Vegan Aunt

November is Vegan Month [ General ]

Kelly Slade — 2007-10-25T14:04:36+00:00

This November Animal Aid is launching Vegan Month - a month dedicated to the compassionate lifestyle and diet of veganism. Vegans leave out milk, eggs and honey, as well as meat and fish from their diets for a number of reasons, but mostly due to the animal suffering involved.

The poor old dairy cow, as well as the egg-producing hen and her offspring are often forgotten by those who continue to consume egg and dairy products. Male chicks are useless to the egg industry and so, every year, 30 million of them are gassed or tossed alive into giant industrial shredders. The milk-producing cow is now selectively bred to carry in her udders so much milk that she can barely stand upright. Increasing numbers are confined all year round under 'zero grazing' regimes, where they are deprived of everything that makes life tolerable. Once again, her male offspring are regarded as a waste by-product. Scores of thousands every year are shot or slaughtered within days of birth.

Throughout Vegan Month there will be free information and giveaways to tempt your taste buds and loads of opportunities to take the vegan challenge. Check out our dedicated Vegan Month website where you can order a FREE guide full of everything you need to know about going dairy and egg-free, including product information, shopping tips and delicious recipes to try. There's also a fabulous Redwood Foods' hamper up for grabs in our Vegan Month competition.

The website also lists events taking place across the country throughout November that you can get involved in. And look out for Wendy the Windy Cow appearing in a town near you. Wendy will be farting her way around a number of cities to highlight the effect of animal farming on climate change and promoting veganism as a positive step towards reducing your carbon footprint.

So what are you waiting for! There couldn't be a better time to go vegan. Contact me to order your vegan guide.

Is silk ethical? [ General ]

Kelly Slade — 2007-09-25T10:49:08+00:00

A vegan recently asked me if the wearing of silk is ethical.

Animal Aid is opposed to the production and wearing of silk and silk products, as it causes the death of millions of silkworms. And of course, with so many other luxury fabrics on the market, including synthetic silks, there is no justification for wearing a material that causes suffering.

'Silkworm' is the generic term given to the silk-producing larvae of any of several species of moth. Silkworms secrete a fluid that solidifies on contact with air and turns into a thread that they use to spin around themselves to form a cocoon. If left alone, the pupae (cocooned worm) develops into a moth and emerges from the cocoon between 10 and 16 days later.

In China and Japan, silkworms have the thread from their cocoons reeled mechanically. To prevent the silkworm pupae from eating through their cocoons and damaging the silk threads, they are killed by immersion in boiling water, steaming, drying in an oven, electrocution or being microwaved. The thread is then reeled.

In Thailand, silk is hand reeled from Thai moth cocoons containing the live pupae. The cocoons are placed in almost boiling water to loosen the end of the thread for reeling. The pupae inside are frequently eaten by the workers.

1 kg of raw silk = approx 500 silkworms (80kg of cocoons) + 200 kg of mulberry leaves to feed them.

Do vegans get enough calcium? [ General ]

Kelly Slade — 2007-09-24T16:38:46+00:00

I was recently contacted by someone who is thinking of going vegan, but she is worried about getting enough calcium on a vegan diet. This is what i told her:

As long as you eat a varied and balanced diet, there is no need to worry about not getting enough calcium or any other nutrients. Products such as breakfast cereals, soya milk and non-dairy margarine are fortified with calcium. Nuts, seeds, green leafy vegetables, tofu, wholemeal bread and dried fruit are all good natural sources.

People often worry unnecessarily about not getting enough calcium on a vegan diet, as the dairy industry promotes milk so heavily. In fact, eating dairy products can actually contribute to weak bones and osteoporosis. See Animal Aid's Facts about Milk factsheet for more information on this subject.

The range of dairy substitutes is growing rapidly and there are now vegan versions of milk, cream, yoghurt, cheese, custard, ice cream, margarine and many more food products - most of which can be found in supermarkets. Look out for the brand name Alpro, which produces yoghurts, desserts, cream and milk. Some supermarkets also sell Redwood Foods soya cheese or you can mail order it from the company.

Order Animal Aid's Guide to going vegan which contains everything you need to know and some delicious recipes to try out.

Let me know how you get on.

Is a vegetarian diet healthy? [ General ]

Kelly Slade — 2007-09-11T16:40:00+00:00

Many people worry that they wont be as healthy on a vegetarian diet, as meat-eaters often assume that they are getting all their nutrients just because they are eating meat - but that may not be the case. Their diet could still be deficient if they aren't eating healthily and are surviving on cheap convenience foods. When you go veggie, you will automatically boost your intake of fresh fruit and vegetables, which are rich in vitamins and minerals. In fact, two of the most detailed comparisons of the health of vegetarians and meat-eaters (The Oxford Study and The China Study) concluded that vegetarians are less likely to suffer from various cancers, diabetes, heart disease and obesity - and therefore, have a longer life expectancy. If you eat a varied vegetarian diet there is absolutely no reason why you should be lacking in any nutrients.

A common myth is that vegetarians do not get enough protein. However, the problem with the western diet (based on meat and dairy products), more often than not, is too much, rather than too little, protein. Excessive protein consumption through a diet rich in meat and dairy can lead to serious health problems, including osteoporosis and reduced kidney function. Plant-based diets provide sufficient protein from grains and pulses and these contain all the amino acids that we need.

For more vegetarian health and nutritional information order a FREE guide to going veggie

or see: Animal products and human health factsheet

vegan labelling [ General ]

Kelly Slade — 2007-08-24T16:21:40+00:00

I found out today that if you come across a Sainsbury's product that you know is vegan, but hasn't been labelled as such, that Sainsbury's will gladly put a vegan label on it. Bar codes can be sent to the Vegan Society (www.vegansociety.com) by email, post or phone and the society will follow it up for you. Good to know. Sainsbury's, are in fact, one of the few supermarkets that actually label own-brand products as 'suitable for vegans'. They came top for labelling in Animal Aid's 2007 Supermarket Survey. Check out the results of Animal Aid's survey to find Britain's most veggie and vegan friendly supermarket here: http://www.animalaid.org.uk/images/pdf/booklets/supermarket.pdf

My first ever blog! [ General ]

Kelly Slade — 2007-04-18T16:10:13+00:00

Would you believe this is my first ever blog?! I hope this will be the first of many and that you will find them interesting, thought-provoking and funny (here's hoping) and everything that a blog should be. So let me introduce myself. My name's Kelly and I'm part of the campaigns team here at Animal Aid. I primarily work on the vegetarian and vegan campaigns. Therefore, I would like this blog to be about all things veggie and vegan with an aim to persuading those who haven't already, to take the important step towards a compassionate lifestyle and ditch the meat, dairy and eggs; as well as helping others to reinforce their postitive veggie and vegan diet choices. At this point I must remind you that Animal Aid offers free veggie and vegan packs for anyone who is already thinging about it. So, please contact me with any questions that you have about going veggie or vegan and remember I'm here to help - kind of your veggie aunt! Speak soon. Kelly