VEGAN FOOD

What is Vegan Food?

In short, vegans do not eat and use anything that comes from an animal or that has been tested on an animal. They do not eat meat and no fish. But also no dairy products, eggs and other products of animal origin or with animal ingredients. Attention is also paid to the use of clothing, personal care products and other articles of and with animal constituents. Fur, leather, down, wool, suede and silk, for example. That’s what vegans keep up with. But gelatin, beeswax and products for which animal testing is done are also avoided.

Is Vegan food Healthy?

As a meat eater, you often eat much more protein than an average person needs. Vegan food contains less protein, but this is still more than enough. If you eat varied, and get enough energy, it is almost impossible to eat insufficient protein. Even if you eat everything. Some vitamins and minerals are naturally more common in plant food, some less.

Vitamin B12 is a water-soluble vitamin that a human body needs to function properly. The Dutch Society for Veganism advise anyone who eats vegan to use a vitamin B12 supplement to prevent damage due to a shortage.

Looking for Vegan food in Amsterdam? Our overview below will help you further

• Vegan Breakfast
• Vegan Lunch
• Vegan Dinner
• Vegan Fastfood
• Vegan Festivals

Vegan food facts you might want to know

• Half of global grain production and 90% of soy production is used for animal food for in the bio-industry.
• To produce one kilogram of (non-organic) meat, up to 15 kg of vegetable food (soya and cereals) is needed and 10,000 to 20,000 liters of water!
  Four adults can be fed with one kg of meat.
• With 15 kg of vegetable food this would be 50 adults.
• The mass production of meat and milk is, due to the emission of greenhouse gases such as methane and CO2, more important causes of global warming than car traffic.

Besides the positive impact on the environment, being vegan carry as well a vast amount of health benefits. Vegan diets contain more antioxidants, potassium, magnesium and important vitamins such as C, E, A and B1. All of these nutrients along with low levels of cholesterol and saturated fats will help you get a healthier skin, more energy and prevent diabetes, obesity, cancer and heart diseases.

What’s The Difference Between Being Vegan And Vegetarian?

What does vegetarian means?

Based on the definition, a vegetarian does not eat products from killed animals, no meat, no fish, and no products such as gelatine (from skin or bones) and cheese (with veal rennet). People who do not eat meat, but fish are sometimes called pescotarian or semi-vegetarian. People who eat poultry sometimes call themselves vegetarians, but the correct term for this is pollotarian.
People who do not eat meat, fish and animal products (such as dairy, eggs and honey) and do not use animal products (such as leather and wool) are “vegans“.

Is vegetarian food healthy?

Vegetarian food is not less healthy than a diet with meat. In fact, it has even been scientifically proven that food with a lot of meat is unhealthy. A consciously compiled vegetarian diet largely supplies all necessary nutrients. This while a diet with a lot of meat contains bad fat and too many proteins and carries the risk that it contains not enough dietary fibers. Moreover, it has been proven that vegetarians usually suffer less from cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus and lower body weight. Who chooses meatless food, makes a healthy choice.

How to become a vegetarian

Do you want to eat less meat or become a vegetarian, but do not know how to start? You can become vegetarian withih 3 steps, so you can replace meat with healthy vegetarian food.

Step 1: Replace meat and fish
The main role that meat and fish play in our meal is that of protein source. Below you can read how to replace the proteins from meat and fish.

You can find vegetarian proteins in:

• Eggs
• Dairy
• Legumes
• Vegetables
• Tempeh

Step 2: Cold Turkey or Build it up

Cold Turkey
You can choose to stop immediately with eating meat one day become 100% vegetarian. This is particularly suitable for those who do not eat meat several days a week. It is important that you know how to replace meat and fish, so that you do not incur any shortages. Do you want to become a vegetarian in one go? Then replace your daily portion of meat or fish with the protein-rich meat substitutes from the part above.

Build it up
Becoming a vegetarian Cold Turkey is not for everyone. The best thing is to build up the amount of vegetarian food. You simply increasing the amount of vegetarian products on a weekly base and reduce the amount of fish and meat.

Step 3: Tips to make vegetarian food more fun and easy
Tip 1: Don’t be too strict for yourself
Tip 2: Make a Mealplan
Tip 3: Eat a lot of vegetables