It sounds like a contradiction to call my blog 'The Clean Eating Teenage Vegan' if I still eat greek yogurt. I replaced milk with almond milk a long time ago, way before I even considered becoming a vegetarian, much less a vegan. I like the taste better, I used to hate the taste of milk. Then I slowly stopped eating other dairy products one week at a time- one week I stopped eating cottage cheese, the next I stopped eating string cheese. I replaced fat free shredded cheese with Daiya shredded 'cheese' (a 100% vegan cheese replacement, free of dairy (casein, whey, and lactose- most 'non-dairy' cheeses still have casein- making them not vegan, also free of soy, gluten, eggs, rice, peanuts, and tree nuts). I love all of my replacements, but for a while, that left non fat greek yogurt. I love greek yogurt, but I know it's right for me to give it up. First of all, the dairy farms are just as cruel as the meat farms (the egg farms are worse- they dispose of the male chicks- meaning throw out, or even grind through a machine) and it is important to me. Second, dairy has led to osteoperosis, and even cancer, and is honestly something I just don't want to be consuming. Third, and lastly, think about what the yogurt is made of. Milk. While so many people drink it, do they really think about what they're drinking? Infants drink their mothers milk to obtain nutrients and essentially 'fatten up'. The same goes for cows and their young- they have milk to give to their young and fatten up their young. The only reason we consume cows milk is because they product the most of it. But did you know that naturally, they only produce about 1/3 of what the dairy industry forces out of them? To me, I might as well drink my mother's breast milk. I don't know about you, but that doesn't roll in my family.
What about calcium? There are SO MANY vegan sources of calcium! I used to buy Oikos Organic Nonfat Greek Yogurt, thinking it was great for calcium, but then I found out that the 5.3 ounce cups only provide 15% of your daily calcium. I bought 3 new non dairy vegan yogurts today, and the Silk one that I bought had 30% of your daily calcium, plus an added 5 grams of protein and 1 gram of fiber. Yes, it does have quite a bit of sugar, 18 grams, but it is considered a treat for me. Another source of calcium is Luna bars, which provide 35% of your daily value.
Blue Diamond Refrigerated Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk provides 45% of your daily value, making it 90% for two 8 ounce glasses. I know that odds are, you aren't going to consume two glasses of milk by itself a day, but here's an example: when I make oatmeal, I use 1/2 cup of oats and 3/4 cup of almond milk. The almond milk provides around 34% of your daily calcium (33.75% if you want to get technical). Then I'll make a protein shake for a post-workout protein source (all natural vegan protein powder of course, I usually make my Violet, You're Turning Violet! shake) and I usually use 3/4 cup of almond milk for that, providing another 34%. Already, that's 68% of my daily value. I usually have something else with calcium, and all of the little percentages add up, but if you for some reason don't have any other calcium that day, if you have another 8 ounce glass, you have another 45%, making it 113% for the day, so you're covered! (You can use that 8 ounces of almond milk in a healthy hot chocolate with truvia and unsweetened baking cocoa, if you'd like ;)
The only thing that boggles my mind about full vegan is yogurt. I like yogurt. I could probably give it up for good, but if I can find a vegan replacement, I'd rather do that. I tried Amande, and almond milk yogurt, and didn't eat it. It was gross. Then I had O'Soy, which is okay, but I learnt that the live cultures come from a cow. Today, I bough Silk and Whole Soy & Co, both soy yogurt. I also bought one rice milk yogurt, Ricera. Hopefully I find one I like! Any recommendations? When did you go vegan?
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