IT’S PROBABLY fair to say that most of us don’t give much thought to where  our food comes from.

Charlotte Coleman, on the other hand, thinks about everything she eats and  has made a conscious decision to avoid anything with animal origins.

She won’t wear silk, leather or wool, all her grooming products are free from  animal ingredients and have not been tested on animals and she eats only fruit  or vegetable-based foods – no dairy, eggs or meat.

It is a lifestyle choice that the mother-of-five and psychology lecturer  admits has been far from easy. But it’s one that is attracting a growing number  of adherents.

The Animal Aid charity estimates that there are at least 600,000  vegans in the UK, maybe up to one million. In 1993 there were only 100,000.It is a lifestyle choice that the mother-of-five and psychology lecturer admits  has been far from easy. But it’s one that is attracting a growing number of  adherents. The Animal Aid charity estimates that there are at least 600,000  vegans in the UK, maybe up to one million. In 1993 there were only 100,000.

“It’s not an easy change to make,” says Charlotte, 41, from Clayton West. “You  have to learn about it and you realise that there are a lot of things you take  for granted that you can no longer have.”

A vegetarian from the age of 12, the young Charlotte had an aversion to meat  but continued to eat eggs and dairy products.

“Vegetarians won’t consume things that are dead but there is death in the  process of getting products like milk and cheese – it’s just that you choose to  ignore it,” she explained.

However, there came a point a decade ago when Charlotte felt she could no  longer ignore the ‘abuses’ of the dairy and egg industries and decided to  gradually adopt a vegan lifestyle.

“I had wanted to make my ideals a reality for a long time” she said. “I  wanted to do more.”

Today Charlotte is living proof that a vegan diet is both healthy and  sustaining. She is a marathon runner – recently completing the Dublin marathon – and says she has never felt better.

With a full-time role at the University of Sheffield, a part-time job  tutoring for the Open University, a large family and charity work for Animal Aid – she gives lectures in schools – she’s certainly busy.

She said: “People ask me how I do it all, but I feel healthier than I have  ever been and have so much energy. I’m sure it’s my diet.”

Sourcing vegan foods has been her biggest problem.

“You have to do it gradually or you will find it difficult and probably give  up,” she said.

Label checking has become a way of life as dairy and meat products can find  their way into the most innocent of foods.

“A lot of sweets have gelatine in them (made from carcasses), like  marshmallows,”she said. “I used to love them. And even vegetarians who eat  cheese don’t realise that there are meat by-products (rennet from calves’ stomachs) in cheese.

Courtesy of The Huddersfield Daily Examiner