Rescued Friends Animal Sanctuary

Why Plant-Based?

Welcome!

At Rescued Friends, education about living a plant-based lifestyle is just as important to us as the care we give to all the animals at the sanctuary.

This section provides education on vegan / plant-based nutrition, lifestyle, questions and answers, current research on health and nutrition, and animal welfare and opportunities to make a difference in the lives of animals.

So, you think you are ready to try to move towards a plant-based vegan lifestyle? Some people can make the switch overnight, but that’s the exception and not the rule. It can be overwhelming and daunting, and I know you are asking things like, “What on earth do I eat? How will my family/spouse/friends react? But I love cheese.”…and the list goes on. Believe me, I know, I’ve been there. The thing that's important to remember is that it’s a process, and you will always be discovering new things, but it's easier than you think. If you are concerned about getting all of your nutrients and have questions about deficiencies, please check out the book Vegan for Life, it literally answers every single nutrition question you could have and gives you solutions!

But for now, if you're ready to begin the process of transitioning to a vegan lifestyle, we have a suggestion and a challenge for you.

Our suggestion, determine why you want to transition. There are basically 3 reasons (maybe just one of them is your driving force, maybe a combination of them, or all three);

For the animals. For your health. For the planet.

Once you know your reason, and have seen the evidence to support that reason, you have those facts in your brain when you are faced with a food choice. That cheese may look delicious, but is that fleeting moment of pleasure in your mouth worth more than the suffering you saw in the dairy industry? Or is it worth having high cholesterol? Or is it worth the pollution of our water supply? For us, once we saw and knew the truth, there was no going back; we can’t ignore the truth or how it made us feel.

Next is our challenge:

Choose one day a week to commit to eating no animal products. If that seems way too out your realm of possibility right now, don’t fret! Try just one meal. And a trick we have learned that can make it easier, and help you not feel like you're depriving yourself of anything, is to add something before you take something away. Love cheese? (Don’t worry, we did too!) Before you take it out of your diet add something- our favorite is Kite Hill cream cheese style chive spread (on a baguette, it’s divine!) Don’t deprive yourself of ice cream if you love it, try So Delicious brand cashew milk ice cream (our favorite is cashew caramel cluster, think “dulce de leche” in vegan form!)

And that’s it. Find the reason(s) that most resonate with you, and then challenge yourself to drop animal products from one meal a day, one whole day, whatever works. This is not a contest, and if you fall off the wagon, it’s ok. Just forgive yourself and keep going.

In the following sections, we've compiled some resources to help you start your plant-based journey. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but simply meant to be a short introduction to guide you through the reasons for becoming plant-based.