Veganism, a healthy lifestyle , Co authored by holistic practitioner Priyadarshani and Roopashree Bhat

In this Post-Covid Times, if I can say so, we have been hearing a lot about superfoods and diets. Going vegan is probably one of the oldest on the block, being hailed as the healthy alternative.

Being vegan is to stay away from all animal byproducts like milk and the subsidiary substances as well as abstaining from meat, chicken, beef and similar animal meats.

The biggest roadblock in changing a diet involves a considerable change in basic eating and that always is the toughest one.

Let us first look at the basic food across food chains, MILK.

For ages, we have fallen back on milk for our protein and calcium requirements. The milk consumption starts with a new born, feeding on breast milk to slowly graduating to milk outsourced. It's always told that a glass of milk is the best way to fill in energy

But, with the growing demand for milk each day, the cows or the cattle are overworked. To keep the the supply, they are often given hormonal injections to pump milk by gallons. Its scary to even think, that we are in turn feeding the same to our kids. Its It's also appalling that the milk, which originally belongs to the calf, doesn't get to it all sometimes, just for filling our tummy.

Our need and greed, maybe slowly pushing a cow to death faster than its natural lifespan. It's equally scary that we are the secondary or tertiary consumers of such milk and its products, putting all our health at risk.

I do agree, that, cattle are also well taken care of and reared naturally in many parts, but given the human population and its corresponding consumption of milk and milk products, the pressure on the supply chain is humongous. If we can slowly reduce our usage, we would be doing a great deed.

This brings us to the pertinent question of alternatives for protein and calcium and we need to look no further than our nature. It has always provided us with sources of calcium and protein that we could use. Some of them are -: 
 1. Beans,

 2. Lentils,

 3.Dry Fruits,

 4. Seeds ( Chia, Sesame to name a few), 

 5. Leafy Greens 

The pros and cons of switching over to a different diet may be many, but being a little considerate is always the priority.

As hard as eliminating milk would be from our diets, a little try from each of us, would go a long way..