The Importance of Variety

Adding variety to your daily meals can save you from falling off any diet. A great way to do this is to have a copy of the vegan food pyramid in your pantry or your fridge anywhere you are most likely to see it while you prepare your food, I put mine at my pantry. Remember that buying in bulk is a great thing and eating fresh produce with little or no cooking is the best way to get the most nutrition out of a plant-based diet. But,  if you are just starting out here is a few tips you can follow to avoid wasting money and glorious food:

1. Buy local. The people who are on a raw vegan / vegan diet outside the country eat locally, what they eat there like berries, oranges, apples grow in their country, we don't have that. We have our own local fruits, latundan, lakatan, dalandan, pakwan, melon, mangoes, pineapples, singkamas, atis, bayabas, duhat are a few of the many fruits available locally. Cheap, easy access and best of all radiation free. We don't need to be pa-sosyal and go buy at grocery stores, the best place to buy our produce is the local market nearest you. Be friends with the small vendors, get to know them, talk to them ask them where they get their produce. If you are lucky enough like me, you'll get to know vendors who grow their own produce, you can even order seasonal fruits from them. They won't pass up a chance to have a regular customer. AND PLEASE DON'T HAGGLE TOO MUCH, these are people grew and sell these produce to have food on their table, do not be a cause for them to have to skimp on their food. 
2. Get to know your local market, know the whole sellers from the retailers, know which kind of produce is native or home grown from those that are mass produced. Lettuce, potatoes brocolli, carrots, bell peppers, ombok, cabbage or all those they call gulay Baguio, usually come from Baguio or the Cagayan Valley. These are best bought from the whole sellers. Okra, eggplant, ampalaya, pechay, tomatoes, kamote, talbos (greens) or all that they call Pam-pakbet can be bought from these small vendors I am telling you about on number 1.
3. Buy unripe fruits. Keep them on the counter near the window, so they will last longer and don't grow molds, inspect them everyday and eat those that are first to ripen and if you cannot consume them all, chop them up and store them in the freezer. Yes I know frozen fruits are dead fruits, but I promise you the longer you go on the vegan/raw vegan diet the less you will have to freeze your produce.
4. Buy just enough greens to last you 2-3 days and as you increase your daily consumption and learn how to store them you can eventually buy in bulk, No one wants to eat wilted green right? but if you have a juicer that is fine, you can juice a lot of them before the wilt.

That's all for now, next time I will share some of my recipes that keep me satisfied, healthy and nourished on a plant-based, eco-friendly diet.

The hardest thing about being a vegan

The hardest thing as far as I know about being a vegan is the treatment of people, some are nice enough to ask things about you, but some are also rude enough to carry a sign that say's "I am a stupid vegan hater".
What have we vegans ever done to you? "oh you can't eat that you're vegan!" or "hey don't use the car, go walk to where you want to go you're vegan right?" and other things or comments like that, that not only provokes an argument but also shows how stupid and irrational your logic can be.

We are people too you know, No matter what age, sex, race or diet you have, there will come a day when you will feel tired, frustrated or cranky. We are not immune to breakouts or headaches. We are still human and anything that afflicts the human population can afflict us too. We are not superhuman beings that suddenly possess superhuman strength and superhuman immunity, as long as we live in the polluted earth, breathe the same smog and drink the same chemically treated water, Us vegans are not immune. Until the day we can invent a separate world to live in we must endure the damage we have done to our planet.

We are not selfish, self righteous people. If we were, we wouldn't be here sharing our stories. We'd keep it to ourselves, so that all of you stupid meat-eaters can just all die and all that will be left is us vegans. Ain't that right?

Eve's Cupboard Raw Vegan Blog: The Dangers of Sugar

Eve's Cupboard Raw Vegan Blog: The Dangers of Sugar

Black Bean Veggie Burgers - Cooking with The Vegan Zombie

Made this the other day and it was awesome, especially if you cook it thin and crisp =) pair with tomato ketchup and veganaise. YUM!

FAQ: As A Vegan Is It OK To Eat Products That Contain Traces of Milk?

 

So this answers some questions regarding food products that may contain traces of milk or dairy in it. In a world dominated by non-vegan companies and people, we can't help it if ready made food are not 100% vegan. Unless you grow and make it yourself, you can never know what's inside the food we eat. Don't worry too much about it, unless you are O.C. and you can't help yourself, as long as you do your best not to support  the animal product industry then you are helping a lot. Little things can make a whole. So don't fret, be calm and keep on doing what you are doing, the best you can do is avoid all processed foods, and try to buy organic or better yet, grow you own food and eat them raw as much as possible it is the best and surest way to get 100% vegan food.

Having one enormous glass of smoothie while blogging =)

I love that I'm not allergic to soy, because I love my soy milk. There are a lot of talks that say soy is not good for you so I just use it now in moderation, just to be on the safe side, I've reduced my consumption to 1 liter a week from 2.5 liters. I'm exploring other milk options, almonds will be out of the question since it's so hard to find here and so expensive!

There are a lot of vegan blogs and videos that say going vegan is inexpensive, Yeah! in your country!
In a country where the take home pay of one regular employee is 350Php which converts to 7-8 dollars only for a days work, not to mention the fare you will still subtract from that. So here's what I have to say to all of my fellow countrymen who are aspiring to become healthier and kinder to the environment, DO NOT GET CARRIED AWAY BY THE VEGAN VIDEOS YOU WATCH ON YOUTUBE! 


Start with what we have here, what are we used to eating? veganize that, it's easy to go vegan when you are Filipino, because meat is not the main component of the Filipino diet, If you love adobo, substitute the meat with tofu, You must listen to the things vegan videos say, EAT IN SEASON whats in season in our country is what's best for us, do not imitate what they eat, it's what's in season in their country not ours, if you are really craving out of season fruits and vegetables it's best that you buy from locally grown produce like Dizon's Farms. You don't have to buy organic if it's out of your budget, just take better care in washing your fruits and veggies to make sure that all pesticide residue are removed.

There are a lot of Filipino desserts that are already vegan, like the suman, kalamay, banana-que and of course fresh fruits!

Going vegan is a way to help the environment and help save the animals from abuse. Let's not be self-righteous here. Being 100% vegan is impossible. Why? as critics say: "how can you be vegan if you have a car, use a cellphone and a laptop?" BUT as we lessen the impact we have on the environment by becoming vegan is better than not helping at all.

Vegan Mayo

Since vegan food are a rarity in my area, I decided to make my own food, after researching the most applicable recipe, I either have to make these with ingredients I already have or can be easily found.

This recipe from About.com has ingredients that are easy to find. I changed it a bit to my liking by adding chili flakes and lessening the apple cider vinegar since my son isn't used to the smell. I added more mustard just because I love it =) 

You don't have to stress yourself if you can't get everything vegan, you can learn to make them and even if you may end up spending more, just keep in mind that this is way better than buying cheap non-vegan food that only make you sick.

Making your own food not only ensures you what you put in your body, it also helps the environment reducing packaging waste and most specially cruelty free!

Also eating more fruits, grains, nuts and veggies is the best way to ensure you get all your nutrients and these do it yourself recipes can be just treats, you don't really need them if you have access to fresh organic foods. 

  

This is the amount of fruits I finish in 3 days on a 50% raw vegan diet. Take advantage of fresh produce that are in season and make them a staple in your diet. Not only are they a lot cheaper than buying out of season fruits, also they taste much better! 

Also I have recently learned how to make vegan tortillas which I use as wrap or as plain bread. I make them every week and just freeze some to store.

Don't they look yummy? Freshly made tortilla is way better than frozen you buy at the supermarkets. 

Going vegan helps a lot, you help yourself, you help the environment and also you help animals too =) isn't that fulfilling?