Another New Life Choice
Kind of new?
Both of my parents are vegan. It was mom's idea and she literally bribed dad into it. She simply said,
"I will not be a widow. You will eat as I do, or I will divorce you. This is not a joke."
And dad gave up meat. Not just meat, but eggs too. For my father to give up meat and eggs is... well I'm sure you get the idea. So then mom and dad came after me and told me there's chemicals in the animals, in the feed, and in every product that comes from them.
And I'm like... "Chemicals? Okay. What chemicals?" I had doubt. I let go of meat, because I didn't care for it anyway, but I hung on to dairy because I love cheese.
Well I finally got around to doing my own research, and I realized the full extent of what mom meant by "chemicals". Pus, feces, infection, antibiotic, disease... I mean you name it. All of it runs rampant in these farms, and it's not even that my parent's are thinking, "Oh, those poor animals." No, they're thinking, "I can't be eating pus and shit and disease-ridden animals!"
And now I'm thinking the very same.
So I've finally decided to follow in my parents' footsteps.
I surveyed what was in my fridge and I realized I have almost nothing to eat, unless I enjoy eating greens alone. Which I don't.
Goodbye, delicious milk.
Goodbye, delicious eggs.
Goodbye, delicious cheese.
It's not that meat is bad for human consumption. It would be great if the meat hadn't come from a sick cow, or a grain-fed cow, or a even a healthy pasture-raised cow fed on chemical-fecal-disease-laden grasses.
I have some friends who travel to Europe. When they come back, they always tell me that they felt so great over there, but once they came back and ate a bite of US meat, they became violently ill. Our country is quite clearly the problem. It is trying to kill us.
So my parents went and bought their own chickens!
Yes, that is a chicken.
Mom and dad refuse to eat their chicken pets (I wouldn't want to eat such cute bird either), but they are egg-laying and dad can finally have his eggs in the morning again. I'm so jealous.
My first grocery bill was under $50.
So I'm already saving money in eating this way. Score!
I continued fasting past breakfast this morning so I could grocery shop and settle in to write this post, but if you'll excuse me, I'll be in the kitchen cooking up some vegetable stock (I've been saving my vegetable refuse in the freezer to turn into stock) which I will then use to cook up some split pea soup. I love that stuff.
Vegan eating may not be so difficult, after all.
Nice post. Enjoyed the read. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, I'm glad you liked it!
I've been thinking about doing this for a while now.. My main hesitation is that I'm a terrible cook and don't have a ton of time in the day to prepare meals for lunch at work and whatnot. There's really not a lot of good options for takeout around me either :/
That does make things difficult. I have a passion for cooking food, and I have the time for it now that I quit Starbucks. But maybe you can consider doing a weekly meal prep. Pick one day to cook large batches of stuff to throw together. Follow recipes, and you can't really go wrong. The trick to following a recipe is in defining the terms. You have to know that a boil is not the same as a roiling boil, or that to stir and to fold mean almost the same thing, but with different methods. You can always google the terms to help you out. There's a youtube channel called Simnett Nutrition that has a few weekly meal prep how to videos.
Best of luck!
This might help.
There's tons of these informational videos on YouTube. I believe you can do it!
You got this! Try Daiya cheese - pepperjack shreds are my go to. Quesadillas, pizzas, you name it.
I love those. I already have them in the fridge lol
...then you've already won lol
So cute!
It's perfectly possible for small farms to raise livestock in the same conditions that you feel are acceptable for your chickens. I and my wife eat meat, but we try to be very careful about where it comes from - small scale local producers or trusted restaurants. But there are always problems when other people prepare your food or it's in a restaurant you don't know.
I find it hard to say to my friends "I'm not going to eat your animal products , but I'm not a vegatarian or vegan." So I just eat what is there and don't complain. I don't get sick either - except from eating products with gluten. I didn't even realize that until my partner gave up gluten and discovered how much it affects me. There is also the issue of eating foods that you haven't eaten in a long time - take almost anything out of your diet for months and you may have problems next time you eat it.
Anyway, most of all you should eat what makes you happy and feel good. If you've found something like that then go for it.
BTW. What discussion on chickens and how they are raised without a reference to this Portlandia "Is the chicken local?" video:
hilarious
I learned that as far as food is concerned, the lower the food is situated in the food chain, the healthier it tends to be. That's why meats are not very healthy, while leafy-greens are among the healthiest foods in the world.
Don't fall into the trap of hating food. I cant see "normal" food anymore, all I see is the crap you talked about along with processed food on the shelves and have a problem with it, the industries that created them, the companies that tout them. It has become something i despise and it takes a lot of energy to despise something. I wish I had not started down that path because its pretty hard to forget how shit everything is when you know the truth.
I call myself vegan but I do have relapses from time to time it does affect me mentally but more so physically. I get really sick if I break but at the time it might seem like a good idea or a treat. Good for you for taking a step to change your diet for the better. It wont be easy but after you see the real changes you wont be able to go back.
No worries. I don't hate anything. And my love for food is on a whole other level. lol I don't hate the industries and the packaged food and the meat, but I just don't want to eat them. But thank you, it's true that hating anything in life is self-damaging.
And yeah, I already don't want to go back. Last night I ate a mini pizza, and immediately broke out into hives and eczema, and I just thought, "Well that's that."
Healthy livin is the best :)
It truly is!
For reference: those are Silkie chickens
Yes, they are. The one in the picture is one of four chicks that they raised. They also have a couple other varieties of chickens running around in the yard. And they all have names. :P
That's adorable!
Silkie chickens <3 So cute. Good luck in your vegan journey, I'm somewhere between veggie and vegan right now but working hard to fully transition!
You can do it! I just tasted some nutritional yeast for the first time on my split pea soup, and it really DOES satisfy! I think it will help a lot with the cheese cravings. And I got some almond milk (not the cheap stuff, the really good stuff with residue still in it, least processed) to sooth the milk cravings.