Transitions : Vegan Lifestyle
A Vegan Story:
I remember the day so clearly, my host family and I had just returned from an engagement ceremony. As the sole white guest and host daughter of the officiant, I was gifted a chicken and it was given to my host parents to be slaughtered in my honor. Tears still well up in my eyes.
Mt. Elgon National Park, Uganda (2015).
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Years earlier, I had made the decision to stop eating all red meat, pork, and seafood; it was made after seeing Food Inc. and learning more about the environmental ramifications of eating meat. At ten years old, I learned about the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) who had just developed PETA2, a program for youth. MySpace had also just released a book about the environment and different ways to change your lifestyle in order to lower your carbon footprint. I was enamored with learning more about the environment, ways to reduce my carbon footprint, recycling, and animal welfare. At this time, I was convinced that if I was aware of how my food was humanely killed then it was somehow justifiable (spoiler alert: there is no humane way to slaughter any living being).
There were signs before I learned about PETA or viewed documentaries concerned animal welfare or the environment. Perhaps it was my eight-year-old baptism speech that centered around my love for animals and how I wanted to be a veterinarian. Perhaps it sprouted from being raised on a farm and growing up around animals, my first friends. My heart has always been sensitive to the earth and animals and their treatment.
There were signs before I learned about PETA or viewed documentaries concerned animal welfare or the environment.
But at twenty-years-old, I sat in the common area of my Ugandan host parent's compound as my host mother asked if I would like chicken for dinner. My western understanding of how meat made its way to my plate was about to be violently shattered. As I heard and watched what happened, tears rolled down my cheeks and I vowed to never eat meat again and with the exception of a few dinners, I have held true to this commitment.
Three years have passed and with a growing list of food allergies, I have found myself getting more creative with meal prep. Leading a vegan lifestyle isn't just about avoiding meat, but it is about preventing suffering. Yes, you do eat foods void of dairy, animal byproduct, bee pollen, honey, meat, and eggs. Yes, you do purchase products void of animal byproducts such as toiletries and apparel and other daily items.
Leading a vegan lifestyle isn't just about avoiding meat, but it is about preventing suffering.
My choice to stay vegan despite having a laundry list of food allergies is about more than having some trendy label to my lifestyle. It is about preventing suffering, following the yogic discipline of non-violence, and perhaps the thing that hits home most, my dog is no different than a baby cow. My sweet boxer's name is Bailey, she's a rescue who adores car rides and treats but faces intense anxiety from the abuse that brought her to a rescue shelter where we met her two years ago. Every day I wake up and look at her sweet face and wonder how anyone could ever hurt her, could ever hurt any animal, or could ever commit an act of violence.
This blog isn't meant to convince you of anything, but to make you think and to know that being vegan isn't about some trendy label or a talking point at a dinner party. It's about saving lives and improving the quality of life for not for not only animals but those who take care of them and farm the food that makes its way to our dinner table.
Resources if you want to learn more:
Nutrition and the Vegan Lifestyle