Over the course of about 5 years I hear from all types of people about what they eat. This mostly occurs if I'm wearing a vegan pin or a shirt, then I hear it. I have stopped wearing vegan pins and shirts. I am thinking of taking my shirts that I designed down at VeganofLight.com. They are pretty cool though.
I don't feel better after eating meat or eggs or dairy. So I'm not going to do it.
In the course of the last 5-6 years, I've heard from ex-vegans and ex-vegetarians who absolutely had to eat meat once in a while, some fish or something. My own mother actually used the words "foggy" three years ago when she went vegan. After a month she brought back in eggs and some fish.
About 5 years ago in FL, I had recently gone vegan and I met an ex-vegan. She was vegan for 7 years. She told me she has fish and/or turkey once a week and she feels so much better. You know what I said, "Well that's better than eating meat all the time." (Honestly, thank God for the Vegan Outreach balanced literature.) I figured that she was probably not eating ground flax or something to get her EFAs. Really, I'm not a nutrition "expert" which is fine since I feel that "experts" already know everything.
In the last month, I met five people who were ex-vegetarians or ex-vegans. One at the World Veg Fest in October. The others were in the grocery store across the street and one is a friend in my spiritual faith. Except for one who noticed no difference at all after eating meat again, and the one who I didn't ask, the others said they felt much better. Some also feel slightly guilty, but all invariably do their best to source meat and eggs from much better sources than factory farms and caged hens.
I'm actually sorry they feel guilty, really I am. Some day I really think we will all adapt and feel perfectly zippy on all plants, but right now we are transitioning genetically. That's my belief and I'm sticking to it ;-)
I am happy with all the books and the ex-vegans coming out. It encourages people to think. Thinking for yourself is good. John Robbins is one of my most favorite people in the world, nevertheless you should still think for yourself.
I believe that in order to live on this hot, small planet there will be a mixture of small farms, hunting, plant eaters, and people who have their own chickens for eggs or their flesh. I am more than willing to give up my share of meat, if there is such a thing, to people who are genetically predisposed to needing it or even think they need to eat it. I think they too will adapt to a plant based diet over time, but I don't have a big stick to make them. Do you?
I read your comments on Vegan Lunchbox, and just want to say I agree. I'm vegan, but I think the "slow food" movement that encourages people to eat less meat has a better chance of influencing more people (and therefore affecting more animals' well-being), than the simple promotion of veganism. Especially judgmental vegan promotion.
ReplyDeleteHi Chistina.
ReplyDeleteRead your comments at Jack Norris & Vegan Lunchbox and if there's a silver lining to my distress over recent events, its that I found your blog. I look forward to reading more. Your take is very refreshing and its obvious you work hard to get the facts, and let them lead you to your conclusions instead of the reverse.
I am not a hardcore or fanatical vegan, as I try my best to avoid fanaticism in any form. A bumpersticker I made for my car as a joke says, 'Death to Fanatics', though I haven't had the balls to actually put it on my car here in Dixie.
I've been involved with vegetarianism and veganism for 26 years, though my first encounter with vegans in college nearly turned me off the whole project. They were the vegans of the stereotype we always hear about. The funny thing is, while some of those hardcore folks fell by the wayside (one eventually became a ranger and hunter up in your neck of the woods) it stuck with me over the long term.
I took a moderate instead of hardcore attitude, figuring I would do everything I could to reduce suffering, but I was never going pass a purity test on anything. My motto is 'add your light to the sum of light,' which means you can't save the whole world, but you can do something. Not to sound self-congratulatory. I just wanted to explain where I'm coming from and why I'm intrigued with your position. It seems like most people I've known who can't get veganism right 100% right the first or second time leave it in a ditch and don't think about it again, except with contempt.
I also want to add that despite my own skepticism about overinflated vegan claims and even good intentioned misinformation, I have a real admiration for those whose lives are guided by compassion for all creatures. I admire the philosophy of veganism and the individuals who live their principles. I feel solidarity with them even if I failed in some respects, i.e. neither of my nearly grown children are even vegetarians, despite my best efforts to be a good example.
What really annoyed me about the recent VV post was not, as I posted at Lunchbox, that she felt desperate enough to try adding animal products in her diet. It was what seemed to be a complete conversion to WAPF, and to its nonscientific nutritional doctrine. So--help me feel good about this as you say you are. Is VV really thinking for herself? Or has she just ditched one fanaticism for a new and novel one? One guru for another?
For some reason, this bothers me far more than a return to moderate mainstream non-guru meat consumption, which at least has some basis for dietary merit. But WAPF? Sigh. They are the Creationists of nutrition science.
Hey there,
ReplyDeleteBut she had to sign on board for WAPF as it works for many people. Just as the vegan diet works for many. She had to find external confirmation and form a new philosophical construct. Some of what Creationists say is not all wrong or all right and the same is true with science. For me, the only absolute is that it's all relative. See my post http://quasi-vegan.blogspot.com/2010/12/china-study-is-misguided-and-there-is.html
Peace,
Christina
I don't know if she went full out convinced that WAPF is the answer, I think she has a combo of philosophies about food, animals, and the planet now. I would be she is really, really unhappy with herself about being lied to by the China Study and just about everyone else who thinks it's the validation for the vegan diet working for everyone. It clearly didn't work for her, it doesn't matter if she did it wrong or right, in her perspective (which is the only perspective that matters to her) it didn't work and she was lied to and she signed up and it screwed up her health. Where as it's been great for me.
ReplyDelete