I watched cowspiracy and I want to be a vegan

[JudgeJudyPlease]

For about a week now, the only non-vegan thing in my diet as been a bit of milk in my tea. Any tips on giving that up. I used coconut and almond milk over cereal and it's gorgeous. I always pretty much avoided cheese and yoghurt for the fat/sugar anyway so that doesn't feel like a noticeable sacrifice. I was all but vegetarian anyway. It's just milk in tea. Help! the only type of substitute milk I haven't tried in tea yet is rice milk. That's my last line of defence.

Black tea? Very nice once you're used to it.

I am not keen on the idea of harming animals, but it isn't what is motivating me, it is the waste of land, or water, or production,the damage to the environment caused by the methane, I just don't want to be a part of this any more!

Anybody else out there trying to be a vegan for similar reasons??

Black tea stains your teeth terribly! But herbal tea I guess...

I must try it with rice milk later. I do have loads of herbal teas but I love a cup of builder's tea. Harder to give up than grated cheese, or meatballs or anything else.

Rice milk tolerable in tea - it's what I have! However, almond milk is more destructive to land than cows...

Don't do milk substitutes they are not always ethical, most come from intensive developing world agriculture sources that are not as well monitored as meat and dairy sources. Not to mention the air-miles and the pure amount of beans/nuts etc that you need to make "milk" which is often more than your body would naturally be able to consume. As a result many contain high levels of harmful toxins. Do your reseach first.

I agree, black tea.

how can almond milk be more destructive to land than cows? Just trying to figure out what the right thing to do is. Given that it's not necessary to give over loads of land to grain in order to feed the almond trees??

I'm toying with becoming vegan. For the moment I'm trying to be more conscious- is eggs from a local farm where all the chickens are outside, organic milk from a local farm etc. The thing I'm struggling with is vegan cleaning products and body washes etc (I don't wear makeup so cosmetics not an issue).

Watching this with interest.

Re almond milk - because almond production is concentrated to very small areas:
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2015/oct/21/almond-milk-quite-good-for-you-very-bad-for-the-planet

Black tea for me too. Koko in coffee is good though

Olivia I'm in a similar situation, trying out things from Lush and also planning a visit to get some Liz Earle cosmetics to try. Super drug is apparently good too.
Mainly use vinegar and bicarb for all household cleaning.

Thanks nan0second.

I presume rice milk is ok?!

Yes, but it contains high enough levels of arsenic that it is "not advised as a milk drink for under 5s!"
I have it in my tea anyway as it's the only thing that tastes ok but that's a bit horrifying...

If everyone in the developed world became vegan, it would just create a new global catastrophy. Where we now have cows we would need to devote the land to rows upon rows of almond or cashew trees, or rice fields. Just as much water would be used, if not more and the gases produced by factories processing hundreds of thousands if tones of nuts a day would be phenomenal. Species would be killed off or become extinct by the monoculture of beans and nut trees.

The real secret is eating what you can produce, but modern life has moved away from this. The second best people can do is eat local produce. If you can survive on a vegan diet from non-factory processed products grown within 100 miles then that's great. The reality is most people can't. The vegans I know in the UK eat a diet of fruits and vegetables that have been grown and flown around the world, many are grown at the expense of endangered species who threaren harvests or whose habitars or food source are killed off by intensive crop farming. Fine if they are vegan for health reasons but most claim to do it for the environment and because they love animals so much. The phrase what the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve comes to mind.

That is truly horrifying OP. I will share and I am certain that the few minutes watching it have impacted our family and how we eat going forward.

As other posters have pointed out there's more to the story in that anything over farmed has consequences.

I have chickens and land that we have always planned to use to produce our own food so I will cut back on meat in our diets and start to increase our self suffiency.

But I am now very aware of the beef and dairy consumption problem.

Oh and I will try harder to buy local. Even if it costs more ad it's an investment in my children and grandchildren.

I changed to green tea because I don't like black tea without milk.

Oat milk in tea is nice

Soya milk is the best in tea, rice milk is too watery

Dizzytomato is spot on about this - the way most livestock in the U.K. Is produced is very very different to the USA and most of the issues raised in Cowspiracy are not directly applicable to the situation here. If you want to be vegan - fine. But for goodness sake don't do it on environmental grounds.

Also I've found oat milk in tea / coffee the best and you can make it yourself easily from (local) oats.

I watched Cowspiracy and decided to become Vegan too. That lasted about a day, but I've dramatically cut down on the amount of meat and dairy I consume as a result which has to be a step in the right direction?