Why I became a Vegan
About this time one year ago, I hardly knew what a vegan was. All I knew was that it was some sort of ‘crazy’, carrot and celery filled diet that only tree hugging hippies took part in. Well that’s what I was lead to believe anyhow. I participated in all the usual stereotypes that people naively placed upon vegans. Such as the idea that vegans possess the weakest of bodies that are a mere light breeze away from crumbling and turning to dust. Or that all vegans by virtue must be extremist environmental activists. However, this is the case for a small portion of people, just as extremism exists in small portions throughout every movement or belief.

The turning point for me, was one evening when my girlfriend and I were watching Netflix and we stumbled across a documentary called Cowspiracy. I cant remember why we watched it, but we did, and it blew us away.
The documentary uncovered for me, many disturbing truths about animal agriculture practices around the world and the irreversible damage that it is having on the earths natural environments.
Some of the key points that I took away from the documentary were:
- 51% of global greenhouse gas emissions are a result of livestock and their by-products.
- The meat and dairy industries use up to 1/3 of the worlds fresh water resources.
- Forests are being stripped up at an alarming rate to make room for animal grazing. This destroys the habitats of millions of animals.
- Large meat and dairy companies work extremely hard to hide the facts surrounding the effects it’s practices are having on the environment. Why? The answer is simple: profits.
- Corporations love to deceive us all into believing that meat and dairy consumption is heathy and the natural thing for humans to do.
Although I didn’t take up a vegan diet over night, the information that I received through watching Cowspiracy definitely got me thinking about what was actually going on around the world. I began researching and came to my own conclusions that if we continue down this path of excessive meat and dairy consumption, the effects on the earth are going to be catastrophic and irreversible for future generations of humans in addition to millions of animals who will suffer and die pointlessly.
Aside from animal rights and environmental factors which played a huge part in me making the shift to a vegan diet, health factors also influenced my decision.
I had always known that dairy products did not agree with me too much. Every time I had a dairy milk coffee I always felt a little off in the tummy. Looking back now, I don’t know why I didn’t just switch to almond, coconut, rice or soy milk then and there. It would have ended my daily stomach churning. But, I thought I needed dairy for the protein! How ill informed I was. Simply taking part in norms and conditioned beliefs that had been so firmly instilled in me since I was a child. The fact was, I didn’t need dairy, and I didn’t need it for calcium or protein. In fact, approximately 65% of the human population struggles to digest lactose. This leads me to wonder why most people don’t seem to question the role of dairy in their diet.
Something that I found out at a later stage through the viewing of another documentary called ‘What the Health’, was all the ways that meat and dairy were increasing the risks of heart disease, diabetes and cancers. A vegan diet, through various studies, has been linked to a drastically decreased risks of developing certain cancers and heart conditions. Personally as someone who has heart disease in my family; I am going to do what I can to ensure that I minimise my risks as much as possible. A vegan diet helps me do that. It also helps me to better understand what I am actually putting in my body. Beforehand, when I was eating burgers, hotdogs and ice-cream; I had no idea of the extent that hormones, steroids and chemicals were being added in almost all processed meats and dairy products.
Just think about the health conditions of the average American who eats the ‘standard’ American diet. Filled with processed meats, cheese and trans fats, they are literally eating themselves into an early grave.
Don’t take my word for it! Do your own research, watch the documentaries and read the literature surrounding the positive benefits of a vegan diet. Come to your own understanding of the state of affairs in the world and do what you believe is right.
I’m not here to turn you into a vegan. I’m here to spread information and resources that I believe to be of great importance and value for our future as well as the future of all animal species that live on this beautiful plant.
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Thanks for reading :)
