I Want To Paint As The Birds Sing

Go deliciously dairy-free!

Milk

Soy milk – The range of soy milk is huge and brands differ markedly in taste, so shop around and if you find one you like, chances are there’s another you may like even more! There are also many flavoured soy milks that will satisfy any chocolate, vanilla, strawberry or iced coffee cravings. Our top picks are Vitasoy Soy Milky Lite, Sanitarium So Good, and Aldi’s Just Organic.

Soy-free milk – For those with soy allergies (or for those who simply prefer the taste) there’s also rice milk, oat milk or almond milk. These can often be found in the long-life milk aisle or the health food section of the supermarket.

Cheese

As with dairy-free milk, these ‘cheeses’ vary in taste among brands, but whether you like cheddar, mozzarella, smoked, or with chives you’ll find one to your liking. TryTofutti Slices, (best for ‘cheese’ burgers), Redwood’s Melting Cheezly (for all occasions), Vegusto Mild Aromatic, Tofutti Cream Cheese (plain, French Onion, Herb & Chive).

Chocolate

Most dark chocolate is dairy-free, such as Whittaker’s Dark and Lindt 70%. Supermarkets also stock Sweet William blocks, bars and cooking pieces in white and ‘milk’ chocolate (in the ‘health’ food aisle). Often in the same aisle are LEDA’s* amazing chocolate rum balls and biscuits akin to Tim Tams and Mint Slices. And in health or wholefood stores Bonvita, Cocolo, and Tropical Source have so many different varieties of chockie treats, with GoMaxGo providing the mouth-watering dairy-free versions of the most popular chocolate bars.

* Note: some LEDA products do contain palm oil.

Marg & Cream

You can’t go wrong with Nuttelex for your toast or in your cooking. It looks like margarine but has a buttery taste and is available in varieties including lite and olive.

For all things creamy, we suggest Soyatoo. With topping, cooking or whipped creamin both soy and rice options, it’s hard to go wrong. For sour cream, try Tofutti’s Sour Supreme.

Coconut cream or milk can add richness and flavour to dishes like laksa, curries and mushroom sauce. It can be used in savoury or sweet recipes - check out this amazingly simple and yummy recipe for caramel sauce made with coconut milk and dates - and nothing else!

Yoghurt

If you love yoghurt on your muesli or just as a snack, try Kingland Soy Yoghurt or Soy Life Yoghurt. Both come in a variety of flavours and are in the yoghurt section of the supermarket fridge. For a soy-free option, COYO coconut milk yogurt is delicious!

Ice Cream

For delicious dairy-free ice cream try Sanitarium So Good, a Tofutti Cutie, or a refreshingly sweet sorbet (Weis sorbets can be found in the ice cream section of the supermarket). COYO coconut milk ice cream comes in several amazing flavours - we can’t go past the chocolate.

Shopping Online
If you have trouble finding any of these items in your local supermarket, ask at the counter or try checking in organic or wholefood stores. Or you could order everything without even leaving your computer from stores like Vegan Online, Vegan Perfection orThe Cruelty Free Shop!

Dairy-Free Cooking
Keen to learn how to make easy dairy-free pancakes? What about a ‘cheese’ cake? Discover heaps of delicious dairy-free recipes at WhyVeg.com

What inspires you to shop and cook dairy-free? Is your favourite dairy-free product not yet listed here? Leave a comment!

3 months ago 24 notes Reblog

Why does eating meat contribute to global hunger?
Feeding grain to livestock for meat is a very inefficient way of producing food e.g. it takes 8kg of grain to produce 1kg of beef.
There is a shortage of grain for human consumption and global food prices have leapt by 57% between 2007-2008.
There is enough food in the world to feed the global population as 2007 showed a record global grain harvest of 2.1 billion tons. But the problem is a diminishing proportion of it is being turned into food as less than half of the total grown grain found its way to people’s plates. So where is it going? A large proportion is going towards biofuels as global production of biofuels in 2008 consumed almost 100 million tons of grains and 600-700 million tons of grains are used annually to feed animals to satisfy the world’s passion for meat.
The industrialised world exports grain to developing countries and imports the meat produced with it, and now some of the world’s poorest nations grain and land that could feed the hungry are instead being fed to animals who end up on the dinner plates of the rich e.g. 80% of starving children live in countries that actually have food surpluses but farmers use the surplus grain to feed livestock instead of people according to a study by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
A Bangladeshi family living off rice, beans, vegetables and fruit may live on an acre of land or less, while the average American, who consumes around 270 pounds of meat a year, needs 20 times that. And according to the British group Vegfam, a 10-acre farm can support 60 people growing soybeans, 24 people growing wheat, 10 people growing corn and only two producing cattle.
American companies are moving into South American countries and buying up land and grain so that they can raise animals to sell to meat-eaters in the States. These companies use the resources that should be used to feed the local people, so millions of people in South America and around the world are going hungry while animals are raised for food consume their grain and destroy their environment e.g. in Guatemala, 75% of children under the age of 5 are malnourished and yet the nation continues to produce and export 40 million pounds of meat to the U.S. every year.

Dr. Jean Mayer, Harvard nutritionist and former president of Tufts University, estimated that reducing meat production by just 10 percent in the U.S. would leave us with enough grain to feed some 60 million people.

Going vegan has other incalculable benefits as meat consumption and livestock farming has detrimental affects on the environment such as land degradation, water wastage, it is incredibly energy intensive, deforestation, air pollution, water pollution, and faecal contamination. Additionally, a vegan diet has health benefits as it completely reduces cholesterol from your diet, reduces saturated fat by 95 percent, and you take out all naturally comprised trans-fatty acids. You also do not digest the steroids, growth hormones, rBGH, antibiotics that are in meat and dairy, which have been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer, testicular cancer, colon cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. While swapping to organic meats does decrease your exposure to hormones and chemical toxins it cannot help prevent obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and many forms of cancer, nor will it cure the environmental contamination and resulting health hazards plaguing the production and consumption of animal foods. A plant-based diet that is naturally low in carcinogens, pathogens, and disease-causing fat and cholesterol is the best medicine for promoting a healthy life.
Can everybody have a vegan diet? No. But in western countries there are the resources to have a well-balanced vegan diet as the American Dietetic Association states, “[properly planned vegan diets] are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases….are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes.”Click here for a vegan starter kit.
References:http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/2011/10/07/the-u-s-now-uses-more-corn-for-fuel-than-for-feed/http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5539http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2008-07-22/news/27722437_1_food-crisis-biofuels-jacques-dioufhttp://www.worldwatch.org/node/488http://www.stopthehunger.com/http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/18/vegetarianism-save-planet-environmenthttp://www.alternet.org/story/12162http://www.adaptt.org/robbins.html http://life.gaiam.com/article/what-environmental-impact-eating-meat http://www.psr.org/chapters/oregon/safe-food/industrial-meat-system.htmlhttp://www.pcrm.org/health/diets/vegdiets/health-concerns-about-dairy-products http://www.pcrm.org/health/health-topics/organic-meats-are-not-health-foods

The dairy industry has put a lot of money and effort into convincing the public that dairy products are healthful and should be a part of a well-balaned diet. Here, are 8 reasons why dairy products should NOT be a part of your diet.1. Most dairies are inhumane.Most cows are kept in filthy conditions and made to produce 10 times more milk than they naturally would for years at a time. They are subjected to various antibiotics and growth hormones to increase the production of their milk and then these antibiotics and hormones end up in the milk produced. Some is removed, but not all, and what is left is consumed by you. 2. Humans are the only species to drink the milk of another species.We also drink milk and eat dairy products into adulthood and throughout our lives. The human digestive system is not made to easily digest milk once we are weaned and it is definitely not made to digest milk produced by another animal. 3. Milk is processed to the point where it is unrecognizable and is rendered to being basically white water.Pasteurization is the heating of the raw milk to extreme temperatures meant to destroy the pathogens and bacteria the milk contains. This process also destroys the enzymes, vitamins and proteins naturally found in the milk. These enzymes are necessary for nutrient absorption and without them the rest of the milk is basically useless.4. Milk from another species is difficult for humans to digest. Milk is meant for calves and not humans. The human digestive tract was not designed to digest and absorb the nutrients contained in the milk of another species. Continuing to consume milk into adulthood can result in digestive difficulties, intolerances, and allergies, which often result in inflammation and other conditions. 5 You may be lactose intolerant and not even realize it.
About 75% of the world is lactose intolerant to some degree and most don’t even know it. Lactose intolerance is the inability to digest the sugars naturally found in milk. These sugars are broken down by the enzyme lactase, which is produced in the small intestine. The severity of the symptoms of lactose intolerance depends on how much lactase, if any, your body is able to produce. Symptoms include bloating, stomach cramps, gas, diarrhea, vomiting, skin rash, fatigue and malabsorption. The symptoms are often mistaken for something else or thought to be “normal’. Food is not supposed to make you feel this way!
Some people of Northern European descent continue to produce lactase throughout their lives, but 25% are still lactose intolerant. You can develop lactose intolerance at any point in your life, but it is most commonly developed in adulthood. Lactase is produced by all mammals but usually the body stops producing lactase after weaning.
6. Pasteurization doesn’t remove everything.Even after pasteurization most milk is still tainted with some various antibiotics, hormones, steroids, pesticides and pus. These are just concentrated when the milk is turned into cheese. When you consume the milk, it is absorbed into your body. 7. Do you really want to ingest 59 bovine hormones?Milk contains 59 hormones naturally, one of which is a natural growth hormone called IGF-1 (Insulin Growth Factor One). IGF-1 causes rapid growth and is designed for the calf’s rapid growth after birth, so it can grow from a calf to a cow. The FDA recently approved the use of Bovine Growth Hormones (rBGH) by dairy farmers to increase milk production (from IGF-1). rBGH causes an increase in IGF-1 in the milk of commercial dairy cows, which means when you consume the milk that you also consume the extra IGF-1. As it’s function is to support rapid growth, IGF-1 has been found to promote the growth of tumors and the transformation of healthy breast cells to cancerous cells. Allowing the use of rBGH makes the milk genetically modified. All milk is genetically modified unless it is clearly labeled “no rBGH”. The use of rBGH is banned in both Canada and Europe, and because of this, neither country will sell American dairy products. 8. The consumption of milk has been linked to the development of the following diseases and conditions: Crohn’s DiseaseAsthmaEarly Sexual MaturationEarly Breast GrowthChronic Ear InfectionsDiabetesBreast CancerColon CancerLeukemiaADD or ADHDProstate CancerOsteoporosisArthritisSinusesAutoimmune DiseaseLung CancerChildhood AnemiaDiarrhea & Constipation
The next time you go to pour yourself a glass of milk or put that slice of cheese on your sandwich, stop and think about what where it came from and exactly what you are putting into your body. There are several alternatives to milk such as soy, almond or coconut milk to name a few. All have advantages and disadvantages but all are a better choice than dairy milk. That milk mustache used in all the dairy commercials isn’t such a wise choice. Just say ”Not” to milk.

For more info please visit the following sites:http://www.celestialhealing.net/milkpage.htmnotmilk.comhttp://www.rense.com/general26/milk.htmhttp://www.preventcancer.com/consumers/general/milk.htm

Many are born into the circus and spend their whole life in captivity. Confined to their enclosures, animals such as lions, monkeys, camels, elephants, donkeys, ponies and many more have their natural behaviours suppressed, instead exhibiting signs of anxiety, boredom, lethargy & loneliness.Stardust Circus, boasting lions, monkeys, ponies and more, is coming to Tempe this July and we intend to be there to speak out for the animals. Join Animal Liberation NSW for a peaceful protest aimed at educating the public about the plight of circus animals, raising awareness of these issues and spreading support for an end to animals in circuses! Although many councils have banned the use of animals for performance on public land, Rockdale City Council has not – which is why we would love to support a state-wide ban on all performing animals in circuses! CLICK HERE IF YOU CAN ATTEND SATURDAY JUNE 30th AT 12:00PMCLICK HERE IF YOU CAN ATTEND SATURDAY JUNE 30th AT 17:00PM CLICK HERE IF YOU CAN ATTEND SUNDAY JULY 1st AT 12:00PM
I’LL BE ATTENDING THE SATURDAY PROTEST AT 12PM HOPE TO SEE SOME ANIMAL LOVERS ON TUMBLR THERE! ^_^

Anyone living in Sydney going to the protests against Stardust Circus this coming weekend? ^_^

10 months ago 3 notes Reblog

The logic of this question is incredibly fallacious as it proposes the following:You can save x or y, not both.x is more important and their interests should be considered more than y.y is a lesser being and we have a right to exercise our interests over theirs.Therefore, we must save x because y is less important.So I will ask you a similar question: your mother and father are drowning, you can only save one, who would you choose? If you chose your mother, does that mean your father is a lesser, insignificant being? Do we have the right to exercise dominion over our fathers? Are their interests not in equal weight to our own and our mothers?To extend the act of letting one die to the notion that therefore we have the right to exploit them, industrialise them, place them in factory farms… is completely illogical. So omnivores if you are going to make a compelling argument about why humans are more significant beings than animals, at least make it consistent and logical.