Going Vegan

Over the years I have traveled back and forth between vegetarian, pseudo vegetarian and back again. One consistency has been the dislike of red meat. I have never liked red meat and can always remember wanting to skip steak if it were offered. In college I gave up meat to cycle back to including eggs, chicken and fish in my diet. Mainly because of laziness and lack of choices. Consuming animal products is easy but thankfully making animal free choices is becoming easier every day. My most recent dietary changes have excluded all meat and dairy products in addition to making organic choices. I made the choice to try and buy organic when possible because I believe that many of our products contain more chemicals and pesticides than is necessary and I think it affects our health as a nation.

Excluding dairy has been the most difficult choice of all because lets face it, I'm lazy like everyone else and would love an easy solution. As I read labels... dried milk, milkfat and all kinds of dried cheeses are included in a wide variety of foods along with whey, casein, caseinates, lactalbumin and lactose. I am not worried about getting enough calcium in my diet without including dairy. I do not believe dairy is the end all be all of calcium nutrition. I found this very nice article online regarding excluding dairy: http://earthsave.org/news/whatdary.htm as well as in the book Going Vegan and a few other sources. The dairy industry has their own marketing campaign including advice to adults and teens who are lactose intolerant to keep trying, eventually your body will give up and accept it. It just might but that doesn't mean that it is the best choice. The majority of adults are lactose intolerant so we take pills to eat more of what our bodies tell is not to consume. Not to mention the cruelty involved in factory farming and the dairy industry but I'll let you research that for yourself. There are hormones, antibiotics and steroids added to feeds and injected into the animals to encourage over production. These bleed over into what we consume and I don't think it's healthy. Since having excluded all dairy from my diet, I feel better overall. Dairy products in general cause more mucus development which can in turn exacerbate allergies and sinus problems and I have noticed a difference in myself even at the height of the fall allergy season. Of course, I've also cut out a few other things like soda and caffeine, except for what's in the occasional green tea.

I haven't entirely excluded the idea of returning to minimal organic cheese once in a while or adding in the occasional organic cage free egg as needed to my diet. I will never drink milk again or cook with milk or eat ice cream, there are too many healthier choices that I can substitute. My reasons for trying veganism are varied. I believe we are over consumers of protein and animal products as a society and our fixation on meat based diets is unhealthy. I believe that factory farming is extremely cruel. I believe that factory farming includes far too many chemicals, antibiotics and steroids in their feeds and healthcare. And finally, I believe there is a healthier way to eat and take care of oneself.