Living Consciously
Two years ago the week of November 19 I made the decision to fully commit to being a vegetarian. This is somthing that I have been working toward since I was about 13 years old. I've had periods of time when I went vegetarian, but they haven't really lasted longer than a few months. There were various reasons as to why these periods didn't last. Although to be honest it was probally because I wasn't ready to fully commit. However, now that I have I am extremly happy I did.
However, even though I am happy with my change in diet it is not for everyone. If you have diabetes, food allergies, or anything like that you should consult your doctor before you cut anything out of your diet. I'm mentioning this because vegetarianism/ veganism is often portrayed as being this perfect diet and how there isn't anything negative about it. That, however, is incredibly incorrect. It was fairly easy for me to fully commit when I did because I had been basically preparing myself for 13 years beforehand. I wouldn't recommend everyone going cold turkey because that will also cause you to give up and return to eating animal products. It's best to actually start off small with maybe one meal a week or even one day a week of no animal products or limiting your animal products like I do. Then as you feel ready slowly cut out animal products out of more of your meals. If you simply treat it as a diet, I don't feel, you will be able to make a permanent change. I knew going into this I wanted to change my lifestyle from just mindlessly consuming to being more concious about how/what I consume.
It also might be a little weird to think of being a vegan or a vegetarian as a lifestyle because its not often portrayed that way either. However, it really is escpecially veganism. Not consuming animal products go so far beyond your food. Some big ones that are pretty common are leathr, and wool. However, a lot of beauty products have animal products in them. Now i don't personally follow this as strict as I should, but I do try my best. It used to be really difficult to find products that didn't, but now a lot of companies put something, usally the word vegan, on the lable in order to be more transparent with their products.
Another thing I have started doing that is more important in veganism than vegetarianism is shopping crutlety free. For those who don't know what that is, it's when products we use are not tested on animals. One reason why most people go either vegan or vegetarian is because they don't want to hurt animals for food. This concept extends to products in a majority of cases. I myself try to buy as many crutelty free products as I can. Even though my fiance and I have a tight budget I find ways to make it work.
If your like us an have a tight budget and think that you can't do stuff like this because you can only shop at places like Walmart or dollar stores I'm here to tell you that you can find stuff to fit your new lifestyle there. A lot of beauty brands at Walmart are cruelty free and in recent years I have also been able to find cruelty free household products as well. A note on the household products you can find ways to DIY these things and it might even be cheaper for you. I personally do make my all purpose cleaner that I use in every room EXECPT the bathroom. This is due to i feel that is the dirtiest room in our house so I foucus on that being my place to spend money for the professionally made products. That could just be a personal choice and I could be being over dramatic and thats ok because thats what works for me. You just need to sit down and seriously think about what will work for you.
There is so much to this topic that I could, and probally will, make seprate posts about various sections of this type of lifestyle. It's a work in progress and I will always be learning new things about living concious lifestyle. It's completly normal to feel like you have more questions than answers.
Until Next Time
Amber
However, even though I am happy with my change in diet it is not for everyone. If you have diabetes, food allergies, or anything like that you should consult your doctor before you cut anything out of your diet. I'm mentioning this because vegetarianism/ veganism is often portrayed as being this perfect diet and how there isn't anything negative about it. That, however, is incredibly incorrect. It was fairly easy for me to fully commit when I did because I had been basically preparing myself for 13 years beforehand. I wouldn't recommend everyone going cold turkey because that will also cause you to give up and return to eating animal products. It's best to actually start off small with maybe one meal a week or even one day a week of no animal products or limiting your animal products like I do. Then as you feel ready slowly cut out animal products out of more of your meals. If you simply treat it as a diet, I don't feel, you will be able to make a permanent change. I knew going into this I wanted to change my lifestyle from just mindlessly consuming to being more concious about how/what I consume.
It also might be a little weird to think of being a vegan or a vegetarian as a lifestyle because its not often portrayed that way either. However, it really is escpecially veganism. Not consuming animal products go so far beyond your food. Some big ones that are pretty common are leathr, and wool. However, a lot of beauty products have animal products in them. Now i don't personally follow this as strict as I should, but I do try my best. It used to be really difficult to find products that didn't, but now a lot of companies put something, usally the word vegan, on the lable in order to be more transparent with their products.
Another thing I have started doing that is more important in veganism than vegetarianism is shopping crutlety free. For those who don't know what that is, it's when products we use are not tested on animals. One reason why most people go either vegan or vegetarian is because they don't want to hurt animals for food. This concept extends to products in a majority of cases. I myself try to buy as many crutelty free products as I can. Even though my fiance and I have a tight budget I find ways to make it work.
If your like us an have a tight budget and think that you can't do stuff like this because you can only shop at places like Walmart or dollar stores I'm here to tell you that you can find stuff to fit your new lifestyle there. A lot of beauty brands at Walmart are cruelty free and in recent years I have also been able to find cruelty free household products as well. A note on the household products you can find ways to DIY these things and it might even be cheaper for you. I personally do make my all purpose cleaner that I use in every room EXECPT the bathroom. This is due to i feel that is the dirtiest room in our house so I foucus on that being my place to spend money for the professionally made products. That could just be a personal choice and I could be being over dramatic and thats ok because thats what works for me. You just need to sit down and seriously think about what will work for you.
There is so much to this topic that I could, and probally will, make seprate posts about various sections of this type of lifestyle. It's a work in progress and I will always be learning new things about living concious lifestyle. It's completly normal to feel like you have more questions than answers.
Until Next Time
Amber
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