1 Month as a VEGAN! – Maybe more?
Brief: This post goes over my thoughts and opinions about the meat industry, going vegan, the relationship between vegans/vegetarians and meat eaters and plenty more. This took a while to put together because I have respect for both sides. I tried my best to display that while still getting my point across. Hope you enjoy!
Where to even begin. Going Vegan had never even entered my mind as a lifestyle choice. My diet isn’t perfect but I have never struggled with gut problems and morally I, like the majority of the world, have always looked passed the inhumane treatment of animals that are bread to consume. I have been able to do that because I was intentionally blinded. It didn’t feel like there was anything that I could do to change the system and everyone else around me was doing the same without passing a single ounce of judgement. It’s an issue that the vast majority of meat eaters sweep under the rug and choose to never acknowledge. No one even talks about it, therefore, it must be fine, right? Wrong! The problem is, the majority of people who eat meat know that the industry is bad. We know that there are too many animals being mistreated and pumped full of god knows what so they can be bigger and more profitable. We know the industry has a horrific side that we want no part of. While we know all of that, we still turn a blind eye because the result of that industry is, we get to eat our favourite foods. There has to be a way to do it better. There has to be people out there that care about the animals and do things properly, producing animal products that are healthy and humane. If there isn’t, then we shouldn’t be consuming animal products. Your parents always taught you that “if you can’t play nice then you can’t play at all”. Similar logic should apply here. If we can’t do it right then we shouldn’t do it at all.
There also has to be a greater amount of respect for each other and the choices we make regarding how we choose to live our lives. We need to be able to have open conversations or debates about this that may end in disagreement but remain respectful. From all the research I have done, this is a very complex subject and it appears that no one is right or wrong, just different.
Living for a month as a vegan definitely had its ups and downs. The perks of the diet for me were that my partner and I cooked, like actually cooked. Using tons of delicious spices and we had a lot of fun. You have to work harder as a vegan to make things taste good but it can be done. Some of the best meals I have ever been apart of making came during my month as a vegan. The downfalls I encountered are avoidable but were frustrating for me. Eating out is a struggle. None of my friends have dietary restrictions and the restaurants we normally frequent are not very vegan friendly. Ordering turns into a lot of substitutions and scouring the menus not for what you WANT to eat, but what you are ALLOWED to eat. It was miserable. That being said, this can be avoided by searching out vegan friendly restaurants, but the majority of places have carnivore focussed menus that leave little room for vegans to choose. I thankfully discovered some delicious Vegan spots around the city that I will definitely go back to. It seems like Vegans encountered the same struggles that I did when it came to eating out at regular restaurants and took matters into their own hands. The Vegan dining options are growing and delicious. That being said, I am going to return to my life of a consumer of animal products, just in a more conscious and limited way. I will no longer turn a blind eye to the downfalls that make the meat industry so toxic.
Let’s talk about that blind eye for a second, The reason we are able to hide from the horrific normalities of the meat industry is because we are all so far removed from the actual process. If we all had to hunt and kill our own meat I guarantee you there would be more people surviving off of a plant based diet but there would also be far less people who identify as vegan and vegetarian. A good number of those who don’t consume animal products do so because they know the animals were mistreated, production is bad for the environment and they refuse to support that. If we eliminated the mass production of animals for consumption, the only animals/animal products we would consume would be those that we either hunted, raised or produced ourselves. Therefore ensuring the proper treatment of the animals and their byproducts. People would eat meat when they had the privilege and there would no longer be an issue of mass production and slaughter. That obviously isn’t going to happen anytime soon but it’s something to think about.
If you’re a meat eater and you’re judging vegans & vegetarians you need to realize that if the industry wasn’t so fucked up, they might consume meat as well! They want the best for us and the animals and they are willing to alter their lives to defend that mentality. You might just want what is best for you so be careful who you judge. The same goes for the vegans and vegetarians. Often times hunters and farmers are criticized, these are the last people to be critical of. Farmers are some of the most passionate people out there. They are growing and processing the food that we survive off. There are definitely farmers that produce modified and unhealthy food but there are also ones that take pride in their products and make sure its the best and healthiest it can be. Hunters are the same way. I will preface that statement by saying that sport hunting is a disgusting byproduct of hunting that I do not support. Getting back on topic, hunters who hunt for food deserve all the credit in the world. These men and women pay for the equipment, take the time, hike into the wilderness, if they are lucky, find an animal, stalk that animal, kill it, carry it back to their truck, gut it, butcher it and use every single part of the animal for something.
Wild hunted meat is about as free range as it gets and most hunters have a great deal of respect for the animals they hunt. They do their best to kill quickly and nothing goes to waste. Hunting is different than shopping, it’s hard work and hunters that do it properly should be praised not ridiculed. Meat eaters often times are also critical of hunters which makes 0 sense at all. You have no right to consume the end result of an animal being killed and then pass judgment on someone who takes the entire process into their own hands. For all the vegans out there that still aren’t convinced, think about it this way, hunters hate the meat industry just like you do, they just love meat more than you do as well. That’s why they are out there taking matters into their own hands, eliminating the middleman and providing food for their families. If you think they are being cruel by killing animals look at it this way. That deer, or elk or moose or duck or whatever, is going to die one day and most times when mother nature provides death, she isn’t kind, quick or painless about it. Watch a video of a dear being mauled by a grizzly bear, I guarantee you, if you had to choose, you would rather that deer be shot than eaten alive. Remember that nature, and the circle of life is not easy on the eyes and it will continue regardless of how you choose to live your life or what you buy at the grocery store.
Now I don’t expect this post to solve anything or end the debate because it seems like nothing will. One of the most frustrating issues that I found in my research and talking with people on opposing sides of this conversation is that there seems to be an instant animosity formed between meat eaters and non meat eaters. Often times the vegan point of view is that of a wiser being. Talking down to those who consume meat as if they are inferior because of their chosen diet. The meat eaters are no better in this debate. They will laugh at the hippie vegans saying things like “more for me” or “We didn’t get to the top of the food chain to eat vegetables all day”. One of the most annoying issues I found is that it was hard to have an unbiased conversation about whether or not eating meat in its purest form is actually bad. I know that the meat we are getting at grocery stores is most likely bad, it can’t be good. Mass produced, the animals aren’t healthy so how could their meat, eggs or milk be healthy. But are animals and animal products in their purest form unhealthy to consume? That’s what I want to know! I unfortunately still don’t have an answer and I’m now left with more questions than I had before this all began.
I desperately would like to chat with a highly educated nutritionist that has no bias. I’m no longer interested in talking to opinionated people from either side. I just want scientific facts. I simply want to know if meat, eggs and any other animal products, in their purest form, are healthy or not. When it comes to what we put in our body we are obviously capable of making mistakes. There was a time when some thought smoking increased lung capacity. Like many things we have done in the past, science and time have proven them to be incorrect. I want to know the science behind this debate, I no longer care about anyone’s opinion. Science doesn’t lie, people do, I want facts.
For now I’m going to try and consume the smartest way I know how. My goal is to buy more fresh ingredients no matter what it is. When I buy meat it will be from reliable sources, no more random grocery store packages. Until I know the facts I’m going to eat the best way I know how, Healthy, Humane, Organic and everything in moderation.
