Three Best Plant-Based Milk Alternatives

It's not natural to drink the breast milk of another species. 

So naturally questions arose... I can't survive without a cup of tea or coffee, what am I supposed to do now?. Yes I want to turn Vegan but I like milk coffee, can you suggest an alternative?. I have turned vegan a week ago and now I am missing my tea, can you help me out of this? - YES.

Plant-Based Milk Alternatives

People need not depend upon the traditional dairy milk, as there are various plant-based milk options available and can be easily prepared at home. Plant-based milks are nutritious and tasty at the same time. People opt this world-wide considering animal welfare and environmental impact. A litre of cow's milk uses around 1050 litres of water to produce, where as a litre of soy milk uses around 297 litres of water to produce. Also, the greenhouse gas emission in the production of plant based milk is much lower than dairy milk. Since, it's clear that we have all good reasons to switch to plant-based milk, we will learn to prepare this easy at home.

Oat Milk - High fibre, low fat

Oat milk is light, creamy, nutritious and tasty. The high fibre content can help to regulate digestion. It takes hardly 10 to 15 minutes to prepare this perfect milk at home. Soak four cups of oats for 1 litre milk, tip - soak it in hot water to avoid the powdery texture. Take all the ingredients, oats, water, and (optional) any sweetener either two dates or vanilla essence will do, and blend for not more than half a minute. Double strain the mixture to avoid any sediments. Transfer the oat milk to a sealed container and store it in the fridge. 

 

Almond Milk - Highly nutritious, fewer calories

Almond milk is mild and nutty taste. It is a rich source of calcium and contains antioxidants that can have a protective effect against cancer and heart disease. All you need to prepare this milk is just almonds and water. Sweeteners like dates, maple syrup, sugar are optional. Soak one cup of almonds overnight, which makes the almonds soft and easier to peel and blend. Blend almonds and water together and double strain the milk. Fresh almond milk ready, and can be used for coffee as well. 

Soy Milk - A good source of protein and calcium

Soy milk is inexpensive and has a similar texture to cow's milk. Soy milk is also nutritionally similar to cow's milk. It contains isoflavones and phytosterols that can lower the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease. You just need two ingredients to prepare soy milk at home. Soak the soybeans in water overnight. Drain the soybeans and remove the outer skins. Blend both soybeans and water until it's smooth. Strain the mixture using a cheesecloth or a napkin. Soy is a legume and can't be eaten raw. Pour the milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stir occasionally and cook for about 20 minutes. Here's soy milk ready to be used in tea, coffee, to bake the cake. 

Try these at home and please do comment you opinion below. Thank you.

Why Being a Vegetarian is not enough?

If your main motto behind being a vegetarian is Peace and Non-Violence then, your efforts are not enough. If killing animals is immoral according to you, give it a thought how rape, genetically modifying, restraining the freedom is moral? These are equally immoral. As a vegetarian, people use all dairy products. Milk, ice cream, cheese, butter are being consumed by humans from centuries. Let's get into the details today, how dairy products used in diet is an outcome of immoral practices. 

Dairy Products

Artificial Insemination

Like any human, cows produce milk only when they give birth to young. But the demand for the milk is from humans who can pay for the milk, a good opportunity to make this as a business. But there is a problem cows can give milk only when they give birth, so the first task is to artificially or forcefully impregnate the cow against her will. Logically if this happens to human it is called rape, since it is happening to animals, we call it artificial insemination and it does not look that bad now. 60 percent of dairy cows in U.S. are artificially inseminated. Indian Government in budget 2020 announced to increase the coverage of artificial insemination from 30 percent to 70 percent to increase milk production.

Departing Love

The cow like any humans carries the baby in her stomach for nine months and a strong bond forms between the mother and her baby, like any other mother. If the mother nourishes her baby with milk, what about the demand from humans, so now comes the second task the baby will be taken away from the mother within first three days and the mother will never see her baby again.

Male Calves

The future of the calf depends upon its gender here. If it is a male calf, he will be sold to veal industry. Guess why? apparently veal is more expensive than beef because of its low fat content. Here in veal industry, the calves freedom is restrained by keeping them in tiny wooden or metal boxes, to keep their flesh tender. They have to spend few miserable months here before they are killed. The worst part of this reality is, these calves are not considered as babies but as byproducts from the dairy industry. So clearly, vegetarian's beliefs of them not being part of killing is just cancelled out.

Female Calves

Unfortunately the female calves has to follow her mothers' footsteps. The dairy industry will wait for 15 long months to impregnate this baby, so she will be two years old when she first delivers her baby. The cycle continues. This new mother will be now considered as a new milk machine and will be milked heavily. She will be impregnated, tortured every year until she can no longer produce milk. A cow can live for around 20 years but in dairy industry her life span will be for around 5 to 6 years and then she will be sent to slaughter house.

The deadly dairies also include

These cows are injected with oxytocin, an illegal drug to produce unnaturally large quantities of milk, this results in severe stomach cramps as though they were in labor. These cows will be tied up with short chains to consume less space, in most countries the movement is restrained by rope tied through her nose. Most of these cows suffer skin infections due to untidy environment surrounded by her own excretion. An investigation in India's dairy industries reveals the miserable conditions that cows live in. 

Conclusion

The milk in our glasses is in reality produced by a mother to nourish her baby. Since we demand for dairy products cows and buffaloes go through the cruel treatment. This becomes our moral obligation to understand the reality and stop consuming dairy products. Because, using animals for any reason is questionable and unacceptable and one must abstain from doing so.

What is Veganism? Lifestyle of a Vegan

What is Veganism? 

Veganism is a way of living without exploiting any sentient beings on the very earth, which happens to be the home of not just humans but also many other species. Due to various reasons, mankind has always kept themselves as superiors and exploited the nature. This exploitation is extreme when it comes to animals. Animals are sentient beings, who also feels love, fear, anger, sadness and pain just like us we humans, but unfortunately humans see this sentient nature only in pet animals (dogs and cats) and wild animals ( lions and tigers). But none of us have ever asked ourselves how would a chicken feel when it is kept in cage. Alas, google chicken and you find the food recipes and restaurants nearby but not the chicken which happens to be a bird.

Veganism allows these animals to live life without suffering due to human intervention. Any product which is an outcome of animal exploitation will be avoided in vegan lifestyle. From basics like Dairy products to luxuries like leather are an outcome of an unethical practices on animals and birds.

Easy Vegan Guide

To start with, don't consider veganism as cutting down on food products, but as many food options to explore.

1. Dairy - Dairy products are outcome of torture, rape, abuse and murder. Cows go through all these just for our morning coffee and double cheese pizza. You can select any plant-based milk instead like soy milk, oat milk, almond milk. So here, we have many substitutes for milk products. As I said, we gonna explore the food varieties.

2. Meat - Killing is a crime, but wait do we really consider killing as a crime. NO. When it comes to few animals we very conveniently skip this part as if they don't die to be on our plates. But the reality is, their lives are miserable in those cages and they never get to see the sun, moon, rain or the green trees. All they see is their food grains and eventually the Death. There's mock meat in almost every supermarket. I will be honest, they might not be as delicious as dead bird, but sure you will get to know new varieties as I Promised.
https://www.amazon.in/Urban-Platter-Jackfruit-Original-Plant-Based/dp/B083PW27YS/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=mock+meat&qid=1587662904&s=grocery&sr=1-2-catcorr

3. Silk, Fur, leather - Do you know animals are skinned alive for leather and fur, do you know silk worms are boiled in hot water when they are very much alive? - YES. Do they have to die for our mere fashion sense? - NO. There are variety of artificial silk and leather available in the market and it's not necessary to support violence when we are pretty developed to skip this exploitation.

Conclusion

Animals go through hell due to our lifestyles, tastes and preferences. Veganism shows us a way of life where we can opt not to support this cruelty towards animals and choose a more meaningful and ethical lifestyle. Here, I have suggested few tips to kick start a vegan lifestyle.