Why I Went "Plant-Based" Why I Don't Use The V-Word & The Pad-Thai Existential Meltdown | (Text & Audio Versions) #texttosteem

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Last month I was at the eye doctor of all places and was answering some general health and wellness questions when I mentioned that eating too much Tofu over the winter gave me awful hormonal acne on my chin. She absolutely LIT UP, "Are you VEGAN!!? She asked excitedly.

I replied, "No, but I eat like one."

When I started eating Vegan about 8 months back I insisted (and pretty much still do) on calling it a Plant-Based Diet. Although Vegan is the easiest and most direct term to use to communicate what I currently eat and don't eat, I'd rather not be associated with a group and the stigmas that come with it.

My newest favorite steemian superwoman, the lovely @everlove, just wrote an awesome post about how dietary labels are dividing us, and I ended up writing so much in her comment's section I figured it was time to devote a full length post to the topic.

Why Not "The V Word?"

Well, because as soon as you say "The V Word" it seems you're either asking for a debate, or for the snap judgment that you're looking down on the kid in the park enjoying an ice cream cone. You evil Vegan you.

This isn't my first experience feeling this way. I grew up Christian, and have dealt with this very same desire to separate myself from stigmas brought on by a title nearly all my life. "Nice to meet you, Dayle, what do you go to?" Oh, how I wish I could have answered Ringwood "Faith-Based" School instead of Ringwood Christian School.

Being associated with a group that's known for being judgemental, narrow-minded, extreme and who's looking to make converts of everyone around them isn't fun, even when I can wholeheartedly say I feel pretty incredible, have lost some LBS and have a ridiculous amount of focus each day.

Overall I can say I've But also, I miss Cheese.

So, Why The Swap?"

Somewhere around mid-January of this year, I started regular yoga and meditation and subsequently feeling more in tune with my body, mental state, and emotions. I've always been an equalizer, and when things feel out of balance, I realize that I start to adapt my behaviors. For me, the whole planet seems to have gone haywire in the last 18 months. I don't need to get into the details, you have access to the same Internet I do.

Things feel, well, kinda screwed up. On a global scale that is.

And so, wanting to do SOMETHING, ANYTHING, with limited financial resources I had, I decided to stop consuming animal products. For a long time, I'd known about the horrors of factory farming and I thought, what if I just ate plants for awhile??

In the beginning of March, Mom took me out for a Thai dinner to celebrate my belated birthday. I ordered tofu pad, Thai, "hold the egg". The waitress asked, "are you VEGAN?" THE V WORD. I panicked. Having never been asked that before, and knowing she wasn't looking for my “I prefer the term plant-based or anti factory farming” diatribe, I awkwardly said "Yeah, sort of...

Doing her due diligence, she informed me that Pad Thai contains fish sauce, (which honestly I should have known, I’ve made it myself zillion times) and wasn’t a Vegan meal, I sheepishly told her "It's fine...".

The very Pad Thai from this story. Yes it's diferent from the Pad Thai in the cover image. I like Pad Thai ok!!?!

I know how silly it sounds, but I really beat myself up about that for a long time. Until that moment, I hadn’t bought or consumed any animal product. I felt like I let myself down, and the whole ordeal threw my brain into a moral and existential meltdown, analyzing what a teaspoon of fish sauce equals out to in terms of carbon footprint and what percentage of the Earth I had destroyed with my choice, until a very dear human being reminded me, life is about BALANCE. You do what you can, when you can. You try to be better every day, and leave things better than you found them.

Funny how I turned an act founded in love and personal responsibility, into a self-condemning, and legalistic set of rules almost on default. (kinda like religion does no?)

For Me, It Comes Down To Respect.

My family keeps asking me If I'll ever eat meat again, to be honest, if I could afford meat and cheese from grass-fed, free range animals who came from farms who operated ethically and with respect to the environment and the animals, I'd be manning the BBQ as we speak.

For me, I refuse to be on auto pilot with food anymore.

And so, in my all or nothing ENTP brain, it's easier to cut it all out than calling up all the local pizzerias to see who's got the most sustainably sourced and ethical mozzarella sticks.

I was raised to always "say grace" before every meal and while I can't say I still "pray" over my food, I think it's a super important practice to take a moment, to appreciate the time, energy and resources that were expended along the supply chain to bring you the nourishment that's in front of you. To proceed with respect and thankfulness that you even have a meal in front of you in the first place and that your body works well enough to earn you coins to be able to trade for said nourishment.

ESPECIALLY if that chain of effort and impact included taking a life in order to sustain your own.

If you’re Vegan or Vegetarian, Plant Based, or Pizza Based, I’d love to know what you think… I'm Open to a discussion in the comments below but I ask that you please be kind and respectful of ALL viewpoints.

Until next time!
Love,
A Temporary Herbivore

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