I've had a special connection with animals my entire life. If I could, I would be surrounded by animals at all times and rarely talk to other humans. Seriously, they are so much better than people. In grade eight I made the decision to go vegetarian and haven't intentionally eaten meat since. (we all make mistakes, sometimes you really don't know what you're being served)
Over the years I've learned more and more about the food industry, and it's not pretty. Now I'm not going to share the gory details with you as I'm not here to preach, but what I've learned really gets to me. Mother cows give birth to calves just to produce milk for us to drink. I love milk - it's one of the main reasons I haven't gone vegan. But recently I learned that most of the calves that are born are slaughtered within days, and I haven't drank/used it since.
It's been years since I've eaten meat, and I'll admit it's very hard and frustrating to live in a place with very few vegetarian options. Going out is always an ordeal and on top of that, fruit and vegetables are much more expensive than junk food and pop. There's been many times when I've been frustrated with myself for making my life harder than it was. It is so hard to have limited options. At family dinners, they don't always give you alternatives. If the only thing you can eat is asparagus and bread, then you do it. But it does suck.
However on the other hand, think of all the meat that goes to waste. Am I really making a difference by not eating it, even if it is just for myself? Or are those animals that were slaughtered for us to eat, were they thrown out without being used? I don't want to support animal cruelty and what goes on in the places that do it. And I don't want to continue on missing meat and the easy lifestyle it has to offer.
These thoughts have come up more and more recently, and I'm really not sure what I'm going to do. What are your thoughts on vegetarianism and the whole meat industry? Share with me as I could really use some insight.
xoxo Monst3rs
Hey,
ReplyDeleteI'm in the same boat as you - wanting to go vegetarian/vegan but having those pesky urges for meat + dairy and having expensive fruit + veg.
To combat this, I try to rewatch documentaries or read up on the facts of what really happens to the animals and byproducts we consume.
Some of the big ones are that milk has over 1 million pus cells per glass (yuuuuuuuck), our bodies aren't even designed to handle all the nutrients in milk (in reality, a mumma cow's milk is suited only for her calf that is meant to grow to hundreds and hundreds of pounds of weight - not a measly 120-190 like humans), also, it's pretty much guaranteed that the slaughter is fulfilled on animals that are very panicked and freaked out by being stuffed in tiny, smelly, disease-ridden slaughterhouses before death (I doubt their stress and shitty life actually makes them taste better or give our bodies the right nutrients), meat is also one of if not the biggest factor in high cholestrol (don't quote me, but it's definitely something crazy), and when you think about it, meat is basically decaying flesh that we eat and it sits in our tum tums just passing time until it can be processed - decaying. flesh.
All in all, pretty gross stuff.
Check out Peta for more info and docos and stuff to watch.
There's plenty of Instagram accounts too and fab people on Youtube who do cheap vegan and vego foods depending on how you want to eat. @thrivingonplants on Insta does really good basic food (I'm talking mono meals of homemade potato chips and lettuce heads, or biiiiiiiig berry/mango/banana/any flavour smoothies you can think of). Freelee The Banana Girl is much the same (mono meals, 30 bananas a day, mainly eats fruit and veg, high carb low protein and she has fantastic blood results - Google all this stuff haha).
The best defense is to stay informed about it and remind yourself. I mean, when I eat meat now it's a real task and I often feel bloated and gross after, and just sniffing milk makes me pass out.
Hope this stuff helps and I hope you do what's right for your body anyway, because we all know no two bodies are alike. Meat might work for you in the end. Just a matter of consciously approaching what you put in your bod :)
X Proseh
I'm almost speechless at your comment. I think I really needed to hear that as this has been an ongoing process for me and I'm really happy and motivated to stay meat-free in my life. Thank you so, so much for what you said and the helpful tips.
DeleteYou're amazing <33333