*Disclaimer, it took me a while to edit and post this, so technically the post date of this post is not my exact five months in. So think of this as a TBT…except I did not post on a Thursday, SMH!
The vegan journey started a little over 5 months ago for me. Since that time, I have grown, changed, slipped, got back up, and continued to solidify my stance in this short amount of time. In today’s world, the vegan lifestyle is one of the easiest adaptations one can make.
So over this introductory period into veganism, here are five essential lessons that I have learned:
5. Animals are Treated Horrifically
While I initially came down this road for health reasons, I have come to learn a great deal of how the animals are treated. I can no longer look at meat without seeing what used to be a living being. Looking at cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and other dairy products makes me think of the suffering that a poor mother cow went through. Seeing eggs makes me think of thousands of hens in cages (or crammed into a warehouse if it says “cage-free”) confined to very little space to actually move but are forced to give back their natural secretions.
Yeah, after going vegan, animal products are absolutely repulsive to me.
4. For Every Item You Think You Can’t Give Up, There’s Pretty Much an Equally (if not more) Delicious Vegan Alternative
Today is the perfect time to go vegan! There are plenty of alternatives to, literally, everything you think you cannot do without. From cheeses, mayo, ice cream, sour cream, cream cheese, milk, ranch dressing, you name it. And when it comes to “meats,” every variety has a meatless vegan alternative (fishless fish, porkless pork bites, meatless meatloaf, chickenless chicken). The only exceptions I have found (as of now, here in the midwest) are really for seafood. Particularly shrimp, varieties of fish (like salmon, tilapia, ect), and lobster. Otherwise, everything else has an alternate that does not require any harm to any animals in the process!
3. Distractions and Deterrants Come in Many Forms
Whether friends and family with slick remarks or individuals with misinformation or the barrage of public advertising, distractions come at every angle.
I have found that while many people are very curious about the lifestyle, some can be very demeaning towards it. It’s one thing to get questioned about protein, but it’s another to have people call you stupid for choosing a lifestyle of care and compassion over taste and convenience.
And I have to laugh at all of the commercials nowadays promoting “real milk” or “real cheese” and of course, the taut of “100% pure beef.” And my new favorite, the subtle replacement of meat for “protein.” I love those commercials that say the meat and then in the next sentence refer to it as protein (subliminal messaging so that you can associate meat with protein and not dead animals)!
No matter where the distraction comes from, you have to stay focused on the overall goal and stick to the right thing.
2. You May Come to the Vegan Life for One Reason, but May Stay Vegan for Other Reasons
Like myself, I have seen many vegans say that they came to the lifestyle for one distanct reason. After being vegan for a while, they now have a host of reasons that are keeping them vegan. The key is to continue studying the lifestyle and the benefits of it.
As I began studying the life more, I learned more about the treatment of the animals. I then started to learn about the environmental impact and the relationship between world hunger and animal agriculture.
After doing more research, I now have more reasons to stay vegan!
And the number 1 lesson I learned:
There’s a Right Way and a Wrong Way to Vegan
All vegan diets are not created equally. Technically, someone who only eats french fries (granted they are not cooked in animal based oils) could call themselves a vegan. But obviously that would not yield the greatest health benefits.
To truly get the most bang for your vegan buck, you’ve gotta understand that your overall goal is to get to a point where the bulk (if not all) of your diet is coming from raw, unprocessed foods. That will yield you the greatest health benefit for your body.
This is not to say that you can’t start with only consuming processed vegan alternatives. If that is what will help you stay away from animal products, then by all means, do it! But remember to begin to incorporate more veggies into your diet so that over time (which could be a few months or a few years, depending on the person and their health needs) you will have a larger intake of the best foods for you!
So that’s it! Five lessons I’ve learned in five months of #VegLife. More are definitely to come and I am excited to what I learn in the next five months!
Namaste friend!