It's... why i'm vegan
You know that saying that's like, "How do you know if someone's vegan? ---Don't worry they'll tell you!" Well, here we are, but I think it's a little more complicated than that. I get this question a lot so I thought I'd explain my reasoning behind it for everyone to see and maybe you'll see the benefit too and try some vegan food in your life too!
Now I don't know that many vegans that go around saying I'M VEGAN!! I'M VEGAN.. LOOK AT ME I'M VEGAN! Especially since of all the sh*t we get for it sometimes, but I think the problem is we get offered some cookies and politely say no, then work orders in pizza and you politely decline and then finally it's sort of like.. hmm?! Why is this chick not eating anything and then they ask and you reply OH well I'm vegan and then you hear... why?
SO, I'm here to tell you MY reasons. Definitely not the entirety of the vegan community, we all have different reasons and mine is just a few things that are very important to me, but lets start with when I became vegan to give you a picture.
I stopped eating most meats when I was about 11 or 12. My parents thought it was a phase... GOSH, MOM it's NOT a PHASE (; Then at about 14 I gave up all meat entirely and went vegetarian and when you're from a little yee-yee town like mine, you stand out. It was about not eating animals then, still is, but I didn't know the entirety of it. I just thought, I'm not eating animals, no harm no foul, BUT then in college I did some more research and I was SHOCKED.
The dairy industry, in my opinion, is horrific. Almost more horrific than the meat industry, because unlike the meat industry where you just DIE (fun fun) in the dairy industry most cows are forcibly impregnated and spent a life being milked by machines and having their offspring taken away for veil. Eggs weren't any better and I just saw these videos and I thought I don't want to spend money contributing to this so, I started my journey as a vegan about 5 years ago. I didn't want animals to suffer JUST for a meal and when you look at the options out there, it's INCREDIBLE how far the vegan industry has come. You can get almost ANYTHING vegan now and it taste unreal. But is this my only reason for going vegan? Nope - but to me it's the most important. I don't want to take another life JUST for a second of flavor, and I've never really liked meat anyways so win-win. There's a reason they don't show the inside of a slaughter-house and there are SO many good documentaries you can watch that can teach you more than I can. Strongly recommend the Dairy is Scary video on youtube just to start and even though it's SO hard to watch I really recommend that you do, because if it's hard to watch you can get a glimpse into WHY I am who I am.. that crazy vegan (;
There's also the environmental impact of being vegan. This is one that is SO important. The dairy and meat industry contribute SO much CO2 emissions, it's one of the top contributors. Now I get it, these giant big corporations need to do something too, but this is something we can ALL do on a personal level. We can all try meatless Mondays, we can try Veganuary and we can take meat off our plates a little at a time and you wouldn't believe how much that would help alone.
Can you be a healthy vegan? Absolutely! It gets you to experiment, try different veggies, beans, legumes, etc BUT we also live in an age where we have BEYOND burgers, vegan pizza, fries, mock meats, vegan ice cream! WHICH, I'll admit, is insanely good, but you don't have to be a healthy vegan by any means BUT I do admit that you can be so much healthier on a vegan diet. Hell, I lost 35lbs on a plant based - no oil diet and I was eating like a QUEEN! It's really all about moderation and if you're new to vegan foods I encourage you to try all that sounds good just so you can see what's out there! I'll probably even do a list of all my favorite vegan swaps you can easily do. Trust me, I've tried almost everything and I can tell you what's Ahhhhmazing and what tastes like canned dog food (stay AWAY from the vegan tuna people JUST saying).
Really, there's so many reasons and it depends on who you ask as to why they're vegan. I'll never FORCE anyone to eat vegan, but I just want people to see why I'm me. Then if you want to try a couple vegan meals here and there, you can! Even look at all my vegan foods on my insta page @veggiebabexo and see what you could be eating.
Xoxo, Jess
