have any posts you want to send my way, tweet me at @RetroSnowflake