Having a compassionate Christmas is easy!
Christmas is wonderful but it’s important to bear in mind that hand in hand with our pleasure and excitement comes this favourite holiday’s fair share of suffering and cruelty. It’s not just turkeys which suffer (10 million are killed in the UK for Christmas dinners alone) but thinking about animal cruelty extends to other animals, animal products and animal by-products.
This means thinking not only about a meat-free Christmas dinner, but also alternatives to dairy, fish, eggs and even honey, plus of course, considering the amount of beauty, home and clothing products that we buy for presents every year, the ethical and environmental considerations behind those.
Animal by-products are used in so many items from soap, makeup, skincare and beauty products, to household cleaning products and also in clothing in the form of wool, leather, silk and even as far as the glue in shoes! A vegan way of life is often viewed as being difficult to adhere to and rather extreme, but one thing we at buyOrganics believe in, is making as many of our selected items available to buy online that vegans can use as well as everyone else!
Whilst a complete change to veganism at this late stage before Christmas might be just a little too dramatic, there are some great ways to cut down on the cruelty this Christmas by choosing certain products and swapping some items for cruelty-free!
If the idea of a typical nut roast puts you off (although you can jazz it up with a fabulous Mushroom & Brandy Sauce!), other meat-free Christmas lunch ideas include Kidney Bean Kievs, a Festive Layered Pie, Tempeh and Mixed Nut Plait or Moroccan Pumpkin Couscous. Accompanied with a Brussels Sprouts & Leek Puree, Sweet Potatoes with Coconut and Cranberry Glazed Cabbage, and suddenly a few slices of turkey covered in gravy starts looking really boring indeed!
Desserts need not be a problem either; Christmas Cakes and Puddings can easily be made without animal products at all, swapping honey for molasses or agave nectar, and suet for breadcrumbs or vegetable suet, and soya milk giving a lovely creamy consistency which actually surpasses milk. Dairy free custards, creams and yogurts are all readily available – try whisking brandy into soya cream for a delicious festive alternative to brandy butter… all the taste but much lower in artery-clogging saturated fats and in fact providing protein and vitamins such as zinc into the bargain (that’s the soya not the brandy, by the way!)
Gorgeous looks can come at a cost – for the animal kingdom. As well as avoiding products actually tested on animals, which are luckily now on the decrease makeup and beauty products are frequently chock full of animal by-products – mascara for example can contain guano (bird or bat faeces!) and tallow (animal fat), perfumes can contain castor from animal genitals, and another animal fat, glycerin, is often used in soaps, shampoos and cosmetics. Lanolin is also widely used in many beauty products, and as well as being from wool fat, is often quite allergenic to sensitive people. Gelatin (from animal bones) is often an ingredient in face masks and other beauty preparations, as well as uric acid (wee wee!). Do you really want all this stuff on your face, mouth and your skin?
Beautiful, professional quality performance natural makeup and organic skincare products are available to buy and wear – our particular favourites are the fabulous Inika range and also Nvey Eco – both are vegan containing no animal products or by-products, and Nvey Eco is also organic!
Organic skincare products we love include Spiezia’s bath soaps, Ecosoapia’s lovely range of scented hand and body washes, Green People kids’ and adult organic toothpastes, and Earthbound Organics mint foot cream…. to mention just a few!
And to clean up the post-Christmas mess, using Bio-D environmentally friendly cleaning products is the best option – not tested on any bunnies, and not containing any animal ingredients (yes! animal blood, fat and other nasty sounding by-products all end up in regular cleaning products!). Not only that, but Bio-D package everything in eco-friendly materials, so you can have a clean conscience as well as a clean house!
So spare a thought for animals and the environment this Christmas, it’s simple, fun and really worthwhile to be compassionate to everyone and everything!
By Lisa Jackson
