There are lots of plant sources of iron, try to ensure that you eat a variety of foods, such as dark green leafy vegetables, beans and lentils, seeds, wholegrains, nuts and dried fruit. Foods such as breakfast cereals and orange juice are often fortified with iron. Vitamin C aids the absorption of iron in the body so a vegan diet is an advantage as it generally contains a variety of fruit and vegetables. If you are concerned about your iron intake then try to avoid drinking tea or red wine with your food. The tannins contained in them can inhibit the absorption of iron. If you decide to take supplements make sure the labels says they are not from animals sources (Note: Red Iron is vegan and the Freeda brand also produce a vegan iron supplement).

You can get an adequate amount of calcium from your diet. Good sources of calcium include green leafy vegetables, baked beans, black beans, dried figs, tahini, almonds and tofu*. Adults generally need about 100mg of calcium daily.
Vitamin D assists the absorption of calcium in the body. A reliable source of Vitamin D is approximately 15 minutes of unprotected exposure to the sun each day (avoid the hottest part of the day). If you do eat products supplemented with Vitamin D, then make sure it is Vitamin D2 as this is of plant origin. Vitamin D3 is of animal origin (usually from wool fat).

*This depends how the tofu was processed. Check the label to ensure that calcium is listed as an ingredient.

Vegans can get B12 through fortified soy milk, marmite and savoury yeast flakes. B12 has also been added to some other vegan products (eg. some Sanitarium burgers, sausages and ice ‘creams’ – check labels though as some Sanitarium products contain eggs and dairy). We recommend that vegans take a B12 supplement as any B12 present in plant foods is not easily absorbed into the body. (Thompsons Ultra B12 and Natures Own B12 are vegan).

In short, the answer is that it depends what sort of diet you are switching from and what sort of vegan diet you are adopting. It will be an individual experience for everyone. There are healthy vegan diets and there are junk-food vegan diets. Let me explain further. Read more…

Many people do not realise the cruelty involved in the dairy industry. A cow, like a human, only produces milk when she has a baby to feed. Dairy cows are therefore forced to produce calf after calf, each of whom are taken from her shortly after birth, in order to keep her producing milk. The stress placed on the cow often results in her being killed as young as 3 years old, when her natural lifespan is between 20-25 years. The female calves of these cows often replace other members of the dairy herd, whereas the male calves are unwanted side products of the industry. They are either raised for veal or killed shortly after birth. Dairy is high in saturated fat and cholesterol and is linked to obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and osteoporosis. Dairy can also cause iron deficient anaemia in infants and toddlers. For further information on the dairy industry, head to our `Vegetarianism is Not Enough` section.

Yes it does! Our culture is all that limits us in eating an amazing selection of delicious vegan foods. We are increasingly programmed to eat highly processed and animal based diets. Yet, there are plenty of vegan products and recipes available with more coming on the market all the time. Some you will like and some you may not, like with any food choices. You’ll have your favourites and you may be surprised that a lot of the food you already eat is vegan or can be easily adapted.

Honey is an animal product and is therefore avoided by vegans. Surprisingly a lot of bees are factory farmed and live in unnatural conditions. The queen is often artificially inseminated, has her wings clipped and is replaced (killed) after 1 or 2 years (normal life span is around 5 years). Many bees are casualties of harvesting and transportation. Try using agave nectar, maple syrup or golden syrup instead. Watch: Is Honey Vegan? Healthy? Humane?

It’s pretty clear by now that cigarettes are bad for your health, but are they objectionable from a vegan perspective? In this video we look into hidden ingredients, animal testing, worker conditions. Watch: Is Smoking Vegan?

To put it simply – anything from a plant you eat and anything from an animal you don’t eat! You’ll be pleasantly surprised there’s heaps more you can eat than can’t. For instance, natures bounty of unlimited fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes as well as your standard pantry items such as pasta, rice and bread – just check the label until you’re familiar with which brands are vegan, as some may contain egg or dairy. If a product is processed always check the ingredients as many vegetarian products use eggs and cheese. More and more labels now say whether the product is suitable for vegans, as time passes and veganism grows this should become standard practice for food labelling.

Some common ‘hidden’ animal products you may not be aware of include;
Gelatine (boiled animal tissue such as bones, skin, cartilage and ligaments)
Casein (milk protein)
Cochineal (food colouring made from powdered insects)
Vitamin D3 (from wool fat)
Beeswax
Rennet (enzyme from a calves stomach, used in cheese making)
Lactose/Lactic acid (can be from animal or plant origin)

And few of us were born chefs! – so make sure to arm yourself with recipes for menus that are easy and mouth watering delicious! This challenge provides you with many exciting and easy recipes.

This is something that you will have to make your own decision on. ‘May contain traces of…’ generally means that the product in question is made on the same production line, or in the same factory as others which do contain those ingredients – and not because it is actually an ingredient of the product. The wording is generally there as a disclaimer in case someone has an allergy to that particular ingredient (you’ll usually find that it is only allergens that are listed, for example. eggs, dairy, seafood and peanuts). The chance of the product containing that item is generally very small, and if it did, the amount would most likely be a minute quantity – obviously if you do have an allergy to the item then you should avoid it.

Yes of course, choosing a vegetarian or vegan restaurant will provide you with the most options when eating out. However, there are options available at most restaurants. Check out the vegetarian dishes on the menu, some may already be vegan, or may easily be adapted simply by omitting cheese for example. Some ideas for popular restaurants are given below:
Chinese/Thai – rice paper rolls, vegetarian dim sims or spring rolls, stir fries or curries with vegetable and tofu. Check whether they use fish sauce or shrimp paste in their dishes.
Italian – antipasto such as olives, sun dried tomatoes and artichokes. Tomato and vegetable based pasta (hold the cheese), pizza with plenty of vegetables and no cheese, garlic bread.
Indian – poppadums, samosas, vegetable bhajis, vegetable or chickpea curries, dahl, rice and roti. Check whether they use ghee (clarified butter) in any of their dishes.
Pub – bread and dips such as hummus, baba ghanoush and tapenade, bruschetta, pasta, baked potato, chips, stir fries.

There is a wide variety of non-dairy milks available. Your local supermarket is likely to stock the more common items such as soy and rice milks, and many health food shops, organic stores and Asian supermarkets offer less common ones such as nut, oat, quinoa and hemp milks. These products can be found both on the shelf and in the refrigerated sections. . They also all have different amounts of fat, protein, vitamins, etc so check the label to find which suits you best. There are also some flavoured varieties available and some are also fortified, for example with calcium or B12.

If you are just starting out on a vegan diet you may miss having a ‘meat’ part of the meal and be unsure what to cook. However, there are plenty of products you can use instead. Some of the more readily available items are mock meat burgers, sausages, veggie mince, schnitzels and roasts. Be sure to read the ingredients as some may contain eggs and dairy. If you have an Asian grocery close to you they are worth investigating. They often offer a range of ‘mock meats’ (usually frozen), including mock ‘pork’, ‘duck’, beef’, ‘chicken’ and ’prawns’ . There are also vegan varieties of other items such as bacon, pepperoni, chicken and ham slices. If you are unable to find these in a shop you may want to order them online from www.crueltyfreeshop.com.au and www.veganperfection.com.au
You may also want to try tofu, seitan and tempeh which are all high in protein and can make a delicious hearty meat substitute.
If a recipe calls for chicken or beef stock – you can simply replace this with Massels Chicken or Beef Style Stock which is vegan, or try miso which is a great way to add flavour.

Some is and some isn’t. Most spirits are vegan, although there are the more obvious ones that contain cream or honey that are not. Most wines and beers go through a filtering process, often using animal products. Such filtering agents include milk, albumen (from eggs), isinglass (from the swim bladders of fish) and gelatine. Although the filtering agent is not present in the finished product (except trace amounts) the process still requires the use of animal products. Labelling regulations require allergens such as milk and egg to be listed on labels, but it is not a requirement for isinglass and some other animal products to be listed. If you are unsure whether a product is vegan it is advisable to contact the beer/wine maker. Coopers, Boags and Heineken beers are all vegan.

There are plenty of things to eat without ever touching tofu, and even if you don’t like tofu as is, you may find it useful for mixing into things to provide extra protein or a creamy texture. Tofu can be used to make sauces, as a replacement for ricotta in pastas and pastries or crumbled up as a ‘mince’ substitute! Check out our recipe page to find out how to make scrambed tofu and frittata.
If you want to try adding a few pieces of tofu to your stirfry or curry, and don’t have a clue about marinading there are plenty of premarinated tofus available in a range of flavours. Easy!

Yes, and Marmite has the added benefit of containing vitamin B12!

Choose Cruelty Free’s ‘Preferred Product List’ contains a list of companies that do not test on animals and whose products are suitable for vegans. There are no regulations governing the labelling of products as ‘not tested on animals’ so if you are unsure about a product then do some research. Contact the manufacturer to ask them their testing policy. Remember that just because a product has not been tested on animals it doesn’t mean it is vegan. Some products, for example skincare and make up, often contain animal products.

Yes a well balanced vegan diet is definitely a healthy way to raise your child. Check out Nick and Azai on the http://veganeasy.org Vegan Profiles page, both have been vegan since birth. If you are considering bringing up a vegan child then it would be worthwhile investing in a book about raising vegan children (eg. ‘’Pregnancy Children and the Vegan Diet’ by Michael Klaper), or researching via the internet to help you make the correct choices.

The above FAQ`s are from http://veganeasy.org . We highly recommend this website.

No. The fact that we are in some sense responsible for the existence of a being does not give us the right to treat that being as our resource. Were that so, then we could treat our children as resources. After all, they would not exist were it not for our actions–from decisions to conceive to decisions not to abort. And although we are granted a certain amount of discretion as to how we treat our children, there are limits: we cannot treat them as we do animals. We cannot enslave them, sell them into prostitution, or sell their organs. We cannot kill them. Indeed, it is a cultural norm that bringing a child into existence creates moral obligations on the part of the parents to care for the child and not exploit her.
It should be noted that one of the purported justifications for human slavery in the United States was that many of those who were enslaved would not have existed in the first place had it not been for the institution of slavery. The original slaves who were brought to the United States were forced to procreate and their children were considered property. Although such an argument appears ludicrous to us now, it demonstrates that we cannot assume the legitimacy of the institution of property–of humans or animals–and then ask whether it is acceptable to treat property as property. The answer will be predetermined. Rather, we must first ask whether the institution of animal (or human) property can be morally justified. http://www.abolitionistapproach.com

Just as the moral status of a human or animal is not determined by who caused the human or the animal to come into existence, the application of a moral concept is not determined by who devised it. If moral benefits went only to the devisers of moral concepts, then most of humankind would still be outside the moral community. Rights concepts as we currently understand them were actually devised as a way of protecting the interests of wealthy white male landowners; indeed, most moral concepts were historically devised by privileged males to benefit other privileged males. As time went on, we recognized that the principle of equal consideration required that we treat similar cases in a similar way and we subsequently extended rights (and other moral benefits) to other humans. In particular, the principle of equal consideration required that we regard as morally odious the ownership of some humans by other humans. If we are going to apply the principle of equal consideration to animals, then we must extend to animals the right not to be treated as a resource.
It is irrelevant whether animals devised rights or can even understand the concept of rights. We do not require that humans be potential devisers of rights or understand the concept of rights in order to be beneficiaries of rights. For example, a severely retarded human being might not have the ability to understand what a right is, but that does not mean that we should not accord her the protection of at least the basic right not to be treated as a resource of others. http://www.abolitionistapproach.com

Australia has more sheep than any other country on the planet, roughly 82 million. Millions of these animals suffer and die every year because of neglect. In cold parts of the country, newly shorn sheep, new borns, pregnant and mother ewes regularly die of exposure to the cold. And disease, parasites, foot problems and lack of food during drought can all go unnoticed and unaddressed. Around 33 million sheep are killed every year for their flesh in Australia. That’s 13 million adults and 20 million lambs. These animals, who aren’t used to human contact or confined spaces are crammed into tightly packed trucks and can face up to 48 hours without access to food or water as they are trucked to slaughter.
The smell of fear permeates slaughterhouses. Sheep are forced down narrow chutes and wait helplessly for their turn to enter the abattoir to be electrically stunned. Finally their throat is cut and they are hung by their legs on an overhead conveyor line to let the blood and life drain from their body. Rough handling is the norm at shearing sheds. Shearers are paid by number of sheep shorn, not by the hour, so speed is prioritised over precision. Ultimately, nearly all sheep in Australia, including those raised for wool are killed before their time. When sheep are no longer profitable to the wool industry they are trucked off to the slaughterhouse.
Most of us have had the wool pulled over our eyes about what sheep really go through for that lamb roast or woolly jumper. You have the power to help end their suffering. Don’t follow the flock. Take a stand against cruelty! INSERT SOURCE.
Please avoid purchasing angora, mohair, cashmere, shearling, shahtoosh, pashmina and anything labelled wool. Cruelty-free alternatives include cotton, cotton flannel, polyester fleece, synthetic shearling, microfiber, acrylic yarn, rayon, linen, viscose, modal, soysilk, bamboo, hemp and tencel/lyocell (a new durable, breathable and biodegradable product). Polaguard, goretex, thinsulate and primaloft are also vegan. Polartec Windpro is made primarily from recycled plastic soda bottles, and is a high density fleece with four times the wind resistance as wool.
Please watch the video and decide for yourself if the wool industry is cruel. Keep in mind that sheep have been brought to Australia to be used for profit. The Australian climate conditions, which are getting hotter each year, are also very unconducive for sheep to live. Watch: The Wool Industry EXPOSED.

`Bloated Sam Kekovich Does More For Veganism Than Any Before Him.` Enjoy the article below
https://newmatilda.com/2016/01/19/bloated-sam-kekovich-does-more-for-veganism-than-any-before-him/