Vegan but not Against Eating Meat

This modern world is full of complexities and seemingly contrasting ideas that simultaneously exist.  I am vegan, meaning I don’t consume animal products, including dairy, meat, and eggs. 

            My journey to veganism began due to some stomach issues.  Everything I ate hurt my stomach, which is not how I wanted to live.  I went to the doctor who told me I had irritable bowel syndrome, and all I could think was “thanks, I know my bowels are irritated, but I want to know why so I can begin to heal.”  The limited help from the doctor spurred me onto my own investigation.  I went to other types of doctors – the more natural kind, and one of them found that I had a parasite who was causing me to have a leaky gut.  I took the parasite cleanse, but still wasn’t satisfied with my overall gut health. 

            So, I began to eliminate certain foods from my diet methodically.  I habitually journaled about the foods I was eating and how I felt, allowing me to see the trends.  I highly recommend this form of personal health inquiry because you can assess the symptoms and details most important to you, and you act as your own doctor with only one patient to focus on.  (I can provide a detailed outline of my journaling). 

            My journals told me that dairy made me feel bloated, eggs made me want to nap immediately, meat made my stomach feel uneasy, soy sent my emotions into overdrive, and corn made me feel generally bad.  Finding all this out was not fun.  I didn’t want to see that some of my favorite foods were not aligning with my body nutritionally.  I didn’t want to stop eating cheese.  As I grappled with how to completely change my diet, I did more and more research about why people were vegan and what the real impact was.

            I found out that the dairy and meat industries have some of the largest impacts on the global climate.  Between deforestation, water use and energy use, they contribute highly to global warming.  Not only was my body asking for me to re-evaluate, but my planet was as well.  I realized that something as simple as my diet had a much larger impact on the world than I realized.  Although, a bit frightening, it was also empowering.  I do have an impact. 

            I thought about the meat that I was eating and I realized I was not truly eating the animal that the meat came from, and instead a product of the combination of that animal with torture, slaughter, and the various aspects added in whatever factory it came from.  Not only that, but I was also ‘eating’ the resources needed to grow that animal, and transport it, including water and energy.  Overall, that is a huge meal, much too big for my body to properly digest. 

            I am not against the principle of eating meat, just the way in which the modern food system provides it.