The key to succeeding on any diet is planning. With a Vegan diet, planning is more important because without proper planning you could cause great harm to your body. Although following a vegan diet has many health benefits, it is important to remember that you need to supplement the vitamins and minerals you will no longer be getting enough of thru the diet you will be eating. For example, on a Vegan diet you will no longer be drinking cow’s milk which supplies your body with calcium and vitamin D; you will need to supplement your diet with them.

As with any major dietary change, it is recommended you consult with your doctor before you begin. In addition, you might want to consider easing into a Vegan diet; that is start eliminating animal products one at a time so as not to completely shock your system. The Vegan diet works mainly on the system of substitution: instead of cow’s milk use soy or rice milk; instead of eggs use an egg substitute that is animal free; instead of getting your protein from meat, fish or poultry get it from tofu, soy or other resources.

Here are some great resources you can use in planning your Vegan diet:

• Vegan Outreach– Offers a PDF guide on the Vegan diet as well as answers to frequently asked questions and support
• Vegan Diet Advice — Offers nutrient information
• Becoming Vegan — Up to date information on nutritional needs for the Vegan diet
• Sugarrocket — Tips on going and staying Vegan

These tools will aide you as you plan for your new lifestyle.  Remember to check with your doctor and continue to check Vegan Resource for news, recipes and tips.

There is a debate among the Vegan community as to whether honey is vegan or not. Insects are animals. Vegans will not use or consume any animal or animal by-product. Honey is an animal by-product. Vegans often choose this lifestyle out of concern for the pain and treatment animals suffer when they are used for food or other resources. Vegans argue that animals feel pain or are treated inhumanely when they are used for their by-products.

Some vegans argue that insects are not conscious of pain and therefore products such as honey and silk do not need to be avoided. They also argue that even if insects feel pain, the making of honey involves no more pain than then harvesting of vegetables since the harvesting and transportation of vegetables causes pain to insects.

Other vegans disagree with the idea that insects do not feel pain. They also disagree with the idea that the pain the feel is acceptable and consider honey to be a non-vegan food.

Essentially, the choice is a personal matter; one that each vegan will have to decide on his/her own. If you do decide that honey can be included in your vegan diet, please keep in mind that not all vegans will share the same view. So if you make food to share with friends and it contains honey, make sure they know.

Have you heard of Vegans, but aren’t sure what exactly it means to be a Vegan?

Veganism is a lifestyle that seeks to exclude the use of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose. Vegans endeavor not to use or consume animal products of any kind. The most common reasons for becoming a vegan are ethical commitment or moral convictions concerning animal rights, the environment, human health, and spiritual or religious concerns. Of particular concern are the practices involved in factory farming and animal testing, and the intensive use of land and other resources required for animal farming.

Various polls have reported vegans to be between 0.2% and 1.3% of the U.S. population, and between 0.25% and 2.24% of the UK population.

Vegan diets (sometimes called strict or pure vegetarian diets) are a subset of vegetarian diets, which are credited with lowering the risk of colon cancer, heart attack, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, prostate cancer, and stroke. Properly planned vegan diets are healthful and have been found to satisfy nutritional needs. However, poorly planned vegan diets can be low in levels of calcium, iodine, vitamin B12 and vitamin D. Vegans are therefore encouraged to plan their diet and take dietary supplements as appropriate.

The term “animal product” in a vegan context refers to any material derived from animals for human use. Notable animal products include meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, dairy products, honey, fur, leather, wool, and silk. Common animal by-products include gelatin, lanolin, rennet, whey, casein, beeswax, isinglass and shellac.

Animal products are ingredients in many products and are used in the production of many more products, although not always present in the final form. Many products use obscure names on their ingredient list, including non-animal sources. Non-food products are not required to provide ingredients on their labels. Although some vegans attempt to avoid all these ingredients, Vegan Outreach argues that “it can be prohibitively expensive and time-consuming to shun every minor or hidden animal-derived ingredient,” and therefore that doing what is “best for preventing suffering” is more important than identifying and excluding every animal ingredient.

Although honey and silk are by definition animal products, some vegans consider their use and the use of other insect products to be acceptable. However, inclusion of honey and silk are contrary to the definition of veganism given by the Vegan Society.

Here at Vegan Resource, we aim to provide a number of resources for Vegans, including the latest Vegan news, a variety of Vegan recipes, and anything else that Vegans may find useful.   If you have anything that you feel would be useful for Vegans and you would like to contribute it to our website, please contact us.