It’s over
This is going to be the last article of the challenge and the last vegan day of my life.
After two weeks of this green diet I realize that there are some weak points regarding this lifestyle.
I didn’t notice them during the first week and maybe I would never be aware of that, if it wasn’t thanks to one of the guys I interviewed for the Innovation Studio Lab. He made me open the eyes and come to the conclusion that the vegan life is not so “green” and environmentally friendly as I thought.
“It’s an extreme that brings to others extreme”,
he said to me…and then started to explain. It’s a contradiction in lots of aspects and now I’m gonna tell you why.
First of all I know some vegan people that are really aware and careful about the origin of the products, that avoid to eat animal food for ethical reason, because in the farms the animals are treated in a bad way, stressed out and fattening to kill them quicker and transforming them into the meat products we buy. I completely agree with the vegans on this point of view, but at the same time, these are the same people that use the car 5 times a days, takes 2 shower daily, waste lots of water for useless purposes or don’t recycle the wastes in separate bins. It’s a nonsense. Why so much attention on the food and then ruin the environment with such negligent habits.
Then I realized that being vegan is being vegan in every aspect of the life, not just the food part. You should be aware also regarding the material of the clothes, of the healthcare stuff, of the upholstery of the furniture, everything where the animals could be involved in the process of making it. That’s why this Monday I looked for some healthcare, skin products without animal testing during the industrial process and I also bought the coconut oil, which is vegan and very suitable for lots of stuff (as sweetener, as make up remover, for body and hair treatment…). I was almost more happy about buying these products that go further than the only nutrition, then the food itself.
I can’t hide that this two weeks were for me really hard. I haven’t seen lots of benefits from this challenge, if not maybe the quality of my face skin, which remains not that great due to the polluted air of Milan.
I can just sum it up with some drawbacks…
My only thought for these two weeks was the food, every time my attention was focused on it!. The vegan diet made me gain 1 or 2 kilos for sure, made me a little nervous and more stressed, also about the stupid things. At first I didn’t understand why, but then I started realizing that I doubled the portions, I kept on eating lots of dry fruits which are rich of calories, almost every hour I needed I snack because I didn’t feel full and I’ve never used so much oil in my life, just to give some flavour at my meals.
Being vegan requires lots of time, you can’t just go to the supermarket and do the grocery shoping, you have to look for the specific place where to buy at least the things for two or three days. The choice is wide but at the same time really restricted, it’s always about the same ingredients mixed in a different way. Furthermore I became less environmentally friend. Cooking vegetables and rice everyday made my consumption of water and energy increase and as the portion are packaged in smaller quantity, I consumed more plastic than ever!. I don’t really get it why in the bio market they sell the vegetables at a higher price (ok, maybe for the better treatment they receive) and moreover they slice the fruit and put it in some ridiculous plastic containers!. Why do I have to buy fruit that is already cut and that will be spoiled sooner? And of course waste more plastic?!
In conclusion I can say that I enjoyed to challenge my self with this new lifestyle, but I think that you need to take more time to get used to it and share the same values of vegan communities, all the principles not just the one regarding the food.
How to say it…Go big or go home🥬🥒🌽
