Facebook contact

the following is a copy of a message i sent to someone on Facebook, who has expressed interest in becomign vegan.

Hi


I have been vegetarian all my life, all 54 years, and have not had any ill effects that I am aware of!




Being vegetarian means not eating anything which has been killed for food, so no meat, (including chicken which people sometimes forget!) fish, and avoiding products which contain the by-products of meat, like gelatine in jelly and loads of things, rennet in many, particuarly hard, cheeses.



Becoming vegan is a much bigger step, but logical when you consider what happens to animals to make dairy products etc - eg, the female cattle needing to have a calf once a year to keep milking her, the calf is then either 'wastage' and killed or used for veal, thus further supporiting the meat industry. Mother cows bellow for their young once they have been removed, often for many days. Male chicks are also a 'waste' product in the egg industry. They are just crushed or gassed, in vaste bowls or heaps. It is all kept hidden, try reading 'why we love dogs, eat pigs and wear cows', a briliant book by Melanie Joy, published in US last year. It is probably kinder to the animals to eat beef than it is to use milk, but still hideous.



It was watching a short video on FB about a cow, no idea for beef or dairy, waiting in line in a metal runway thing to go into the killing shed, trying to turn around, that made me go vegan, instantly. It was heart rending, and must happen literally thousands of times a day. There are estimated to be 56 billion animals a year killed for meat etc., and that does not include fish, an estimated further 90 billion.



There are really two aspects to being vegan. There is the dietary componenet and the lifestyle part. I am not there on the lifestyle one yet, it will take a lot longer, maybe I will never get there. the dietary part is easier - no products of animals at all, eg no milk, cheese, cream, eggs, honey, or things with them in, so lots of checking of labels!



The lifestyle part is more complicated and happens gradually for msot people. No leather, eg shoes - I still have leather shoes I bought in the past or from charity shops - no silk, wool. then, household products, no animal ingredients and not tested on animals. We have the Co-op here, which has a lot of its products labelled clearly as nto tested or with animal ingredients, so that helps, but it is a complicated business! We do not live in a vegan world as yet, so we have to compromise, or life would be unbearable, we would be intolerable to live near etc!



I did not go vegan for my health. I initially put on weight, i think I overcompensated with chips and chocolate! But that has settled now and I think i am even losing a little weight. However, i did find, by chance, a major health benefit. A few months before becoming vegan, after a year or two of pain, I was diagnosed with arthritis in my hip. I was even considering surgery. However, when I became vegan, the pain left, almost entirely. I can now walk longish distances again, and rarely experience any pain from it. The problem is obviously still there, and I triggered it once by being 'naughty' and having some stilton cheese, a blue and delicious cheese, and was in agony the next day, but fine again the folloiwng day. I am not saying that dairy is a problem for everyone with arthritis, but I do know that most nutrititionists I have encountered take people off dairy pronto, for all sorts of problems. it is necessary to take vitamin B12 as a supplement or in fortified foods, as this is only found in the soil, we tend to clean things a lot nowadays and so it is usually found now in animal products where it has been digested from the soil. There is plenty of protein in vegan food, most people eat far too much protein and there is protein in all foods, even fruit and vegetables, obviously in nuts and grains and pulses etc.



If you plan to go vegan, fantastic, but take it gradually, do not be hard on yourself if you get it 'wrong', make mistakes, eat something you crave etc. Do not give up, i thought of it day by day for ages, if I fancied something non vegan i told myself I could have it tomorrow if I wanted, now it feels quite normal and I rarely have wobbly moments! Some people go vegetarian first, just as a step towards beicoming vegan, that might be easier, with a plan to move to vegan after a while. Or, you could just eat less meat initially, that is a great help. What does your family think? I am in the happy position of beign supported by my husband, who is mainly vegan, and having lovely vegan guests to stay at our guest house often. i have found much support on here, eg the Vegan Society page, which is brilliant, and have lots of FB friends who I am friends with specifically because they are vegan, round the world. But, I do get sent a lot of gruelling pictures and posts which I can do nothing about, so that is sometimes a bit depressing. There are also loads of links to vegan blogs, recipe pages etc.



Anyway, good luck whatever you do, let me know how it goes. I am delighted you are thinking of this step.



love



Vanessa