Hark Vegans, There Are Hidden Animal Products Lurking About
Yes, vegans there are indeed animal products hidden in many of those alleged “vegan” products. Now, I won’t resort to name calling here, but just be aware that some of the products that you know to be “vegan” are more than questionably so. It seems these days that marketers are exceptionally good at their jobs. They have taken to being very strategic in using key catch phrases to get your attention. So, if you’re not careful they may even succeed at reeling you in.
I know this is terrible and you are just sick about not catching onto this scheme, but don’t beat yourself up too bad. We’ve all fallen prey to this ploy at one time or another. For instance, I don’t know how many times I’ve picked up an item that on its face looked vegan. I mean it had all the right words conspicuously shown on the package. Words like organic, all natural, vegetarian, and dairy-free drew me right in and in my haste I plopped the item into my basket and headed straight for check-out. Then after arriving home, unpacking my bags and upon closer examination, right there on the back of the package under the listed ingredients lay the truth. All types of animal remains stared back and taunted me.
So perhaps we’re being targeted or maybe its just the universe signaling for us to be more conscientious about what we’re buying. Whatever the reason, we have to stop being lazy about reading labels in order to avoid being tricked by wolves in vegetable clothing. We have to continuously educate ourselves as to what’s going on in the world of food to ensure that what we think we’re eating is in fact what we’re eating.
Of course, there are the well-known disguised animal ingredients like glucose, gelatin, lactose, whey, lard, and animal shortening. However, there are a host of others that are not so well-recognized and that are all well-disguised animal-derived ingredients such as natural flavorings, glycerides (can be plant or animal based), lecithin, pepsin, royal jelly, stearic acid, Vitamins A, B12, D1, D2 and D3, just to name a few. Believe it or not, this list is far from comprehensive, there is a laundry list of items.
Now I’m not telling you this to scare you into neurosis. I simply want to ensure that you are aware of what you’re eating and provide you with the opportunity to make an informed decision. Sure, it would be nearly impossible to avoid all of these ingredients. However, you can drastically cut down on your intake of them if you can identify them, which is essentially the point here. After all, knowledge is power.