Hello!

If you’ve been reading my journey over the past few years, you’re probably aware that I transitioned from being a vegetarian to a vegan over the past two years. Now that I’ve had time to see how the diet is working, I have personally seen the benefits of cutting dairy out of my life and I thought I’d share my learnings with anyone who is curious about reducing their meat and dairy intake.

Here is some more information about me and my dietary preferences –

1. I have been a vegetarian for almost 18 years now. I stopped eating meat one random day when I was about 15 years old. It was prompted by a visit to the local butcher in my home village and a sighting that made sure I never eat meat again.
2. I started living more sustainably in 2020 and learnt that the meat and dairy industries are some of the most polluting industries in the world. Not only are they polluting, but they are also water and crop-intensive and are of course, not cruelty-free. I decided to slowly reduce my dairy intake and adopt a more vegan lifestyle. I took the entirety of 2022 to make changes to my diet to become a vegan.
3. While I try to follow a vegan diet always, I do leave some leeway for when I travel and have no other options available. (I carry vegan milk, and snacks to try and avoid this circumstance but it isn’t always possible to stick to veganism especially when travelling in smaller towns in India.) Having said that, I can say that this year, I have been vegan for 97% of the year.
4. Weight loss is not an agenda for me on this diet but yes, I am more mindful of my daily nutritional intake, especially protein and make it a point to incorporate it in my meals.

With all the basic facts out there, I have to say that I have been enjoying the challenge of being a vegan this year. Last year, I relied on a lot of processed food to help me become a vegetarian including mock meats and vegan cheeses, whereas this year I have been pushing myself to experiment with the foods I make and I’ve not felt the need to use processed food as much. A big help in my efforts has been YouTube and the amazing vegan food content creators. I follow a bunch of them that not only teach you vegan recipes but also show you what you can do with the scraps. I will make an entire list of them at the end. I also should mention that a lot of Indian food is inherently vegan or can be made vegan with small swaps like tofu for paneer (cottage cheese) or oil/vegan butter for ghee.

So with that huge introduction, let me jump into the benefits that I have been seeing from adopting a vegan lifestyle for the past few months –

No more IBS

I had a bad case of IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) over the past few years which my therapist pointed out was linked to my anxiety and mental health. But my IBS has been cured just by cutting out dairy. Turns out that dairy products are one of the most common trigger foods for people with IBS. And for a fact, whenever I have had dairy this year, I have immediately found my gut triggered. It has been such a relief to be free of IBS. So if you have IBS or find yourself having symptoms like stomach aches, flatulence, bloating, diarrhea etc. do try cutting out dairy to check if you are lactose intolerant. Fun fact, about 65% of the world’s population has some form of lactose intolerance. (You can get it tested.)

My acne has reduced

I have suffered from the acne since I was a teenager. Most dermatologists recommended hormonal treatments (I don’t have PCOS/D). But my breakouts have reduced ever since I reduced my dairy intake. I do not think there is any scientific research to prove a connection between the two but I have heard that this has worked for many others as well. I have had a fixed skincare routine for the past 3 years that includes niacinamide, retinol and SPF but the only change has been cutting out dairy. (The skincare has worked to reduce my acne scarring.) Do I still get break-outs when I eat too much oily food or stress out too much? Yes. But overall I see a marked improvement.

More conscious of my nutritional intake

I haven’t been actively trying to be healthy this year but in my attempts to make sure I don’t skimp on protein, I have started recording and keeping a tab of my nutritional intake to make sure I have a balanced diet. But the downside of this for me personally as someone who also has BED (Binge Eating Disorder) this tends to make me binge because I keep planning and thinking about food all the time.

Cooking vegetables that I didn’t before

I have been experimenting with recipes to make them dairy-free and have slowly fallen in love with vegetables that I used to not cook with before – cauliflower (I have always been a broccoli snob), pumpkin, okra and more. Like I mentioned before, I have been avoiding using processed/ready made food as vegan food alternatives, so, I have also been eating more vegetables and fruits and I love that.

Reduced carbon footprint

Like I mentioned before, this whole journey of veganism for me began with wanting to reduce my carbon footprint and I have. (Going Vegan could reduce an individual’s carbon footprint from food by up to 73 per cent, a University of Oxford study found.)

But what are some drawbacks of the vegan diet? Since I have shared the benefits that I have personally experienced, here are the drawbacks –

1. The diet can lead to a deficiency in protein, calcium, zinc, iron etc. (I personally consume vegan protein powder)
2. Some alternates (that you cannot do without) are more expensive such as milk alternatives. In india, the cheapest vegan milk costs 3X the cost of dairy milk. Similarly vegan yoghurt costs 2X of regular dairy yoghurt. But these costs are coming down year on year as demand is going up.
3. Constant spread of misinformation leading to decision paralysis. There is so much misinformation spread by meat and dairy lobyists that I personally feel overwhelmed while making a choice. For eg: People disuading vegans from consuming soy because it is driving deforestation in the Amazon. The majority (77%) of the world’s soy is fed to livestock for meat and dairy production. The increase in soy farming is directly linked to an increase in meat consumption.
4. Regular run ins with people who will mock your decision. People make vegans out to be ‘Karens’ looking for a fight with meat/dairy consumers but in reality it is quite the opposite. The moment I tell a non-vegetarian that I am vegan, they start an argument about it or feel the need to put down my choice. Whereas I do not try to influence anyone to go vegan. My dad is an eggetarian & my mom is a non-vegetarian. I try to share my journey just to debunk any myths people might have about veganism.
5. While travelling/going out finding vegan friendly food options can be an issue. (Cries in Italian) In Indian food many vegetarian foods can be altered easily to make them vegan. A lot of Middle Eastern vegetarian food can also be tweaked to make vegan (if it isn’t already. Hummus for the win?) Indian Chinese has vegetarian options that are vegan.
6. Some vegan alternatives may not necessarily be as healthy as their non-vegan counterpart. Eg: store-bought Oat Milk is high in carbs and has stabilizer oils like sunflower/canola oil which aren’t very healthy.

Overall I personally have been enjoying my own VEGANISM journey. My personal recommendation? While going fully vegan is a daunting journey for many, I do recommend setting some days in the week to be fully vegan. Maybe just the weekend? Or on alternate days? Reducing your dairy and meat consumption can have a major impact on your carbon footprint and in turn can help us save our planet home.

What are your thoughts on veganism? Would you consider giving up meat and dairy for 2-3 days in a week? Do you have any questions that I can answer?

YouTubers to follow for vegan recipes:

Rainbow Plant Life

Carleigh Bodrug (I love her recipes)

Hermann (Love his content!)

Anjali Harikumar (For Indian recipes)

cookingforpeanuts (Easy recipes)

Caitlin Shoemaker 

Tiff Loves Tofu

Fitgreenmind (For easy recipes)

Two Spoons

The Korean Vegan

So Vegan

PS: Back with a full fledged long post after a few months. Show it some love and drop a comment! ❤

PPS: As a side hobby I’ve started creating cute designs for t-shirts, mugs, totes. Please check them out here and leave your feedback.

If you haven’t already, check out my other recent posts –

• Things I Never Got To Say To You
• Choices
• And Now I…
• Life Update – Happy Panda Is Back (Maybe?)
• I Got Inked – My Experience, Dos, Don’ts and More (Tattoo Newbie)

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