Contrary to popular belief, becoming a vegan involves more than just a dietary change. Living a vegan lifestyle involves completely eliminating anything made from or with any kind of animal product. This includes the clothing you wear. Below are some great tools to use to help you ensure that your clothing is 100% vegan.

How To Buy Vegan Clothing: Shopping Tips

Vegan Clothing Explained: Explanation of why clothing should also be vegan

The Vegetarian Channel: Vegan clothing

The Vegan Store: Vegan clothing and products

Eating out is a favorite past time of America. Eating out as a Vegan can be tricky. But with Happycow.net dining out has just gotten easier.

Happycow.net offers a guide to finding vegan restaurants not only in all 50 states in the US, but in a variety of countries around the world. You can find a restaurant near you, even when you are traveling.

In addition to a listing of restaurants, Happycow.net also offers listings for vegan friendly health food stores. Finding a vegan friendly health food store is important in maintaining a vegan lifestyle. You can then ensure your food, vitamins, supplements and products are truly vegan.

The site asks readers to add to the list and share vegan restaurants and vegan friendly health food stores they have found. Happycow.net also offers a variety of other tools and resources for anyone on a vegan diet.

Visit Happycow.net, find a vegan restaurant near you and enjoy.

Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the human body. More than 99% of total body calcium is stored in the bones and teeth where it functions to support their structure. The remaining 1% is found throughout the body in blood, muscle, and the fluid between cells. Calcium is needed for muscle contraction, blood vessel contraction and expansion, the secretion of hormones and enzymes, and sending messages through the nervous system. A constant level of calcium is maintained in body fluid and tissues so that these vital body processes function efficiently.

The average male and female between the ages of 19 and 50 should intake 1000 milligrams per day of calcium: 1200 for men and women over the age of 51. You should talk with your doctor to verify how much calcium you need.

When calcium intake is low or calcium is poorly absorbed, bone breakdown occurs because the body must use the calcium stored in bones to maintain normal biological functions such as nerve and muscle function.

The most common disease associated with a lack of calcium is osteoporosis, which is a disorder that results in fragile, porous bones. This disease tends to affect more women than men.

Most modern sources of calcium are found in non-vegan foods: milk and other dairy products. However, vegans can still ensure they get an adequate supply of calcium each day by proper planning and supplementing. While most beans and vegetables contain calcium, you will need to plan ahead and measure to get the proper amount of calcium you need. For example, you would need to eat 1 1/4 cups of Navy Beans to get 300 mg of calcium. Many juices and soy milks today are fortified with calcium. You will want to make sure you check the labels for how many milligrams are in each serving. You will also want to check with your doctor and local health food store for a calcium supplement to help you meet your daily recommended amount of calcium.

It is extremely important for your health that you take the time to educate yourself on how much calcium you need and make sure you meet that level on a daily basis. Getting the calcium you need while following a vegan diet is not difficult, rather it just takes knowledge and planning.

Please note: This post is for informational purposes only and should in no way shape, or form take the place of medical advice from a qualified professional. If you have questions or concerns regarding this topic, please contact the appropriate medical professional.

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.