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’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.

“Beers and wines have animal products in them as well so I find brands of vegan beer.”

Mealtimes can be tricky in the Coleman household as Charlotte’s husband, Garry, is also a vegan but only one of their children, aged between 23 and 18, has followed in their footsteps.

“They have all tried it at some point but never sustained it,” said Charlotte. “I am a believer that people should make their own choices.”

A typical day for Charlotte begins with a nutrient-rich breakfast – muesli with added nuts and seeds, soya milk and fruit. Lunch may be a salad with houmous or bread and vegetable soup. Dinner is often a curry with pulses or beans.

“People say that you can’t get everything you need from a vegan diet but I think my diet is healthier than most people’s,” Charlotte added. “I get my B vitamins from leafy green vegetables and my Omega 3 and 6s from flax seeds and linseeds.

“I love curries and they’re so easy for vegans.”

Indian food is also one of the easiest cuisines for vegans to eat when going out for a meal.

“There are lots of vegetarian curries,” she added. “I also like going to Italian restaurants because I can ask for a pizza with vegetable toppings and no cheese.”

However, eating out generally remains difficult as the vegetarian option offered in many restaurants is usually cheese or egg-based.

Charlotte says her decision to become a vegan is based on her personal feeling that using animals for meat and other products is essentially wrong. But it is also part of a wider environmental concern for the planet.

Although her journey to work is a lengthy one – two hours each way – she uses public transport to minimise her carbon footprint and walks wherever she can.

Charlotte has found charities such as Animal Aid to be a rich source of dietary information (www.veganrecipes.org.uk) and recipes.

She also looks out for the BUAV (anti-vivisection charity) leaping rabbit logo to assure herself that grooming products have not been tested on animals.

“Just about every food has a cruelty-free alternative so it’s entirely possible to go vegan and not miss your treats,” said Charlotte.

A vegan diet contains no animal products at all. Vegans argue that even milk and cheese, which involve no direct slaughter, are still unethical.

In order to produce milk a dairy cow must be impregnated. Female calves will follow their mother into the dairy herd while male calves are slaughtered soon after birth or sent to continental veal farms. Dairy cows are usually ‘worn out’ after three or four continuous calvings and sent to slaughter themselves.

Vegans do not eat eggs because for every female chick hatched and destined for egg production a similar number of male chicks are produced. These males are useless and every year around 30m of them are destroyed.