A rising movement has been taking place in the world in recent years. It is a movement that decries all acts of cruelty and unnecessary violence against the animals on the earth. Its members range from those who merely won’t eat or wear anything made from animal flesh or skin to those who actively campaign in every way against these practices in any form. It is also an awareness that eating an animal-free diet is healthier for the body and better for the planet.
World Vegan Month celebrates them and the strides they’re making towards eliminating unnecessary cruelty to animals as well as to the earth.
History of World Vegan Month
World Vegan Month was established in 1994 to commemorate the forward movement of the ideology. It was also used as a way to note the creation of The Vegan Society in the UK 50 years prior, in November of 1944. Given the number of animals who had given their lives for meals, the date was selected to fall in line with Halloween and the Day of the Dead, to honor those animals who had already passed under the unnecessary cause of supporting human life.
Vegans believe that there is a better way to live. They also recognize that the composition of the human body as omnivores is something that, with time, can slowly be eliminated, rendering human incisors as unnecessary as the appendix.
Not only that, with a continually growing understanding of how much of a strain human life is putting on Planet Earth, people are beginning to recognize that giving up animal-based products is a fairly simple way to reduce this strain.
Plus, eating a vegan diet is simply much healthier! Many doctors recommend a vegan diet, particularly for those who are trying to reduce the incidence or recover from diseases such as heart disease, colon cancer, and other life-threatening illnesses.
All over the planet, for World Vegan Month, there are celebrations and festivals being held that help brings together vegans while sharing diet tips and ways to replace their long-lost meat. Bacon substitutes, sausage substitutes, even honey, and butter substitutes have been devised so that vegans can embrace their idealism without having to give up the best of what was left behind.
In the early days of the vegan movement, these opportunities weren’t readily available, and they had to subsist on purely vegan options with no meat substitutes or anything to stand in for the foods that their contemporaries were consuming. But, happily, the modern-day allows vegans to truly enjoy the broad range of foods the world has to offer and substitutions for those that involve animal cruelty. A cruelty-free world isn’t far away!
How to Celebrate World Vegan Month
Ready to take the plunge (or just a small step!) with millions of others to celebrate World Vegan Month? Try out these ideas to get started:
Start Eating Vegan
Thinking of trying to eat healthier, save the earth, and save some animals all at the same time? Then this is the perfect time to begin! Just take 30 days to avoid eating meat, remove animal-tested or animal-based products from the bathroom, start using substitutes for dairy products (such as soy milk or vegan butter).
30 days is a great time to begin, and it’s likely that this new habit will carry on into the future. If it feels like too much, just start with one food being replaced with a vegan alternative. With these small changes, most people find that they feel healthier, and they also feel better about the way they are treating animals and the earth!
Start to Implement Veganism
Not sure where to start? That’s okay. There’s a lot to learn and it takes a bit of adjustment and preparation. Here are some tips to get started with the implementation of a vegan lifestyle for World Vegan Month:
- Go Grocery Shopping. To be sure that the body is healthy, it will be important to substitute meats with other nutritional foods that provide a source of protein, iron and other nutrients that will be missing without animal products. Gather some beans, legumes, tofu, nuts and seeds, in addition to those fresh veggies and fruits and dairy-free cheeses.
- Read the Ingredients Label. Take a walk around the house and start reading labels. Shampoo, makeup, hair products, body lotions and so many things in the beauty aisle are either made with animal byproducts or tested on animals. When replacing these products at the drugstore, read more carefully and buy the vegan ones.
- Prepare a Speech for Friends. If it seems friends and family members won’t be supportive, practice ahead of time what to say to explain this new life choice. They don’t have to agree or become vegan themselves, but sharing personal convictions is a good way to help them be more educated and try to be more understanding. It will likely require a small adjustment for everyone.
Join a Vegan Event or Vegan Community
As mentioned above, there are a ton of vegan options in the world, especially festivals and gatherings where recipes and food secrets are exchanged. It goes a lot further than just food options too, everything from lipstick to deodorant has been guilty of containing animal products, and there was little on the shelf that wasn’t tested on animals.
Now it is possible to get educated on which of these products are safe and which foods are the most delicious. Let World Vegan Month expand that palate and also that sense of social responsibility!
