Eating a vegan diet is one of the healthiest diets you can go on. You can eat a high volume of nutrient-rich food if you avoid packaged junk food, and never feel hungry. Plus, it’s the original fast food since you can easily grab fruit and veggies and eat them just as they are. But, if you are eating food how can you be sure it really is vegan?
Ask the Cook – If you know the person who cooked it, or you’re at a restaurant that has a good chef, you can ask. Usually, people are happy to tell you the ingredients in the food that they cook. The best time to ask is before you order it or accept a dinner invitation if this is important to you. It’s rude to spit food out at the table.
Read the Labels – When you buy any type of prepared food, even if it was vegan the last time you checked, if the front label doesn’t point out that it’s vegan, assume that it’s not and read the label. When you read labels it’s important for you to not make assumptions about what something means if it’s a word you don’t know. Look it up.
Cook it Yourself – This is truly the very best way to be sure that your food is vegan. If you buy it, prepare and cook it yourself, you can’t go wrong with that. Of course, sometimes you don’t want to cook and that is understandable. But this is the top way to ensure your food is not only vegan but healthy too.
Get an App – There are apps that can help you find out if something you want to eat is vegan too. Check out your app store for “Is it Vegan?” and the Happy Cow Find Vegan Food apps. You can look them up in your app store and download them on your phone and then look up the food you want to eat to be sure.
Check Online – The website Peta.org offers a list of accidentally vegan food that they keep updated. You can look at that site to find out if what you want to buy is vegan. You can also look up any food item on Google. Just type in “Is package food name, vegan?” and you are likely to find where someone else has asked the same question and get your answer.
If you really want to be sure what you’re eating is vegan it’s imperative to get to know the words on the labels and what they mean. It’s also important to realize the easiest way to ensure something is vegan is to buy the food yourself from the produce department and avoid packaged food.
