30 Day Blogging Challenge + My Story of Veganism
Double whammy! Looks like I created my blog just in the nick of time for National Blogging month. Well you know, I’m always up for a challenge if it’s worthwhile, and this one definitely is: the idea is to post every day, for 30 days. And so I begin!
And since it’s also World Vegan Day, I thought I would tell the story of why I became vegan. It is a very important part of my life, so it’s a story that for me is worth telling.
For a few years I had been fascinated (and still am) by nutrition and how our food affects us. Of course this originally stemmed from my struggles with weight, but quickly became a long term hobby. I find it amazing how some foods give us so much great things (nutrients, long term energy, vitality), while others give us short term ‘benefits’ (sweet taste, short-term energy) but take away so much more than they give. In all of my research, I had never stumbled into the issue of vegetarianism until last November. I had already given up milk from research on the negative health impacts of it on the system, so was drinking soy milk and really enjoying it. Soy milk varies drastically in taste between different brands, but I really enjoyed Vitasoy’s unsweetened version and Silk’s chocolate soy milk. For a bit more detail on the dairy issue, I bring you some great words by Kris Carr (the star of the great documentary Crazy Sexy Cancer):
Anyway, I’m reading a funny, fluff and fad, diet book right now and finding it to be pretty darn accurate, especially when it comes to the dairy devil. It’s called Skinny Bitch and we’ve all seen it in every store. I’m gonna water down their analogy on dairy (cause it’s wicked gross) but to me it was one of those AH HA moments.
So Thanksgiving is coming up, you may go home and visit your mom, when you arrive and need a snack will you latch on and suckle? EW!!!! When we look at nature do we see animals nursing beyond their youth? The answer is no. Also, do you see a gorilla milking a rabbit? A deer suckling a tiger? Nope. Breast milk of any kind is intended for the specific species and it is only for the early stages of life during the baby’s biggest growth spurt. Cow’s milk grows a 90 pound calf into a 2000 pound cow over the course of 2 years. And we wonder why we’re overweight!
Here’s a good factoid: We need the lactase enzyme to digest lactose but between the ages of 18 months and 4 years we lose 90-95% of that enzyme. So basically we are all pretty much lactose intolerant. But it’s MUCH bigger than that and it’s quite simple too. Dairy products are disease producing. High protein diets (dairy and animal meat) create a highly acidic state in the body (remember we’re all about the pH and alkalinity), dairy load us up with mucus, stops up our colons and creates an environment for cancer cells to thrive in.
But where will I get my calcium Kris? Dairy ain’t the place loves! Moo juice actually leaches calcium from your body. Check this out, the countries with the highest consumption of dairy also have soaring rates of osteoporosis. Are ya connecting the dots? Milk is also one of the most common causes of food allergies and congestion (mucus) and high cholesterol. Got milk? No thanks. I get my abundant amounts of calicum from leafy greens like kale, collards, cabbage, kelp, mustard greens, seaweeds, sesame seeds (the best source), chickpeas, broccoli, watercress, raw nuts and lots of other plant friends. No stress on the body, mind, colon or environment. How nice! … On more factoid and off ya go: Dr. T. Colin Campbell, professor emeritus of nutritional biochemistry at Cornell University (my guru) teaches that one of the biggest causes cancer is a diet that is higher than 10 percent animal protein! Americans eat way more than that. He estimates that “80% to 90% of all cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and other degenerative illness can be prevented, at least until very old age, simply by adopting a plant-based diet. WOW!
So I had given up dairy, and was just ready to look a little deeper into the whole ‘vegetarian’ thing I’d heard very little about. I knew a few people at the time who were vegan but they were not really close friends, and I hadn’t spoken to them much about the issues. For the health angle I thought that it might be an interesting area to look into - since I was busy and was just getting into podcasts, I began to listen to two: Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s Vegetarian Food for Thought, and Bob and Jenna’s Vegan Freak Radio. As soon as I heard Colleen’s amazing podcast - which is open-minded, fair, excellently written and well researched - I knew I had to listen carefully. She immediately caught me with her clarity and respect for animals. I began listening, and soon thought to myself, Well - you know I’m surprising myself with this but I think I really should become a vegetarian, it didn’t take much more listening before I had the famous ‘AHA!’ moment. This is the moment many vegans talk about - where everything comes into focus. All of the bits and pieces of seeds planted by research or friends or connections with animals suddenly get put together and with the truth, with the real knowledge of what is happening in the world completely changes your point of view. Suddenly I felt like the wool had been lifted out from in front of my eyes. Animals are really going through this every day? Eating meat is not healthy? How could I have been friends with some animals (cats, dogs) and eat others? How could I care for the lives of killer whales and not chickens or pigs? The more I learned, the more things fell into place. I began to see that the choice to not eat animals has impacts on improving my health, minimizing my ecological footprint on the planet and thus benefiting the environment, and allows me to not participate in the suffering of countless animals every day. I realized - Wow, I have to be vegan. Who knew?
So I began to prepare to make the change completely. My epiphany was around the beginning of December. I proceeded to do some serious researching about how to rethink my diet and lifestyle to healthfully eat a plant-based diet. I read plenty of books and scoured the net, built a community of websites for recipes and information. I announced it to my family in December as well, and finally made the full transition as of January 1st, right after Christmas. While Colleen’s podcast was a source of inspiration and information, the Vegan Freak Radio podcast became a way for me to feel connected to a wider community of vegans who all had the strength of conviction I felt.
So what has it been like, since January, to make this kind of change? It’s never been hard for me with food - in fact, it’s been a joy. I realized that I had never really liked cooking with meat and I started to get into cooking with a renewed vigour. My meals suddenly became much more colourful and vibrant with the introduction of many new types of fruits and vegetables. I enjoyed the adventure of trying new varieties and started to develop a deep love for plant foods. I had no cravings whatsoever, finding ways to enjoy the things I had as a meat eater easily within the vegan diet. I even found plenty of new delicious meals I had never expected.
There were two difficult things however that I have had to struggle with in being vegan. The first, is part of growing up, I think. I had been fairly self-centered and focused on my own life - goals, dreams, etc. All of a sudden I opened my eyes to the reality around me in a serious way - I realized that animals were suffering because of my actions and those of others, that the environment was also being affected by animal agriculture. All of a sudden I started to care seriously about something outside of me. I felt a new consciousness, being opened up to outside suffering, and a new sense of compassion I had never experienced before. I went through a really difficult period where I researched details about different animals - why they are intelligent and beautiful, what they go through every day for our meals, and what impact this is having on ecology and biodiversity. Steve Pavlina, a well known personal development blogger, experienced something similar. Opening yourself up like this, really listening to what is going on, is a very painful experience. There is a reason these things are not talked about openly in our society - they are difficult to accept. But in a way I really appreciated this experience - it felt, somehow, much more real than the haze I was living in. Like I was finally opening my eyes for the first time - while the decision to become vegan has come with an awareness that can be painful, it has also been a relief. Now that I knew what I was doing, I could finally just stop it completely. It was actually easy to stop, and now I have a colourful, healthy and non-violent diet that really nourishes me.
The other difficult thing has been ultimately the social aspects of being vegan. By abstaining from the animal industry completely, choosing to use no animal products, I am ultimately engaging in a kind of political activist statement. Because of what I believe, I am taking a stand to not eat animals. This comes with the inevitable challenge others feel when I do not eat the same way they do. My family has had a hard time adjusting, and they still struggle with this change and what it means to them. I try not to engage them in any difficult conversations, but there has been a lot of uncomfortable situations that have caused me a lot of pain. It has been an interesting learning experience on the whole as I see the reactions people have to my actions. They range from those who are supportive and curious, to those who are outwardly hostile and argumentative. Since I was never really an activist kind of personality and had never been interested previously in getting involved in any political issues, this whole role that I play is very new to me. No matter how difficult this is for me, I refuse to conform - I have to live what I believe, or as Gandhi has famously said, “Be the change” I wish to see in the world.
All of the things I have experienced have been amazingly worth it. It makes me so happy to know that I don’t eat animals and participate in their exploitation. I have experienced numerous health benefits as a result of my choices, and have eaten some of the most delicious food in my life as a result of great veg restaurants and a plethora of delicious recipes. My partner J has recently become vegan as well. Trust me, I never could have convinced him to - he is very stubborn and independent. Just as in my case, the knowledge of the health, environmental and animal issues surrounding my choice - as well as the delicious food that comes with it, was enough to help him make the decision. Knowledge, I have come to realize, is really power. Our mainstream media and government are not going to help you necessarily make these decisions or learn these truths - I have learned that it’s up to me to research and carefully consider the choices of how I live my life. In this way, I continue to find new ways to live ‘green’ and eat healthfully.
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