How to Upgrade Your Lifestyle (And Save Animals) in Three Simple Steps
After all the New Year's resolutions have been long gone and forgotten, there is still space to take steps towards the person you want to be in 2024 – and if that person is conscious and compassionate, but also someone who enjoys life, you've come to the right place. Our Vegan Starter Kit is here to help you live a next-level life while doing good in the world.
We can all agree that going vegan is what's best for the trillions (yes, you read that right) of animals who are confined, tormented, and violently killed in the food industry every year. From dairy cows having their newborn babies torn away from them and fish suffocating on a fisher's boat to sheep bleeding for wool and geese plucked alive for down puffer jackets, suffering is ever-present whenever animals are used on a mass scale for human wants. Science has many times told us that animals have emotions and feel pain. There is no denying that each of these animals was a sentient individual who wanted to live their life free from exploitation.
If all this wasn't enough, headlines have told us for years that going vegan is the best thing we can do for the environment – with animal agriculture being such a strong contributor to the climate crisis, we need to drastically slash our consumption of animal-derived products now. We only have a few short years to stop the worst effects of the catastrophe, and change starts on our plates.
But with all this gloom and doom, it's easy to forget that, in 2024, vegan living is actually enjoyable – food, fashion and lifestyle have come a long way since the days when the few vegans pulled on their squeaky pleather jacket to trek to the health-food store for bland and tasteless soya milk. Today, converting to a plant-forward lifestyle is all the rage, for all the right reasons. If you've been considering it and think this year is the time to give it a go, read on to discover how you can upgrade your lifestyle and save animals, in three simple steps:
1. Switch to Plant-Based Foods
What we eat matters not only to our own health – and a plant-based diet has been shown to reduce the risk of stroke, heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers – but also to the well-being of our planet. The climate catastrophe could cause the extinction of 33 percent of the world's plants and animals by 2070. Re-thinking our habits rapidly is the quickest and easiest way to offset the worst effects of this disaster. And of course, the food industry is the biggest killer of animals worldwide, condemning billions of them to a miserable life of factory farming and a violent death at the abattoir – often while still babies.
The good news is, it's easy to counteract all of this. Change starts in the kitchen - our Vegan Starter Kit is full of mouth-watering, easy-to-make recipes such as tofu ramen, loaded baked potato and date-lemon cheesecake. Enticing your loved ones to try plant-based delicacies is the most positive way to spread the meat-free message.
The Vegan Starter Kit also offers tips on going out to eat as a vegan, with the help of apps such as Happy Cow and Abillion, which are helpful tools for those new to vegan dining. Chances are, you'll be surprised at how decadently delicious vegan offerings at restaurants have become – and your dining companions might be inspired to order the plant-based option for themselves, too.
Finally, the Vegan Starter Kit lays down the basics of vegan nutrition: any worries about protein will be put to rest and you will also learn about the one vitamin that vegans (and actually, everyone else as well) really should supplement.
2. Raise Your Fashion Standards
Animals don't only die for our plates. The fashion industry is responsible for mass slaughter – leather kills over one billion animals every year – and vast environmental destruction. Found to be one of the most polluting materials in the industry, the animal leather industry is linked to greenhouse-gas emissions, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and more. Most of the animals used in the trade live their lives in factory farming, enduring extreme confinement, risk of diseases and painful mutilations before they are sent to slaughter.
In the Vegan Starter Kit, you will find tips on the best cruelty-free shopping, complete with the plant-leather designs that will make you a magnet for compliments. And when that happens, be sure to mention that your items are vegan – this will open people's eyes to how stylish and on-trend vegan fashion can be.
3. Expand Your Mind
Knowledge is power, and the more you learn about the animals whom we share this planet with and the damage we do to them through our lifestyle choices, the more empowered you will feel about embarking on a vegan lifestyle. For many people, the path to veganism is through information, be it a book like Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer or a documentary like Earthlings.
This is why our Vegan Starter Kit offers helpful sources of information, be it for yourself or those around you. These books, documentaries and podcasts focus on animal exploitation but also on health and living well. Some of them are fictional, such as the amazing film Okja. Immersing yourself in information will not only further cement your decision to try vegan, but it will also arm you with ready responses when those inevitable questions, such as “but aren't animals killed humanely?” and “where do you get your protein?” begin to arrive.
Living an elevated lifestyle which does good to our planet and all beings we share it with has never been easier or more pleasurable. Today, choosing vegan is simple – from a niche lifestyle with mostly hippie associations, veganism has become the remit of worldwide superstars and athletes. Vegan restaurants are opening up all over the globe, while big-name fashion brands work with vegan materials. The revolution is here, and if you want to join it, our Vegan Starter Kit is here to help.
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