A few weeks ago, I began transitioning to a vegan diet. I've been wanting to cut down my meat consumption for a while now. In the weeks before my 25th birthday, I began experiencing some existential dread. Mind you, existential dread is practically one of my personality traits. However, the milestone naturally intensified some of these feelings.
It may seem small but I kept thinking about how I could no longer claim I was in my "early 20s" and had to recategorize myself as "mid-20s." A minor distinction in actuality. But the ticking clock has a funny way of messing with our perceptions. Existential panic sprinkled like a perverse fairy dust gives us all age dysmorphia.
Anyway, my someday plans became today plans. One of those plans was to try my hand at veganism. Well, a plant based diet (ish) to be more particular. If you are curious about the differences between plant based and vegan, you can learn about it here. But I've been using the term "vegan" because there is generally a frame of reference for that label.
When I tell people about my plan, one question always follows: why? It is not a judgmental or a condescending question. So far, it has been natural curiosity. There are many different types of people who forgo meat and animal byproducts. Which kind am I?
So, I've decided to outline my reasons here. Partly, to project my thoughts on the subject. Mostly, to solidify and record those thoughts so that when my resolve begins to strain, I have a list to return to. Full disclosure: my concrete goal is to stay vegan until September 1st and then evaluate. I have a feeling, though, that I'll never return to my same eating habits in relation to meat and cheese.
1) Physical health. It's no secret that meat and cheese are bad for you. Sure, we are omnivores, evolutionarily, but our bodies are just not designed to eat this much meat and cheese. It's bad for your blood pressure. It's bad for your cholesterol. It's linked to cancer. There are 101 health reasons to reduce your intake of meat and dairy. Some doctors argue that cutting them out entirely can add years to your life.
I'm lucky that my youth has protected me so far. Despite my current consumption, my numbers are inexplicably good. But I'm in my mid-20s now. Even if I don't stay vegan, a total reset like this will make it easier to reduce my consumption on the other end of this challenge.
2) Mental health. Dairy can seriously impact your mood. In this article, the author says, "Dairy’s protein casein, has not only been linked to addiction that makes it hard to give up, but also aggression, depression, and even anger."
Weirdly enough, this isn't just something I added to my list when researching health benefits. I actually noticed severe drops in my mood on the afternoons following a cheesy lunch. If you know me, you know that I need to take my moods seriously. Dairy was bumming me out, which is one of the biggest reasons I chose to explore veganism, not just vegetarianism.
3) The animals. First off, I'm no animal lover. My indifference towards dogs (verging on distaste) has proved to be one of my most off-putting and alienating qualities. I do enjoy well-behaved cats. Bill Bryson has a funny quote in his book Neither Here Nor There that adequately sums up my thoughts: "It wouldn't bother me in the least if all the dogs in the world were placed in a large sack and taken to some distant island - Greenland springs attractively to mind - where they could romp around and sniff each other's anuses to their hearts' content and would never bother or terrorize me again. The only kind of dog I would excuse from this roundup is poodles. Poodles I would shoot."
After hearing this, many would be surprised to find I have a "save the animals" instinct. I certainly wouldn't consider it one of my active causes. But none the less, I find my compassion towards animals increasing every year. I consider the concept of zoos barbaric. I've come to view horseback riding (especially for sport) as unnecessarily abusive- horses may be treated with exceptional love and care by their owners, but any subjugated horse must first be "broken." I cannot for the life of me understand the cultural phenomenon that dictates that hanging the lifeless corpse of an animal on your wall is an aesthetic and not psychopathic.
All of that aside, the disturbing turn our agriculture industry has taken is horrifying to contemplate. Animals live their entire lives crammed on top of each other, never seeing the light of day, pegged to the floor.
It's not even the killing. I accept the circle of life and all that. It's that we bring animals forth into this world, torture them, and then use them. Take out the middle moral crimes, and I'd be fine with the system.
You can read about the horrors on your own time. I could write 100 posts on the awful things animals go through before they become food and it still wouldn't even scratch the surface. Just google "treatment of dairy cows" and see what comes up.
4) The environment. The agricultural industry is really hard on the environment. First, animal agriculture takes up a lot of land and resources. Second, it creates a lot of air and water pollution. Third, it uses up an extraordinary amount of our fresh water.
Seeing as planetary distress in its many forms is the greatest threat to my generation, even a few months of consuming plant based is something positive I can do for the environment.
So those are my big reasons. Of course, there are far more little reasons. Clearer skin. Milder cramps (hallelujah!). More energy. Weight loss. The money I save by being forced to cook instead of eating out. The list goes on and on and grows every day.
I can't say I'll stay vegan forever and it certainly hasn't been easy so far. But for right now, this feels like the exact right thing for me.
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