Be honest....

Next time when you buy a product and think or know the producer tests on animals STOP, THINK about your beloved pet (it could have been him/her...) and BUY an alternative. There is almost for everything an alternative. You only have to look that bit further.

If you say you love animals this is something you have to do otherwise you contradict yourself, or to put it more clearly: It's hypocrytical. On the one hand you say you love animals, but on the otherhand, you happily buy stuff make from animals, or tested on animals.

Maybe you should turn of the automatic pilot, the easy option. It's worth giving it a try.

Know what's in your Cosmetics

I just added a new link. It's for a website called "Skindeep" and they research the ingredients put in cosmetics. They have labeled them from 0 to 10, with 0-2 being of less hazard, 3-6 moderate and 7-10 high hazard for your health.

It's a very interesting website......... You'll find for instant very well known names in the frangrance sector  labelled 8 and over and unsure if animal tested. Really, it makes an interesting read.

Viva

I wanted to recommend a health shop in Tubbercurry, co. Sligo. The shop is called Viva natural health and Therapy Centre.

I found it last week, when I was in Tubbercurry. Although it's in the main shopping street, I never new it was there because it's just out of my route. I found it by accident.

The Lady is really very helpful and when I told her I just started being vegan, she checked all my purchases to make sure they were all suitable for vegans. They have a wide range of products on offer.  From food to beauty products and environmentally friendly household products. They also offer a wide range of homeopathic therapies like Aromatherapy, Biodynamic Massage, reflexology and Kinesiology.

The address: Teeling street, Tubbercurry

Calcium

Isn't it strange, that the first thing people ask me when they hear I'm vegan is 'How do you get your calcium" They never ask a person who is lacto intolerance that question ;-)

From now on I'll say "Just as the cow gets is". I wonder how many will make the link between eating greens and getting calcium. A lot of people forget that calicium is a mineral and that it is in the ground. Cows, horses, sheep etc. get calcium in their bodies because they eat greens
I also wonder if people realise that humans are the only animals that drink breastmilk as adults, because that is what milk and products derived from milk is. Mamals only produce milk after giving birth, so what non vegans drink is another animals breastmilk :-D

A lovely Pâté

Just back from the Netherlands. I would have loved to visit a few shops to see what's on offer for vegans, but I didn't get round to it. I'll be back again in November and who knows, it might work then.

In the meantime, I found a lovely vegan Pâté. It's from a UK based Company called Granovita. I tried the vegetable pâté with onions and herbs. I thought it was very yammy. It smells nice, which, to me is very important. If it smells nice one is more likely to like the product, and it spreads easily.

Definitely something to put on my favourites list.

Yoghurt

I found a lovely yogurt in a health shop not far from were we live. Made from soya, but not the nutty taste you get from some other brands. It's called "Sojade" and 100% vegetal. I'll put a link up to the manufactures website. It's in French, but at least you know what to look for.

It's a very full, creamy tasting yogurt. I haven't tasted anything like before. I have to be careful not to empty the whole tub in one go :-)

Some Thoughts...

It's interesting,

When I was a vegetarian I tried to use as less as possible brands that either test on animals, or use animal ingredients in their product, but you would be surprised how many very well known Brands still test on animals.

Now being vegan I'm even more aware of it and it's really fun to search the Internet and find replacements, so now I use vegan make-up, from eye shadow to cleanser. From bath foam to hair colouring and it all is great and does the job even better than all those famous brands. Where I live there are not a lot of shops that sell vegan stuf except for the usual soya butter and yogurt, but with Internet it's so easy and no excuse not to go that extra mile and do my share to make live better for our fellow animals. Price wise it's not more expensive either.

You're wondering what Brands still test on animals? Here are a few, but the list is endless:

L'Oreal
Max Factor
Helene Rubenstein
Ponds
Panthene
Maybelline
Giorgio Armani
Garnier
Lancome
Dove
Lux
Listerine
Ralph Lauren

These are just some cosmetic Brands but of course a lot more industries still test on animals. You just have to Google.

The beginning

This blog will be all about me being a vegan. Because I'm also a painter, I thought I call my blog "The vegan painter".

 I have been a vegetarian for a long time now, and thought about taking it one step further, so since last week I try to be as vegan as I feel comfortable with.

Being a vegetarian meant that I would still eat dairy products, but then, for dairy products like butter, cheese and milk, an animal needs to have calved. Most of those calves will end up being killed sooner or later. As I can't kill an animal (No, not even a spider although I'm scared of them) I should try to avoid as much as possible products that involves the killing of animals. Of course there will be things that contain animal products without knowing, or you just can't get around it, but being vegan is not about being perfect. In my opinion it's about trying to do as much as possible to avoid useless killing of fellow animals.

 What does that mean "feel comfortable with" you might ask.

Well, for instant; Vegans don't eat eggs. If it would be battery eggs, I can understand that, and even free range does not always mean really free. I know that a lot of the time free range means that the chickens live in big sheds. They don't really run free in a garden or so, they just have a bigger enclosed area.

We have been thinking of getting some ex battery hens from a rescue centre to give them a nice free live. Chickens lay eggs, if you want it or not and no vegan has yet been able to tell me what to do with those not fertile eggs if I'm not allowed to eat them.

There will definitely be more things that I think 'mmmm, why is that" but I will deal with that when the occasion arises.

There is already one positive thing that I encountered. I'm a chocoholic and doing my shopping would surely mean ending up with something chocolaty in my trolley, and because I try to shed a few kilos, that's not a good thing. Now, when I do my shopping and I feel a chocolate craving coming I just think about the milk in it, and I don't  want it anymore. Of course there is lots of chocolate that I am allowed to eat as a vegan because chocolate is from origin vegan, but the things I like are not.

I know there are dairy free chocolate products, but I have to travel quite a distance to get those. I could buy them over the internet of course, but I'm not that desperate:-)

In this blog I will also try and review vegan stuff and let you know the outcome. Because  I live in Ireland it will be most of the time products  available in Europe, but if you want to put up a review from vegan products available outside Europe, please feel free to do so.