We live in a world where everyone is rightly able to make their own decisions as to what they eat and when.
An increasing number of people are deciding to become vegan for a range of different reasons of their own.
Veganism is the non consumption of any animal based products including but not limited to meat, dairy, eggs and honey.
Admirable animal rights issues aside, it is estimated that if everyone in the world became vegan, the emissions from food related manufacturing and activities would decline a whopping 68% over 15 years, with corresponding deceleration of global warming.
But in this post, we focus simply on how the adoption of a vegan diet can be no less StressBusting™ than a non vegan diet if pursued responsibly and correctly.
I introduce the concept of StressBusting™ cooking in my earlier post entited "An Introduction to Stressbusting™ Cooking from new Head Chef Santiago™". It is interesting that the vast majority of the foods listed in that post as being critical to non vegan StressBusting™ are capable of being easily incorporated into any vegan dietary plan, so please use and enjoy! 👍👌
Vegans can access all kinds of nutrient rich foods, subject to allergies, such as soya based products, almond milk, leafy salads, grains, nuts, fruits, vegetables including a range of beans and pulses to satisfy their dietary needs. All of these help create an enviable StressBusting™ dietary armoury.
But the importance of not trying to make too many StressBusting™ changes all at once are noted in our previous post entitled "Avoid the “All Inclusive Breakfast Buffet” approach to Stressbusting™".
And challenges with any radical change to diet include on one hand ensuring you continue to get sufficient nutrients without the need for supplements if possible - see our post entitled "ENERGY: The Most Precious Stressbusting™ Commodity in Life"; and equally importantly on the other hand, that you effectively manage the emotional transition of the change, because "Variety may be the Spice of Life, but Moderation is the key to long term Wellness".
Research, for example, has shown that there may be a higher incidence of depression and anxiety among vegans. It does not appear to be clear why this is, but that makes it of interest to us here at StressBustingExpert™.
Yet the same StressBusting™ considerations and techniques contained throughout this website apply to vegans as well as non vegans. After all, everyone can be prone to anxiety and depression from time to time. And the causes of this are multiple so cannot be attributed purely to a single factor such as choice of diet - this site alone mentions dozens of examples of possible but unproven triggers for stress and anxiety.
We describe a useful way for everyone, regardless of diet, to measure their own Stress Management Index™ at a particular point in our post entitled "Have an SMI™ (Stress Management Index™) to accompany your BMI". This tool is, we feel, a far better guide to self measuring our emotional wellbeing than allowing ourselves to be labelled by e.g. the diet we elect to adopt, or anything else for that matter. Because stress and anxiety are truly global phenomena for everyone and ought to be destigmatised and treated as such - see our 2023 Mission Statement for further information.
So we celebrate, firstly, vegans decision to pursue a different path without comment or judgement as this, at the end of the day, is what the freedom of the modern world brings with it; and secondly, as non vegans or vegatarians ourselves, we are very excited to be part ot the extension of culnerary landscape veganism will in due course bring, enabling us to sample new, unique dishes we would not otherwise come across and in the process doing our own small bit for the imporant causes many vegans believe in!
Please note that any major dietary or wellness programme, particularly those involving strenuous exercise or a substantial dietary alteration, should not be undertaken if in doubt or in the case of a pre existing medical condition, without seeking the guidance of a qualified medical professional.
For more info, please consult our “Legal Notices” page.
Love & good dietary tidings,
HeadChefSantiago™🙃🤔😊💖🧡💛💙 xxxxx