Turning in my essay for tomorrow, on a memorable event. I chose to do mine on my transition towards Veganism. I decided to title it Ahimsa cause of the meaning it conveys :the Hindu and Buddhist doctrine of refraining from harming any living being. "Ahimsa" Novelist Brigid Brophy once said, "The relationship of homo sapiens to the other animals is one of unremitting exploitation. We employ their work; we eat and wear them. We exploit them to serve our superstitions: whereas we used to sacrifice them to our gods and tear out their entrails in order to foresee the future, we now sacrifice them to science, and experiment on their entrails in the hope—or on the mere off chance—that we might thereby see a little more clearly into the present ... To us it seems incredible that the Greek philosophers should have scanned so deeply into right and wrong and yet never noticed the immorality of slavery. Perhaps 3000 years from now it will seem equally incredible that we do not notice the immorality of our own oppression of animals." I began to abstain from consuming flesh for better health. To avoid the harmful effects of animal protein. Spiritual reasons because I see their death & factory murders no different than a human. For the environment, At our population the overconsumption of animals have negative impacts. Along the way I face some negative feedbacks from non-vegans, but also some good feed feedback in meeting positive people & other Vegans. It was many stepping stones till the lead up and change into this process, I would saw my first influence was in Biology of my sophomore year. Our teacher Mr. Daw had a good energy and passion for his class, in the way he accurately described our lessons while relating health to biology. I recall once when he spoke of the energy pyramid diagram, a upside down diagram describing the trophic levels and transfers in energy. Amongst ecosystems/plants/ animals & humans, also the sun, being the highest on the chart of the upside down pyramid. He described plant life as second, then the animals that fed off plants as third, 4th the animals that ate the animals whom consumed the plant. When you go down each trophic level on the diagram, a portion of the energy is diminished, when used and passed on down. That thought of the most direct source of energy within reach to the sun, is the plant kingdom. And that if one were to consume a cow, the cow would have used some of the sunlight before it reached you. A seed was planted in my mind, I admired the lecture. He would always lecture on the harmful effects of McDonalds, fast food, soda, I stopped consuming soda when I met him. And have never touched it since. Not only because of the high amounts of sugar, but the dye, (GMO) High fructose corn syrup, Aspartame. He wasn’t Vegan, but been vegetarian in the past for a few years, and would give tips for good sourced of protein, on a plant based diet. I can recall my thoughts thinking I want to be more healthy and aware like my biology teacher, I began eliminating all the harmful sources of fast food. When I made the transition to vegetarian my senior year. Influenced by documentaries, online articles shared through friends. One of the documentaries is called a delicate balance. They spoke of a detrimental carcinogen that appeared on cooked flesh called Heterocyclic Amine, that only forms when cooked, and when in the digestive System takes longer to breakdown compared to plants stating the cause for colon , prostate cancer. In the long term. When I began going towards Veganism is when I learned about cheese and dairy, growing up when I was little, I would get rashes, and have stomach problems from dairy products, I was Lactose Intolerant, I couldn’t consume diary later As I got older, my body became stronger to handle it, but I noticed later that it was a cause of breaking out, and constipation. Dairy isn’t the only source of calcium, it is a mineral found in the soils of the earth, absorbed by various plants, That’s how cows get their source, almonds are a great source of calcium, Dairy milk can be linked to certain cases of osteoporosis. Because of it’s acidic properties like soda, or glue, thought’s like “we have no need for cow’s milk, or goat’s milk, dog milk, pig milk, sheep milk, Giraffe milk, camel milk, horse milk, out of many species on earth, we’re the only species that continues to drink milk from a animal after infancy. Why Take away a baby cow from her mother and forcefully artificially inseminate her, for more babies, to continue milk production, on a grand scale. Images of holocaust entered my mind, were they control and feed off a population, seeing the lives of other species, less of value than our species. I thought of the reverse, another species controlling us in concentration camps, raping our women, through artificial insemination. And pumping milk from them with machines, while in prisoned. When a male is born he is killed at a early age for veal, because he cannot produce milk or offspring. I became fully vegan at 19. Researching through articles and documentaries from sources like Michael Gregor M.D A vegan doctor, Neal D. Bernard A physician, T. Colin Campbell A biochemist who specialized in the effect on long-term health, and was involved in a comprehensive nutrition study called the China study. “In this study Chinese Gov’t Provided background data on eighty million Chinese people. The Chinese diet composed mostly of Rice , Grains, Vegetables, Legumes, Such As Soy products. While Americans have mostly a meat diet, Chinese get 10 percent animal protein in there diet , Americans get 70 percent. In China, regions in which people eat the most animal products have the highest rates of heart disease, cancer, and other degenerative diseases. In many instances, the differences are extremely large; for example, in one part of China where people eat more meat, the rate of esophageal cancer for men is 435 times greater than the rate for men in another region, and twenty times as many women in one county with high meat consumption suffer from breast cancer as women in another county where meat consumption is much lower.” Through my research I also found, the detrimental impacts meat has on the environment, because deforestation is created in the production for factory farms. Many forests and jungles, including the Amazon, have been deforested in order to grow crops that are used to feed chickens and other animals in factory farms. In fact, according to Greenpeace, all the wild animals and trees in more than 2.9 million acres of rainforest were destroyed were destroyed in the 2004-2005 crop season. And more than 260 million acres of U.S. forest have been cleared to create cropland to grow grain to feed farmed animals. Another reason for my choice of veganism is Buddhism, some Buddhists not all abstain from meat, I do so because I feel I see spirits of our own in animals. They share the same light only in a different shape, I see we have the choice to abstain and live comfortably without animals products, we only do so for our appetites, we can live comfortably without and tastefully too on plant based meals. I no longer miss meals I once ate, because I found very good alternatives that have great flavors, I remember discovering veggie burgers, & how to make Quinoa burgers from scratch, quinoa is a seed like grain/Legume that contains all complete proteins, Iron, Magnesium ,Calcium . Also Tofu Hot dogs, Eggplant sausages , Soyrizo Vegan version of chorizo. A began to enjoy & appreciate eating lot of beans and rice, I love to mix in salsa, Rice and legumes or good sources of protein, as well as lentils which are part of the legume family. And most recently I’ve been juicing very much in the nutribullet, it allows me to extract many juices from various plants in one drink into a fairly good smoothie. I try to have fruits to over power the vegetables and kale for sweet flavor in my juicing drinks, At times I add a supplement Brown Rice Powder. Along the way I have faced some negative feedback upon learning of my choice of foods, Sometimes Non-Vegans feel I am too eccentric. I am not I just truly care for health, animals, and the environment. Sometimes my family members feel I am too extreme, at times also appreciative. Then other I feel they are annoyed. But overall my family tries to be more supportive & I have met many others online that share similar vies, I haven’t met any other vegan in person yet. My transition has changed me, I see the human relationship with other species under a set of new eyes. When I go to the store If go by the deli department I see a morgue, body parts preserved under cold temperatures. And also there is a feeling of at peace with my conscience, that I know I’m doing something right, because I choose not to eat a friend.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 06:43:48 +0000
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