Our story It began in a foreign country in Western Europe. It was the summer of 2018. We made a move and later, another decision that would change our lives f o r e v e r. The city was Berlin. The year was 2017, in the … Read more...
Give promises that matter and keep them!
It is the beginning of the new year – time to give yourself some promises and keep them! Think of yourself, but also of the world around you.
I guess hiatuses are sometimes needed. Taking a break from online life is a must for everybody. But know that we weren’t resting, just working harder and more intensively on another project. Stay tuned to find out more about it. Thank you for coming back to read our Can’t Human Properly thoughts – ideas far from average and wish to contribute as much as we can to the well-being of this Earth, which will be hopefully our home for another 50 years. Join us by giving promises to yourself and this wonderful planet we all call home!
Promises to yourself
Though January is half-way down, there is still enough time to write down your promises for the year. Since you as a person matters the most, it is wise to start from yourself. Think first of how you felt last year, about your health, relationships, goals, etc. Were you healthy and active? or should you make some changes in your eating habits? Did you have enough time for your hobbies? Did you start a project, which would benefit other people?
Get moving!
Working-out may be the answer to your low health state. Do not think of joining a gym, as this way, you just contribute to the never-ending consumerism and capitalism. Instead, save your money, log online and find a beginner’s exercise package through an app instance. Set two days and get into work-out gear. Though the beginning is tough, the good feeling will kick in soon and you start loving working out.
If working-out is really not your thing, then make a goal of 10 000 steps daily. It makes you feel better, even without sweating at the gym. If walking aimlessly is not your thing, then download an e-book and listen to it, while walking to meet your partner or going to do grocery shopping.
Eat food that matters
How about food? Do you like what you eat? Do you know where your food comes from or how it is made? If there are plenty of no’s as answers, then it is the time to stop and think. Perhaps you realize that ready-made, overly salty and sugary meals are not good for your health. Also, foods that take a long way to travel to your table do not contribute to the well-being of your local farmers. Check online for your local farmer’s markets or if there is nothing around, start learning more about what you can do to change this situation.
January is known also as a Veganuary. It is your chance to try not to eat meat and dairy. Why should you want to do that? Animal farming is known as one of the most devastating industries for Mother Earth. It is extremely strenuous for the environment, needs many resources and hence has a very big ecological footstep. Animal products are not needed and we can survive without consuming their bodily fluids, skin, and meat. There are plenty of plant-based options for every taste and craving out there. And if Meat Loaf can do it, so can you!
We will take the Liberation Pledge and be more dedicated and environmentally friendly vegans.
Do more for yourself
There are plenty of things you should have time for, as they help and make you feel good:
- reading
- sleeping in
- breakfast in bed
- going to the movies
- walk a nature path
- inviting friends over for a potluck
- decluttering – fewer things, fewer worries
- listening to music, I mean, really listen to music
- cleaning out your fridge and discover food you can eat!
- start a project you feel strongly about, which would help some special group of people or tackle an important issue
- etc., etc., etc. Insert what makes you happy here and share it in the comments!
Perhaps you have a personal project or goal you neglected last year, this is your chance to tackle it with fresh energy. Personally, I will try to update my photography website and make it modern. It is a big cross I have dragged along with me for the longest time. I also want to hone my skills in architecture photography, which I have always found very interesting. In addition, I want to scribble down more of my thoughts, who knows perhaps one day they will be put together for a book! Dreams, dreams, dreams.
Promises to your close ones
This one is easy: JUST SPEND MORE TIME WITH THEM!
Promises to Planet Earth
We here, at CHP appreciate nature a lot. We do not like consumerism and plastic and we love animals and saving food. So it is not difficult to guess what we are going to offer you, as something you can do in 2020 to make life better. Not just for yourself, but also for people around you and the environment.
We are going to follow this little list below. And we are offering you to try at least some of the things yourself, whether it’s for a few weeks, a month or even for a year. As long as you feel comfortable:
- fasting
- no buying
- saving food
- trying not to eat out
- not buying items in plastic
- not eating sugar and gluten
Conclusion
I guess there are always things we want to improve, start or continue what we like. But dedication is what we lack. Make sure you do not overcrowd your goal list and concentrate on up to 10 items.
You should come back to your goal list every month and see how you are doing. This is how you are not going to neglect them and actually work towards completing them!
Make sure to share your list, if it is not personal, also with your close ones, to inspire them to take steps to make their lives better too. And also to preserve the world around us.
Two cents on becoming a vegan
We are both are vegans & we love it! Before that, we were vegetarians for more than 10 years. I feel when I was becoming a vegan, this is when I really woke up!
Becoming a vegan is a decision, and as with many decisions in life, you have to make it yourself. If you need information on why to start a plant-based diet, there is so much information is available for you. Also, there is lots of material, why not to go vegan. I hope this story helps somebody who is in limbo. If not that, then I hope it at least a fun reading of somebody’s personal story.
How it all started
I became a vegetarian or rather a pescetarian ( I ate fish sometimes) in 2008. It actually happened by a surprise. I saw a really vile movie made by the Animal Liberation Front. I remember the public free viewing in the local library still so clearly, as if it was just yesterday. The show hall was full and I remember myself crying a lot and shielding my eyes from the cruelty. The movie was mostly filmed secretly by activists and presented the relentless animal abuse in many institutions. After watching the movie, I knew I had to stop eating meat. I didn’t want to participate in such a heart-breaking killing of animals anymore.
The shift was difficult of course. In Estonia in 2008, there were very few food options for a vegetarian. Of course, the beans and lentils were available, but since I didn’t like them, I didn’t have many options. While eating out the main meatless meal you were a tomato-cucumber, onion, and iceberg salad. Not very exciting, isn’t it?
I have always been a big animal lover, so for me going vegetarian wasn’t really so surprising. Though at that time, I really knew nothing about being a vegetarian! My new lifestyle didn’t mean I was instantly meat-free, I had some bites of meat in the next few months. I didn’t know what to replace meat with to get enough nutrients to obtain a healthy lifestyle. Or what to cook as a vegetarian – no, no, no. It was all if I can put it like that, lots of bulls**t! I even didn’t eat beans, so I wonder what I was eating at all then. Healthy eating wasn’t even a thought in my mind, but instead, my wish was not to consume dead animals. Eating was just for surviving not a pleasure.
Is becoming a vegan difficult?
It took me seven years to become a vegan. Why so long? I always thought that vegans were something superior. I was looking at them like they were a special species, thinking that I could never be one! Life intervened and once in 2015, I participated at a local Animal Protection Society’s summer days. The girl responsible for cooking the meals for us for two days was vegan. I approached her and asked “how difficult is it to be a vegan and what does it really mean’’? She said, that it is giving up all animal-derived products, like milk, cream, yogurt, cheese, eggs, and honey in addiction to meat”. I thought, well…that is not so difficult and I could give it a try.
The beginning of my life as a vegan, wasn’t so easy, as to be expected. I have always been into creamy cakes and sweets, and those usually have cream, cream cheese, butter and eggs in them. Little by little, I tried to become vegan, but I still had some cake every now and then.
Therefore I wasn’t really counting myself fully vegan until in 2016 when I saw another movie – wrong! – I saw a 3-second clip of the “Earthlings” trailer. The disturbing part wasn’t even connected to the eating of animals, but abusing them for human needs. I am telling you if you have balls, do please watch it, but I can’t watch that movie. I have nothing to be afraid of anymore because I already have given up milk, eggs, cheese, meat, and even honey. It is just that I know I would ball my eyes out and I would be traumatized for all those animals, who are slaughtered or abused by people. This is why I can’t watch “Earthlings”.
How does it feel to be vegan?
So yeah, I have been vegan for more than two years now, so what has changed? I definitely pay more attention to what I eat. I eat more greens, more than I ever ate when omnivore or pescetarian, I eat more beans and nuts, which are really necessary for maintaining good health and I definitely cook more, therefore eating fewer preservatives, salt, and unnecessary food additives. Next, to the fact that I am feeling good, I love the variety of recipes, which I am constantly discovering thanks to the group of likeminded people around me in the virtual world.
When I was a vegetarian I wasn’t really thinking so much of the environment. When I become vegan this matter changed a lot. I appreciate Mother Earth much more for giving me all these beautiful plants to eat and feel good. I do not want to create more garbage, I want to save food and lives. Becoming vegan has made me love the environment more!
What is the moral of this story – be who you are, make your own discoveries, educate yourself, try different foods, do not tell others how to eat and also don’t always try to eat food from a vegan’s plate. 😉
Sugar and gluten fast: 10 days is not enough
If you do not eat sugar and gluten for 10 days, does it make you feel any different? Is it difficult or easy-peasy? Read more to decide yourself.
We are vegans and have been not eating gluten on a regular basis for years. This year we kind of lost the track. Due to excessive amounts of free bread and pastry, we have been blessed to receive. We tried once sugar-free fast for two weeks. I remember it was a struggle. So we decided to see how easy it is fast again, giving sugar and gluten a break for ten days.
Who wouldn’t love sugar and gluten?
We skipped eating gluten because of health conditions a few years ago. It was not so difficult, though the bread was following us everywhere. Not only that but other food items, which had wheat in as a supporting ingredient. I remember we got our rice cake game on. Sweet and savory. In the morning and in the evening. We were okay reading the labels and avoiding anything with gluten. We felt good. But then we started getting lots of free bread, which would have gone to waste otherwise. So we found ourselves back at the gluten train.
We tried sugar fast a few years ago, also in the fall time. I remember that the first few days were quite tough for me. Eve took it better and she was looking for options, how to clench our sugar thirst. She got us stevia, as a natural sweetener for gluten-free baking and for sweet tea. I remember lots of struggling and thirst for sugar. We usually have something sweet after having a good savory meal. In a way, it is so dumb, as the meal was enough, why need more. But habits are meant to break, right?
Knowing all that, I was eager to see if we can pull this ten (just 10 days!) day fast through. We declared October a health and well-being month, so we were taking it seriously. This is a known fact that sugar and gluten make you addicted. Anyway on these days, if you really need to eat something regular, like a loaf of bread or pasta, then it is easy to get gluten-free options. Sugar-free items are a bit difficult to find, but fruits are easy to get!
We were on!
Breakfast headaches and evening pains
I love breakfast. Love making them, love eating them. While we were using bread, it was so easy to make something easy, really fast. Cut that bun open, spread coconut oil and add some cheeze (vegan) on it. Fry and enjoy it! Or make the bread any other way. Now we had to plan a bit ahead, what to eat. But then again it was more like fun and a challenge, than a struggle.
I love warm porridge, especially oatmeal, but amaranth, millet, and buckwheat get good scores as well. So I knew that we are covered. Sure, it takes more time, but definitely we would be eating healthier. If something sweet was needed, I had always some fruits or berries at hand to sweeten up our meals free of sugar and gluten.
Some examples of our sugar and gluten-free breakfasts:
- Overnight oats with dried fruits, seeds, nuts. Fresh cuts of plum and pear on top
- Smoothie
- Oatmeal with coconut oil, nuts, and seeds
- Pan toasted oats with sugarfree jam, plant milk, nuts, and seeds mix
- Potato pancakes with salad on aside
- Oat flour pancakes
The other thing was the evening snacks. This was more like a challenge, especially in the first days. We were so used to have something sweet, like squares of dark chocolate with a cup of tea. I guess we had every evening something like that. I was really looking forward to times of just enjoying the fresh cup of tea. Now the time had arrived.
Some examples of snacks we had:
- Natural kettle-cooked chips (first night!)
- Plums
- Dried fruits, nuts, and fresh apple slices
- Pear slices with peanut butter
- Sugar and gluten-free brownie
- Rice cake with peanut butter, topped with fresh plums
I mean it is not perfect but as a first test fast of sugar and gluten, it did a good job.
Some tips on how to avoid sugar and gluten
Knowing that sugar and gluten are not good for you is a good start. Usually, if you skip those, you will skip many processed and unhealthy components from your meals. This is a win-win situation. It makes you focus more on quality food items. Also making the right choices will make you more creative while preparing your meals.
What we kept in mind while on sugar and gluten fast:
- We avoided artificial sugars (including sodas and juices).
- We avoided anything with wheat in it.
- Naturally, our meals became less fatty.
- We cooked more creatively with plants, beans, and gluten-free grains.
- We started to appreciate fruits and vegetables more.
If you are considering having any kind of fast, set yourself goals. It makes the whole process easier to follow. Start with something in which you feel comfortable and keep your promise. We chose 10 days, as after that my mom came to visit us, and we wanted to enjoy the best vegan meals with her. Often times they may have some gluten or sugar in them, unfortunately (for example udon noodles, cinnamon buns and vegan ice-cream).
We started another 10 days fast yesterday. It will be broken, because of our trip to Italy. If you do not eat gluten there, then I mean, what you are going to eat anyway :)) After that we will continue. I feel like this is the way to go now.
Is fasting good?
Intermittent fasting is actually good for you. It means that fasts which are occurring at irregular intervals are not continuous or steady is what your health needs. While not eating sugar and gluten you are not damaging your health in any way. Think of it as a little rest. Some people have to avoid sugar and gluten for serious health issues every day in their lives. If you are healthy and like to eat healthily, then having these fasts can only be greeted.
It has scientifically proved that fasting when combined with a healthy diet and lifestyle, can be effective. Especially if there is a wish to lose weight. We didn’t fast because of that reason. Mostly we wanted to get back to our usual way of eating, meaning no gluten. Sugar…well, there is so much of it everywhere, so it doesn’t hurt to cut back every once in a while.
Harvard Health Publishing recommends for successful fasting:
- Avoid sugars and refined grains. Instead, eat fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats (a sensible, plant-based, Mediterranean-style diet).
- Let your body burn fat between meals. Don’t snack. Be active throughout your day. Build muscle tone.
- Consider a simple form of intermittent fasting. Limit the hours of the day when you eat, and for best effect, make it earlier in the day (between 7 am to 3 pm, or even 10 am to 6 pm, but definitely not in the evening before bed).
- Avoid snacking or eating at nighttime, all the time.
Conclusion
We can’t really say that consuming no sugar and gluten for ten days made us feel any different. Probably we need at least 2-3 weeks to really feel the difference. One thing we noticed though. The more time we were in with our fast, the less we dreamed of having something we were not supposed to have. So in a way, our minds learned to cope without gluten and sugar. We were getting used to not having that. It was difficult in the first few days, but in the end, it got easy-peasy.
Used source: Harvard Health Publishing
Why go vegan and take your vitamins
Veganism plays a really big role in our lives. Health is the main word, what comes to mind when we think of eating foods made of plants. Vitamins, anybody?
Why are we vegans?
Most of the time, when we believe in something, we believe, that this is the only and the right way. Many may think that all vegans think the same. Being vegan is hip, healthy and you do not need your vitamins, right? There’s the difference – we do not think like that. We don’t consume animal products, because we are compassionate and how it makes us feel. We like how being vegan has affected our lives, as we feel better in our bodies. Of course, our internal reality also benefits.
Everybody has an opinion since they are like belly buttons – we all have them. We can’t be loved by everybody and we should not even wish that. Vegans should have thick skin (with help by vitamins?), as there are always people who try to make us fall. None of us are perfect, so we can’t all fill in spaces others often put us in. This is a reality. That doesn’t mean that plant-eaters are worthless, not at all. We are different because we believe in different things and we also – eat and hopefully live differently.
Being vegan is weird!
People are usually afraid of what they do not know and have lots of prejudice on what is strange to them. We all are supposed to be normal, to fit into these normal societal norms. But some like we, just can’t human properly and do not fit in most of the times. We are different in some ways. As vegans, we constantly have to justify why we are vegans. We do not question meat-eaters or criticize their meals. Oftentimes we find their fingers or forks reaching to our vegan plates. Why? Curiosity? Interest? Judgment? Health reasons?
What is really healthy?
Is being a vegan is healthy? Anything is healthy if you believe it is healthy, you see it all comes down on you. Plant foods are known to be filled with vitamins, but vegans most likely need to take some extra. So do the meat-eaters. Eating fried potatoes only may be healthy in some opinions or chewing steaks every night, as well. When we were omnivores and pescatarians, we didn’t think of the many aspects of a balanced diet. What was that anyway?
Balanced diet means:
- foremost enjoying an abundance of freshly prepared vegetables
- eating very little processed foods
- getting enough vitamins with your meals
- cooking your own meals from scratch
- using local, seasonal, organic foods and supporting small farms
- not to forget, eating slowly and mindfully
Meat-eater vs. vegan
We weren’t fully committed to eating a balanced diet of the above until recent years. The change came with becoming a vegan – when we woke up! For somebody, I may be really asleep for not eating animal products. This is a subject on its own, but it has been getting kind of tiring to justify my veganism so often. I came across a list online by somebody who introduced their 10 reasons why I will never be a vegan.
1. A vegan diet never sustained any traditional culture
Oh, who cares? Really. We weren’t in a situation like we are at the moment from the environmental point of view. There weren’t many options to be vegans ages ago. There are plenty of options today, so veganism could sustain traditional cultures at ease. It is safe that humans have shifted from
2. Vegan diets do not provide fat-soluble vitamins A, D, K2, B12, and iron (I put the vitamin reasons all together into one reason)
If you are a meat-eater, do you even think of vitamins A and D? How much you get them? Do you get them at all? Where you get them, etc? I think not. I didn’t and I know many people who don’t. If anything at all veganism has really made me think of where to get all the vitamins I need. I am probably not getting enough vitamins. Present food production is very synthesized and full of antibiotics.
Vitamin A
Type of Vitamin A is found only in animal foods. Plants are abundant in vitamin A precursors such as beta-carotene. You can easily meet your vitamin A requirement for the day by drinking a one-quarter cup of carrot juice or eating a cup of kale or spinach. We add this daily to our smoothies.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D3 is made from the
Vitamin K
By Jack Norris, vegans who eat leafy green vegetables with some added oil on a daily basis should receive more than adequate vitamin K. This is needed for proper blood clotting and bone health. Making sure you get plenty of vitamin K through leafy green vegetables is the best plan. Check more about vitamin K here.
B12
Vitamin B12 is generally found in all animal-derived foods, except honey. This is there for the same reason – it has been added to the animal feed. There is no reliable B12 in plant foods, including tempeh, seaweeds, and organic produce. Luckily, vitamin B12 is made by bacteria and doesn’t need to be obtained from animal products. It’s fairly easy for most vegans to obtain a source of vitamin B12 in liquid or dry form. Taking B12 on a regular basis will provide you with a B12 status equal to or superior to people who rely on animal products for B12. It protects the nervous system and without it, permanent damage can result. Therefore this is a must for every vegan to introduce to their diet. It is not complicated and it is not expensive. More about B12 here.
If you’re healthy and eat a varied vegan diet, you don’t need to worry about iron as it’s plentiful in a vegan diet. However, some people have trouble absorbing plant iron. If you think your iron stores might be low, you can increase iron absorption by:
Iron
- Adding a source of vitamin C at meals
- Avoiding tea and coffee at meals.
- Increasing legume (peanuts, beans, lentils, peas) intake.
- Cooking foods (especially water-based acidic foods like tomato sauce) in cast iron skillets.
- Avoiding calcium supplements with meals.
The major functions of iron are:
- Energy production
- Oxygen transport via the hemoglobin of red blood cells.
- Oxygen transport to the muscles via myoglobin.
- Part of the enzyme NADH dehydrogenase in the electron transport chain that produces ATP.
- Immunity – iron has pro-oxidation properties used by the immune system to destroy bacteria
- DNA synthesis
It’s important for any vegan with iron deficiency to take care of it because, during iron deficiency, the body has a tendency to absorb too much manganese.
3. Vegan diets often rely heavily on soy
Not really. Soy makes it easier for people to go from eating meat to eating another kind of meat, a plant-based kind. We, at CHP hardly ever eat soy. Mostly, when we eat out in restaurants, as it is not a staple food product to cook at home. I guess by now everybody has heard that your hormones go crazy when you eat soy. Again, there are many articles that support this and many that do not. The choice is yours.
4. Ethical omnivorism supports a healthy planet
It is a known fact, that it is not a common practice to consume or buy sustainably-raised animal products from small and local producers. Most meat you can see on the stores are a result of mass production and unfortunately $1 hamburgers have a place in an omnivore world. Companies often produce too much meat for the grocery stores and the bulk of it gets trashed due to its short shelf life.
5. Real food > Fake food
Vegans are smart to create the products they miss eating. There is a variety to choose from, which is all plant-based: cheese, milk, meat, etc. Processed foods usually include stabilizers, gums, thickeners, and highly processed protein extracts. Gluten-free products include lots of artificial ingredients, which may not give you gluten, but a whole variety of other unhealthy stuff. Instead of losing weight, they make people gain weight. All produced foods are not good for you vegan or non-vegan, so you should avoid those and make as much as you can from scratch. On 2018 there are many options to be a smart and healthy vegan.
For example, Earth Balance, a non-dairy butter often used in vegan diets is made of: Palm fruit oil, canola oil, safflower oil, flax oil, olive oil, salt, natural flavor, pea protein, sunflower lecithin, lactic acid, annatto color, which doesn’t sound so exciting to eat, isn’t it?
That doesn’t really make you want to consume a product like that, right?
6. Vegan isn’t the answer to autoimmune disease
Is eating meat, though? To which diseases eating meat it is an answer?
7. You must take life to have life
Yes, animals die when even vegan products are produced, but this is more sort of natural choice than a relentless everyday mass killing.
Plants are known to respond to human emotions and being alive, but without nervous systems, with what it is possible to feel a variety of emotions, you can’t compare plants to animals!
8. Animal fats offer unique nutrients
You probably have heard that flax seeds, walnuts, hemp seeds, and chia seeds are all excellent sources of omega-3? That may be true, but these plant sources provide a form of omega-3 that is not well absorbed by the body. The O-3 in plant sources, such as flaxseed and walnuts, is called ALA. ALA must be converted to EPA or DHA in the body to be useable. Unfortunately, the conversion between ALA and EPA/ DHA is extremely low. One study showed that women convert about 21% of ALA to EPA and 9% to DHA. The conversion rates for men are even lower.
Why nobody brings any comparisons of how much and how often you have to eat meat to get all the goodies into your body, which are listed in this list enough for somebody not to go vegan?
Conclusion
It all comes down to you and your tolerance really, as people can and will argue what is best for everybody, some say omnivores are right and some say veganism is the whole truth.
If you dislike the killing of animals and have a higher level of compassion, then be vegan and enjoy being one. If you do not care about participating in the killing of the animals and you think that being all-eater is better for your health, then also, do it.
You are the one, who is making a decision and we can just listen and read an array of opinions every day. Whatever you are eating, do not forget to take your vitamins.
The original article of “10 reasons why I’ll never be a vegan” can be found here.
Being vegetarian before vegan is unnecessary
Being vegetarian? How come I wasn’t aware of the word vegan?
As a teenager, I worked at a grocery store near my house and I was a cashier. I remember being at the first belt near the door, the worst position when it was winter. There, at the shortest belt, I would cash out customers with 1 to 8 items. Guess how many of those 1 to 8 items were meat? Probably just half the time and yet carved in my brain is the nightmare of scanning meat products, especially raw flesh which would often be cold and leak through the thin plastic wrapping unto my clean belt.
My face is expressive so I couldn’t hide my disgust. I would disapear from view for a second (wishing to disappear from there) as I grabed the spray bottle and tissue in the lower cupboard under the cash register all the while screaming internally, and wipe the belt clean before serving the next customer. I was a fast scanner, so the disruption of my work was probably evident but forgiving. It was in those moments that I one, wanted another job, and two wanted to never see or touch meat again. It was awful…
Vegetarianism – here I come!
In the summer of 2006, I graduated from Highschool. Before starting University in the fall, I went camping as a counsellor. Our meals are prepared for us to meet our specified dietary needs. It was there that I decided I was a vegetarian. I was away from home, a high school graduate and nearly a first-year uni student, so WHY NOT?!
When I returned home, I didn’t have the same ease to choose vegetarian because there was no such thing in an African household. I began to cool for myself. Of course, my parents were shaken and worried that I didn’t eat meat which was a cultural necessity with most meals. My mom tried to tell me to eat it and failed so she enlisted my calm Dad to do the job. He told me it would be my last day being vegetarian and I was calm and silent. I was vegetarian for 10 years.
Learning about my health
Years earlier, the doctor confirmed that I was lactose intolerance so I stopped drinking milk, although sometimes I would chance it with ice cream… I know, I know… I went through a period of buying lactase enzymes to help me digest milk products. They were expensive and I hated standing in the aisle reading all the labels, trying to get the most out of my money and so I stopped buying them and accepted my digestive intolerance.
I enjoy researching different topics so vegetarianism was exciting. I looked up what the body needs and substitutes for my favourite foods. Still, I ate pasta, rice, and noodles, starches that turn to sugar once digested. I enjoyed beans as it was a part of my cultural cuisine and I ate vegetables too. My mom would buy many vegetables and put me in charge of eating them so they wouldn’t go to waste (sometimes I failed).
Beans make me
Hello, world – I am vegan!
I became vegan in 2016 and although in the past I was envious of those who could carelessly eat creamy cakes and sweets, I had no temptation being day-dreaming for a split second about a carefree reality. I wanted my own vegan version and I have become somewhat of a seasoned baker since being vegan.
Why did it take me so long to make the leap to veganism?
Like my wife, I also thought being vegan would be much harder and limit my options even more. I say often that I was about 98% vegan
I never imagined I’d be married to another vegetarian, let alone vegan. We were both vegetarians when we met so we never had an issue of where to eat, I would pack us a plant-based meal and we’d be out and about!
Being vegan has blessed me in many ways. First, I am open to more vegetables and foods. I never run out of inspiration to create new meals because of the lovely vegan/plant-based community. Secondly, I am more creative with food. I eat colourfully and it’s tamed my sweet tooth. Lastly, it made me question other areas of my life that I wasn’t being so conscious about such as food waste and plastic craze. Even the products that I used reflect my lifestyle. I actually started wearing my natural hair before being vegan. The natural beauty from within shines out!
Current goals?
I am working on getting my water intake up again! And regularly exercise as my dopamine instead of social media and sweets!
Read more on veganism and plant-based living:
What is Being Vegan All About?
Let’s chat: What’s your vegn story? How did you make the leap?
Berlin Vegan Summerfest & The Official Animal Rights March Berlin 2019
To be precise, this weekend was an amazing experience!!!!!!!!! All things that matter to a vegan came beautifully together during Berlin Vegan Summerfest!
Day 1: inspiring lecture, AFTW and burger time
Being our first vegan festival outside of Estonia, where we attended the Tallinn Vegan Fair in October of 2015 and July 2019 at Tallinn Vegfest, it was a welcomed third experience. Berlin Vegan Summerfest was booming with countless conscious organizations spreading awareness. I have to mention Pro Veg, who organized the festival. The annual festival was full of businesses selling countless vegan products, from cheese, never-ending handouts of Made with LUVE ice-cream bars, and Palmyra, Nature’s Delights which offers the freshest and best dates in town (dates better than Tinder dates!) and of course we can’t forget about the RESTAURANTS! We were constantly salivating!
Inspired by That Vegan Couple
On Saturday afternoon, we scurried out in time to catch the last of the English lectures, the last being by That Vegan Couple. They are Australian activists whose videos I’ve seen on YouTube. At the end of their lecture, they said that Anonymous for the Voiceless is holding their demonstration in an hour. Imagine a group of wonderful vegan activists with the goal to educate the public at a vegan fair!
As we waited for the much anticipated demonstration, we approached one half of That Vegan Couple for a chat. She shared that they are on a vegan activism tour, and even visited Toronto! Unfortuntely, they gave a similar lecture in my home-city, but it was not received there with the same energy as it was Berlin. My excuse was that awareness in Toronto is already strong. Check out our stories on Instagram to hear a snippet of the lecture, which was impactful.
Anonymous for the Voiceless – our new calling
In our mind, these are local celebrities for justice from AFTW, giving voice to many issues that to us contribute to the Can’t Human Properly feeling that founded this site. To my surprise, Anonymous were just ordinary people who had joined the movement. Their shirts presented proudly ”vegan, environment, and health” division. After seeing them in action, we wanted to become part of them.
Pep talk to anonymous participants:
Outreach should be positive. Your role is to leave people with a good impression, and inspiration to research more about the price of participation in animal agriculture and cruelty. Don’t loose your cool as the person will go home and recall the negative interaction. People will think badly of vegnism or the cause because it was lost on drama and ego. Oh, and if you are holding a laptop depicting animals in slaughter house, and a child approaches without an adult, put your hand up so we can help the child find their guardian. It’s not that we don’t want the child to see the truth, but not without their guardian around, who may choose to share with them or not.
Paraphrase of the part of the pep talk that I heard.
As you can see, it was an insightful time before they finally organized to form a cube. Some clever signs with slogans and others held a laptop playing slaughterhouse scenes. All had the classic white Anonymous masks, with black facial hair, a smile, and pink rosy cheeks, though some rosier than others.
We had a glimpse of the screens but did not watch the videos in full. As we are already vegans, it is not necessarily for us. As That Vegan Couple characterized it, it is meant for ‘not yet vegans’. Besides, I don’t do well when I expose myself to terror and horror. Kerly only needed a few seconds of the Earthlings trailers three years ago to shift from vegetarianism to veganism. Some hearts are open to veganism with glimpses of slaughter houses.
Trying some amazing vegan food
After all the free samples, there was not much room, but we set our eyes on Réger Burger food truck. We ordered two burgers, a classic for Kerly, and a Cheezy for me. All patties were black bean and seitan based, and although the texture was good, the patty was nothing without the delicious toppings. Sadly the cheese was unimpressive, as it was a bright yellow sauce that wasn’t so memorable. Still, we enjoyed it, topping off mouthfuls with swigs of cold Shanghai matte tea, which we were told by a passerby were geschenkt! (given for free).
As we ate and I chatted in Twi with a Ghanaian mother we had met in line, we started a conversation with two vegan girls sitting beside us, both German, but one is half American. The girls were so cool! We exchanged information, and honestly, meeting them changed the whole game of this weekend! We learned so much, which I’ll share in the next part of our weekend at Berlin Vegan Summerfest.
Day 2: The Official Animal Rights March 2019 Berlin
The second day was not planned. In fact, it wasn’t supposed to even happen! And yet, it had to, because it is was the best part of the whole Berlin Vegan Summerfest!!!! We were inspired to come to The Official Animal Rights March Berlin, because of our new two friends we met at the festival.
After getting to bed past 2 AM, we woke up at 10 AM. When my eyes opened, I knew that we had to go to the march. I don’t know how my mindset shifted so fast. The day before, I was still stuck on the idea that perhaps I shouldn’t join this march. I thought if people are fighting against something, then by universal law it is drawn to us. But actually, I found that attending this march was critical. We have reached a crisis point where our actions or inaction will destroy our species, countless others, and the planet whose skin we live on. I felt nothing but positive energy and bliss at the march, and I know that it came from a higher place. It was like it was meant to be, and was supported by the universe.
Joining the march!
Of course, we were a little too late to join the march, as we slept in and it took us an hour to get closer to the march’s start location. Luckily we had our new friends there on time and they shared their location on WhatsApp. So we were able to see in real-time, where they were and we caught the tail of the march in no time after exiting at Eberswalder station in Mitte.
At U Rosenthaler Platz, we all stopped in the center of the wide street, and participated in a mass ‘dying’, to signify the death of the many animals at the hands of slaughterhouses. We literally dropped down on the hot street and laid down on it. It was powerful! The sad drum beat made Kerly cry, while she was thinking of the animals. Of those who have lost their lives, who are in a bad situation or who are abused for human needs at the moment. I and some others wanted to document it, so sat down, but almost all catalysts laid there. Timelessness swept us, and finally, we stopped up and cheered so loudly that we probably woke up she of those
Some of the striking slogans at the march were:
Shout: THERE’S NO EXCUSE
Reply Shout: FOR ANIMAL ABUSE!
Shout: WHAT DO WE WANT?
Reply Shout: ANIMAL LIBERATION
Shout: WHEN DO WE WANT IT?
Reply shout: NOWWWWW!
&
GO VEGAN, GO VEGAN, GO!
We ended each chant with the cheering of course! So glad that the march took place at the same time when Berlin Vegan Summerfest – joining more people for the cause!
Did I say it was hot? Cos the sun of ablaze on us, and we realized on the way home that we had not once felt the need to empty the ol’ bladder all day, till 9 PM when we reached home! Meanwhile, we had had a few liters of liquid.
We weren’t left to entertain ourselves with just our sweet voice, because there was live music, including drums. The march came to a nice halt behind Alexanderplatz, then the speeches began. The one I was totally there for, not that I wasn’t there for the other, but because it was in English, was by That Vegan Couple. They sounded like the day before but on STEROIDS, it was so POWERFUL! I realize now that the high energy of the march made the speech that much more impactful, and it gave me chills/goosebumps in the 32 C sun!
Important realizations this weekend
Vegans must do more form of direct action to read awareness. People are needed on the front lines and in supporting roles!
It is not enough to be vegan, otherwise, people trivialize it to mean simply what you eat.
Veganism is not a trend.
Veganism is not a personal choice #veganismisnotapersonalchoice
Connecting with other vegans is crucial because when you feel down about the journey, they will lift you up!
Find your vegan friends
After the march, we drank liters of water, indulged inf Made with LUVE ice-creams. Yeah, it was a hot day, so we both had about 10 sticks. The best surprise was a Taiwanese Vegan Street Food in the culinary section, which filled us fully. Though the portions looked small, they were filling and besides vegan, also gluten-free.
As we said earlier our two new friends from Nuremberg were really helpful for informing us about the cool things happening at the festival. One thing they pointed out was Speed Friendling. Which was basically speed dating, but for vegans and for friends. We had never participated in such an event, so we and other 14 people tried it out and it was fun! 45 minutes of talking and asking questions, definitely left our throat sore. But also, in the end, we had 10 people, who kind of stayed around waiting for something to happen.
Something really happened! We can now say that we have a group of vegan friends, and we have a WhatsApp group to prove it! We hope they stick around on the journey to awakening the planet! Trust that we will discuss our passion of giving voice to animals, the environment, and oppressions, over delicious vegan, thus cruelty-free food!
In the end, this is all you need some entertainment, good food, wonderful people and a cause, which makes you move. We found all that in Berlin Vegan Summerfest and we can soon start calling ourselves vegan activists!
How can you not have a fridge?!
Do we really need a fridge or it has become one of those commodity items in our households? Read here about our life without a fridge in a quite warm climate.
While looking for furniture for our new home, we were also looking to get a fridge. Our new kitchen didn’t come with one. We wanted just something small for our little needs. I almost got the fridge and was quite happy about it. But when I showed the ad to my friend asking for his help to pick it up, he said it was an old model and probably uses lots of electricity.
This got me thinking, do we really need a fridge? Google came to help and I came across a wonderful article at a very lovely webpage www.survivalsullivan.com. They had published a gorgeous article on How to live without a fridge. After finishing it – I was sold. Hahaaa, I am such an easy customer! Read below and see if these few points would work for you to start your own adventure. You can find the link of the whole article below.
Is it possible to live without a fridge?
Our major reason for going fridge-free was that it was a hassle to get one and we wanted trying out living green. Fridges suck up a lot of electricity, so we were open to using less electricity.
Remember I wrote about a change. The idea of having no fridge was nicely adding to the big picture of changing our habits and start saving some money. We were eagerly making this big step, a change and be different. I know we all are afraid of being different. But it doesn’t hurt to test the waters and get comfortable in your own skin and with your choices.
Going fridge free is super easy when you are vegan!
If you do not consume any animal products, which usually demand being stored in the fridge, you really do not need a fridge. Or if you are mostly eating fruits and vegetables, legumes, grains, condiments and as luck has it – none of those really have to be in the fridge. Keep in mind something when buying fruits and vegetables. Though the produce may not come from the fridge in the shopping hall, they most likely were kept in the fridge. It is easy to understand when touching the fruit/vegetable. If possible it is recommended to purchase those items, which weren’t refrigerated before.
NB! If you are not vegan, don’t worry Survival Sullivan has you still covered for making it a step closer becoming fridge-free!
Forgetting having a fridge if you have any of these:
*A cold room in the basement
*A root cellar
*Large 5-gallon buckets (get used ones from wine or grocery store) and place them in a hole in your yard; if the bucket has a lid and the food is underground, it will stay cooler
*A cooler or cooler bag
*A zeer pot or pot-in-pot refrigerator (one smaller clay or terracotta pot inside a larger pot and separated by a barrier of wet sand)
*The great outdoors, such as a backyard or balcony, which is obviously only an option for people who live in colder climates.
We are lucky to have a basement just below us. So it is easy to go there and store vegetables or whatever needs a cooler environment. Plus, it is great to also have a balcony, which I can already imagine, treats us well in the wintertime. Especially during the colder times, we can buy more products, which otherwise need refrigerating.
So how do you feel? Ready to make that big change? If not fully, then give yourself a month or two and see if you manage. As you can always get a fridge if you need.
Read Survival Sullivan’s article how to live without a fridge HERE.
*UPDATE! We survived the hot summer with a constant degree of 30 C and nothing we cooked went bad. All the food stored in the basement was edible. We are completely satisfied and definitely, we are not looking for a fridge in our life.
… A note from Eve:
When Kerly first brought up the idea of living without a fridge, I was more supportive than even I thought I would be. Again, after living on so little for months, I was simply happy to have a beautiful roof over our heads. Living minimally makes sense in the mind and heart too. It feels good to choose to live on less. I was ready for the challenge, therefore positive.
The biggest blessing and an important factor in the no fridge equation is our cold room located in the basement. As Kerly stated, living on the first floor is a huge blessing because we care able to have immediate access. At first, I enjoyed taking a backseat while Kerly went up and down with food, but I soon started going myself.
She also made it super homey, by cleaning and organizing this massive storage/fridge of ours. Adding a new LED light made it even more comfortable. It’s now beautiful, bright when we need to see everything, and most of all, it helps us live happily fridge-free!