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Lifestyle

You Can Support Veganism Without Changing Your Diet

This article is written by a student writer from the Spoon University at U Iowa chapter.

With a lot of encouragement to go vegan in today’s society—for your health or for the health of the planet—more and more people seem to be testing it out for themselves.

However, if you can’t picture life without meat, but are still looking to experiment with eliminating animal products, here are small things you can do and change daily to help support the cause and possibly even encourage you to transition into adopting a vegan diet later on, if that’s what you’re looking for.

1. Use vegan body care products  

veganism coffee milk
Ashleigh Monaco

Most body care products on the market today are filled with chemicals and preservatives—stuff you really don’t want to wash your face with. An added benefit to using vegan body care products, besides the fact that no animals were killed or harmed in the process of making them, is that a majority of them are free of synthetic chemicals, parabens, and other harmful ingredients.

Even if you’re not interested in veganism, do your skin a favor and check the labels of your body care products.

2. Sneak in some vegan snacks

veganism coffee tea
Ashleigh Monaco

You don’t have to make every meal meatless, but replacing your snack of turkey roll-ups or beef jerky with some vegan fruit and nut bars, energy bites, or trail mix is a small way to sneak in some meatless habits in your post-workout fuel or daily 3 pm snack. Some great brands are Larabars, Pure Organic, Health Warrior Chia Bars, and GoMacro

3. Use vegan make-up  

veganism beer
Ashleigh Monaco

If you’re like me and have trouble going a day without make-up, replacing your make-up products with vegan ones is an effective way to support veganism. Vegan brands of make-up include (but are not limited to): Wet N Wild, Elf, Milani, Mineral Fusion, Pixi, Jordana, Orly.

Besides using vegan make-up products, you could also use vegan and eco-friendly make-up tools. For example, the brand Eco Tools makes brushes that are 100% vegan and are made with renewable bamboo.

4. Wear vegan clothing

veganism
Ashleigh Monaco

This is the most obvious one, and probably the easiest, since you wear clothes everyday. Avoid buying shoes and jackets made from animal skin (leather, snake skin, etc.) or sweaters made with real wool. Some common clothing materials to look for that are vegan are acrylic, cotton, fleece, khaki, linen, nylon, polyester, and spandex.

Making small changes here and there can be a really great start to transitioning into a vegan lifestyle, or supporting a lifestyle you may be interesting in, but aren’t convincing enough to completely change your diet. 

If you think you want to start introducing more vegan meals into your diet, a flavor-packed veggie bowl or a decadent breakfast will surely help push meat out of your mind. And let’s not forget dessert.

Writer, runner, and world traveler at the University of Iowa. Born and raised on Long Island, New York. Lover of nature, puppies, sunrises, and home-cooked meals.