Veganism- a fad or fab?

What’s the first rule of being a vegan? You tell everybody about being a vegan.

When you’re truly a vegan, there are no animal products and by-products like eggs, dairy, honey, silk, leather amongst other things. So this is on top of being a vegetarian. It’s not common to be brought up as a vegan since birth; but there are instances of such happenings. There also been cases where parents were charged with neglect and jailed when their babies died due to vitamin deficiency. Because a vegan mother breastfeeding her babies does not transfer enough nutrients or the extreme scenario where human milk is not vegan at all. Some say that breastfeeding is vegan because it’s from human to human like how they say cows’ milk to its calves, goats’ to goats. So where do we draw the line? It’s all a blur.

"We all need to be aware that there’s a major difference between being a vegan and being on a vegan diet."

But this whole ‘vegan’ agenda seem to have only been recently popularised. There’s also the whole thing about being gluten-free. You’re either intolerant or allergic to it. We all need to be aware that there’s a major difference between being a vegan and being on a vegan diet. It’s definitely going to be a tough one when you need to do a complete 360⁰ and adopt a life changing lifestyle. Many do it for animal rights, environmental worries but it seems to be a growing trend that people do it for health reasons. To be more precise – to lose weight, to lose it quick. But if you snack on vegan candy, vegan cookies, vegan chips, vegan-anything-beyond-the-right-portion, you will put on weight. We need to realise that vegan diet does not equate to an easy way out to losing weight.

"We all need to be aware that there’s a major difference between being a vegan and being on a vegan diet"

We live in such a digital culture. The Internet is exploding with vegan-everything and it seems like it makes you a better, high-class individual and a good human being. Does it really? There’s also the sudden up rise of vegan cafes and whatnot. Because clearly your Instagram persona needs to get validated with that perfect snap of your vegan meal. #noshade. Is being a vegan just a hipster trend? Is ‘hipster’ even a hipster word anymore? That itself is becoming very mainstream now. Anyways, by being a vegan are you willing to let go off your makeup products that are animal-tested? What about your cosy wool jacket to keep you warm? Those leather boots? Or are you only picking and choosing what you mean by being a ‘vegan’?

We all love food. We really need food to survive and function. But it’s not any kind of food but food with the right amount of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats amongst other things in our system. For whatever reason you decide to choose a specific dietary lifestyle, you cannot just jump on the bandwagon or for fashion. Or because your favourite celebrity is doing it? Following Beyoncé’s steps of being a vegan for 22 days for spiritual and physical cleanse? They all have their nutritionists, fitness trainers in their lives. Queen B is not sitting there planning her meals. While the rest of us, peasants, need to do proper research for ourselves. Do not shock your body by going cold turkey, take baby steps. Get educated. Trends die whether you like it or not. Our diets are a statement of who we are and it reflects on our values and beliefs. You will be bombarded with thousand and one questions, statistics, and thoughts when you proclaim yourself as a vegan. Will you have all the answers? Or are you going to look like you are just following the herd? The irony.