Choosing to Go Vegan
So I’ve decided to go vegan! After months of describing myself as “vegan-aspiring,” I bit the bullet and made my first dedicated vegan grocery shopping shopping trip just before Christmas. Since then, I have been transitioning and making more concrete plans and actions to support my decision. I considered many things when making this choice to change my lifestyle:
The planet: I’m told that 80% of the world’s carbon emissions come from the meat industry, and I believe I can reduce my carbon footprint by reducing my meat intake alone. However, that is just one of many ways that consuming animal products negatively impacts Earth’s environment, which I plan on living in for the rest of my life.
The animals: It is clear that animals are being killed and suffering needlessly. I do not want to knowingly contribute to their unjust deaths or suffering any further.
My health: Besides my experience with dairy, which I will explain later, I am interested in the positive effects of a vegan diet for my body. Between all of the pollution and stress I encounter every day, I have the power to control what kind of food I take in. Many people on a plant-based diet claim that they feel amazing and I want what they are having!
Going vegan means omitting animal products from your diet. Over the past few months, I have been examining my relationship with each of these types of food.
Meat: I have never been a big meat person, and at times I have been a vegetarian, but in recent years I have gravitated toward high-fat meat products like chicken wings and barbecue ribs, as well as liver. I have been limiting my meat consumption to outside the home to cut down on grocery costs for about a year now, but at this point, I am ready to quit eating meat altogether. Thinking of what meat really is - dead animals - and seeing so much footage of the horrors of factory farming has greatly reduced my craving for meat. Now that I understand what the meat industry is really like, I cannot see myself eating meat under normal circumstances.
Dairy: For most people, having to give up cheese is the deal breaker against going vegan. I’ve never been much of a cheese person myself. The hard thing for me will be giving up ice cream. Though rarely cold enough, ice cream here is good, and it is my go-to snack in hot summer months. I used to have muesli with yogurt every morning for breakfast as well. I have had trouble with my skin for the past few years and I could never figure out what was breaking me out. A few months ago, I realized it was the dairy I was consuming. Since drastically reducing my intake, guess what else reduced? My pimples! I don’t know what it is, but the dairy products are making me break out. If they are putting pimples on my face, who knows what else might be going on in my body.
Eggs: Eggs in Macedonia are totally different from eggs in America. The proof is in the color. Macedonian yolks are proper orange because many of the hens that lay them are eating better diets and don’t live in the hellish factory farming environments that exist in America. Even still, I have to admit that I really just don’t like eggs very much, and I rarely eat them anyway. It’s easy to say goodbye. I will only miss them in my ramen, which probably isn’t vegan anyway.
Honey: I don’t think that the honey industry is commensurate with the meat and diary industries. At this point, I haven’t heard many convincing arguments against the consumption of honey, so I am keeping my jar of local honey, but I will refrain from buying honey in the future.
This is something that I have been thinking about for a very long time. It happens to coincide with new years and Veganuary, but going vegan isn’t a new years resolution. It’s just time for me to act where my head and heart are at. I’m still a newbie to veganism and I am taking time with my transition. There are still some unknowns in this journey and I am going to preemptively forgive myself for not doing it perfectly all of the time. Being vegan in Macedonia isn’t easy. There is meat, dairy, and egg in so much of the local food (and a lot of those foods I really like!) and alternative options are scant. I am committed to making this work, and hopefully I can offer some tips for current or incoming volunteers along the way.