On Veganism

I wrote the following post in preparation for my one year anniversary (7/28) as a vegan, but did not post it in time.

Today is my one year anniversary of transitioning to veganism. (There is no way to say that that doesn't sound like I converted to a cult, huh.) I thought this might be an ideal time to write about why.

July 2014. I had just read an article in the paper about a man who lost a hundred pounds by eating a plant-based diet. The man had been inspired after watching a documentary about the health benefits of doing so – Forks Over Knives. Danny and I had been trying to lose weight, so that night, we watched the film for ourselves.

We were blown away.

We learned that cholesterol is produced naturally by your body, and that the only way to take in excess cholesterol was by eating animal products, as their bodies produce it just like ours do. That is why when you have high cholesterol, you are told to avoid eggs, meat, and dairy. We learned about how so many health issues are much more common in areas of the world where more animal products are consumed more heavily. We learned how dairy sucks calcium out of your bones and can actually lead to osteoporosis. We learned about people who, simply by eating a plant-based diet, lost weight, gained energy, cured their type two diabetes and their heart problems. That was enough for us and we immediately adopted a plant-based diet.

It was hard for a few weeks, tops. Not because we necessarily wanted to go back to eating those things, but because it was hard to come up with meal ideas. That was when we realized how limited the Standard American Diet (SAD) really was. We were so used to just eating turkey burgers and pasta. I had never eaten the variety of things which I do now – ingredients such as avocado, lentils, beans, dates, and tahini. I craft meals and eat more creatively than I have in my life. (Plus, we can still eat things like Oreos and Twizzlers!)

As we searched for recipes and became more and more acquainted with veganism, the animal rights issue came into play, and we became what I had been calling “THOSE kind of vegans”. We stopped eating honey. We checked our clothes for leather, fur, and silk. I replaced all of my makeup, and other body care products. I did this slowly and as things ran out, until all of it was vegan. We stopped using anything tested on animals or containing animal byproducts.

It is here I will note that it is impossible to be a perfect vegan. Medications are tested on animals and yet we often must take them. In the US, sugar is often filtered through charred animal bones, and that is hard to trace. Certain breads contain feather derivatives, certain beers are filtered through fish guts, certain food dyes come from insects, and certain fruits come with layer of beeswax on them. What I mean is, mistakes happen. The mission behind our choices is the important part, and that is to do the least harm possible.

Months passed, and soon Danny had lost close to fifty pounds. We had come up with so many delicious meals to prepare that we barely even thought about it anymore. We had visited Kindred Spirits – a farm animal sanctuary – twice, and fallen in love with the cows and the pigs and the chickens. We had joined an online community of vegans with whom we shared ideas, struggles, passion, and recipes. And finally, we watched Earthlings.

Often called the film that “turns people vegan”, Earthlings is a hard watch. It is narrated by Joaquin Phoenix – a vegan himself – and addresses all the ways in which the world uses and abuses animals. From puppy mills and overbreeding, to circuses and zoos, to fur farms, if you have an ounce of compassion in you, it will break your heart. You will also be forced to actually understand where your food comes from, and that is the real kicker.

I grew up thinking that cows always produce milk, and that they will be in pain if they are not milked. I really honestly never stopped to question that logic. So in case you haven't, either, consider that cows are mammals, and that mammals produce milk only when they are pregnant. Humans do this. And cows do it, too. Cows know that they are pregnant, they know that they have given birth, and they know that their babies have been taken away from them. They cry out, and some have been shown to go to great lengths to try to keep their babies with them. Then, they are forcibly impregnated again and again, until they are determined useless, and killed. Dairy is a feminist issue. It is common in this industry to refer to “rape racks”, which are used to impregnate dairy cows, against their will. Please think about that.

Please also think about the baby cows who are, after being separated from their mothers, forced into little crates to wait to become veal. So that you can drink the milk nature intended for them, their mother's breast milk. Are you seeing it yet? Are you feeling it?

Everyone knows that the dairy, egg, and meat industries are cruel. That is why “humane” and “cage-free” products have become so popular. And yet, the disconnect is so strong. No one wants to really believe that they are active participants in the constant slaughter (which by definition can never be humane), in the cruelty that is happening behind doors. It will only get worse, with legislation passing constantly to keep film crews out of farms. Doesn't that sound sketchy to you? Shouldn't they be okay with letting you see these happy, laughing cows that they advertise?

Cows, chickens, pigs, and even fish are just as sentient as your dog and your cat. They are smart (in fact, pigs are as smart as three year old humans), they feel love, and they feel pain. They can be playful and form friendships. They DREAM (chickens experience REM sleep just like us). They have a will to live. “Animals are not here for us, they are here with us.”

Another, less sentimental, if you will, way to look at this is by considering the environment. The meat industry is a bigger cause of greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming than automobiles. The animal industry is destroying the planet. Fishing is happening at such an alarming rate, that we are emptying the ocean much faster than you'd like to think.

And yet another way to look at it: If we took all the grain used to fatten animals for slaughter and instead fed it to people, we could abolish hunger.

I try not to post about this often, food photos aside. I know how defensive and icky these things make people feel. I also know that my friends and family are wonderful, compassionate people. I do not blame you, and I totally understand where you are coming from, because one year + one day ago, I thought all the same things that you do. I am not judging you. I am just saddened by the system which lies to us from birth about where our food actually comes from. If you introduce any child to a cow, or a pig, or a chicken, and then tell them that is what their burger is, that child will be upset. That is why we call it things like “bacon”, “steak”, and “nuggets” - to cover up what we know on some basic level is wrong. I grew up that way, too. In a society which knows it is wrong to hurt or consume dogs or cats and yet does the same to other creatures, it's just about finally “making the connection”.

Which is what Danny and I did this year.

I would like to add another tidbit that I just saw online, in reference to the oft-cited passage in the Bible where God gives humans "dominion" over animals, which people use to defend their consumption of animals:

Dominion is not the same as tyranny. The queen of England has “dominion” over her subjects, but that doesn’t mean she can eat them, wear them, or experiment on them. If we have dominion over animals, surely it is to protect them, not to abuse them for our own ends. There is nothing in the Bible that would justify our modern-day policies that desecrate the environment, destroy entire species of wildlife, and inflict torment and death on billions of animals every year. The Bible imparts a reverence for life; a loving God could not help but be appalled at the way His creatures are being treated. For more information, please visit JesusVeg.com.