I'm a self confessed carnivore and a chocoholic. I also have a ridiculously high metabolism, which means I eat pretty much whatever I want without any repercussions, so I would be the last person you'd expect to announce that they are going vegan...
Most vegans (Not all, but a high percentage) I have met are simply intolerable. They have an air of arrogance about them that you can literally feel through their energy. They also are quick to announce that they are better than you because they are vegan, and then list ridiculously obscure facts that are impossible to prove in everyday conversation. And when you are understandably so confused to the point where you have no idea how to react, they smugly look at you as if to say, "See, I'm right, you have nothing to say to that, do you?" Surely I don't want to become one of those people...?
I've always said that veganism makes a lot of sense if you present it the right way. For example, in what world would you see someone drink another animals' milk? Of course it makes no sense, but the way that most vegans come across puts most regular people off even listening to what they have to say, so even if they had valid points no one would listen to them...
However there is one thing that everyone can agree on; the suffering of animals is unnecessary and unfair. Yes, we are omnivores, and meat is a natural source of protein so I do think eating animals is perfectly OK in a world where we need to survive by eating. (Just because humans' brains have evolved so much that we don't really need to fight or hunt to survive anymore, we still have to survive by consuming food...) But capitalism has created mass slaughtering of animals in inhumane conditions, and in some cases genetic mutation (e.g. Chicken breasts for chicken nuggets), solely for profit. Which is very easy to ignore it because:
(a) We don't directly see anything happening, so it doesn't affect our daily lives. and
(b) There's not exactly much we can do about it anyway
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So what is the answer? We all want animals to stop being tortured, but we all need to eat. Veganism makes sense in some ways but ultimately we are omnivores as previously mentioned. We can consume animals and gain natural nutrients. I can't eat wood from a tree and get nutrients, so where is the middle ground?
So I came up with an idea: Go vegan, but not forever. Of course I'm not saving the world, but let's call my own bluff and see what the fuss is about. Let's see how it affects my body (good and bad). And above all; let's see if this chocoholic can physically do it...
If it goes well then I plan to do this every year for a month. I can't go vegan cold turkey (pardon the pun), but this tiny little sacrifice isn't that much on the grand scale of things. The dream is that this catches on, and more and more people start going vegan for a month. Then the knock on effect can lead to less animals being slaughtered. In theory if everyone went vegan for a month every year (as long as the months are scattered) then that would lead to 1/12 less animals being killed for profit.
I'm very aware of how hard this is going to be, not to mention how expensive (Even in Thailand, as a lot of these vegan places are aimed at middle class hipsters) and there'll be a few horrific meals being consumed by yours truly. But I'll be documenting it here on Steemit for you all to point and laugh at me, cry with me and hopefully cheer me on.
I need to make sure that I have a one year visa for Thailand before I begin this, but if everything is fine on the visa front then I will be going vegan for the whole of October. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Nice...It is need hard effort to become a vegan. :)
It's hard in the sense you have to find places that cook vegan food. Also I'm in Thailand, and a lot of the food is heavily egg based. Vegetarian is easy, but vegan is a different ball game. I had a friend here who was vegan a few years ago and he ordered a Pad Thai. It came out with egg in it and he said he couldn't eat it because of the egg (he even said to them 'no egg' when he ordered it) and they started to get aggressive with him demanding why. So there's definitely a language barrier problem as well. I mean, we spoke Thai to them but you never genuinely know what you are saying in a different language...
It's hard if you think about your "sacrifice" and it's easier if you're thinking of what the animals give up..
I commend you for doing this Lewis, it truly takes a lot of balls to stand by your word and values. I respect that. Also I feel it's going to be a really good process to document, good, bad and ugly. For I feel a lot of people are in a similar position.
They feel the awareness of the suffering, they've read some truths about nutrition and they would like to make a change. It just takes new perspective and that's what you will be giving. Thank you for that.
Excited for you mate, honestly touches my heart to know that you are starting this path.
Wholeness 👊💯
Animals do get eaten by other animals though, so its easy for me to not feel bad in that aspect, as its the circle of life. However its the inhumane way they are bred and slaughtered that I have a problem with..
It's gonna be tough, because I'm technically gonna offend everybody no matter what I do. Pro meat eaters will think I've been brainwashed and am trying to brain wash them, whereas vegans will be angry at my stance on feeling that eating meat is perfectly natural. So that won't be easy. But it's not about other people; it's about me taking the plunge and seeing what it is like, and in turn if it takes off then less animals suffer needlessly.
I'm excited too. Very nervous, but excited. Let's see where it takes me... :-)
Follow that excitement bruv, sure it's nice you think about what others will think but don't let that sway what you do man. You do you, for you and it's your health and conscience after all.
From my experience, no vegans are gonna be angry at you for eating less animals lol. That's not the point anyway, yeah it's gonna be tough as long as you hold that beLIEf mate.
Final point, do animals have the choice to farm fruits and veg? I think you find animals eat to survive and we as a human species are a little beyond that, well most you would hope right? Wholeness.
Well, our brains have evolved so we are intelligent enough to make our own food so we don't have to hunt it, but that doesn't necessarily mean that eating meat is wrong because we don't HAVE to eat it anymore. Just like how we progressed to be able to hunt using weapons, basically, our biggest weapon is our brain. However now we are intelligent, we are also aware of the repercussions of our actions and feel guilt for having the unfair advantage.
At the same time I do strongly feel that we as a species should be focusing more on eating vegetables than meat. Meat should definitely be an option because its an alternative source of nutrients and it is natural to eat other animals to carry on existing, but it shouldn't be the MAIN source of food. It should be more encouraged to eat meals that don't contain meat, as we can survive without it. That doesn't mean everyone should stop completely, but we shouldn't eat meat just for the sake of it...
This conversation is pure value Lewis, thank you for having it.
So who is saying "eating meat is wrong" ? Is this your own thought process and is it still a individual choice? Sure many people prescribe right and wrong to these things however, what I keep pointing to is do what FEELS right to you and let this be your guiding light.
All we can do is share our lives and awareness's with others, it is all ways the individual that makes the choice. So here we are, you feel "strongly that we as a species should be focusing more on eating vegetables than meat."
That's something I can fully vibe with bruv and that's a great intuition to follow for your own good :)
Don't start crying just yet! I've got some delicious vegan recipes I'm going to whip up when we get back! Not all vegans suck! We are awesome vegans! Lol!
I will cry, and possibly start blaming other people for my choices. But eventually I'll stop crying, and remember that you do a world class banana ice cream a-la-vegan!
Goodness gracious Lewis! Vegan life is great! You can eat all the same things just without the dead flesh and puss juice. You are soooo dramatic!
I've practice ahimsa for more than 2 years now or veganism as I sometimes call it also and I applaud your honesty and initiative.
It's a lot easier than most people think.
By the way, there's many living truth that meat isn't necessary to be a very healthy and athletic human.
Take care my friend!
That is very true. I have a vegan friend in Thailand (He's actually on Steemit, under the name @kenistyles) and he is very active. It is tough at first because the body is used to having that extra energy, but the body soon adapts. There is also a famous ex-professional wrestler called Bryan Danielson who was a vegan while he was a wrestler. It's gonna be tough, but let's see how I do :-)
My boy KC been fully vegan over a year now, he pretty energetic too. Just gettin your values and motives aligned will set you up to success bruh, the rest will be mental, emotional and physical detox symptoms. Ride it out and you'll feel better by the day, nothing to worry about. Wholeness.
I'm in the middle of destroying Assassins Creed at the moment, but I'll watch this video tomorrow and let you know what I think
Duuuude the newest Assassins creed is out in October and it's gonna be the start of my gaming streaming journey! It's called origins so and is set in ancient Egypt!!! :)
You should start from the beginning of the series and work your way to the latest one. That way you can enjoy the highs and lows, and people can watch your reactions to the plot twists as it goes on. It will be cool because they will know whats going to happen but you don't, like the thrill when you're watching a good film...
Also by the time you fly through the 4 or 5 games, the new one will be a little bit cheaper!
I'll have a look at the retro shop in Chiang Mai and see if they have the old Assassins Creed games in stock. I think the very first game was on the PS3 so you should be able to play it on the PS4. If I can't find it there I'm sure you can download them :-)
Don't both brother, it's a completely different story line and I hear what you're saying however there's other reasons I'm doing this too. It's a great series and franchise no doubt, however my gaming time is precious lol, you'll realize once you're a daddy too lol! Gotta make the most of it and follow my joy 😘
@lewisjfclarke, Having born in a moderate Hindu family, I have been a vegetarian my whole life. I have been Vegan on & off whimsically as I felt like it.
My grandparents did not even allow eggs to be brought inside their home. They provided a separate vessel to boil eggs or prepare chicken (again strictly no beef or pork or red meat) if someone (the later generation) in family desired to eat it, but it had to be cooked outside the home in the garage or shed. We have been born and brought up that way and we never felt the need or urge to eat meat. Strange as it might seem, I ate beef only once in my 53 years of existence and that too just out of curiosity. But we haven't felt the need of protiens that meat provide us as we had never been exposed to it. Of course we have lived normal healthy life all these while with very little sickness or physical weakness.
I am saying all this to say, it is perfectly normal and very much possible to stay vegetarian or Vegan for any period of time that you choose to and continue to stay healthy. For us in India, it is our natural dietary habit (we are Hindu Brahmins community to be specific)
I wholly understand that It is indeed challenging to you, considering your regular dietary habits and I hope you come out stronger and very positive at the end of your month long Vegan sojourn.
I was in India about 7 years ago for 6 weeks, and during that time I was mostly vegetarian. Not to prove a point, but because in the tourist areas meat was so poorly stored that it was highly likely that you would get sick after eating meat. The only time I ate meat (They may have been another time, but I don't remember) was when me and my mate went to a Pizza Hut and gorged on everything. To be honest I didn't miss meat at all.
Thanks for your comment, it was very informative and helpful. I'm hoping this month will become very positive like you say. To be honest the only problem I see is having to go out of my way to find places that serve vegan food. There are many places in Thailand that don't differentiate vegetarian and vegan, so I have to be on the ball and make sure what I'm eating is in fact vegan. Other than that, it should be quite a fun challenge, and could be a part of my everyday life if it goes really well :-)
Listen to your body. Not your mind. This was the first thing I noticed. I just felt more... alive! Coz it wasn't full of dead stuff!
I am intrigued to see how my body feels after a month. I know Keni said that he felt tired at first, but then his body adapted to not having meat and he felt more alive than ever!
I'm going to try and be as logical as possible here.
The amino acids you get from animal protein, they got from the plants. Our bodies can not use protein, they can only use amino acids. When we ingest amino acids in the form of protein we add an unecessary step to digestion, of breaking down the protein in to amino acids, that is extremely taxing on our digestive system, specifically our colons.
Humans evolved to eat animals to survive in cold climates and when food was scarce, however that is not the case in most of the world any longer. It's modern obligation to do the least harm possible, and that should include to yourself.
I'm not trying to discourage you, but I truly think if you give this a REAL shot, don't PLAN on stopping... you will truly reap the benefits.
It's an amazing journey. My dad said he'd never go vegan, and then he did... and now he's healthy again :)
Then my step mom went vegan, and her sister, and my step sister...
No one ever regrets it.
Also, if you start feeling like crap in the first few days, you're detoxing from all the garbage you've been feeding yourself. IT'S A GOOD THING!!
I'm not going to lie, the last point was very confusing. I'm not even going to pretend to understand it. I mean it sounds scary, but I don't have any issues with my colon. If I did, then you would have an excellent point. I mean you could be 100% right, but now all I'm thinking about is am I going to be really sick, when five minutes ago I was perfectly healthy.
I agree with doing as little harm as possible, but I shouldn't have to sacrifice anything to make sure other animals survive. It should be about looking after number one. Then once you know you are OK then you can look at helping - or in this case saving - those around you.
For me this is about two things; seeing how my body reacts to not eating meat etc... and reducing the amount of cruelty to animals. If I go vegan tomorrow, then the reduction will be literally zero. The huge influx of animals being brought to slaughter will not go down because I've decided to stop eating pork, but if more and more people go vegan for a month every year, then that ripple can have a significant effect on meat consumption worldwide, and in turn less animals being farmed in terrible conditions.
Sorry if this message sounds a bit blunt. I read it back before I pressed post and I would completely understand if you thought I was being rude. I didn't mean for the message to come across that way. You seem really really supportive and I thank you for it!
Hey...i don't eat meat since i was 12 years old...now i'm 25, and i have been a vegan for 5 years now...and i am still healthy, alive and feeling better then ever...i agree with you...most people don't think fondly of vegans, and i agree that some vegans can be really annoying with their intolerance to others...i like to believe i am not one of them. But in the end of the day it doesn't really matter who says what or who is rude...and the one thing that makes me even more frustrated than annoying vegans are people who look away and ignore all the needles suffering of innocent animals just because they think vegans are stupid and extreme...it's sad that in the end of the day the only thing that counts is our ego...i believe there is a lot of good vegans as well as bad vegans, and a lot of good meateaters and also a lot of bad ones...no one is perfect but we are capable of making decisions on our own...so don't let some annoying vegan or overly enthusiastic meateater decide for you....and if you think that veganism is a way, don't change your mind just because veganism has a "bad" reputation among other people...if you are vegan it doesn't mean you have to be annoying :D Have a nice day and i'm really happy you are open to try it :) I wish you a lot of culinary delights! :)
Funnily enough about an hour age I had an argument with a vegan who condescendingly said to me "You've been brainwashed since you were a child, it's not your fault..." When I suggested that eating meat is OK.
That being said, that girl doesn't speak for the vegan community, and if she did everyone would hate them! People like you are what vegans should be; presenting the concept in an intelligent way, and inviting people to try.
I'm happy that I share a thought process with a lot of people on here. The vast majority of people feel this way about animal suffering, so we should lead by example. I hope that as someone who is dipping their toes in the water that I can appeal to the average Joe that is on the fence.
I also have two close friends who are vegans ( @kenistyles and @iamjamie ) and they are a good representation of vegans because they are vegan, but they don't judge people who aren't. Yes, there are the arseholes like in every country, religion and community, but they do not represent the masses, and I'm happy that the comments on here are not full of hate, but full of intelligent people offering intellectual insights from both points of view.
Thank you for your eloquent post. You've earned yourself a follow :-)
:)
I don't get it; we vegans ARE better than you because we are vegan.
;)
This deserves more than one upvote...
;) Heehh... and while we're not carnivorously eating cooked dead bodies, we can still be chocoholic.... meet Raw CacaooOOoo POW!!! https://steemit.com/steemshop/@vteam/why-99-of-people-have-never-tried-chocolate-raw-and-uncooked-and-what-is-willy-wonka-hiding
I remember going to the Cadbury's factory as a kid (Because when chocolate is life, why wouldn't you remember it forever like a desperate groupie...) And they said cocoa is actually bitter. So I'd have to say 'No deal Noel' to that. When I was in Albania and they made a hot chocolate, I drank it and thought it was horrible. Then the Albanian's looked at me as if I was mental and said that I needed to whack a couple of sugars in there. I can imagine raw cocoa being a similar taste. However I will be downing quite a lot of dark chocolate unless someone ruins my day and tells me that's not vegan either...
In tropical countries, like Thailand, it's easy to be a vegan. But for the Northern people, like Finland, Iceland or Canada?
I'm vegerarian, that means, I don't eat any meat but I eat organic eggs and milk/dairy. This is much easier for me than to be full vegan, especially raw vegan.
That is a very good point that didn't even cross my mind! In those countries it is far harder to become a vegan, especially people in the snowy areas which is what I assume you meant when you said Finland and Canada.
I think in the future unless something drastic happens, if this does become part of my lifestyle then I'll most likely be vegetarian as opposed to vegan
All the best dude.
Ta muchly
Congratulations on a wonderfully plant-powered post!
This post has been resteemed by @plantpowerparty!
@plantpowerparty aims to support and encourage plant-powered recipes like this one right here!
Thank you for sharing! Steem on!
(PS @plantpowerparty is looking for a logo! If you or anyone you know can create one, come on over to the page for more info!)
Thanks for the share. If you are looking for 'plant powered recipes', my friend @iamjamie is a 2nd dan in making shit from plants...
i have a vegan friend and he became vegan to be less load on the world ie. less pressure on the environment. I respect your goal.
That's pretty much the same thing with me; The less people who eat meat, the less demand for it, which means less animals being killed. I'm not saying we should not eat meat, but if there is less demand it will ease the pressure for companies to treat so many animals so inhumanely just to make a bit of money.
i like to know where my food comes from and we don't abuse our beef cattle in Australia -- they are free range not factory
That's the main argument for me; yes, we should eat meat, but only the necessary amount. Not factory mass produce because we can
true -my serving size is around 120 grams average -- most people would have double that
I'm definitely the wrong person to talk about portion sizes, because I always eat crazy amounts of food. And I love the taste of meat as well, so this is going to be extremely tough for me.
i respect u for trying
Good luck in your challenge. I've done in the past months without meat, but I've never tried a full vegan month.
I'm bricking it if I'm honest, but it's a challenge I'm looking forward to. :-)
YES!!! Good luck man 😃 wish you all the best on your journey. Let me know if you need any tips.
I need many! I've got some friends who live in the same apartment block as me who are vegan, so I'm sure they'll be very supportive and helpful. I think the main thing will be to stop myself gorging on chocolate on an hourly basis. Thailand has a fair few vegetarian restaurants, and I know enough Thai to be able to explain I want vegan instead of vegetarian. Other than that I think I should be OK, other than craving chicken fajitas some days...
That's awesome. You're very lucky then! Wish I had some vegan friends when I went vegan. I think Asia has a lot of good easy to find vegan food. Hahah yeah maybe you can find a vegan recipe on that?
There is a restaurant here in the tourist area that does vegan chicken wraps, as hilarious as it sounds! The food there is pretty good too which helps.
I'm actually a horrendous cook. Think of Homer Simpson pouring milk on some cereal and it catching fire, I can only dream of being that good! So it'll be all eating out, except for having a fridge full of bananas which will be my breakfast for the entire month...
OMG that sounds amazing! Never had anything like that. Hahaha yeah same here but I recently tried some recipes that worked out for me (normally they don't lol)
My friend @iamjamie is an excellent vegan chef, and she posts a load of vegan recipes on here if you want to have a casual gander...
Yes I already follow her and tried one of her recipes :-)
Good for you. I try to eat as less meat as I can and no beef or pork. Peace
Cheers! I don't know how this is going to affect me in the future, but like anything, give it a try and see what happens!
Hey...thank you for the thoughtful post...I am interested in vegan-ism as well. It is a much healthier way to go in reducing inflammation in the body.
There seems to be a lot of vegans in the comments section that have a lot of non-biased information of the benefits of veganism. Feel free to sieve through their comments. And if someone in particular interests you have a look at their vegan related posts.
They all seem to be very supportive, and I'd love for you to give it a try as well. Even if it's a week and not a month. Just some small commitment to see how it goes. Like I said if this becomes normal then it will have a huge effect on the amount of animals being killed for profit.
Good luck :-)
Lewis I am doing exactly the same thing - but as I am doing it this month, I may be able to help you!!
I do not miss meat now (6 days in to my Vegan September [check out my blog!!]) but my best advice for you is to prepare - so packed lunches whenever you can, and just be sure to read all labels because you will be surprised with what contains animal-based products!!
Good luck for next month.
Alex
Excellent advice! I will also mention you in a later post, as this comment will probably get lost in a sea of comments. I wish you the best of luck, and I am now following :-)
Good luck! I could never do it, not even for a month. As I understand it, it's very difficult to get your daily caloric intake as well and the necessary fat intake to feed your brain. I have a theory that the lack of fat in the vegetarian and vegan diet actually makes them more aggressive. It's just some observations I've made over the years.
Upvoted and followed so I can follow your progress in October. Thanks so much for sharing!
I'll tell you what, although this quite a controversial theory they may be some truth to that. Of course I would expect vegetarians and vegans to be quite offended by this, but many vegans I have met. (Not all, but way more than 50%) are ready to angrily attack you verbally whenever you have an opinion that is not the same as theirs, which in turn leads to meat eaters having to defend themselves, then the angry vegans fuel their anger by saying "You attacked me for being a vegan!" Which sadly is why the general public give vegans a wide berth, even the normal ones.
There's a saying that I learned... somewhere... And it was 'your reputation precedes you'. For example, there are a lot of pickpockets in Southern Europe. Not all Europeans are pickpockets obviously, but after too many stories of having your wallet or camera stolen, eventually you realise you have to be very aware of your valuables at all times in any public place. This of course is very unfair to the normal Europeans who have done nothing wrong, but once it happens too many times you start to become very distrusting. You could use that analogy for vegans. Unfortunately the angry vegans tar the normal vegans with the same brush. And I wonder if this unprovoked anger is in fact a side effect of having no meat.
You brought up some very good points. We have the same suspicions on the anger issues with most vegans. And yes, it seems the angry ones have tarnished the even tempered ones. They do tend to back off a little when they find out I'm a Chef, but still a bit rabid. lol
Excellent observations! Still looking forward to your articles! :)
Interesting, I thought if anything they would get more angry (handling meat, closer to the source of who's killing animals, etc...) which also makes me feel that their anger is misplaced. Whenever a vegan has started screaming at me for enjoying a meal containing meat in front of them, I always think to myself, "I didn't kill this animal in front of you and say 'what are you gonna do about it?', if you are really that angry at someone eating meat, why don't you be just as venomous towards the factories that actually cause the mass slaughtering on animals, instead of little old me who just want to eat a sandwich..."
Seeing your pics it is not hard to say that your metabolism is quite high!!
It's just the way the shirt hangs...
Good luck! I like the concept of if we each do a little bit personally, it adds up to a lot in the whole. It's realistic. I enjoyed your comments about some vegans' smugness, lol. People who are smug about what they eat are people who have never faced challenges in even getting food.
You know on Facebook they like a 'like' button? Well on Steemit they should have a 'PREACH BROTHER!' button for this very moment... Honestly I couldn't agree more
You can do it! Just get it f@*#£ done lue. Good post. Great writing. P.s. I am not a spammer. This is a genuine comment!
I don't believe you, so here's a video of Bobby McFerrin falling down the stairs...
Eating vegan is not that difficult. I end up doing it now and then when my wife is fasting (she is Geek Orthodox).
The trick is to not focus on the meat that you are missing out on, but to focus on exploring lots of tasty vegetable dishes that you wouldn't normally try.
I'd also recommend not trying meat replacements. It's a mindset thing. If you are still 'trying' to eat meat, it will always be disappointing. Instead, forget the meat altogether and find delight in new and interesting flavors in the veggie dishes.
We are now moving more and more away from eating meat. This is not for any other reason than health benefits for us. No hi-brow holier-than-thou attitudes.
We have done a lot of research on this and it makes good sense. This is also helping to fuel me for ultra marathons, and keep me fit and healthy to keep going. So far it is working well.
So good luck on your month of being vegan. I hope it all goes well for you.
Thanks for the advice. I know I'm going to struggle with not being able to eat chocolate far more than not eating meat, but I'll try to put it in the back of my mind...