Vegans avoid consuming or using animal products like meat, eggs, dairy, leather, wool, and silk in order to not contribute to cruelty towards animals or harm the environment. Veganism has grown significantly in recent years, especially among teenagers, rising over 360% in Britain to over 542,000 people aged 15 and over. Social media has played a large role in spreading awareness of veganism and providing support for those considering or starting a vegan lifestyle. While vegans avoid animal products, there is still a variety of healthy and tasty food they can eat, including fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, nuts, and seeds.

1. Beth Geldard
Vegan life style
Vegans decided that they don’t want to be associated with any type of cruelty towards animals. They
don’t eat meat or any kind of dairy products like eggs and milk. They don’t agree with wearing leather,
fur, silk or wool. They also avoid animal tested cosmetics and soaps. The reasons for this are that they
don’t want to promote the meat industry and decrease the amount of animals that are being brutally
killed or tested on. Other reasons are for a healthier lifestyle and live in a cleaner environment.
The environment has changed dramatically due to global warming, widespread pollution,
deforestation, land degradation, water scarcity and species extinction. Also the increase in animals
breeding everyday means that’s farmers are having to make more crops which is using more
environmental resources.
Veganism has risen by more then 360% to over 542,000 people aged 15 and over which equals to one
per-cent of the population. It has been known to be Britain’s“fastest growing lifestyle movements”.
Veganism has become more known through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and vegan webpages. There
has been a variety of different vegan websites like not for profit ‘teen vegan network’ and ‘Teenvgn’
basing it just on teenagers. These pages are for support and help. It show’s that for new beginners
they have a support system by being able to see what other people are blogging and providing recipes
for people who are struggling on what to eat.
So why are so many teenagers deciding to become vegans?
Euan Reece 17 south Northamptonshire said ‘It took me a while to go fully vegan, as I didn’t realize it
would be so easy to get into. I don’t believe that celebrities have played a major role in the expansion of
veganism among teenagers. They are likely to have influenced some people, but the main driving force
behind the movement is social media. This has allowed the vegan message to spread a lot quicker than it
would otherwise have done.’ Euan did not have much knowledge on veganism and that he doesn’t
agree with the production methods that are happening to cows and chickens. By discovering
veganism through social media it helped him learn that there was a community of vegans to support
him.
Even though vegans have restricted themselves from eating meat, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have
a variety of food to eat. There are different strategies to having a vegan diet as when people shift to
veganism they take it slowly and develop a plan and routine. Vegans tend to eat natural substances
such as vegetable, grains, nuts and fruits. To be a vegan you need a balanced diet, eating the right
nutrients.
They eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables keeping up ‘the five a day’ rule. But there is a
bigger variety then you think, eating porridge or Weetabix for breakfast and toasted sandwiches with
avocado and tomato for lunch. For dinner, pasta, tacos, noodles and pizza. And when creating their
meals they like to base their food around rice, potatoes, grains, beans, pulses, fruits, vegetables, nuts
and seeds.
So what have you learnt, has your opinion changed about vegans? Find out more Veganuary.com