What’s Vegan?

"Vegans exclude flesh, fish, fowl, dairy products (animal milk, butter, cheese, yogurt, etc.), eggs, honey, animal gelatin, and all other foods of animal origin." -- AmericanVegan.org

To get quick and dramatic health benefits, cut out all animal proteins and fats. (In 1 1/2 months I lost 25 pounds, my blood cholesterol fell 20 points and I got off simvastatin!)

Reading labels, it’s hard to know every animal-derived ingredient. (Just to confuse us, milk thistle is an herb, not dairy.) Judge products by the cholesterol percentage in the nutritional information. If the cholesterol is more than zero, it has animal ingredients, because animals are the only source of cholesterol in processed foods. On ingredient lists, beyond the obvious, things to avoid are:
  • Albumen
  • Calcium stearate
  • Casein, and compound words such as "caseinate" -- a very common ingredient, even found in some soy cheese, so read carefully.
  • Gelatin
  • Ghee
  • Glycerides
  • Lactose, and any compound word with "lact" such as “lactulose”
  • Oleic acid
  • Pepsin
  • Rennet
  • Stearic acid
  • Whey in any form
  • Honey (optional for ethical, not health, reasons)

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