Why I'm still vegan
There's a little over a week left till Thanksgiving, and I'm feeling the heat regarding my diet choices at home. So I'm writing this little piece on why I'm vegan mostly to remind me why I am and also to let others know in case they were wondering.
Making the switch from vegetarian to vegan was HARD. For me. For others it's not. My dependency on things like milk, eggs, and cheese was one of the hardest things to break free from. There were days leading up to my switch when all I would eat was quesadillas, scrambled eggs, and chocolate milk. Why did I initially do it? Easy answer - because my girlfriend was. But why am I still doing it? Several reasons:
1. I eat better. No more of that cholesterol filled foods like mayo or other things like sour cream, cakes, pies, eggs, or cheese covered whatevers. Bring on the greens! Also, as a vegan I have to be more aware of what things I'm intaking, things I should have more of (B12), how much protein I've had, etc. It has definitely forced me to be more proactive about what I put in my mouth. I've clearly also lost weight, but not to the point where I feel too skinny. I feel perfectly fine about my weight right now and would love to maintain this weight, but just add a bit more muscle. I remember after becoming veggie I think my lowest weight was probably between 110-115, which looking back on it now is not good. Keeping steady about 10-15 pounds above that is a-ok with me.
2. My diet has more variety. Because I no longer have my go to staples, I'm forced to come up with new solutions to replace my favorites. This is a good thing because I've been pretty closed in my food experiences. I can't believe that before college I never ate Indian food, Middle Eastern food, hummus (?!?!), any sort of soy protein, or delved into other types of protein and high-fiber grains. And even though I still have those times when I just get stuck and only think of guacamole and rice, I know there's more out there for me to learn. Which is why, on Thanksgiving, I'm making stuff I've never made before and trying new things. Hummus is amazing and absolutely vegan. So is falafel. I can make vegan versions of my favorite Mexican foods - rice and beans - and I'm excited to learn options for other stuff like chile rellenos. Tempeh and seitan are baller all the times I've had them. I love greens even more and more. Soups are the shit. It's a good food discovery time.
3. I cook more. Being vegan has also forced me to cook more, and be semi-adequate at it. I remember the days when anything I touched would burn (mostly because I would touch it once then forget about it). These days I'm becoming more and more confident in my cooking (and baking!) skills and I'm excited to cook new menus. It's also super dope to have someone else who is vegan and cook vegan food with them. Kinda like you against the world -it's really fun.
4. I'm better than you. I would never ever say this to anyone's face, but I secretly think it. Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. It's true. So what I'm a pretentious asshole in my head? Who isn't sometimes? No, but really, it is kinda true, slightly. I mean, just think about it. We're programmed from birth to do certain things - respect gender norms, eat meat, go to church - and we don't even question it. AND when someone does question it, they get attacked! I can't tell you how many times I just ask to myself, why do these people feel so...angry, so needing to ridicule me for my choices? And I usually think it's because they feel threatened that their way of life, the only way they've been living, for the past....however many years... is being, gasp!, not followed! That someone is actually questioning why we eat meat or drink other animals' milk. Boo fucking hoo people. Why don't you try it for once instead of buying into this grotesque meat-loving...obsession that this country has. Or at least entertain the idea of what not eating meat or animal products means for you and for the world. What social constructs are you breaking down?
5. I spend less money on crappy, fattening fast food. I can't tell you how many places I've been to where I'm afraid to ask if something is vegan because they don't understand what the word means. Veganism is not in the mainstream, in the slightest. The fast-food chains and restaurants that dominate the food industry are highly meat-centric and it really difficult sometimes to eat out with people. The natural extension to this is that I don't eat out nearly as much as I used to, even less now that I'm vegan and can't have things like shakes or ice cream or cheese covered fries. This is a good thing; I now solely spend my money on gas and groceries. And yeah, it might be more expensive for me to shop for myself and buy harder to find items, but at least the food I'm making with it isn't full of grease or oil.
6. It's good for the environment. There was a quote going around for a bit that said a vegan driving a Hummer made less of a carbon footprint than a meat-eater on a bike. While that comparison was proven to be false, vegans still do have a significantly smaller carbon footprint than meat-eaters. The more I read up on the meat and animal products industry, the more veganism makes sense. We put aside thousands, probably millions of acres of land to feed animals that we're just going to kill and chop up and eat anyways. There are people who are dying of hunger in this country and instead of using land to grow crops to give these people something to eat, we're using up more of it to feed things that end up in our bellies after a long and complicated process. It's like we're double-wasting. Why don't we instead take what's on that land and eat it straight from the source instead of getting it second hand? True, there are arguments regarding what to do with the animals that are already out in the world if we eat their food, but that's getting ahead of game.
The way the world is going in terms of population and shortages in food supply is baaaad. We need to seriously consider how to sustain the world for the next 25-50 years, let alone the next hundred years.
7. The animals! The breeding of these animals should be slowed down, if not halted. Cows are being sucked dried for their milk. They are hooked up to those machines basically 24/7. There are videos online of factories grinding up live male chicks (yes, grinding them up, ALIVE) because they can't lay eggs and can't be used for meat. What a waste is that? It's absolutely ridiculous that we as humans allow these sorts of things to happen to our fellow earth creatures, but who cares as long as we get a big juicy steak or a nice glass of milk.
I can't tell you if I would still be vegan if this was...however many years ago when meat eating wasn't a huge entity or industry like it is today. To be honest, it's my number one motivating factor in this whole thing. The meat industry is fucked up and way too big now for own good. The way they do things are cruel, inhumane, wasteful, and just plain bad. I'm personally grappling with the issues of drinking milk or eating cheese from small farms or individual farms, but I think for right now, the vegan alternatives are just fine with me. I'll live, which is more than I can say for the millions of animals that have died to make this country fat and full.
Making the switch from vegetarian to vegan was HARD. For me. For others it's not. My dependency on things like milk, eggs, and cheese was one of the hardest things to break free from. There were days leading up to my switch when all I would eat was quesadillas, scrambled eggs, and chocolate milk. Why did I initially do it? Easy answer - because my girlfriend was. But why am I still doing it? Several reasons:
1. I eat better. No more of that cholesterol filled foods like mayo or other things like sour cream, cakes, pies, eggs, or cheese covered whatevers. Bring on the greens! Also, as a vegan I have to be more aware of what things I'm intaking, things I should have more of (B12), how much protein I've had, etc. It has definitely forced me to be more proactive about what I put in my mouth. I've clearly also lost weight, but not to the point where I feel too skinny. I feel perfectly fine about my weight right now and would love to maintain this weight, but just add a bit more muscle. I remember after becoming veggie I think my lowest weight was probably between 110-115, which looking back on it now is not good. Keeping steady about 10-15 pounds above that is a-ok with me.
2. My diet has more variety. Because I no longer have my go to staples, I'm forced to come up with new solutions to replace my favorites. This is a good thing because I've been pretty closed in my food experiences. I can't believe that before college I never ate Indian food, Middle Eastern food, hummus (?!?!), any sort of soy protein, or delved into other types of protein and high-fiber grains. And even though I still have those times when I just get stuck and only think of guacamole and rice, I know there's more out there for me to learn. Which is why, on Thanksgiving, I'm making stuff I've never made before and trying new things. Hummus is amazing and absolutely vegan. So is falafel. I can make vegan versions of my favorite Mexican foods - rice and beans - and I'm excited to learn options for other stuff like chile rellenos. Tempeh and seitan are baller all the times I've had them. I love greens even more and more. Soups are the shit. It's a good food discovery time.
3. I cook more. Being vegan has also forced me to cook more, and be semi-adequate at it. I remember the days when anything I touched would burn (mostly because I would touch it once then forget about it). These days I'm becoming more and more confident in my cooking (and baking!) skills and I'm excited to cook new menus. It's also super dope to have someone else who is vegan and cook vegan food with them. Kinda like you against the world -it's really fun.
4. I'm better than you. I would never ever say this to anyone's face, but I secretly think it. Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. It's true. So what I'm a pretentious asshole in my head? Who isn't sometimes? No, but really, it is kinda true, slightly. I mean, just think about it. We're programmed from birth to do certain things - respect gender norms, eat meat, go to church - and we don't even question it. AND when someone does question it, they get attacked! I can't tell you how many times I just ask to myself, why do these people feel so...angry, so needing to ridicule me for my choices? And I usually think it's because they feel threatened that their way of life, the only way they've been living, for the past....however many years... is being, gasp!, not followed! That someone is actually questioning why we eat meat or drink other animals' milk. Boo fucking hoo people. Why don't you try it for once instead of buying into this grotesque meat-loving...obsession that this country has. Or at least entertain the idea of what not eating meat or animal products means for you and for the world. What social constructs are you breaking down?
5. I spend less money on crappy, fattening fast food. I can't tell you how many places I've been to where I'm afraid to ask if something is vegan because they don't understand what the word means. Veganism is not in the mainstream, in the slightest. The fast-food chains and restaurants that dominate the food industry are highly meat-centric and it really difficult sometimes to eat out with people. The natural extension to this is that I don't eat out nearly as much as I used to, even less now that I'm vegan and can't have things like shakes or ice cream or cheese covered fries. This is a good thing; I now solely spend my money on gas and groceries. And yeah, it might be more expensive for me to shop for myself and buy harder to find items, but at least the food I'm making with it isn't full of grease or oil.
6. It's good for the environment. There was a quote going around for a bit that said a vegan driving a Hummer made less of a carbon footprint than a meat-eater on a bike. While that comparison was proven to be false, vegans still do have a significantly smaller carbon footprint than meat-eaters. The more I read up on the meat and animal products industry, the more veganism makes sense. We put aside thousands, probably millions of acres of land to feed animals that we're just going to kill and chop up and eat anyways. There are people who are dying of hunger in this country and instead of using land to grow crops to give these people something to eat, we're using up more of it to feed things that end up in our bellies after a long and complicated process. It's like we're double-wasting. Why don't we instead take what's on that land and eat it straight from the source instead of getting it second hand? True, there are arguments regarding what to do with the animals that are already out in the world if we eat their food, but that's getting ahead of game.
The way the world is going in terms of population and shortages in food supply is baaaad. We need to seriously consider how to sustain the world for the next 25-50 years, let alone the next hundred years.
7. The animals! The breeding of these animals should be slowed down, if not halted. Cows are being sucked dried for their milk. They are hooked up to those machines basically 24/7. There are videos online of factories grinding up live male chicks (yes, grinding them up, ALIVE) because they can't lay eggs and can't be used for meat. What a waste is that? It's absolutely ridiculous that we as humans allow these sorts of things to happen to our fellow earth creatures, but who cares as long as we get a big juicy steak or a nice glass of milk.
I can't tell you if I would still be vegan if this was...however many years ago when meat eating wasn't a huge entity or industry like it is today. To be honest, it's my number one motivating factor in this whole thing. The meat industry is fucked up and way too big now for own good. The way they do things are cruel, inhumane, wasteful, and just plain bad. I'm personally grappling with the issues of drinking milk or eating cheese from small farms or individual farms, but I think for right now, the vegan alternatives are just fine with me. I'll live, which is more than I can say for the millions of animals that have died to make this country fat and full.