Why I am Vegan

I do touch on this in my About Me section, but to go over it again, I discovered I had borderline gestational diabetes through routine testing during my two pregnancies. The cause is related to the fact that pregnancy hormones such as oestrogen cause insulin resistance, so often gestational diabetes resolves after birth. After the birth of my first kid they didn't investigate further, but the second time they discovered that my blood glucose and cholesterol readings were still high even some months post birth. 

So naturally with diabetes and high cholesterol, non-drug therapy is all about the diet, and with diabetes it is all about cutting down the carbs. But even after switching to a low carb and high meat based protein diet, diligently taking walks after dinner and doing daily finger pricking, my readings were still high. So that's when I decided to do a little more digging into diabetes and whether there was a way to reverse it through a more specialised diet. 

I initially looked into vegetarianism to see if there was any correlation between being vegetarian and reduced diabetes. And that's when I came across veganism. 

If you do any kind of research into veganism of course you’re going to come across the being vegan for the animals aspect. 

So I would say I initially told myself and others I went vegan for health reasons, but really, all along I was doing it for the ethics. 

I’ve always had a strong sense of fighting for justice and fighting for the oppressed. And I have always loved animals.

And this is the thing, who doesn't love animals? I know you do, reader, because that is our true nature, to love nature. 

We’ve been made to believe that we don’t and to go against our nature, to believe that it’s ok to eat animals such as cows and pigs. It’s so deeply indoctrinated, your parents tell you to do it, your teachers tell you to do it, your church, your doctor, so on and so on, you get what I mean. And the thing is they don't really know why they do it, they just eat meat because that's what they have been taught to do themselves. 

It may be understandable, back in the day, eating meat during extreme times may have been a necessity for survival, for example during a doomed Antarctic expedition they ate their working dogs in order to survive. 

But in this day and age and in our normal day to day living where there is food of all types aplenty, what is the reason to continue eating any animal products? The majority of people do it simply because it's conventional to do it. Or were made to believe that had to eat them.

Because that was certainly the case with me, I was made to believe I had to eat meat or eggs or dairy every single meal otherwise it was not a complete meal.

It's a complete myth that you have to have any animal products to have a balanced diet. And even more so nowadays with the dawn of the plant meat industry such as Beyond, Tattooed Chef, Omnipork. I give these examples because the very first thing non-vegans ask or think when they think about the vegan diet is protein, I know because I did that too. There are plenty of natural plant based proteins including tofu, beans, lentils and nuts, such is the wonder of nature. The point is what actually is the human requirement for protein, and does it justify eating any animal and in the process inflicting unnecessary cruelty on an innocent and helpless being? If I were given a choice of only eating rice or only eating meat for the rest of my days, I would hands down choose rice and I'm pretty sure I would be fine. And even if I wasn't, I would not regret my choice. 

The realisation that I had been manipulated from birth to continuously support the meat egg and dairy industry really riled me.  

Once you see that it is like a The Matrix red pill vs blue pill moment (if you haven't seen The Matrix definitely recommend it). I’ve always been a sucker for a good conspiracy theory, and here is one that is right there in front of my eyes, everywhere I turn, practically going all they way up to the government. And witnessing the abuse and judgment that vegans get has only strengthened this red pill thesis for me. Once you get that, it becomes easy to become a vegan overnight. 

So that’s my reason for going vegan, and I do think most ethical vegans are advocates for animal liberation, some are just louder at it whilst others do so quietly. And of course I also support protection and preservation of the environment, which arguably can be harder for the individual to tackle and a continuous work in progress.  

Did going vegan fix my diabetes and cholesterol? Haha actually this is something I'm still struggling with, as it is definitely possible to have an unhealthy vegan diet. Wherever possible a healthy vegan diet is always recommended!

If you made to the end of this post, I thank you and I hope maybe it’ll provoke some thoughts and discussions.

And for some hopefully it will help start off your vegan journey xxx

Sharon