charmarie.

"Don't wait for a better world. Start now to create a world of harmony and peace. It is up to you, and it always has been. You may even find the solution at the end of your fork" - Kalyn Nicholson

After getting a lot of questions about veganism from close family and friends, I decided to write this post on my top 6 tips for anyone that is planning to transition to veganism or for someone that may have recently gone vegan. These tips are all my personal opinion but I hope they help you in some way.

Tip #1 - Educate Yourself - Educating yourself before going vegan is one of the biggest tips I can give you. You can watch documentaries, YouTube videos and films or you could even read a book on veganism. Before doing research, you need to think about why you're going vegan and then decide on what you need to research about. The first video I watched after discovering veganism was '101 reasons to go vegan'. This video completely opened my eyes to what goes on everyday and made me realise that I was supporting the abuse of innocent animals. I would highly suggest this video as well as being informative, it was also quite entertaining to watch.

My suggestions -

Documentaries:

Environmental effects - Cowspiracy (Netflix and YouTube)

Health benefits - Forks over Knives (YouTube)

The animals - Earthlings (YouTube)

YouTube Videos/YouTube accounts:

101 Reasons To Go Vegan

Gary Yourofsky - Best Speech Ever

Stella Rae

Sonia Elsie

Sorsha Morava

Books:

The China Study

But You Kill Ants

Tip #2 - What works for you? - There are several types of veganism including HCLF, Raw till 4 and fully raw. Personally, I wouldn't worry about this to begin with. I'd suggest focusing on eating what you want, as long as it is vegan and once you are use to that, you can decide whether you want to eat differently. You also need to think about if veganism is something you can do overnight or if you need to do it in steps. I went cold turkey and completely cut out all animals products the second I discovered veganism, this worked really well for me and it has also worked for many others. Although, some people prefer to make the transition longer by cutting out a product at a time. Just do you!! If cold turkey will work for you, do it and if not, take your time with the transition.

Tip #3 - Eating enough - Eating enough is one of the most important tips I can give you. Animal product foods are very saturated in fat and extra calories which means you need to eat less of them to feel full. Plant based foods are very caloric dilute so you need to be eating a larger amount. Within time, your body will adjust to the caloric density of the foods you're eating and you will get use to the amount that you will need to eat to feel satisfied.

Tip #4 - Other people - When you go vegan you realise that not everyone around understands and realises what is going on. It is so easy to get angry and frustrated at the world but you just have to remember, you were in their position. Don't judge other people, especially if you were in their shoes before going vegan. If someone around you is genuinely interested in this lifestyle, educated them. You can show them YouTube videos, documentaries or even educate them from what you have learned. Keep in mind that not everyone understands veganism, people may judge you or make fun of you. If this happens, just remember that you are making a huge difference and deep down you know that what you're doing is right.

Tip #5 - Social media - If you're feeling distant and like you're alone on your vegan journey just have a look on social media. The vegan community on social media is huge!! There is Facebook pages, group chats, twitter accounts and lots more! You can also use social media to spread the message about veganism and make people around you aware of what is going on.

Tip #6 - The transition - When transitioning from eating animal products to going plant based, you can feel very sluggish and sick. This is because your body is detoxing and it is trying to get rid of all of the bad foods that you have been consuming. You may break out and this is a way of your body clearing out your system. This feeling usually doesn't last longer than a few weeks and to stop yourself from feeling sluggish, consume lots of water, fruit and greens! Once your body has got use to the changes, you will feel incredible and you will start to notice a lot of benefits!

You might also have strong cravings for things like cheese and other dairy products, this is due to dairy products containing traces of the chemical called morphine which is a highly addictive opiate. If you are struggling with any cravings, eat lots of good foods to keep you full and satisfied. Also keep in mind that there is vegan substitutes for almost everything! Including milk, cheese, chicken nuggets, pizza, ice cream and chocolate.

That's all tips done for this post! I hope this helped you and if you have anymore questions, comment below or message me on twitter (@chardinerx). If you know anyone that's interested in veganism or is considering going vegan, please share this post with them as it might be helpful.

Just over a year ago Mase started losing a lot of her fur, we didn't find this at all worrying as it was normal for her to lose fur during the hot seasons. A few weeks after she started having a lot of accidents in the house and was drinking a lot more than usual. This concerned us extremely as she had never had any health issues and hadn't had accidents in the house since she was a puppy. We assumed that it might be diabetes so we booked a vets appointment and headed over a couple of days later for some tests and to our relieve, our vets couldn't find anything wrong with her and confirmed that it wasn't diabetes. A few months went by and Mase was still excessively drinking and having accidents so we had to head back to the vets. We went back and forth to the vets more times than I could count on one hand, just to be sent back home and told that there is nothing wrong with our dog. 


Around two months ago she had finished all of her medicine and it didn't help one bit. We rang our new vet straight away and he made us aware that there is nothing else that could be done. Although, she wasn't in any pain so we chose to wait it out.  Whether that meant we got a few months or years with her. Then a few weeks ago a lump come up under her armpit and it was very sore. We cleaned it up and decide to see how she went. To our relieve it healed up but she wasn't herself anymore. She started to struggle with her breathing and could barely get off of her bed. On the 11th of November 2016, she was really struggling so we made the heart breaking decision to take her into the vets to get put to sleep at 5.30pm. Mase spent the whole day having cuddles from all of her family members that came to visit her and she had the biggest smile on her face for the whole day. As it started nearing to half five, we got her into the car for her last drive which would be the journey to the vets. Mase decided that she wanted to go in our arms and started passing away on my dads lap, we wrapped her up in her favourite blanket and took her into the vets to be by her side as she took her last breath.

As a seventeen year old, this is hands down one of the hardest things I've ever had to deal with and I have cried everyday since. Seeing Mase grow from a tiny nervous puppy into a loving family dog was a pleasure and it is something that I will never forget. She had the best life she possibly could of had with us and her best four legged companion, Tyson.