New research indicates that eating a diet containing animal proteins increase the risk of heart disease, cholesterol, cancer, and obesity and researchers are encouraging people to eat vegetarian protein sources instead of animal protein sources. Although the high-protein diets like the Atkins diet have been fading away to obscurity, most popular diets include meat an other animal by-products as an essential part of the diet. It seems that for years we’ve been told the trick to loosing weight is to cut down on carbs and increase our animal proteins. If these diets are no longer healthy, how are we going to lose weight? A vegan diet is the answer.

Unlike diets, veganism is a lifestyle change. You don’t just change the way you eat for a few months; you change the way you live. By making a lifestyle change the weight will come off easier and it will stay off.

When you are on a vegan diet you will skip the refined foods. The vegan diet includes a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. A variety of fresh fruits and vegetables are essential to any healthy diet. They are low in calories and fat and high in nutrition. The government recommends you eat 9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Eat a vegan diet and you’ll reach that number in no time.

The vegan diet also includes whole grains, beans and legumes which are also essential for a healthy, well-balanced diet. These foods make the diet high in fiber, which means that you will feel fuller for longer. Feeling fuller longer will help tremendously when trying to avoid snacking.

Following a vegan diet not only offers many health benefits, it can aide you in your quest to lose and maintain a healthy weight. If you’re ready to try a vegan diet, check out Starting a Vegan Diet for tips.

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.